Saint John of God
Also known as
· Juan de Dios
· Juan Ciudad
Memorial
· 8 March
Profile
Our saint today spent a wild youth. He was at one time or another a shepherd and a soldier of fortune (mercenary).
For some reason he became mentally unhinged and had a brief bout of, for want of a better term “insanity.” That might be the 16th century polite term for what was probably alcoholism, brought on, in part, by his work as soldier for hire. It is not clear, it might also have been a schitzofreniform disorder.
Maybe as part of his mental disease, or his alcoholism he apparently was homeless for a while, like many of our undomiciled brethren today and from the same etiology, supporting himself by peddling religious books and pictures in Gibraltar, though without any real religious conviction himself.
In his 40’s he received a vision, this one was of the Infant Jesus who called our Saint, “John of God.” Some cynics would argue that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (the DSM 4), visual and auditory hallucinations along with grandiosity of ideas and self-identity, are hallmarks of Schizophrenia. This would be yet another sainthood stopped with the proper use of Thorazine; I again, digress.
Anyhoo…To make up for the misery he had caused as a soldier, he left the mercenary life behind him. John then 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. John founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. He is the patron saint of heart disease.
Our Saint contracted a very bad case of aspiration pneumonia while trying to save a drowning man. Remember scouts: “Reach, Throw, Row, Then go…” While in Spain, praying before a crucifix he succumbed to this malady, on this date, which is also the date of his birth.
Born
· 8 March 1495 Portugal
Died
· 8 March 1550 at Granada,
Patronage
· against alcoholism
· against bodily ills
· against sickness
· alcoholics
· bookbinders
· booksellers
· dying people
· firefighters
· heart patients
The homeless
· hospitals
· hospital workers
· nurses
· publishers
· printers
· sick people
· Juan de Dios
· Juan Ciudad
Memorial
· 8 March
Profile
Our saint today spent a wild youth. He was at one time or another a shepherd and a soldier of fortune (mercenary).
For some reason he became mentally unhinged and had a brief bout of, for want of a better term “insanity.” That might be the 16th century polite term for what was probably alcoholism, brought on, in part, by his work as soldier for hire. It is not clear, it might also have been a schitzofreniform disorder.
Maybe as part of his mental disease, or his alcoholism he apparently was homeless for a while, like many of our undomiciled brethren today and from the same etiology, supporting himself by peddling religious books and pictures in Gibraltar, though without any real religious conviction himself.
In his 40’s he received a vision, this one was of the Infant Jesus who called our Saint, “John of God.” Some cynics would argue that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition (the DSM 4), visual and auditory hallucinations along with grandiosity of ideas and self-identity, are hallmarks of Schizophrenia. This would be yet another sainthood stopped with the proper use of Thorazine; I again, digress.
Anyhoo…To make up for the misery he had caused as a soldier, he left the mercenary life behind him. John then 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. John founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. He is the patron saint of heart disease.
Our Saint contracted a very bad case of aspiration pneumonia while trying to save a drowning man. Remember scouts: “Reach, Throw, Row, Then go…” While in Spain, praying before a crucifix he succumbed to this malady, on this date, which is also the date of his birth.
Born
· 8 March 1495 Portugal
Died
· 8 March 1550 at Granada,
Patronage
· against alcoholism
· against bodily ills
· against sickness
· alcoholics
· bookbinders
· booksellers
· dying people
· firefighters
· heart patients
The homeless
· hospitals
· hospital workers
· nurses
· publishers
· printers
· sick people
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