St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church at 5655 Stadium Parkway, Viera, FL 32940 US - Biography of St. John the Evangelist

St. John the Evangelist, (aka John the Apostle, aka John the Divine, aka John the Beloved). Born in Galillee circa 6 a.d., died in Ephesus circa 104 a.d.. John was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the younger brother of James the Greater. He was relatively uneducated in his early years and followed his father and brother as a fisherman, by trade, on Lake Genesareth. Both he and his brother James were most likely early disciples of John the Baptist until they were called by Jesus Christ to follow Him, (Matt. 4:21-22; Mark 1:19-20). John was the youngest of the Apostles and is estimated to have been around 24 or 25 at his call by Jesus. Both John and his brother James were called "Sons of Thunder" by the Lord because of their passionate natures (Mark 3:17), one instance of which is when they wanted Jesus to call down fire from heaven upon the inhospitable Samaritans (Luke 9:54-56); also their willingness to suffer as witnesses to Jesus' suffering (Mark 10:35-41). Yet John also became the beloved disciple (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2ff.; 21:7; 21:24). Why was John beloved of Christ? First, the love that John bore for Jesus, also his general meekness and peaceable disposition that made him very much like Our Lord himself, and his singular privilege of chastity, his virginal purity rendered him worthy of this more particular love. Saint Augustine says, "He was chosen by our Lord, a virgin, and he always remained such." Augustine also wrote, "Christ was pleased to choose a virgin for his mother, a virgin for his precursor, and a virgin for his favorite disciple. His church suffers only those who live perfectly chaste to serve Him in His priesthood, where they daily touch and offer His virginal flesh upon the altar." That he was one of those closest to Jesus was attested to by the fact that only he, Peter, and his brother James were present at such events as the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28), the healing of Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31), the raising of Jairus' daughter from the dead (Mark 5:22-43; Luke 8:40-56), and the agony in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:37ff.; Mark 14:33ff.). John and Peter were sent to prepare the Passover (Luke 22:8ff.) and were the first apostles at the tomb of the risen Christ. John was the only apostle at the Crucifixion, where Jesus trusted him enough to place Mary in his care (John 19:25-27). John was later imprisoned with Peter and appeared before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:1-21), accompanied Peter to Samaria (Acts 8:14) to transmit the Holy Spirit to the new converts, and was at the Council of Jerusalem in 49 a.d. Soon after, John went to Asia Minor and, in all probability, was present at the passing away of Mary. He was named, with Peter and James, by Paul as "these leaders, these pillars" of the Church in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9). According to tradition, John went to Rome during the reign of Emperor Domitian, miraculously escaped martyrdom, (according to Tertullian, John emerged unscathed from a cauldron of boiling oil). His persecutors attributed the miracle to sorcery and exiled him to the island of Patmos, off the coast of modern Turkey. It was there, on the island of Patmos, that John wrote Revelation. Upon the death of Domitian in 96 a.d., John returned to Ephesus where he wrote the fourth gospel and three epistles. John died there, at Ephesus, being the only one of the apostles who did not suffer martyrdom. There are many stories of John passed down through the generations. One story tells of the shock of some visitors finding John playing with his disciples. He told one of the visitors, who was carrying a bow, to shoot an arrow. The visitor complied by shooting several. John then asked him if he could do that without stopping. No, the other answered, the bow would break. That's the way our spirit is, the blessed one concluded: it would break if one did not sometimes relax the tension. In daily life, games and pranks allow the spirit to rest. One must know how to pause: that is the role of games (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Question 169, Article 10, Summa Theologica). Another story states that when weakness grew upon John and he was no longer able to preach, he would be carried into the assembly of the faithful. Constantly he was heard to say: "My dear children, love one another"--and when asked why he so often repeated the same words, he said, "Because it is the precept of the Lord and if you comply with it you do enough." Saint Jerome says: "These words ought to be engraved in characters of gold and written in the heart of every Christian." Although John has traditionally been considered the author of the fourth gospel, Revelation, and the three epistles, some modern scholars have questioned his authorship; however, the preponderance of opinion among most contemporary biblical scholars now accepts the early tradition that John is the author of these New Testament books. John is often surnamed "the Divine" because of his theological brilliance, and he is often represented in art as an eagle for the soaring majesty of his gospel. John's feastday is celebrated on December 27. References: Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney, pages 322-323, published 1980, ISBN:0-385-13594-7 John the Evangelist, http://www.cin.org/saints/johnevan.html Saints O'the Day, http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/1227.htm#john [Return To Top]

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