I LIKE BOOKS! I WORK IN HEALTH CARE! John of God Is the Perfect Saint for Me!

Last updated on: September 8, 2016 at 7:52 pm by Kathy Schiffer

I LIKE BOOKS! I WORK IN HEALTH CARE! John of God Is the Perfect Saint for Me! 2016-09-08T19:52:17-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Talk about impulsivity! When St. John of God, whose feast we celebrate today, set his mind on something, he just did it. Immediately. Without looking back.

Here’s what I mean: When he was eight years old, he heard an itinerant priest talk about the adventure of spreading the faith in distant places. Late that night, John rose to follow the priest—and he never saw his parents again. [Children: Don’t try this at home.]

He worked as a shepherd, then joined the Spanish navy. At 38, John set off for the port of Gibraltar to rescue Christians held captive in Africa. But before he set foot on the ship, he met a tearful family at the dock who were, he learned, being exiled to Africa. He immediately changed his plans and became their servant—nursing them when illness beset the family, even working to buy food for them.

Not done yet, John hired on as a dockworker, unloading ships’ cargo. He loved to read—so he quit his job and began to peddle books, so that others could find the same pleasure in the printed word.

It was a dramatic homily by John of Avila that became the turning point for the younger John. Listening to the preacher talk about repentance, John of God became distressed about his sins and went on a rampage—tearing up any secular books in his shop, giving away all of his religious books and his money. He roamed the town, wearing shredded clothing and weeping in sorrow, until the townspeople thought him insane. Friends escorted him to the Royal Hospital, where he was housed with the lunatics.

John suffered ill treatment at the Royal Hospital for forty days. When that period came to an end, John of Avila visited, and was able to have the younger man transferred to a better section of the hospital. There, no longer tethered as he had been in the insane ward, he immediately began helping to care for the other sick people around him. He soon opened a hospital for the poor in Granada, which he supported by begging in the streets.

When the Royal Hospital caught fire, John burst into the blazing building to try to save the patients. During the rescue attempt, he once fell through a burning roof into the building—but, according to legend, emerged safe atop a puff of smoke. For this reason, John of God is honored as the patron of firefighters.

When John heard that a flood was approaching the town, carrying with it valuable driftwood, John hopped up and rushed to the river to gather the wood. When a friend fell into the river, John dove in after him, catching the pneumonia which finally took his life on his 55th birthday.

John of God, jack of all trades, has been called the patron saint of booksellers, printers, heart patients, hospitals, nurses, the sick, and firefighters. He is considered the founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.

Previous Post

March 6, 2011

REMEMBER, MAN, THAT YOU ARE DUST: Yeah, Right.

Next Post

March 9, 2011 A JUXTAPOSITION OF SYMBOLS: Keep Your Sacrifices Secret. And Plaster Ashes All Over Your Face.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Synod14 Abortion Abstinence Abuse Addiction Adoption Advent Adventure Advertising Aging Agnosticism All Saints Day All Souls Day Amish Anathema Angels Anglican Animals Annulment Annunciation Apocalypse Apologetics Apostles Apostleship of the Sea Apparitions Archangels Archbishop Cordileone Archbishop Dolan Archbishop Vigneron Archeology Architecture Art Art Buchwald Ash Wednesday Assisted Suicide Astronauts Atheism Athletes Babies Baptism Beatification Beauty Bible Biochemistry Bioethics Birds Bishop Lori Bishops Blasphemy Books Canon Law Canonization Capital Punishment Cardinal Burke Cardinal Dolan Cardinal George Caritas Catechesis Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic Catholic Education Catholic Higher Education Catholic Social Teaching Celibacy Cemeteries Character Charity Chastity Cheapskate Christian Unity Christmas Churches Civil Rights Cloning Comedy Communion of Saints Community Kitchens Confession Confirmation Conscience Consequences Consistory Constitution Contraception Conversion Cooking Councils of the Church Creativity Criminal Justice Cristero War Crucifixion Crystal Cathedral Culture Death Death and Dying Death Penalty Department of Health and Human Services Diaconate Dictatorship of Relativism Dignity Disability Discrimination Dissidence Divorce Doctors of the Church Early Church Fathers Easter Economics Ecumenism Education Encyclicals Environmentalism Episcopal Church Eucharist Euthanasia Evangelism Evangelists Evangelization Evolution Excuses Facebook Faith Families Family Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Federal Government Feminism Fiction Film First Amendment First Communion For Greater Glory Forgiveness Free Speech Friends Friendship Gender Discrimination Germany Gnosticism Good Friday Government Grace Greed Gregorian Calendar Happiness Health Heaven Heresy History Holidays Holiness Hollywood Holy Land Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Week Holy Year Home Sweet Home Homosexuality Hope Humanism Humility Humor Imagination Immaculate Conception Immigration Impulsivity In Vitro Fertilization Incarnation Indulgences Infallibility Internet Islam Italy Jerusalem Jesus Judaism Justice Kathleen Sebelius Labor Movement LCWR Lent Life Literature Liturgy Lourdes Love Magi Marketing Marriage Martyrdom Martyrs Mary Mass Media Medical Ethics Mexico Michigan Miracles Missionaries Modernism Modesty Monks Monothelitism Motherhood Movies Mushrooms Music Muslim Mystery Mysticism Mythology Nativity Natural Law Nature New Evangelization New Media New Year New Year's Resolutions Nostalgia Obscenity Occult Old Testament Origen Orthodox Orvieto Pallium Papacy Parenting Patience Patriarch Bartholomew Patriotism Peace Peace and Justice Penitence Pentecost People Persecution Philosophy Poetry Political activism Political Correctness Politics Polls Pop Culture Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope St. Pius X Pope Urban VII Population Prayer Preaching Prejudice Pride Priesthood Pro-Life Protestantism Psychology Purgatory Queenship of Mary Racism Rape Real Presence Reconciliation Reformation Relics Religious Religious Liberty Reliquary Renewal Reproductive Technology Resurrection Rights Romance Rome Royalty Sacraments Sacred Heart Saints Satanism Science Science Fiction Scripture Seal of Confession Secularism Seniors September 11 Seventy Times Seven Sexuality Sharks Sin Smoking Social Communications Social Justice Social Networking Social Sciences Space Exploration Spirituality Sports St. Luke St. Patrick's Day St. Paul St. Peter St. Teresa of Avila Stations of the Cross Steve Jobs Superstition Supreme Court Symbolism Synod Technology Teen Rebellion Television Terrorism Thankfulness Thanksgiving Theology Think This, Not That Tobit Toilets Toys Tradition Traditions Transplants Travel Trinity Twitter U.S. Air Force Uncategorized United Nations USCCB Valentine Vatican Vatican Archives Vatican Blogfest Virtue Vocations Where We Pray White Heart Women World Day of Social Communications World Meeting of Families World News World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Consecrated Life Year of Faith Year of Mercy Youth

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am patient and kind. I do not envy or boast. I never fail and endure all things. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hope Grace Love Faith