Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint John Of God.
Confessor.
Feast Day 8 March.
Double.
White Vestments.
English: Saint John of God.
Español: La obra representa a San Juan de Dios
(1495-1550), de orígen portugués y fundador de la Orden Hospitalaria de San Juan de Dios. En la obra, el santo cae a tierra por llevar a un enfermo, y el Arcángel Gabriel aparece milagrosamente para ayudarle.
Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).
Date: Circa 1672.
This File: 30 March 2016.
User: Tiberioclaudio99
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint John of God was born in Portugal in 1495. After a stormy youth, at the age of forty he was one day listening to The Word of God, when he felt himself so inflamed with Divine Charity towards his neighbour, that he distributed all he possessed to The Poor and Consecrated his life to their service.
The Love of God is one with that of our neighbour, says the Gospel, for men bear in themselves the image of The Heavenly Father, Whose sons they are, in virtue of their union with God and Jesus by Grace.
Through his disinterestedness, and thanks to alms (Epistle), which Saint John obtained for the erection of two large hospitals at Granada, “he enriched The Church with a new family” (Collect), which took the name of Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, and which, imitating Christ in His Apostolic Life, devotes itself to the healing of bodies and of Souls.
A great fire having broken out in a hospital, he fearlessly rushed into the flames and saved all the sick, because the fire burning in his heart was greater than that which raged around (Collect).
Saint John, whose Divine Love caused his name to be joined to the name of God, was continually absorbed in the contemplation of Heavenly things (Introit). Struck down by a severe illness, after receiving The Last Sacraments, he fell on his knees and died, pressing to his heart the Crucifix. This happened at Granada in 1550.
Pope Leo XIII declared him Patron of Hospitallers and of The Sick, and commanded his name to be placed in The Litanies of The Dying.
Following the example of Saint John of God, let us fill our hearts with the fire of Divine Charity, which will purify us of our vices, and let us have recourse to the protection of this Saint, that we may always be provided with the remedies which conduce to Eternal Life (Collect).
Mass: Os justi.
Commemoration: In Lent. Of The Feria.
Last Gospel: In Lent. Of The Feria.
A very interesting saint, thank you, Zephyrinus: this article spurred me to refresh my memory of the events of his tumultuous life.
ReplyDeleteS. John of God, a wonderful patron for everyone who experiences reverses and trials, which may be all of us, started life as a sheep herder, an occupation he often returned to which allowed him time for prayer and thought. However the master of the estate wanted him to marry his daughter, so to escape this betrothal, he joined the Count of Oropeza's forces and those of Emperor Charles V to fight the French. He went on to be a valorous soldier for much of his first 42 years, his longest campaign serving for 18 years while fighting in Hungary with Holy Roman Empire forces to drive out the Turks.
Weary of war and campaigns he returned eventually to Spain (he was Portuguese by birth), and experienced a mid-life conversion when hearing a sermon in Granada by S. John of Avila, who was one of the associates of S. Teresa of Avila. Around this time, he saved up and bought a Gutenberg moveable-type printing press, which he diligently employed to publish spiritual books and becoming a bookseller, he set up a Catholic book shop in Granada.
However, like S. Martin de Porres, he had always had a penchant for tending to the sick and nursing them to health: So, traveling to the original Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura, Spain, he received an inspiration to open a hospital and care for the sick. He begged medical supplies and funds from the people of the city, and eventually medical doctors and charity-minded priests began to financially assist him. It is said however in his own writings that often he could not go out in the streets during the day, for fear of being arrested by creditors and thrown in debtors prison. It is said that when he would meet a beggar in the streets he would take off his own cloak and give it away---so that the local bishop insisted he wear a modified religious habit, to stop him from his extreme acts of charity. He literally was a man "who would give you the shirt off his back."
In fact, S John of God died in March, 1550 at the age of 55, after contracting pneumonia when he leapt into a river while trying to save a young man from drowning. Even to the end, he gave of himself to the last ounce of effort.
For many of us who have many sequences in our lives, some with successes, some not so much, S. John of God and his immense charity toward the sick and indigent is a reminder of what we could and should be doing. Perfect for Lent. = Note by Dante P
An outstanding contribution to this Article from Dante P. Many thanks, indeed. Many of the points mentioned were unknown to Zephyrinus and, therefore, one's knowledge has been enhanced. As Dante P says: “ . . . Perfect for Lent ”.
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