John Chrysostom

But mark thou, I pray thee, how great a thing virtue is, that he was afraid of him even when dead, and out of his fear he speaks wisely even concerning a resurrection. "For he said," it is mentioned, "unto his servants, This is John, whom I slew, he is risen from the dead, and therefore the mighty powers do work in him." Seest thou the intensity of his fear? for neither then did he dare to publish it abroad, but he still speaks but to his own servants. But yet even this opinion savored of the soldier, and was absurd. …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 48 ↗

Augustine of Hippo

Luke's words are, John have I beheaded: who is he of whom I hear such things? (Luke 9:9.) As Luke has thus represented Herod as in doubt, we must understand rather that he was afterwards convinced of that which was commonly said—or we must take what he here says to his servants as expressing a doubt—for they admit of either of these acceptations.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Thomas Aquinas

And he said to his servants: this is John the Baptist. Some have said that he held the doctrine of the transmigration of souls: for Plato and Pythagoras held that the soul departing from one body enters another body. Herod holding this opinion, as they say, believed that the soul of John had passed into the soul of Christ. But this cannot be, because he had killed him a short time before; but Jesus was thirty years old; hence he did not believe this. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Rabanus Maurus

From this place we may learn how great the jealousy of the Jews was; that John could have risen from the dead, Herod, an alien-born, here declares, without any witness that he had risen: concerning Christ, whom the Prophets had foretold, the Jews preferred to believe, that He had not risen, but had been carried away by stealth. This intimates that the Gentile heart is more disposed to belief than that of the Jews. …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗