Thaddeus of Edessa festival, and heard the preachings of John the Baptist (St. John the Forerunner). After being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, he remained in Palestine. He later met and became a follower of Jesus. He was chosen to be one of the seventy disciples, whom Jesus sent in pairs to preach in the cities and places. After Pentecost and the ascension of Jesus, Thaddeus started preaching the gospel in Mesopotamia, Syria and Persia. Thaddaeus ordained priests in Edessa, converted many to Christianity and built up the church there. He also went to Beirut to preach and founded
St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness been made for St. John's Cathedral, 's-Hertogenbosch. The painting is difficult to date. If the 's-Hertogenbosch hypothesis is correct, the date would be around 1489, although later dates have been proposed based on other criteria. John the Baptist is often depicted with a lamb. The animal is said to symbolise the sacrifice of the saint as an innocent victim of the wickedness of mankind, or it could be that the saint is pointing towards Jesus Christ, whose symbol is the pascal lamb (John 1:29–36). Bosch's painting differs from other paintings of John the Baptist in the fantastical objects he carefully