Saint Zachariah, a temple priest and his wife St. Elizabeth are the parents of St. John the Baptist. Elizabeth was thought to be barren and when Zachariah was in the temple offering sacrifice to God, an angel appeared to him informing him that she would bear a son in her old age. Because he didn’t believe this, he was struck mute. After Elizabeth bore St John, he was asked what his son’s name would be and he wrote “His name is John” and his voice came back and he praised God with his canticle.
