Blessed John Grande

At fifteen, he lost his father; his mother soon remarried and sent her son to a linen merchant in Seville, who was a relative. The Blessed one remained for four years in this house, upon which he drew the blessings of heaven. His Sundays were, as always, devoted to serving the sick in hospitals. He was particularly fond of the Santa Cruz hospital, whose foundation was due to a hermit named Peter the Fisherman. It was in the conversations of this holy man that he drew the first seeds of his vocation. Recalled to Carmona and placed at the head of an establishment by his parents, commerce seemed to him such a delicate and dangerous affair that he quickly became disgusted with it and resolved to abandon it to escape the perils that such a career posed to the soul. Constantly, he asked the Blessed Virgin to enlighten him and to let him know the path he should take. One night, this good mother appeared to him and, presenting him with a habit of coarse cloth, said to him: John, clothe yourself in this robe to enter the service of my son; it is in this way that you will please me. John awoke full of joy, and after struggling for some time against the fears inspired in him by the devil, he left everything to embrace the eremitic life. He was twenty-two years old (1568).

He abandoned Carmona and headed toward the hermitage of Saint Eulalia: upon entering, he wished to clothe himself in the habit that the Blessed Virgin had shown him, but he first had to struggle against the devil, who tried to turn him away from such an austere life. The love of the Savior prevailed in the heart of the Blessed one; he left the liveries of the world and covered himself in the liveries of penance. In reward, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and said: Fear nothing, John, my divine son and I are here; we will never abandon you in your tribulations. The Blessed one, content and enraptured, wished to do even more than he had just done, in order to annihilate temptation forever; he took the resolution to walk henceforth with legs and feet bare and to never wear a hat. Among various temptations, he had particularly to combat the suggestions of human respect and self-love: this is what determined him, in order to triumph over them more surely, to add to his name of John Grandé that of Peccador, that is to say Sinner, a name which, in effec t, peopl Peccador Spanish religious of the Order of Saint John of God, devoted to the sick. e ended up giving him generally, and under which he is still known and venerated today throughout Andalusia and mainly in the diocese of Seville.

But what God wanted from him was not only a life of penance, it was a life consecrated to the service of the poor sick. One day, he met two infirm men on his path, and listening to the inspiration that moved him, he went with them to Marcena and began to beg in order to assist them. He experienced such joy and such contentment from this action that he understood that the relief of the poor and the sick was the mission to which the Lord destined him.

But God, who wanted to open a wider career to the virtues of his servant, permitted new anxieties and new doubts about his vocation to bring trouble into his soul. He thought of withdrawing once again into some deep solitude, when one night he knew in a vision that Jerez was the place where the Lord was calling him. He then remembered that while still in Carmona, his homeland, he had heard the same warning to go and serve God in Jerez. All his uncertainties vanished, and without further delay, crossing Andalusia, skirting the Guadalquivir, he headed towards the Strait of Gibraltar, and soon he arrived before the much-desired city. Jerez de la Frontera is a beautiful and admirable city located in Andalus ia, in the diocese of Xérès-de-la-Frontière Principal place of his apostolate and death. Seville, only two leagues from the port of Santa Maria. As Granada had already been for Saint John of God, this one was chosen by God to serve as a fortunate field for the prodigious saint Jean de Dieu Founder of the Hospitaller Order of the same name. and heroic charity of our Blessed one. When he arrived, he confessed, received communion, then consulted his confessor to know what he had to do to obey heaven; the minister of the Lord advised him to take care of the prisoners whom no one was looking after. We see for three years the Blessed John Grande begging for these unfortunates, distributing to them everything he obtained from public charity, reserving for himself barely the necessities, and caring for them with admirable devotion whenever they were sick. The administrators, touched by his conduct, gave him lodging inside the prison where he hardly received any consolation from the men to whom he devoted himself with such great self-denial. Weary of the ingratitude and mistreatment to which he was subjected, even more tired of the uselessness of his care regarding the souls of the prisoners, he consulted Our Lord to know what he should do. Jesus appeared to him and invited him to go to the hospital to care for the sick there. John Grande obeyed, but the furious demon stirred up harsh trials for him; he spread slander against him in public, had him accused of hypocrisy and swindling, then when he saw that he was gaining nothing, he incited the hospital administrators against him, who drove him out ignominiously after two years, under the pretext that he was meddling in what did not concern him. In reality, the zeal and gentleness of John were the perpetual censure of the conduct of the administrators and servants of the hospital, who were not unaware of all that was blameworthy in the way they dispensed the goods of the poor and treated the sick.

John uttered no complaint and returned to begging for the poor infirm to whom he found ways to pass on his alms. However, while resigning himself, he suffered from not being able to follow his vocation. A new governor came to Jerez who took a hatred to him and uttered threats against him; but the following night he was seized by a sudden illness that reduced him to the brink of death. Against his will, Blessed John Grande was brought in, who, wishing to return good for evil, predicted his recovery, which effectively happened at the time and in the manner announced. Out of gratitude, the governor gave the Blessed one a public testimony of esteem; from that moment on, several people wanted to assist him in his designs. Two inhabitants of Jerez gave him a house that he had arranged to receive the sick and care for them there; companions joined him and he joined the Order of Saint John of God. From that moment on, the ho Ordre de Saint-Jean-de-Dieu Hospitaller order to which Jean Grandé became affiliated. use took on an aspect of regularity that excited the admiration of those who witnessed it (1574).

The Blessed one would rise at four in the morning and pray with his religious brothers, then with them he would visit the sick, make the beds, and clean the rooms. He had a word of consolation and encouragement for everyone. This work finished, he would go to the door of the hospital where he received the poor and distributed alms to them after washing their feet. Then he would go to the prisons to visit the inmates and give them the aid that was in his power. He kept no memory of what they had made him suffer in the past. Upon his return, he would gather the children he met in the streets of the city, and after giving them some treats he had set aside for them, he would teach them the catechism. If he learned that there was a sick person in the city, he hastened to visit them. When he learned that a girl was in some danger, he hurried to gather a small dowry for her and marry her off. There was no good work that his indefatigable zeal did not embrace. God rewarded him with miraculous protection, for in 1579, a terrible famine having fallen upon Spain, bread never failed him to give to the poor who flocked every day to the door of his house. During the octave of Christmas that year, everything was lacking for him. His trust in God was not shaken; he placed a little bread and meat in the presence of an image of the Blessed Virgin, and the provisions multiplied to such an extent that he made extraordinary distributions, even though he possessed nothing.

The demon did not watch the conduct of the servant of God without envy. One day he took the form of a beggar, and when the Saint passed by, he reproached him for his hypocrisy; the Saint listened to him calmly, then leaning to his ear, he said a few words to him that made him let out terrible cries and put him to flight. Another time he took the form of a worker, and introducing himself into the house of our Saint, he so excited a religious brother with his lies that the latter resolved to kill the Blessed one. The demon provided him with a dagger. John Grandé, knowing everything by revelation, came to meet the religious, told him everything the supposed worker had just told him, spoke to him of his own design, and reproached him for not having known how to recognize the demon. The culprit, covered in shame, threw himself at the feet of the Blessed one, who raised him with kindness, embraced him, and urged him to be more circumspect in the future. The demon, unable to get rid of him, took advantage of every opportunity to have him insulted by young people whose minds he perverted.

The Archbishop o f Sevil Séville Initial burial place with his brothers. le, wishing to remedy the disorders that reigned in the hospitals of his episcopal city, entrusted their care to Blessed John Grande despite his refusals. This was the occasion for a frightful storm against him. He was accused of intrigue, he was accused of having ruined the families who lived off the administration of the hospitals; he could no longer go out without being insulted. Jesus Christ, to console him, appeared to him and promised him his justification; indeed, the men most bitter against him died suddenly, but that did not stop the detractors and slanderers. He complained about it to Jesus Christ who replied to him: I was nailed to the cross by my own friends, by those very ones I came to redeem with my blood, and you are surprised to suffer such small persecutions for me? The Blessed one bowed his head, resigned himself, and took revenge through good deeds; he miraculously restored health to several madmen, to a sick person whom ladies bitterly reproached him for treating poorly, and to a notary whose attestation was necessary for him to fulfill the last wishes of a dying man. He saw in an ecstasy the defeat o f the fl Philippe King of Spain involved in the sack of Saint-Quentin. eet that Philip was sending against England: he announced to a lady the deliverance of her husband who was a prisoner of the English. He predicted to one of his friends the upcoming success of a marriage that he believed was very far off and his upcoming appointment to the position of receiver.

Famine threatened Jerez once again in 1599. The Blessed one began to implore the Blessed Virgin for the people; he entered into an ecstasy and remained there for two days. During this time, an abundant rain fell, and when the Saint returned to himself, people hastened to announce the news to him. "I know," he said, "I know, God showed me much water and grain, but He alone knows who will eat it." Indeed, a terrible plague struck Spain, and God let the Blessed one know that he would die from it. At the beginning of the year 1600, the scourge invaded Jerez. The Blessed one and his religious brothers multiplied their efforts to care for the plague victims: death carried away up to three hundred people each day. On May 26, he felt himself stricken, and he expired on June 3 after having received the Sacraments with great fervor: John was fifty-four years and three months old. At this news, there was consternation in the city. No one, however, dared to bury him, not even his religious brothers. Porters dug a pit in the hospital courtyard and dragged his corpse there with the help of a hook. When the plague had passed, the inhabitants gave their benefactor a burial more worthy of him, and numerous miracles attested to his power. He was beatif ied by Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. Pius IX on October 20, 1853.

John Grande was of medium height, of a rather strong build; he had blond hair; his round and pale face breathed goodness and gentleness.

The Blessed one performed many miracles by means of a bread that multiplied in his hands and which the faithful obtained as a preservative against all kinds of ailments. One could include bread in his characteristics. — When, during his illnesses, he was prevented from receiving Holy Communion, Saint Augustine, to whom he had a pa rticular devot saint Augustin Cited for his definition of fraternal charity. ion, would bring it to him; — and when he heard himself being praised, he would cry out while groaning: Ah! my brother, bless God, the author of all good. One could also, by relying on the first of these traits, compose a communion of the Blessed John Grande and make his motto the words that his humility drew from him.

Cf. Abbreviated Life of the Blessed John Grande, by a priest of the Order of Saint John of God.