The Head of John the Baptist

The amount of space devoted by the Evangelists to describe John the Baptist tells much about his influence on the Jews of his time, and even a cursory reading of the Acts of the Apostles shows how far abroad his influence spread -- even to Jewish communities outside of Judea and Galilee.  Many of the Church Fathers and later theologians devoted much space of their own to understanding what he meant in the work of salvation.  Anselm of Laon provides the following thoughts on the story of John's beheading, taken from his commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew:

" 'Herod was saddened, but because of his oath and those at the feast, he ordered it to be given her.'  According to Bede, it is the custom of the Scriptures for the historian to give the opinion of many as to what was believed by men at that time, as that Joseph was called the 'father' of Jesus by Mary.  In the present case, Herod is called 'saddened' because those at the feast thought he was saddened.  But this liar and murderer put a sad expression on his face while having joy in his heart.  And he excused his wickedness by his oath so that a wicked deed might be carried out under the pretense of a good one.  The fact that he carried this out right away because of those at the feast shows that he wished them to be sharers in the deed with him.  John holds the figure of the law.  Herod signifies the Jewish people, who joins to himself, as it were, an unfaithful wife from the Gentiles, born of the same ancestor as he.  Because John, as the law, forbade the union, he was arrested and was not permitted to speak.  At last, on Herod's birthday, that is, in satisfying his natural desire, the daughter danced -- depraved desire born from the infidelity leaped up -- and asked that the head of John be added to her charms -- that is, that Christ be severed from the understanding of the law.  The daughter brought the head to her mother, for a depraved will leads to infidelity.  Then John's disciples -- the hearers of the law -- buried John's body -- they put an end to physical observances in this, and so they came from the law to the Gospel, and were made solicitous hearers of the word of God.  To this day, we perceive, by the head of John the Prophet, that the Jews have lost Christ, the head of the Jews and the Prophets.  Otherwise, the beheading of John the Baptist is the 'diminution' of his fame by which Christ was believed in by the people, just as the lifting up of The Lord on the Cross is the 'summit' of our faith.  What is lessened in regards to the head of John, is raised up in the Cross of The Lord, just as John himself said: 'It is necessary for him to increase and for me to decrease' (John 3, 30).  Josephus says that John was brought bound to the castle called 'Macherus', where he was beheaded.  The 'Ecclesiastical History' (by Eusebius) says that he was buried in Sebaste, a city of Palestine, which was called 'Samaria' at that time.  In the time of Julian [the Apostate], who bore ill-will against the Christians who frequented his tomb with pious care, the tomb was attacked by pagans, and his bones were spread throughout the fields.  Collected again, they were burned with fire and then again scattered through the fields.  Later monks from Jerusalem gathered up the greatest part of them, mixed with the bones of pagans, and brought them back to Jerusalem to Philip, their abbot.  He sent them to blessed Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria.  They were preserved there up to the time of Theophilus, bishop of that same city.  At that time, the temples were destroyed by the command of Theodosius, the ruler of all peoples, and then after the cleansing of the filth of the temple of Serapis, a basilica in honor of St. John was consecrated where it had stood."