You all know the nurse in me isn't going to let this day go by without mentioning him.
Grew up working as a shepherd in Castile. He led a misspent a wild youth, and travelled over much of Europe and north Africa as a soldier in the army of Charles V, and as a mercenary. Fought through a brief period of insanity. Peddled religous books and pictures in Gibraltar, though without any religious conviction himself. In his 40's he received a vision of the Infant Jesus who called him John of God. To make up for the misery he had caused as a soldier, he left the military, rented a house in Granada, Spain, and began caring for the sick, poor, homeless and unwanted. He gave what he had, begged for those who couldn't, carried those who could not move on their own, and converted both his patients and those who saw him work with them. Friend of Saint John of Avila, on whom he tried to model his life. John founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God.
Patronage
alcoholics; alcoholism; bodily ills; bookbinders; booksellers; dying people; firefighters; heart patients; hospitals; hospital workers; nurses; publishers; printers; sick people; sickness; Tultepec Mexico
Prayer to Saint John of God
Dear Convert, after a sinful life, through the power of God's holy Word you learned to love your fellow human beings. Self-sacrificing, you founded the Society of Hospital Brothers. No wonder the Church made you the patron of patients and nurses. That is why we confidently have recourse to you. Please give assistance to {name of heart patient}, and teach us to be kind like you. Amen.
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