King Solomon

No fixed feast day in the calendar

King Solomon: the back of the card, with its short story, lesson and a QR code that opens it in the Catholic Information app. The full text is below.

Flip the card and scan the QR code on the back to open it in the app

King Solomon, son of King David, asked God for wisdom and built the Temple in Jerusalem.

Who is he?

King Solomon was the third king of Israel, the son of King David and Bathsheba. He was famous everywhere for his wisdom, and he was the one who built the first Temple to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Life story

When he first became king, he was still young. At Gibeon, the LORD appeared to him in a dream and told him to ask for whatever he wanted (cf. 1 Kgs 3:5). He did not ask for a long life or for riches, but said: “Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish good from evil” (1 Kgs 3:9). God was pleased and gave him wisdom, and also gave him the things he had not asked for (cf. 1 Kgs 3:10-13).

Once, two mothers came to him, both claiming the same baby. The king called for a sword and said to cut the baby in two. At once one of the mothers begged the king not to hurt the baby, and to give him to the other woman instead. The king knew right away: the woman who loved the child like that was his real mother, and he gave the baby to her (cf. 1 Kgs 3:16-28). The baby was safe.

He built a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem and offered a prayer on the day it was dedicated (cf. 1 Kgs 6–8). According to tradition, many wise proverbs are linked with his name.

But when he grew old, he let his foreign wives turn his heart toward foreign gods, and his heart was no longer entirely faithful to God as his father David’s had been (cf. 1 Kgs 11:4). After he died, the kingdom was split in two (cf. 1 Kgs 11:11-13; 12).

Why does the Church honor him?

The Bible tells the truth about him: a very beautiful beginning, but a sad ending. His prayer asking for wisdom is still a model for everyone who prays. Jesus also spoke of Solomon’s wisdom, and said of himself: “something greater than Solomon is here” (Mt 12:42). The Roman liturgical calendar has no feast day for him.

A lesson for you

When you pray, besides the things you need, ask God for the gift of wisdom to know right from wrong.
A good beginning is not enough: ask every day for the grace to stay faithful to God, even when you are grown up.
Choose good friends, because friends can draw your heart closer to God or further away.

Identifying marks

A model of the Temple: he built the first Temple to the LORD in Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kgs 6:1).
A crown and a red cloak trimmed with gold: he was the son and successor of King David (cf. 1 Kgs 2:12).
No halo: the Roman calendar does not celebrate him, and Western tradition usually does not paint him with a halo, because at the end of his life his heart turned to foreign gods (cf. 1 Kgs 11:4). (Some Eastern Churches mention him on the day honoring the ancestors.)
A scroll (*): it recalls the Wisdom books that tradition links with his name, like the Book of Proverbs.

(*) Only in some pictures and statues.

The text on this page is the card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.