The Beheading of St John the Baptist

August 29, the Beheading of the Holy Forerunner John the Baptist, is kept as a strict fast even though it is a feast, a fast of mourning for the murder of the greatest born of women, and a deliberate rejection of the drunken gluttony and sensual excess that led Herod to the crime. Wine and oil are permitted if the day falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Keep the sobriety of this day under the guidance of your parish priest.