A man is being beaten in an asylum.

He is not there because he hurt someone. He is not there because he is dangerous.

He is there because he gave too much away.

That is where this story begins. And by the time it ends — this same man will have built something that is still saving lives in fifty-two countries today.

In this episode of Everyday Saints, host John O'Connor tells the real story of St. John of God — one of the most unknown, raw, and ultimately extraordinary saints in the history of the Catholic Church. A man who was kidnapped at eight years old, became a soldier who abandoned his faith, came home to find his family gone, had a very public breakdown in the streets of Granada — and then built the foundation of modern hospital care from nothing.

What you'll hear in this episode:
— The boy who disappeared and the family that was destroyed by it
— Eighteen years as a soldier — what that actually did to him
— Coming home to find everything he was holding onto was already gone
— The sermon that broke him open — completely, publicly, in the street
— Being beaten in an asylum for giving too much away
— The words that changed everything — "Go do something useful"
— How a broken man built something that serves forty thousand patients a day
— What his breakdown means for whatever you are holding together right now

St. John of God is the patron saint of hospitals, nurses, the mentally ill, heart patients, alcoholics, and firefighters. The man beaten in an asylum became the patron of everyone the world finds hardest to help.

Everyday Saints is a weekly podcast telling the real stories of Catholic saints in plain language — for regular people with real jobs, real doubts, and real lives. No theology degree required.

New episodes every Thursday.

Host: John O'Connor