The Founder, St John of God
Juan Ciudad was born at
Montemor-o-novo (Evora), Portugal, in 1495. When he was eight years old, he
left for Spain with the cleric who had spent the night in his home, and stayed
at Oropesa (Toledo) working in the service of the home of Francisco Mayoral.
He spent most of his life
there. The Mayorals were pastoralists. He devoted almost 20 years to grazing
the sheep. Everyone liked him. It was in this time that we believe he was
developing the true meaning of life, passing through the typical ups and downs
of his teenage years, his youth and his maturer years.
On two occasions he left
Oropesa, both times to enlist as a soldier in the war. The first time he went
to the French border, to Fuenterrabía. Things did not work out well for him. He
returned home to Oropesa a failure. The second time he went to Vienna, Austria,
to fight the Turks. After that, he never went back to Oropesa.
Sailing back to Spain from
Vienna he passed through Galicia and visited his home town, where he met
practically no one he knew. He had a powerful sense that Jesus Christ was
calling him to give himself up to serve the poor and the sick. Leaving
Montemor-o Novo, he became like a wanderer searching to find whatever it was
that the Lord wanted of him: Seville, Gibraltar and finally he reached Granada
where he set himself up as a seller of books on chivalry, and also on religion.
In 1539, as he was listening
to a sermon by Saint John of Avila at the Hermitage of the Martyrs, his whole
being was transformed and he suffered from a massive crisis of faith, leaving
the Hermitage screaming and rolling upon the ground; he destroyed his bookshop,
and continued acting strangely in this manner for several days, until,
considering him to be out of his mind, he was locked up in the Royal Hospital
of Granada. He left a few months later, completely calm, at peace with himself,
and ready to follow the Lord by offering himself to serve others.
He placed himself under the
spiritual direction of St John of Avila, went on pilgrimage to the Shrine of
our Lady of Guadalupe, and on his way home he passed through Baeza where he
spent some time with the King of Spain, and as soon as he returned to Granada
he began his work of caring for the sick and needy poor.
He started with absolutely
nothing. The local people thought that he had gone mad again. But Little by
little they began to understand how sane he really was. He worked, he begged,
he gathered in the poor, he devoted himself to them at first but, little by
little, other people came along as volunteers and benefactors. The way he
begged for alms was highly original, as he cried out, "Brothers, do good
to yourselves!".
He eventually founded his
first hospital, the House of God, where there was room for everyone. Several
companions joined him, and care was organised in the manner that he considered
to be what the poor deserved. The Archbishop of Granada changed his name to
John of God. He did a great deal of work on behalf of prostitutes, helping them
to rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society.
He died in 1550, widely
acclaimed as a saint.
John
of God was beatified on 21st September 1630 by Urban VIII and
canonized on 16th October 1690 by Alexander VIII.
In
1886 Leo XIII proclaimed him Celestial Patron of hospitals and the sick and in
1930 Pius XI elected him Patron of nurses and their associations.
