Musings, Insights & Briefings

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Musings, Insights & Briefings

St. John of God

By Terrie Legein • March 12, 2025

St. John of God People thought this saint was going mad … Turns out, it was just the Holy Spirit. Meet John Ciudad. A man who would one day be a saint. However, on this day, he wasn’t a saint yet—not even close. The day we’re meeting him, St. Sebastian’s Day, January 20th, 1537. At this time, he was a Spanish soldier turned bookseller, running a shop in Granada, and living a fairly ordinary life. But late in the afternoon on that January day, something happened. On this feast day, a famous preacher, St. John of Ávila was giving a sermon. John Ciudad listened in when suddenly, something about it struck him so deeply that he publicly broke down in tears. John ran through the streets confessing his sins loudly and began to immediately give away all his belongings. People thought he had lost his mind. Authorities took action. They sent John to the Royal Hospital of Granada and locked in a ward for the insane. It wasn’t a pleasant place. Patients were restrained, beaten, and neglected under the belief that this would drive out their madness. Rather than despairing, John was relieved at this sudden change of events. The conversion that the Holy Spirit had given him on St. Sebastian’s Day left him longing to serve God and to give to others. Looking around at the harsh conditions of this psych ward he was unwillingly placed in, John was pleased. He saw the suffering around him and realized that these were the people Christ was calling him to serve. Rather than resenting his captors, he began to comfort the other patients, helping them however he could. Eventually, St. John of Ávila visited and advised him to temper his zeal with wisdom. John took this to heart, left the hospital, and dedicated the rest of his life to serving the sick and poor. John later founded a hospital where he cared for the very same kinds of patients—including those considered mentally ill—giving them dignity, attention, and medical care long before such treatment was common. So, meet John Ciudad, although he was not a saint when we first met him a few paragraphs ago, he is now, and he more commonly is known as St. John of God. So, meet St. John of God! We’re not often like St. John of God. When we are in uncomfortable or unimpressive places, we don’t often look around with pleasure. More often than not, we sigh and ask, “God, what am I supposed to do with this?!” But you can be like St. John of God! In fact, you are called to!