Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

    In the Gospel of John, the martyrdom of John the Baptist is not mentioned. However, in chapter 5,  

Jesus first says,   `You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.'   (Jn 5:33). This refers to a time 

when John was alive. But immediately thereafter Jesus speaks of John the Baptist in the past tense:   `He was 

a burning and shining lamp .'   (Jn 5:35). This implies either that John has been imprisoned, so that he could 

no longer continue his ministry of preaching and of baptism, or that he has died. In chapter 10, the people 

speak of John in the past tense, again indicating that John had either died or been imprisoned. Thus all four 

Gospels give some witness to John's martyrdom, but they do not reveal when John was martyred. 

    The Gospels clearly state that John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod the tetrarch on the occasion of 

Herod's birthday. If only we knew when Herod was born, we would then know the exact day of John's 

beheading. Since we do not have this information, we must approach the problem in a different way. 

    Blessed Anne Catherine provides us with some indication of the time frame for the beheading of John the 

Baptist. First, she clearly states that the Ministry of Jesus Christ lasted about 3  years (see chapter 2).

451

 In her 

book, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, there are some 1170 pages describing Christ's Ministry, 

from His Baptism to the Last Supper. The average number of pages per year is approx. 334 (1170 / 3.5 years = 

334.3). The average number of pages per month is approx. 28 (1170 / 42 months = 27.9). 

    Blessed Anne Catherine describes John the Baptist's arrest in volume 2, pages 161 169, of The Life of Jesus 

Christ and Biblical Revelations, and his martyrdom in volume 3, pages 144 and following. There are some 455 

pages of description of Christ's Ministry between those two events. This number of pages is significantly more 

than the average of 334.3 pages per year. This comparison indicates that the time from John's arrest to his 

martyrdom was more than one year. Furthermore, if we divide those 455 pages by the average of 27.9 pages 

per month, the result gives us a rough estimate of the time frame from John's arrest to his beheading: approx. 

16 months. 

    Some 94 pages after the arrest of John, Blessed Anne Catherine states:  With the Sabbath, the first day of 

the month of Elul began. 

452

 Since John was arrested during the month of Sivan in 

A.D.

 16, this mention of 

Elul must be in the same year.

453

    A little further on, Blessed Anne Catherine states that people were very busy with preparations for both the 

upcoming Sabbath and the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred that year on the day after the 

Sabbath. This Feast begins on Tishri 15 and ends on Tishri 22, with both the first and last days kept as holy 

days of rest from work (Lev 23:33 36). In the modern Jewish calendar, Tishri 1 is not permitted to fall on a 

Sunday. This arrangement prevents two solemn days of rest (Tishri 15 and 22) from occurring consecutively. 

In the ancient Jewish calendar, all these rules for the arrangement of feasts in the calendar had not yet been 

developed and put into practice. Thus, Blessed Anne Catherine describes a year when Tishri 1, 15, and 22 

coincided with a Sunday. Tishri 1 began on September 20 and the Feast of Tabernacles began on October 4 

and ended on October 11 of 

A.D.

 16.

454

 This Feast of Tabernacles is described in volume 2 on page 373, well 

after John's arrest, but also well before his beheading.

455

    Some 200 pages later, in volume 3 pages 92 105, Blessed Anne Catherine describes the celebration of the 

Feast of Lights, Hanukkah.

456

 This could not be the Hanukkah occurring 2 months later in Dec. of 

A.D.

 16, 

because this Feast is placed about 200 pages after the Feast of Tabernacles of 

A.D.

 16. The average number of 

pages per month is 28, not 100. Rather, this must be the following Hanukkah, occurring over a year later, in 

A.D.

 17 (from sunset on Dec. 31 of 

A.D.

 17, to Jan. 8 of 

A.D.

 18). 

    Blessed Anne Catherine describes this Feast of Lights as encompassing two Sabbaths, including the last day 

of the feast. And she states that the people were celebrating the Feast of the New Moon (celebrated at the start 

of every month in the Jewish calendar).

457

 The Hanukkah of 

A.D.

 17/18 fits this description, but only if a leap 

month  was added in March/April of 

A.D.

 17 (See Appendix II, Section C). In that case, Kislev 25 would 

coincide with Saturday, Jan. 1 and Tevet 2 (the last day of Hanukkah) would coincide with Saturday, Jan. 8, 

A.D.

 18.

458

 This arrangement matches the description of Blessed Anne Catherine of a Hanukkah that began 

and ended on the Jewish Sabbath. 

    The adding of a leap month in 

A.D.

 17 would not have been required to prevent the start of Passover from 

occurring before the spring Equinox. However, if a leap month had not been added, Passover would have 

begun on March 30 (Nisan 14). In the ancient Jewish calendar, the scheduling of leap years was partly a 

human decision, not entirely determined by astronomy and mathematics.

459

 If the winter was colder or dryer 

than usual, the crops would grow more slowly and the grain would not be ready for the offering of the first 

112