Our Patron Saint - St. John the Evangelist
 Feastday: December 27
Saint John the Divine as the son of Zebedee, and his mother's name was Salome [Matthew
4:21, 27:56; Mark 15:40, 16:1]. They lived on the shores of the sea of Galilee. The
brother of Saint John, probably considerably older, was Saint James. The mention of the
"hired men" [Mark 1:20], and of Saint John's "home" [John 19:27],
implies that the condition of Salome and her children was not one of great poverty.
SS. John and James followed the Baptist when he preached repentance in the wilderness
of Jordan. There can be little doubt that the two disciples, whom Saint John does not name
(John 1:35), who looked on Jesus "as he walked," when the Baptist exclaimed with
prophetic perception, "Behold the Lamb of God!" were Andrew and John. They
followed and asked the Lord where he dwelt. He bade them come and see, and they stayed
with him all day. Of the subject of conversation that took place in this interview no
record has come to us, but it was probably the starting-point of the entire devotion of
heart and soul which lasted through the life of the Beloved Apostle.
John apparently followed his new Master to Galilee, and was with him at the marriage
feast of Cana, journeyed with him to Capernaum, and thenceforth never left him, save when
sent on the missionary expedition with another, invested with the power of healing. He,
James, and Peter, came within the innermost circle of their Lord's friends, and these
three were suffered to remain with Christ when all the rest of the apostles were kept at a
distance [Mark 5:37, Matthew 17:1, 26:37]. Peter, James, and John were with Christ in the
Garden of Gethsemane. The mother of James and John, knowing our Lord's love for the
brethren, made special request for them, that they might sit, one on his right hand, the
other on his left, in his kingdom [Matthew 20:21]. There must have been much impetuosity
in the character of the brothers, for they obtained the nickname of Boanerges, Sons of
Thunder [Mark 3:17, see also Luke 9:54]. It is not necessary to dwell on the familiar
history of the Last Supper and the Passion. To John was committed by our Lord the highest
of privileges, the care of his mother [John 19:27]. John [the "disciple whom Jesus
loved"] and Peter were the first to receive the news from the Magdalene of the
Resurrection [John 20:2], and they hastened at once to the sepulchre, and there when Peter
was restrained by awe, John impetuously "reached the tomb first."
In the interval between the Resurrection and the Ascension, John and Peter were
together on the Sea of Galilee [John 21:1], having returned to their old calling, and old
familiar haunts.
When Christ appeared on the shore in the dusk of morning, John was the first to
recognize him. The last words of the Gospel reveal the attachment which existed between
the two apostles. It was not enough for Peter to know his own fate, he must learn also
something of the future that awaited his friend. The Acts show us them still united,
entering together as worshippers into the Temple [Acts 3:1], and protesting together
against the threats of the Sanhedrin [Acts 4:13]. They were fellow-workers together in the
first step of Church expansion. The apostle whose wrath had been kindled at the unbelief
of the Samaritans, was the first to receive these Samaritans as brethren [Luke 9:54, Acts
8:14].
He probably remained at Jerusalem until the death of the Virgin, though tradition of no
great antiquity or weight asserts that he took her to Ephesus. When he went to Ephesus is
uncertain. He was at Jerusalem fifteen years after Saint Paul's first visit there [Acts
15:6]. There is no trace of his presence there when Saint Paul was at Jerusalem for the
last time.
Tradition, more or less trustworthy, completes the history. Irenaeus says that Saint
John did not settle at Ephesus until after the death SS. Peter and Paul, and this is
probable. He certainly as not there when Saint Timothy was appointed bishop of that place.
Saint Jerome says that he supervised and governed all the Churches of Asia. He probably
took up his abode finally in Ephesus in 97. In the persecution of Domitian he was taken to
Rome, and was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, outside the Latin gate, without the
boiling fluid doing him any injury. [Eusebius makes no mention of this. The legend of the
boiling oil occurs in Tertullian and in Saint Jerome]. He was sent to labor at the mines
in Patmos. At the accession of Nerva he was set free, and returned to Ephesus, and there
it is thought that he wrote his gospel. Of his zeal and love combined we have examples in
Eusebius, who tells, on the authority of Irenaeus, that Saint John once fled out of a bath
on hearing that Cerinthus was in it, lest, as he asserted, the roof should fall in, and
crush the heretic. On the other hand, he showed the love that was in him. He commended a
young man in whom he was interested to a bishop, and bade him keep his trust well. Some
years after he learned that the young man had become a robber. Saint John, though very
old, pursued him among the mountain fastnesses, and by his tenderness recovered him.
In his old age, when unable to do more, he was carried into the assembly of the Church
at Ephesus, and his sole exhortation was, "Little children, love one another."
The date of his death cannot be fixed with anything like precision, but it is certain
that he lived to a very advanced age. He is represented holding a chalice from which
issues a dragon, as he is supposed to have been given poison, which was, however,
innocuous. Also his symbol is an eagle.
From "The Lives of the Saints" by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A.,
published in 1914 in Edinburgh. |
