March 8th - St. John of God

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March 8 – St. John of God, Confessor

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

This day last month we were keeping the feast of St. John of Matha, whose characteristic virtue was charity; our Saint of today was like him: love for his neighbor led him to devote himself to the service of them that most needed help. Both are examples to us of what is a principal duty of this present Season: they are models of Fraternal Charity. They teach us this great lesson—that our love of God is false, if our hearts are not disposed to show mercy to our neighbor, and help him in his necessities and troubles. It is the same lesson as that which the Beloved Disciple gives us when he says: He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall put up his mercy from him—how doth the Charity of God abide in him? But if there can be no love of God, where there is none for our neighbor—the love of our neighbor itself is not genuine, unless it be accompanied by a love of our Creator and Redeemer. The charity which the world has set up, which it calls Philanthropy, and which it exercises not in the name of God, but solely for the sake of man—this pretended virtue is a mere delusion, is incapable of producing love between those who give and those who receive, and its results must, necessarily, be unsatisfactory. There is but one tie which can make men love one another: that tie is God, who created them all, and commands them all to be one in him. To serve mankind for its own sake is to make a god of it; and even viewing the workings of the two systems in this single point of view—the relief they afford to temporal suffering—what comparison is there between mere Philanthropy, and that supernatural Charity of the humble disciples of Christ, who make Him the very motive and end of all they do for their affected brethren? The Saint we honor today was called John of God because the Name of God was ever on his lips. His heroic acts of charity had no other motive than that of pleasing God; God alone was the inspirer of the tender love he had for his suffering fellow creatures. Let us imitate his example, for our Lord assures us that he considers as done to himself, whatsoever we do even for the least of his disciples.

The Liturgy thus portrays the virtues of our Saint.

John of God was born of Catholic and virtuous parents, in Portugal, in the town of Montemor. At his birth, a bright light shone upon the house, and the church bell was heard to ring of itself, God thus evincing to what great things he destined this his servant. For some time he fell into a lax way of living; but was reclaimed by God’s grace, and led a very holy life. His conversion was effected by his hearing a sermon, and so fervently did he practice the exercises of a devout life, that, from the very first, he seemed to have attained the height of perfection. He gave whatsoever he possessed to the poor who were in prison. Extraordinary were the penances he inflicted on himself; and the contempt he had for himself induced him to do certain things, which led some people to accuse him of madness, so that he was for some time confined in a madhouse. His charity only increased by such treatment. He collected alms sufficient to build two large hospitals in the city of Granada, where also he began the new Order, wherewith he enriched the Church. This Order was called the Institute of Friars Hospitallers. Its object was to assist the sick, both in their spiritual and corporal wants. It success was very great, and it had Houses in almost all parts of the world.

The Saint often carried the sick poor on his own shoulders to the hospital, and there he provided them with everything they could want, whether in soul or body. His charity was not confined within the limits of his hospitals. He secretly provided food for indigent widows, and girls whose virtue was exposed to danger. Nothing could exceed the zeal wherewith he labored to reclaim such as had fallen into sins of impurity. On occasion of an immense fire breaking out in the royal Hospital of Granada, John fearlessly threw himself into the midst of the flame. He went through the several wards, taking the sick upon his shoulders, and throwing the beds through the windows, so that all were saved. He remained half an hour amidst the flames, which raged with wildest fury in every part of the building. He was miraculously preserved from the slightest injury, and came forth to the astonishment of the whole city, teaching the people, who had witnessed what had happened, that, in the disciples of charity, there is a fire within their hearts more active than any which could burn the body.

Among the virtues wherein he wonderfully excelled, may be mentioned his many practices of bodily mortification, profound obedience, extreme poverty, love of prayer, contemplation, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He also possessed, in an extraordinary degree, the gift of tears. At length, falling seriously ill, he fervently received the last Sacraments. Though reduced to a state of utter weakness, he dressed himself, rose from his bed, fell on his knees, devoutly took the Crucifix into his hands, pressed it to his heart, and kissing it, died on the eighth of the Ides of March (March 8th), in the year 1550. He remained in this same attitude, with the Crucifix still in his hands, for about six hours after his death. The entire city came to see the holy corpse, which gave forth a heavenly fragrance. The body was then removed, in order that it might be buried. God honored his servant by many miracles, both before and after his death, and he was canonized by Pope Alexander the Eighth.

What a glorious life was thine, O John of God! It was one of charity, and of miracles wrought by charity. Like Vincent of Paul, thou wast poor and, in thy early life, a shepherd boy like him; but the charity which filled thy heart gave thee a power to do what worldly influence and riches never can. Thy name and memory are dear to the Church; they deserve to be held in benediction by all mankind, for thou didst spend thy life in serving thy fellow creatures, for God’s sake. That motive gave thee a devotedness to the poor, which is an impossibility for those who befriend them from mere natural sympathy. Philanthropy may be generous, and its workings may be admirable for ingenuity and order; but it never can look upon the poor man as a sacred object, because it refuses to see God in him. Pray for the men of this generation, that they may at length desist from perverting charity into a mere mechanism of relief. The poor are the representatives of Christ, for he himself has willed that they be such: and if the world refuse to accept them in this their exalted character—if it deny their resemblance to our Redeemer—it may succeed in degrading the poor, but this very degradation will make them enemies of its insulter. Thy predilection, O John of God, was for the sick; have pity, therefore, on our times, which are ambitious to eliminate the supernatural, and exclude God from the world by what is called secularization of society. Pray for us, that we may see how evil a thing it is to have changed the Christian for the worldly spirit. Enkindle holy charity within our hearts, that during these days, when we are striving to draw down the mercy of God upon ourselves, we also may show mercy. May we, as thou didst, imitate the example of our Blessed Redeemer, who gave himself to us who were his enemies, and deigned to adopt us as his Brethren. Protect also the Order thou didst institute, and which has inherited thy spirit; that it may prosper, and spread in every place the sweet odor of that Charity which is its very name.