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Anxious to do what he could for the relief of the poor, he hired a house for a poor sick persons, whom he served and provided for, which was the foundation of the religious Order of Charity. Though his life was taken up in active works of charity, he accompanied these with perpetual prayer and incredible corporal austerities. His sincere humility appeared most admirable in all his actions. Humiliations seemed to be his delight: he courted them and underwent them with the greatest alacrity. Worn out at last by ten years' hard service in his hospital, he fell sick. He lay in his habit in his little cell, covered with a piece of an old coat instead of a blanket, and having under his head a basket in which he used to beg alms for his hospital, though in health his usual pillow was a stone. A rich lady by permission of the archbishop removed him to her own house, and waited upon him with her maids. The archbishop said mass in his room, and administered the last sacraments to him, promising to pay all his debts and provide for all his poor. The saint expired on his knees before the altar, on the 8th March, 1550, being 55 years old.

One sermon had perfectly converted one, who had been long enslaved to the world and his passions, and made him a saint. How comes it that so many sermons and pious books produce so little fruit in our souls? It is owing to our sloth and hardness of heart, that we receive God's word in vain, and to our condemnation. Listen to it henceforth with awe and respect, in interior solitude and peace; and carefully nourish it in your heart." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

Prayer: "What a glorious life was thine, O John of God! It was one of charity, and of miracles wrought by charity. Like Vincent of Paul thou wast poor, and, in thy early life, a shepherd-boy like him; but the charity which filled thy heart gave thee a power to do what worldly influence and riches never can. Thy name and memory are dear to the Church; they deserve to be held in benediction by all mankind, for thou didst spend thy life in serving thy fellow-creatures, for God's sake. That motive gave thee a devotedness to the poor, which is an impossibility for those who befriend them from mere natural sympathy. Philanthropy may be generous, and its workings may be admirable for ingenuity and order; but it never can look upon the poor man as a sacred object, because it refuses to see God in him.

Pray for the men of this generation, that they may at length desist from perverting charity into a mere mechanism of relief. The poor are the representatives of Christ, for He Himself has willed that they be such; and if the world refuse to accept them in this their exalted character, if it deny their resemblance to our Redeemer, it may succeed in degrading the poor, but by this very degradation it will make them its enemies.
Thy predilection, O John of God, was for the sick; have pity, therefore, on our times, which are ambitious to eliminate the supernatural, and exclude God from the world by what is called secularization of society.

Pray for us, that we may see how evil a thing it is to have changed the Christian for the worldly spirit. Enkindle holy charity within our hearts, that during these days, when we are striving to draw down the mercy of God upon ourselves, we also may show mercy. May we, as thou didst, imitate the example of our Blessed Redeemer, who gave Himself to us His enemies, and deigned to adopt us as His brethren. Protect also the Order thou didst institute, which has inherited thy spirit; that it may prosper, and spread in every place the sweet odor of that charity, which is its very name." The Liturgical Year: Septuagesima (4th ed.) By Prosper Gueranger, Lucien Fromage · 1909