St. John of God, Patron of the Sick and the Dying

The Church observes the optional memorial of Saint John of God on March 8th. Of Portuguese descent, he was first a shepherd, a dealer and then a soldier. At the age of forty, he was converted, and devoted himself to the care of those sick in mind and body. John proved in various thankless tasks to be a true innovator and a saint of super-human virtue and compassion. He founded the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers, which bears his name. He died at Granada, Spain in 1550.

St. John of God was so called because of the great love he had for others. That love was made manifest in the hospitals he established, some of which exist to this day. He once wrote “When I see so many of my brethren in poverty, and my neighbors suffering beyond their strength, and oppressed in mind or body by so many cares and am unable to help them, it causes me exceeding sorrow.”

These words show that John of God shared the same love that God has; a love that is sorrowful in the face of human degradation, poverty and suffering. Can the same be said of us? Are our hearts moved with pity for the suffering of the world? During Lent we should pray for and about the needs of others. May our prayers move us to sacrifice in order to help others materially and spiritually.

When someone complained to the archbishop about the kind of people John was caring for, John replied, "I know of no bad person in my hospital, except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor." Pope Leo XIII named him patron of hospitals and of the sick and had his name placed in the Litanies of the Dying. O God, who filled St. John of God with a spirit of loving compassion, grant, we pray, that, giving ourselves to works of charity, we may merit to be among the blessed in your Kingdom. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.