King Herod Antipas is truly one of the most tragic figures in the Gospels. He appears in a number of passages, all of them revealing him as venal, pathetic, besotted by court indulgence and easily ...

The martyrdom of St. John the Baptist — observed annually in the Catholic Church on August 29 — plays out like an episode from a modern day action-adventure series. Jealousy. Lust. Greed. Murder. The ...

Herod is offstage in most nativity plays, because no one wants a villain on Christmas Eve. Instead, the wise men warn the holy family about the mean man who’s looking for them, then the Magi go home ...