St. John of God

It is now five centuries since the birth of St. John of God. The example of his life is still inspiring people, his work has spread throughout the world. What was it about this man that led so many people to want to help him in his ministry in Granada in the 1540's? What is it that still inspires the thousands of people who comprise the family of St. John of God today?

St. John of God was born John Ciudad in 1495 in a small village in the south of Portugal called Montemor-o-Novo. At the age of eight, in circumstances that are still a mystery, John left home. He was reared by a Spanish family in Oropesa. The greater part of his life was spent as a rootless wanderer, working as a shepherd, soldier, bookseller and labourer and covering in his travel the countries of Europe and North Africa.

When St. John of God finally settled in Granada around the age of forty he underwent a conversion experience so dramatic in its intensity that he was placed in a psychiatric hospital. His brief experience of the kind of treatment meted out to the afflicted gave him an insight into, and understanding of, the real needs of the sick. He decided to devote the rest of his life to caring for those in need.

John's motivation was his great love of God and Our Blessed Lady. "Whatsoever you do to one of these the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to Me." This was the yard stick by which John measured his service to others. His love encompassed everyone, the sick, orphans, widows, prisoners and the poor.

John was a warm and human person. In his hospital he created an atmosphere of welcome, peace and hospitality. When a patient was admitted he would first wash him and feed him and then pray with him. He was a great listener and had empathy with people which encouraged many to come to him with their problems. Even when he could not help, he would listen and give words of encouragement.

People were impressed by John's sincerity and by the worth of his service to others. He was able, therefore, to tap their generosity and involve them in his work. They gave him food, they gave him money and many volunteered to help him with his work. They called him John of God. John created an equal partnership between benefactors and those in need, each helping one another. To the benefactors he would say, "...who wants to do well for the love of God?" and he would ask the poor to "pray to the Lord for those who have been good to you".

Because he believed that everyone was equal in the sight of God, John moved effortlessly across the social divide. He was as much at ease in the presence of the Duchess of Sessa as he was with the sick and poor in his hospital. He created a family of St. John of God which compromised the nobility, the middle-class, the poor, his volunteers and his paid staff, all with the one purpose of serving God by serving those in need.

John was a great advocate of those who had no influence. He used his contacts with the nobility and those in power to educate them about the conditions of the poor. He had an inquiring mind which was always searching for new ideas and better ways of doing things. He had a missionary spirit, traveling to beg for alms and then using what was collected to serve the people of the local area. Above all, John taught by example.

By faithfully following his example, the Order of Brothers formed after the death of St. John of God has passed on John's way of serving those in need. It is called 'Hospitality' and after five centuries it remains the charism of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God.

He began work as a trader, but shortly afterwards he went into retreat in order
to discern his vocation. At that time he took the name of "Juan Pecador" -- John
the Sinner -- the name which stayed with him until his death.

In 1565 he started a new life in Jerez de la Frontera serving God through his
work with prisoners, the poor and the incurably sick. To help them he begged for
alms and founded a hospital, which he called Our Lady of Candlemas.

In 1574 he joined the Order founded by St. John of God in Granada. His great
energy and specific Hospitaller spirituality drove him on to live the Gospel as
the Good Samaritan, practicing mercy, living in very close contact with the
sufferings of the destitute and the incurably sick, sustained by a deep interior
life, self-sacrifice and prayer while performing his extraordinary apostolate.
He was outstanding for his love for the Passion, the Eucharist and Our Lady; he
was a great mystic of Hospitality.

His hospital and his companions, whom he formed in accordance with "The Statutes
of John of God”, were the fruit of this deep Apostolic/Hospitaller Spirituality.
In the company of these companions he founded other Centres at Medina Sidonia, Arcos de la
Frontera, Puerto de Santa Mara, San Lcar de Barrameda, and Villamartn.

At the request of the Archbishop of Seville he carried out reform of the health care services, reducing the number of hospitals, reorganizing them and improving care for those in the greatest need. In doing this, silently and extremely efficiently, he proved himself to be a pioneer in rationalizing the health care system in the Jerez area.

At the time when the town was stricken by great plague epidemics and emergencies he stepped
up his care and charity work, as well as his prayer and acts of penance, and in
1600 he gave up his own life as a martyr of charity while caring for the victims
of the plague.

Beatified in 1853 by Pius IX he was canonized by John Paul II on June 2, 1996,
and his Feast is celebrated on June 3, the date of his death. He is the
Patron Saint of the Diocese of Jerez de la Frontera and his remains lie in the
Diocesan Shrine of St. John Grande in the hospital of the Brothers of St. John
of God that bears his name, in Jerez.

St. Richard Pampuri

Richard Pampuri lived nearer to our times. Born at Trivolzio, a small city in the north of Italy in 1897, he graduated from his medical studies in 1921, after which he worked as a rural health officer assigned in a poor area near Milan. Even now, the people of that area still remember him for his charity.

Wishing to dedicate himself to the sick in a more complete and total way, he entered the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God in 1927. The Formation house was inside the general hospital managed by the Brothers in Brescia. There he made his Religious Profession on October 24, 1928.

He was entrusted with the free dental clinic for the poor. Many people came to the clinic not only because of Brother Richard’s professional competence but also because of his kindness and gentleness in treating the patients.

Many times he also gave money and food to the needy patients and showed great sensitivity to all. Once there was a malnourished boy who came for dental treatment. After treating him, Brother Richard pretended to ask for money. The astonished boy replied, "But I don't have money to pay." Immediately Brother Richard offered money telling him, "Don't worry, if you can't pay me, I will pay you."

Unfortunately, he started to have some health problems in the beginning of 1929. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, an incurable sickness at that time. His health was to become worse, until he had to be confined in the hospital of the Brothers in Milan on April 18, 1930. There he died in the evening on May 1, the date of his liturgical feast since he was proclaimed blessed in 1981. His body was bought to Trivolzio, his birthplace, where it is venerated in the same parish church he was baptized. Pope John Paul II declared him Saint in 1989. The Pope said, "The short but rich life of Richard Pampuri urges the medical doctors, his colleagues, to carry out delicate professional with commitment, to animate it with Christian, human and professional ideals, so that it will become a true mission of social services, of fraternal charity, of true human growth."

The life of Saint Richard Pampuri was so short that truly there was no time or opportunity to perform great undertakings. Nonetheless, his life was very meaningful because he held on to a principle, which he formulated during his preparation for the Religious Profession, he upheld that: "To do the least of things with great love." It was precisely his daily adherence to this principle that led him to true holiness transforming his medical activities into a mission of charity.

Saint Benedict Menni

The typical apostolate of the Brothers of St. John of God is to care for the
sick and those who are in need. For this reason from the very beginning, the
Hospitaller Order was recognized by the Church as a Congregation of Religious
Brothers with exception of not more than one priest in each community acting as
chaplain.

Saint Benedict Menni was one exception, being an ordained priest in Rome on
October 14, 1860. In those years, the Spanish branch of the Hospitaller Order
died away as a consequence of laws issued in Portugal in 1834 and
in Spain in 1835. Saint Benedict Menni was sent to Barcelona on April 6, 1867, to restore
the Hospitaller Order in these countries.

After a long struggle, often times dangerous, he was not only able to gather many
vocations - almost a thousand from 1867 to 1903 - but also founded in Spain,
Portugal and Mexico, 22 hospitals for every kind of sickness, especially for
people suffering with psychiatric illness and children with disabilities. Theses people were the most neglected by the public health care at that time.

He also founded a female branch of the Order, the Hospitaller Sisters of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus. Today, the Sisters are present in 20 Countries with
almost 80 communities. The Mother House of the Sisters is in Ciempozuelos, Spain where the body St Benedict their founder is venerated.

In April 1893, St. Benedict returned to Spain as Provincial to face allegations of sexual abuse. The case known as the ‘Semillan Case’ was to be in the courts for the next seven years. This particular court case was not only to humiliate St. Benedict but also the Catholic Church. In the end none of the accusations could be substantiated and the judge dismissed the case against him. He also had to face insults made towards him by his own brothers in leadership. Through all of these difficulties he grew in relationship with those who suffer.

He was declared Blessed in 1985 and his Canonization
was celebrated in November 1999. His feast day is April 24, the day he died in
Dinan, France in 1914.

The secret of his life lies in his true, heroic detachment by which he
always considered himself a docile instrument in the hands of God, without
giving room to his personal ambitions or human plans.