John of God

For other uses, see John of God (disambiguation).

Saint John of God
By Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Founder, Nurse
Born	March 8, 1495 Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal / Casarrubios del Monte, Spain
Died	March 8, 1550 (aged 55) Granada, Spain
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	September 21, 1630 by Pope Urban VIII
Canonized	October 16, 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII
Feast	March 8
Attributes	Pomegranate (fruit), sick person in his arms
Patronage	Granada (co-patron), Natá de los Caballeros (Panama), Mapulaca , Panama, San Juan de Dios, Desamparados, Costa Rica, Montemor-o-Novo Of hospitals, the sick, nurses, firefighters, alcoholics and booksellers.

Saint John of God saving the sick from the fire at the Royal Hospital, Manuel Gómez-Moreno González (1880). Museum of Fine Arts of Granada.

Altar of the Church of Saint John of God in León, Guanajuato, Mexico

Saint John of God, O.H. (in Portuguese São João de Deus) (Montemor-o-Novo, Montemayor in Spanish, or Casarrubios del Monte, Spain, March 8, 1495 – Granada, March 8, 1550) was a nurse, an innovator in the hospital care of his time and a precursor of modern nursing, and the founder of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God.

Saint John of God was beatified and canonized, and he is the patron saint of the sick, nurses, hospitals and firefighters.

Biography

There is controversy over his place of birth. While his first biographer, Francisco de Castro (1585), stated that he was born in Portugal, perhaps to obscure his origins since he was not an Old Christian, as his mother was Christian and his father Jewish, other sources indicate that he was born in the town of Casarrubios del Monte, as was recorded in 1951 through the Relaciones histórico-geográficas de los pueblos de España hechas por iniciativa de Felipe II, I, Reino de Toledo, realizadas el 10 de febrero de 1575, where it is said that he was born in that town of Toledo.

However, all agree that he spent at least part of his early childhood in Portugal, where his family probably moved, like so many others of the Jewish religion, after the promulgation of the Edict of Granada, and it is also possible that after the subsequent persecutions against the Jews promoted by Manuel I of Portugal, his family decided that Spain was a safer place for the child after all.

At the age of 8, according to Francisco de Castro, a cleric brought him back to Spain and left him in Torralba de Oropesa (Toledo), where he lived and worked in the house of the steward of the Count of Oropesa, Francisco Mayoral. There he received a Christian education and the studies typical of his time, which he shared with his fellow countryman and friend Saint Alonso de Orozco, in the same environment and family.

At the age of 27 (1523) he enlisted in the troops of the infantry captain Juan Ferruz, who in turn was in the service of the Emperor Charles I, in the defense of Fuenterrabía against the French troops. It was a hard experience for him, and he was expelled for negligence in guarding his company's earnings (he was saved at the last moment from being hanged). Despite this, he fought again in the troops of the Count of Oropesa in 1532, in Charles I's relief of Vienna, besieged by the Turks of Suleiman I.

On landing in Spain on the Galician coast, he returned to Portugal to be reunited with his relatives. But this wish was seriously frustrated: his parents had died; only his uncle remained. From there he went to Andalusia and, while passing through Gibraltar, decided to set sail for Africa. On the same ship he met the knight Almeyda, his wife and their four daughters, all of them exiled to Ceuta by the King of Portugal. The father hired him as a servant, but soon they all fell ill, spending the little fortune they had brought with them, and found themselves in need of asking John of God for help. He, already showing the enormous charity that would make him a saint, went to work on the reconstruction of the city walls, enabling them all to eat from his wages. Later he went to Gibraltar, where he became a peddler of books and prints.

In 1538 he moved permanently to Granada and opened a small bookshop at the Puerta de Elvira. The bookshop allowed him to come into contact with devotional, religious and Catholic literature.

On January 20, 1539, a momentous event took place. On hearing a sermon preached by Saint John of Ávila at the Hermitage of the Martyrs, his conversion took place. The words of the saint from La Mancha caused such a shock in him that they led him to destroy the books he sold; he wandered naked through the city; children threw stones at him and everyone mocked him. His behavior was that of a madman and, as such, he was confined in the Royal Hospital. There he dealt with the sick and the beggars and gradually set his ideas and his spirit in order through deep reflection. John calmed his young and impatient spirit and set out on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Extremadura. There his purpose matured, and at the feet of the Virgin he promised to devote himself to the poor, the sick and all the disadvantaged of the world.

John returned to Granada in the autumn of that same year, full of enthusiasm and humanitarian feeling. The resources he had were his own effort and the generosity of the people. At first John used the houses of his benefactors to take in the sick and disadvantaged of the city. But soon he had to rent a house on Calle Lucena, where he set up his first hospital.

On July 3, 1549, a fire broke out in the Royal Hospital of Granada. The voracity of the flames made it impossible to check the fire. Amid the indecision of the inhabitants, John of God threw himself through the fire and began to save the sick who were imploring for help. He also managed to save furniture and belongings from the fire and, wielding an axe, climbed to the highest roofs, cutting beams and timbers to prevent the fire from spreading. When his life was already given up for lost, he appeared amid the flames and smoke with only his eyebrows singed. His fame soon grew throughout Granada, and the Bishop gave him the name John of God.

Over the following ten years his work grew and he opened another hospital on the Cuesta de Gomérez. He was likewise an innovator in the hospital care of his time. His works multiplied and the number of his disciples grew—among whom Antón Martín stands out, founder of the Order's Hospital in Madrid called Our Lady of the Love of God—and the foundations of his work over time were laid.

On March 8, 1550, at the age of 55, John of God died in Granada, a victim of pneumonia as a result of having thrown himself into the Genil River to save a young man who, taking advantage of the river's flooding, had gone to gather firewood but fell into the middle of the current and was on the verge of drowning. A fitting end to a life wholly devoted to others.

He was beatified by Pope Urban VIII on September 1, 1630 and canonized by Pope Alexander VIII on October 16, 1690. He was named patron saint of hospitals and of the sick.

After his death his work spread throughout Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, and today it is present on all five continents.

Saint John of God was buried in the Convent of La Victoria in Granada (Carmen de los Mínimos) in 1550. His remains stayed there until November 28, 1664, when the brothers of his order moved them to the church of the Hospital of Saint John of God. In 1757 a new transfer took place when the Basilica bearing his name was built, in whose camarín they rest permanently.

His personality and his work

Statue of Saint John of God in Vilar de Frades, Barcelos, Portugal.

• A sensitive, human-Christian and social being.
• He goes out to meet those in need and takes them in without setting conditions for their care. Everyone in need has the right to be cared for.
• He develops methods of care that were pioneering in his time. Comprehensive care of the person in need, respecting their dignity and defending their rights.
• He asks the whole of society for resources: “Brothers, do good to yourselves, is that clear?” was his cry and his motto.
• He gathers a group of people who will give continuity to his work (the Brotherhood of John of God).

Museum

In the Casa de los Pisa (Granada) there is a museum in his memory.

External links

• Biografia de San Juan de Dios at the Real Academia de la Historia
• General Curia of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God
• Baetic Province (Our Lady of Peace of Andalusia) of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God Archived 2006-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Province of Aragon (Saint Raphael) of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God
• Province of Castile (Saint John of God) of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God
• Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God in Granada
• Basilica of Saint John of God
• Archive Museum Casa de los Pisa
• Association of Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre of Saint John of God