St John of God: Life, Prayer, Patron Saint and Feast Day

St John of God (1495-1550) was a Portuguese shepherd, soldier and seller of books who, converted by a sermon at Granada, was locked up as a madman and came out of the asylum to spend the rest of his life carrying the sick poor on his own shoulders. From the house he opened for them grew the Brothers Hospitallers, and the Church has made him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and of the sick, and later of nurses. His feast in the calendar of 1962 is 8 March, the day of his death; here is his life, why he is called "of God", his patronages, and the prayer of his Mass in the Missal of 1962.

Who was St John of God?

John was born in 1495 at Montemor-o-Novo, in the kingdom of Portugal, of devout Catholic parents. The Breviary, in the lessons of his feast, relates that an unusual light shone over the house at his birth and that the church bell rang of its own accord: it gives these signs as the announcement of his future holiness, and we give them as the Breviary does.

His early life was unsettled. He kept sheep, and served as a soldier in the armies of the Emperor Charles V. Afterwards he made a poor living selling religious books and pictures in the south of Spain, and at last settled at Granada. The Breviary sums up those years in one phrase: he was called back, by the power of God, "from a too careless way of life".

The madman of Granada

At Granada he heard a sermon of the preacher Blessed John of Avila and was so struck by it that he gave away all he had, ran through the streets beating his breast and crying to God for mercy, and became, says the Breviary, "a spectacle to the whole people" by his penance and his contempt for himself. Many took him for a madman, treated him harshly, and had him shut up in the prison kept for the insane.

When he came out of the asylum, he rented a house in Granada, and began to take in the sick and the destitute, begging in the streets for their food and nursing them himself. "Burning still more with heavenly charity," the Breviary goes on, he built at Granada, from the alms of the faithful, a large double hospital, and laid the foundation of a new order, the Brothers of Hospitality, who serve the sick "to the great profit of their souls and bodies", and who have spread "far and wide through the world". They are known today as the Brothers Hospitallers of St John of God, and in Italy as the Fatebenefratelli.

Why is he called John of God?

He was baptized simply John. Tradition says that the Infant Jesus appeared to him and gave him the name "John of God"; the Catholic Encyclopedia gives this as something "he is said to have been granted". What is certain is that the bishop of Tuy, Don Sebastián Ramírez, to stop him giving his cloak away to every beggar he met, had a habit made for him, which his brethren later adopted, and confirmed for good the name of John of God.

What is St John of God known for?

Carrying the sick on his shoulders

The poor sick, whom he sometimes carried home on his own shoulders, lacked nothing in his house for the health of soul or body. His charity did not stop at the door: he secretly fed poor widows, and above all young girls in danger, and laboured without rest to rescue those who had fallen from a life of sin. The Gospel of his Mass is the great commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind... And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (St Matthew xxii. 37-39). His life was the commentary on it.

Through the fire unharmed

The most famous scene of his life is told in the Breviary. When a great fire broke out in the royal hospital of Granada, John rushed into the flames without fear, ran from one side to the other, carried out the sick on his shoulders and threw the beds out of the windows, and for half an hour moved among flames that grew ever higher; then he came out unharmed, to the amazement of the whole city. The Breviary draws the lesson in a single sentence: the fire that burned outside him was weaker than the fire that burned within. The Collect of his feast takes up the same image, as you will see below.

His virtues

The Breviary praises his many austerities, his lowly obedience, his extreme poverty, his love of prayer and contemplation, his devotion to the Blessed Virgin and his gift of tears.

How did St John of God die?

His last illness, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, came from a heroic but vain attempt to save a young man from drowning. Gravely ill, he received all the sacraments of the Church. Then, though his strength was gone, he rose from his bed, dressed, fell on his knees, and, clasping Christ hanging on the cross "with his hand and his heart", he died in the kiss of the Lord on 8 March 1550, at Granada. The Breviary adds that even in death he held the crucifix and did not let it go, and that his body remained kneeling for about six hours, until it was moved, before the whole city, giving off a wonderful fragrance.

Where is St John of God buried?

His body was first laid in the church of Our Lady of Victory, which belonged to the Minim friars of Granada. In 1664 his brethren translated it to their own church, and his relics now rest in a silver urn in the camarín above the high altar of the basilica of San Juan de Dios at Granada, built in the eighteenth century on the site of his hospital.

When was St John of God canonized?

He was canonized by Pope Alexander VIII, as the Breviary records, on 16 October 1690, for the many miracles that made him famous before and after his death.

What is St John of God the patron saint of?

Here the Church has spoken, and we can be precise:

• Leo XIII declared him, in 1886, together with St Camillus de Lellis, the heavenly patron of all hospitals and of the sick everywhere, and ordered his name to be invoked in the litany for the dying. The Breviary records both acts.
• Pius XI, in 1930, made the two saints patrons of nurses and of their Catholic associations.

So it is that in the Commendation of a Soul departing, in the Roman Ritual, the litany for the dying calls on him by name, next to St Camillus:

Sancte Camille, ora.

Sancte Ioannes de Deo, ora.

Saint Camillus, pray.

Saint John of God, pray.

For the other great patron of the sick, see our page on St Camillus de Lellis; for the sacrament of the sick and the last rites, our page on Extreme Unction.

Popular devotion adds other titles. Because he once sold books, he is often called a patron of booksellers; many pray to him for heart patients, and a "prayer to St John of God for heart patients" is widely sought. We have found no act of the Holy See behind these; they are customs of piety, and the sure ground of his patronage remains the sick, hospitals, nurses and the dying.

The prayer of St John of God (Missal of 1962)

His Mass is from the Common of Confessors not Bishops, Os justi, with the Epistle "Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold" (Ecclesiasticus xxxi. 8) and the Gospel of the great commandment. The Collect is proper to him:

Collect, 8 March

Deus, qui beátum Joánnem, tuo amóre succénsum, inter flammas innóxium incédere fecísti, et per eum Ecclésiam tuam nova prole fœcundásti: præsta, ipsíus suffragántibus méritis; ut igne caritátis tuæ vitia nostra curéntur, et remédia nobis ætérna provéniant. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. R. Amen.

O God, who didst cause blessed John, inflamed with Thy love, to walk unharmed amid the flames, and through him didst make Thy Church fruitful with a new offspring: grant, by the help of his merits, that our vices may be healed by the fire of Thy charity, and that eternal remedies may come to us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.

The Church's own prayer to St John of God asks for exactly what he lived: that the fire of God's love should heal our vices as it once kept him safe in the flames. It is the best prayer to him for the sick and for those who nurse them, and it can be said on any day. For a nine-day devotion before his feast, see our novena to St John of God; and for prayers to say at a sick bed, our page on prayer for the sick.

When is the feast day of St John of God?

The feast of St John of God falls on 8 March, the day of his death. In the calendar of 1962 it is a feast of the third class, in white vestments, with Gloria and without Credo.

But 8 March almost always falls in Lent, and under the rubrics of 1960 a Lenten weekday outranks a feast of the third class. In those years St John of God is kept by a commemoration: the Mass and Office are of the Lenten day, and his Collect is added to the prayer of the day.

When 8 March falls on a Sunday of Lent, or is itself Ash Wednesday, both days of the first class, he is not commemorated at all that year. Only when Easter is very late, and Lent has not yet begun on 8 March, is his feast kept in full, with its own Mass. The dates for the current year are in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962, and his place among the saints of the year in our guide to the Catholic saints.

The calendar of 1969 left him on 8 March.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was St John of God?

A Portuguese shepherd, soldier and bookseller who, after his conversion at Granada, gave his life to the sick poor, founded the Brothers Hospitallers, and died in 1550. The Church has made him patron of hospitals, of the sick and of nurses.

Where was St John of God born?

At Montemor-o-Novo, in Portugal, in 1495.

What is St John of God known for?

For his care of the sick poor, whom he carried on his own shoulders, for founding his hospital at Granada and the Brothers Hospitallers, and for rescuing the sick from the fire of the royal hospital of Granada and walking out of the flames unharmed.

Why is St John of God a saint?

Because of his heroic charity, penance and prayer, confirmed by miracles before and after his death; Pope Alexander VIII canonized him in 1690.

How did St John of God die?

On his knees, clasping a crucifix, at Granada on 8 March 1550, after an illness brought on, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, by his attempt to save a young man from drowning.

Where is St John of God buried?

In the basilica of San Juan de Dios at Granada, in a silver urn above the high altar.

What is St John of God's feast day?

8 March, the day of his death, in both the calendar of 1962 and that of 1969.

The Iter Fidei app carries the Roman Missal of 1962, the Breviary, the novena to St John of God and the traditional calendar with every feast and commemoration, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Roman Breviary, 8 March (St John of God, Confessor), historical lessons. Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 8 March, and Common of Confessors not Bishops. Roman Ritual, Commendation of a Soul departing, litany. Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), article "St. John of God". Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version, Ecclesiasticus xxxi. 8; St Matthew xxii. 37-39.