John was born in 1495 to middle-class parents in Portugal. Unfortunately, at the age of eight, he was abducted by a stranger and ultimately left homeless in a lonely section of Spain. He worked as a shepherd until the age of 22, at which point he had the chance to enlist in the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. But this seemingly good fortune would ultimately bring John further suffering.

John lived and fought among the emperor's foot soldiers for the next eighteen years, first against the French and then the Turks. His morals started to deteriorate as he gave up his early years of piety in favor of a harsh and reckless lifestyle. There were moments when John's conscience bothered him, especially when he thought back to his early years before he was taken away from his parents. And even though he turned to a violent and plundering lifestyle, he had a soft spot for the underprivileged and would offer charity to them.

On two separate occasions, once after falling wounded in enemy territory and the other while nearly being executed but for another soldier's intervention, John narrowly escaped death all because he instinctively uttered a prayer to the Virgin Mary. Due to the weight of these events, he was determined to make changes in his life once his regiment was dissolved. He started by making a pilgrimage along the "Way of St. James" to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain. There he committed to live a life of repentance and acknowledged his misdeeds.

Following his return to Portugal, he found out about his parent's whereabouts. Following the loss of her son, his mother passed away in grief, and his father subsequently joined the Franciscan order as a monk.

Twenty years later, at the age of forty-two, John went back to Spain and resumed working as a shepherd, almost exactly where he had left off. But this time, he was determined to put his newly found trust in God into practice.

He made a quick trip to North Africa in an attempt to assist Christians who had been taken prisoner by Muslims. But in the end, he went back to Spain and worked by selling religious books and other goods, where he always urged his clients to practice their faith in a real way. St. John of God's later reverence as the patron saint of bookshops stems from this time in his life.

But eventually, he felt driven to dedicate his life to helping the underprivileged, ill, and vulnerable. By opening his home to them, he made it possible for it to develop into a halfway house, hospital, and homeless shelter that is all managed by himself. When he wasn't tending to injured residents or mediating altercations between them, he would go door-to-door pleading for them.

After approving his effort, the Granada Bishop bestowed the title "John of God" upon him. Many of the volunteers who joined him in his work had initially approached him when they were in great need themselves.

Resentful of his work, many attacked John's reputation by pointing up his prior transgressions; yet, John remained unaffected in his humility and accepted the truth of what was said as evidence of God's grace in his life.

John spent 15 years serving the sick and needy before dying as a result of a charitable gesture. He rescued a man who was drowning by jumping into a chilly river, but he returned home weak and shivering after the experience. He collapsed into one of his own hospital beds, where he continued to deteriorate.

The final rites were administered by the Bishop of Granada and John shared a lot of his fears with the bishop as he got ready to die.

He stated “There are three things that make me uneasy, the first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own. The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly. The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.”

But the bishop reassured him that there was nothing to be afraid of. After requesting privacy, John used all of his remaining energy to get out of bed and prostrate himself in front of a cross.

On the evening of March 7, 1550, he passed away in prayer with his face placed on the image of Christ. Since his canonization in 1690, St. John of God has also been revered as the patron saint of hospitals and the dying. His feast day is celebrated on March 8.

Other Saints of the Day
Saint Duthac
Saint Simon Berneux
Saint Vincent Kadlubek
Saint Arian and Companions
Saint Theophylact of Nicomedia