| Saint John of Sahagún | |
|---|---|
| Confessor | |
| Born | 1419 Sahagún, Province of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Spain |
| Died | June 11, 1479 Salamanca, Province of Salamanca, Kingdom of Castile, Spain |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 1601, Rome by Pope Clement VIII |
| Canonized | October 16, 1690, Rome by Pope Alexander VIII |
| Feast | June 11 June 12 (Roman Calendar 1729-1969) |
| Attributes | holding a Chalice and the Holy Host surrounded by rays of light |
John of Sahagún (1419 – 11 June 1479), also known as Saint John of San Facondo, was a Spanish priest who belonged to the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.[1] Pope Paul VI set 11 June as his feastday, which had been on 12 June in the Roman Calendar from 1729 to 1969.
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Saint John was born in the year 1419, at Sahagún (or San Facondo) in the Province of Leon, in the Kingdom of Castile. He was the oldest of seven children of John Gonzalez de Castrillo and Sancia Martinez, both pious and respected parents.
John received his early education from the Benedictines of his native city. After receiving ecclesiastical tonsure, according to the custom of the times, his father procured for him the benefice of the neighboring parish of Dornillos. He was later introduced to Monsignor Alfonso de Cartagena, Bishop of Burgos (1435–1456), who took a fancy to the bright, high-spirited boy. Bishop de Cartagena had him educated at his own residence, gave him several prebends, ordained him a priest in the year 1445, and made him a canon at the Cathedral of Burgos. All of this caused John many qualms of conscience.
Moved by Divine grace and out of respect for the laws of the Church, John resigned all and retained only the chaplaincy of St Agatha, where he said Mass, preached and catechized the ignorant.[2] He now began to lead a life of strict poverty and mortification.[3]
With his Bishop's consent, he obtained permission to enter the University of Salamanca, where for four years he applied himself to the study of theology. During this time he exercised the sacred ministry at the chapel of the College of St Bartholomew (in the parish of St Sebastian), and held that position for nine years. He devoted himself to the care of souls. Owing to illness, he was obliged to undergo an operation for the removal of stones. He vowed that if his life were spared, he would become a Religious.
Upon his recovery in the year 1463, he applied for admission to the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at the Church of St Peter, in Salamanca. In the following year, on August 28, 1464, John made his solemn profession.[4]
By the command of his superiors, he gave himself wholeheartedly to the salvation of souls, and with the best results, to preaching the "Word of God." By his zeal he was able to effect the entire reformation of the city of Salamanca.[5]
John made such progress in religious perfection that he was soon appointed master of novices, and later in the year 1471, prior of the community. He conducted the Religious under his rule more by example than by his words.
Great was St John's devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, that at the celebration of Mass he frequently saw the Sacred Host resplendent in glory. He was gifted with a special power to penetrate the secrets of conscience, so that it was not easy to deceive him, and sinners were almost always forced to make good confessions. He was able to obtain wonderful results in doing away with enmities and feuds.
In many ways, St John was like a fellow Religious who lived nearly 500 years later, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, who also had the uncanny ability to discern the secrets of conscience.
In his sermons Saint John, like St. John the Baptist, fearlessly preached the Word of God and scourged the crimes and vices of the day, by which the rich and noble were offended. He soon made many enemies, who went so far as to hire assassins, but these, awed by the serenity and angelic sweetness of his countenance, lost courage. Some women of Salamanca, embittered by the saint's strong sermon against extravagance in dress, openly insulted him in the streets and pelted him with stones until stopped by a patrol of guards.
St John's scathing words on the "sins of impurity" produced salutary effects in a certain nobleman who had been living in open concubinage, but the woman swore vengeance. It was popularly believed that she had caused the saint's death by poison (this statement is found only in later biographies).
Saint John died on June 11, 1479, in Salamanca at the Convent of the Augustinian Hermits.
Soon after St John's death, his "cult" spread throughout Spain.
The process of beatification began in the year 1525 under Pope Clement VII, and in 1601 he was declared "Blessed" by Pope Clement VIII.
New miracles were wrought through his intercession, and on 16 October 1690 Pope Alexander VIII entered his name in the list of canonized saints. In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII inscribed his liturgical feast day in the Roman Calendar for 12 June, since 11 June, the anniversary of his death was occupied by the feast of Saint Bartholomew. In the 1969 revision of the Roman liturgical celebration was left to local calendars because of the limited importance attributed to him on a universal level.[6] In the Roman Martyrology, the official list of saints of the Catholkic Church, his feast day is 11 June the date of his birth to heaven.[7]
St John's relics are found in Spain, Belgium and Peru.
St John's life written by John of Seville towards the end of the fifteenth century with additions in 1605 and 1619, is the one used by the Bollandists in "Acta SS.", June, III, 112.
In art, St John is represented holding a chalice and Holy host surrounded by rays of light.