Brewer's: John the Baptist

Patron saint of missionaries. He was sent “to prepare the way of the Lord.” In Christian art he is represented in a coat of sheepskins, in allusion to his life in the desert; either holding a rude wooden cross, with a pennon bearing the words, Ecce Agnus Dei, or with a book on which a lamb is seated; or holding in his right hand a lamb surrounded by a halo, and bearing a cross on the right foot.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content