To find out, let’s take a look at some authoritative sources.
Sacred Scriptures
Here are three passages of the Scriptures that the Church Fathers often used when discussing St. John the Baptist in the womb:
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. Luke 1:13-15
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Luke 1:41–44
“The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently. Luke 16:16
Catholic Encyclopedia (1910)
The Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry on St. John the Baptist concludes that the Scriptural passages mentioned above imply that the saint was cleansed of Original Sin in the womb:
Now during the sixth month, the Annunciation had taken place, and, as Mary had heard from the angel the fact of her cousin’s conceiving, she went “with haste” to congratulate her. “And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant” — filled, like the mother, with the Holy Ghost — “leaped for joy in her womb”, as if to acknowledge the presence of his Lord. Then was accomplished the prophetic utterance of the angel that the child should “be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb”. Now as the presence of any sin whatever is incompatible with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul, it follows that at this moment John was cleansed from the stain of original sin. (Souvay)
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Catechism of the Catholic Church merely reiterates Luke 1:15:
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” John was “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” by Christ himself, whom the Virgin Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 717)
St. Augustine
St. Augustine, in his sermon, “Nativity Of Saint John The Baptist (Sermon 293)”, part vii. “Mission Of The Precursor” said:
“John appears to be a boundary established between the two Testaments, the Old and the New. The Lord himself teaches that he is in some way at this limit, when he says: “The Law and the Prophets until John the Baptist.” John thus personifies antiquity and announces the new age. As charged with personifying antiquity, he is born to elderly parents; and as charged with announcing the new age, he shows himself a prophet from his mother’s womb. For he was not yet born when, at the arrival of Saint Mary, he leaped in his mother’s womb. There already he was marked with the prophetic character, marked before birth; and he showed of whom he was the forerunner even before he had seen him. These are divine traits that surpass the limits of human weakness. Finally, he is born, receives his name, and his father’s tongue is loosed. (Congregation for the Clergy)
Pope Innocent III
In 1208, Pope Innocent III included a “Profession of Faith Prescribed for Durand of Osca and His Waldensian Companions” in a letter to the Archbishop of Terraco Denzinger 166 (section 421) that reiterates Luke 1:15:
“We believe…that John the Baptist, sent by Him, was holy and just, and in the womb of his mother was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Denzinger 421 (page 166))
St. Thomas Aquinas
In his great Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, taught that St. John the Baptist, like the prophet Jeremiah, was sanctified in the womb:
Moreover, it is to be observed that it was granted, by way of privilege, to others, to be sanctified in the womb; for instance, to Jeremias, to whom it was said (Jeremiah 1:5): “Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee”; and again, to John the Baptist, of whom it is written (Luke 1:15): “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb.” (Summa Theologiae, 3rd part, Question 27, Article I)
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XII, in his encyclical on the Rosary, “Iucunda Semper Expectatione,” reiterates the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas and describes the privilege granted to St. John the Baptist as “singular”:
2. …Then St. John the Baptist, by a singular privilege, is sanctified in his mother’s womb and favoured with special graces that he might prepare the way of the Lord; and this comes to pass by the greeting of Mary who had been inspired to visit her cousin.
Conclusion
While the Church has never officially defined as dogma that St. John the Baptist was cleansed of Original Sin in his mother’s womb, we can confidently assert upon Pope Leo XIII’s authority and that of Pope Innocent III, the saints before him, and ultimately upon the Sacred Scriptures, that “St. John the Baptist, by a singular privilege, [was] sanctified in his mother’s womb and favored with special graces that he might prepare the way of the Lord.”
Works Cited
Aquinas, Thomas. “Question 27: The Sanctification of the Blessed Virgin.” Summa Theologica, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920. New Advent, www.newadvent.org/summa/4027.htm.
Catechism of the Catholic Church: Complete and Updated. Crown Publishing Group, 1995.
Congregation for the Clergy. Diretório Geral para a Catequese. 15 Aug. 1997. Biblia Clerus, Congregatio pro Clericis, www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/pt/d13.htm.
Denzinger, Heinrich. The Sources of Catholic Dogma. Translated by Roy Joseph Deferrari, Loreto Publications, 2001.
Leo XIII. Iucunda Semper Expectatione: Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary. 8 Sept. 1894. The Holy See, www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_08091894_iucunda-semper-expectatione.html.
Souvay, Charles. “St. John the Baptist.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, Robert Appleton Company, 1910. New Advent, www.newadvent.org/cathen/08486b.htm.
