March 8 + Saint John of God

John was a Portuguese-born soldier turned healthcare worker in Spain, whose followers later formed the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, a worldwide Catholic religious institute dedicated to the care of the poor, sick and those suffering from mental disorders.

At 8 years old, John heard a visiting priest speak of adventures that were waiting in the age of 1503 with new worlds being opened up. That very night, he ran away from home to travel with the priest and never saw his parents again. They begged their way from village to village until John fell sick. The man who nursed him back to health, the manager of a large estate, adopted John. John worked as a shepherd in the mountains until he was 27. Feeling pressure to marry the manager's daughter, whom he loved as a sister, John took off to join the Spanish army in the war against France. As a soldier, he was hardly a model of holiness, taking part in the gambling, drinking, and pillaging that his comrades enjoyed. One day, he was thrown from a stolen horse near French lines. Frightened that he would be captured or killed, he reviewed his life and vowed impulsively to make a change.

In 1537, John experienced a major religious conversion on Saint Sebastian's Feast Day (January 20), while listening to a sermon by John of Avila, a leading preacher of the day who was later to become his spiritual director and would encourage him in his quest to improve the life of the poor.

At the age of 42 he had what was perceived at the time as an acute mental breakdown. Moved by the sermon, he soon engaged in a public beating of himself, begging mercy and wildly repenting for his past life. He was incarcerated in the area of the Royal Hospital reserved for the mentally ill and received the treatment of the day, which was to be segregated, chained, flogged and starved. John was visited by John of Avila, who advised him to be more actively involved in tending to the needs of others rather than in enduring personal hardships. John gained peace of heart and shortly after, left the hospital to begin work among the poor.

Around this time, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura, where it is said he experienced a vision of Mary, who encouraged him to work with the poor. John expended all his energy in caring for the neediest people of the city. He established a house where he wisely tended to the needs of the sick and poor, at first doing his own begging. For some time he was alone in his charitable work, soliciting by night the needed medical supplies, and by day attending to the needs of his patients and the hospital. But he soon received the cooperation of charitable priests and physicians.

There are many stories of the heavenly guests who visited him during the early days of his immense tasks, which were lightened at times by the Archangel Raphael in person. To put a stop to his custom of exchanging his cloak with any beggar he chanced to meet, Sebastian Ramirez the Bishop of Tui, had a religious habit made for him, which was later adopted in all its essentials as the religious garb of his followers, and the bishop imposed on him for all time the name given him by the Infant Jesus, John of God.

John became ill after 10 years of service, but tried to disguise his ill health. He began to put the hospital’s administrative work into order and appointed a leader for his helpers. He died on his 55th birthday under the care of a spiritual friend and admirer, Lady Ana Ossorio.

John of God is the Patron Saint of hospitals, the sick, nurses, firefighters, alcoholics and booksellers.