St. John of God

St. John of God was born João Duarte Cidade on 8 March 1495 at Montemor-o-Novo in Portugal. His early life was restless and wandering: he worked as a shepherd, served as a soldier in the campaigns of Europe and North Africa, and traveled widely before settling in Granada, Spain, as a seller of religious books. There, in 1537, a sermon by St. John of Avila pierced his heart so profoundly that he was for a time taken for mad and confined, an experience that opened his eyes to the plight of the sick and the mentally ill.

Emerging with a burning purpose, he opened a house in Granada to shelter the sick, the poor, the homeless, and the outcast, begging for their support through the streets with the cry, "Do good to yourselves!" His selfless charity drew followers, and from his work grew the Order of Brothers Hospitallers, the Brothers of St. John of God. He died on 8 March 1550, having caught a chill rescuing a man from a flooded river. He is a patron of hospitals, nurses, the sick, and firefighters.