ST. JOHN OF GOD – 8 Mar

St. John of God (1495-1550), lay brother, mystic, and founder of an order

A LIFE OF SIN
John of God was born of poor but pious Catholic parents in the town of Montemor o Novo in Portugal in 1495. He was chosen for a special destiny by the Lord but this remained hidden under mounds of sin for many years. John spent his youth in innocence and virtue as the chief shepherd for the Count of Oropeusa in Castille. However, in 1522, he enlisted in the Count’s foot soldiers and served in various battles: against the French and later against the Turks in Hungary under Emperor Charles V. His friendship with sinful men in the army made him lose his fear of offending God. He gave up all his devotional practices and lived an evil life. When his troop disbanded, he became employed by a rich noblewomen of Seville in her fields.

TRUE CONVERSION
It was at this time that John was finally recalled by divine grace from a lax way of life, and that he ultimately began to give an example of great holiness. When he was forty years old, he whole-heartedly promised God to make a firm purpose of amendment and to spend the remainder of his life atoning for his grievous sins. First he sold the little that he had and gave the money to the poor. Then he was able to begin a new life. He gave himself over to prayer and hard penances, day and night. This ascetic life then inspired him to travel to Africa in order to serve the poor Christians who had been enslaved by marauding Muslims and perhaps even find martyrdom. Yet at Gibraltar he met a Portuguese gentleman condemned by King John III to live with his wife and children in Barbary. Out of charity and compassion he agreed to serve the family without wages. Several months later the gentleman lost all his goods and fell ill. John began to work in the meanest jobs in order to earn wages for the upkeep of the family, while continuing to seek martyrdom at the hands of the Muslims. Yet he grew alarmed when one of his fellow laborers fell into apostasy and his confessor told him that by his quest for martyrdom he was tempting God and deluding himself. Knowing these words came from the Holy Ghost, St. John abandoned these endeavors and returned to Spain. He became a pious peddler, selling holy images, prayer books and sacramentals, so that he could exhort his customers to greater virtue. In 1538, when he was 43, he opened a small devotional shop in Granada.

SAINTS ARE FORMED BY SAINTS
It was here that he heard a sermon preached by St. John of Avila, the Apostle of Andalusia (1499-1569). It was on the great feast of St. Sebastian, a fellow soldier. John melted into tears and filled the church with his lamentations. Detesting his past life, he beat his breast and cried for mercy. He ran through the streets of the city tearing his hair and bewailing his sins in such a crazed manner that the local rabble chased him with sticks and stones. Beaten and bloody he sold all he had in order to live in absolute poverty. He wished to die to himself and be crucified with Christ. He wandered the streets like a madman until someone compassionately took him to St. John of Avila. The Saint heard his general confession, promised to aid him, and began to provide him with authentic spiritual direction. Yet John of God believed he needed still further humiliation and penance. He returned to his life on the streets, acted as a lunatic, and was confined to an asylum. St. John of Avila found him there wasted away, covered with sores and at the point of death from starvation and lack of hygiene. St. John of Avila convinced him that his penances had been sufficient and that now he would give God greater glory by doing something more conducive to the common good.

OUR LADY INTERVENES
At age forty-five, John made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura (in Spain) to recommend himself to her care. He was greatly devoted to our Lady and consecrated his life and his work to her. Inspired by this visit, he began to work by selling wood in the marketplace and to feed the poor by his labor. This work enabled him to rent a house which he dedicated to the sick who were too poor to be taken care of in a hospital. Support for his efforts among the local population grew as people admired the witness of his example and found inspiration in the proof of his conversion. He was given a sizable donation by the Archbishop of Granada who had taken notice of his work and approved. Imitating their bishop, many people then began to support his work. St. John of God was able to build two large hospitals in the city of Granada from alms collected from the faithful.

A NEW ORDER FOR THE SICK
He also founded the order of Brothers Hospitallers for the service of the sick (these members were also called the Brothers of St. John of God). The Bishop of Tuy invited the holy man to dinner and put several questions to him. He was greatly impressed and held John in the highest esteem. This prelate is the one who gave him the name “John of God”. He prescribed for him a kind of habit and insisted upon the founding of his order which he endorsed. John had never sought to found an order. In fact, it was not until six years after his death (1556) that the rules were drawn up which bore his name and it was not until 1570 that the brethren of this order began to take religious vows.

HIS HEROIC VIRTUE
John was famous for his kindness toward the poor and his contempt for himself. We should admire the fervor of his conversion, his desire for humiliation, and his holy hatred for his self and his past criminal life. He shed many tears of contrition and practiced incredible corporal austerities. He spent much time in prayer and was given the grace of ecstasies. He meditated constantly on the Passion of our Lord and often prayed: “Lord, Thy thorns are my roses, and Thy sufferings my paradise.” Several stories from his life illustrate the many graces he received.

SINGULAR EVENTS FROM HIS LIFE
The Marquis of Tarisa sought to test him. He came dressed as a beggar and requested alms on pretense of a necessary lawsuit. St. John treated him as royalty and gave him 25 ducats, all he had. The Marquis was so impressed by his generosity and nobility that he began to send regular shipments of food and clothing for his hospitals.

On another occasion, one of his hospitals was burnt to the ground. During the raging inferno, St. John thought nothing of himself but only of saving the invalids within the burning edifice. He carried most of the sick out on his own back, returning time and time again, and not once being hurt by the scorching flames and poisonous fumes.

His fame grew so great that kings and princes seemed to vie with each other in giving him alms. He was able to found many other homes and hospitals in other parts of Spain. Yet he never grew prideful. Instead, he seemed to thrive on humiliations. One day a woman calumniated him and called him a hypocrite. In private, he sought her out, gave her money and asked her to repeat all she had said in the town market!

He took particular care for young maidens in distress for he did not want them to fall into a dissolute life on account of want. He placed crucifixes in the hands of unrepentant sinners and exhorted them to convert.

One night, St. John found a poor man on the streets who seemed half-dead. He carried him to his hospital. There he put him to bed, fed him some soup, and began to bathe him, as was his custom. But when he reached the poor man’s feet, how surprised he was to see that the feet were pierced like the Crucified Lord’s. When John looked up, he beheld the glorious face of Jesus Himself! With great love, Our Lord said: “John, everything you do for the poor in My name you do for Me.” Then Christ disappeared and St. John was left with a great joy and burning fire in his heart.

DEATH AND VENERATION
After ten years of hard work in hospitals among the most wretched and diseased, St. John himself was seized by a grave illness. He left all his hospitals in perfect administration and well stocked with provisions. Members of the nobility insisted on caring for him, yet he only permitted it after the Archbishop ordered it. All the people of the city came and wept at his bedside – for they knew a great saint was dying. The magistrates begged him to give the populace his blessing, but he responded that he was the most wretched of all the sinners and unduly evil to bless anyone. He finally gave his blessing out of obedience when the Archbishop commanded him. The Archbishop then offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in his chamber, heard his confession, and gave him viaticum and extreme unction. St. John clung with hands and heart to the Lord Christ hanging on the Cross, and died on his knees in front of the altar on 8 March 1550. The Archbishop, accompanied by all his clergy, the nobility of Granada, and the entire city, buried him with utmost pomp.

St. John of God was honored by God with many subsequent miracles. Pope Urban VIII beatified him (1630) and Pope Alexander VII enrolled him among the Saints (1690). Pope St. Pius V approved his order of charity to serve the poor. Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him the heavenly patron of all hospitals of the needy poor all over the world, and ordered his name to be invoked in the litany for the dying.

PRAYER - COLLECT OF THE DAY
O God, Who didst cause blessed John, burning with Thy love, to pass through flames unharmed, and didst enrich Thy Church with a new offspring through him: grant in view of his merits: that our sins may be destroyed in the fire of Thy love and we ourselves healed unto life everlasting. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Note: For those who have traveled to Quito, perhaps on pilgrimage to see our Lady of Good Success, there is an old hospital attached to a church in the downtown area which bears the name “St. John of God.” For many years it served the poorest and most destitute of Quito, those who were refused at other hospitals. Today it is a museum but a larger hospital was built just outside the city center and is still in use today. Thus his memory and work live on throughout the world.