Founder of the Brothers Hospitallers (1495–1550)

The early life of John of God is cloaked in mystery. He served in the Spanish army until the age of forty and then resolved to live a life of penance. For some years he roamed the streets of Grenada proclaiming the sins of the world and was taken for a lunatic. Eventually he was persuaded by a famous preacher to express his love for God in a more constructive fashion.

He began at once to offer shelter and hospitality to poor and homeless people gathered from the streets. Eventually this hospitality became a full-time occupation. With the assistance of interested benefactors, he supported a household of ex-prisoners, prostitutes, the sick, crippled, and dying outcasts of the town. In time the bishop conferred his approbation by clothing John in a religious habit and giving him the name John of God. The town expressed its appreciation by providing him with a hospital.

John frequently enjoyed mystical visions. Once, while washing the feet of a beggar, he was astonished to see the man transfigured and bathed in a radiant light. A celestial voice spoke: “John, all you do for the poor in my name is done for me. It is my hand that receives your alms; it is my body that you clothe, my feet that you wash.”

John died on March 8, 1550. Many of his helpers later joined to become the Brothers Hospitallers.

“I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor.”

—St. John of God