Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Lives of the Saints

by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition

[1894]

December 27.—ST. JOHN, Evangelist.

1. JOHN, the youngest of the apostles in age, was called to follow Christ on the banks of the Jordan during the first days of Our Lord’s ministry. He was one of the privileged few present at the Transfiguration and the Agony in the garden.

At the Last Supper his head rested on the bosom of Jesus, and in the hours of the Passion, when others fled or denied their Master, St. John kept his place by the side of Jesus, and at the last stood by the cross with Mary. From the cross the dying Savior bequeathed His Mother to the care of the faithful apostle, who “from that hour took her to his own;” thus fitly, as St. Austin says, “to a virgin was the Virgin entrusted.”

After the Ascension, St. John lived first at Jerusalem, and then at Ephesus. He was thrown by Domitian into a caldron of boiling oil, and is thus reckoned a martyr, though miraculously preserved from hurt.

Afterwards he was banished to the isle of Patmos, where he received the heavenly visions described in time Apocalypse. He died at a great age, in peace, at Ephesus, in the year 100.

Reflection.–St. John is a living example of Our Lord’s saying, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”

Saint John Apostle and Evangelist Feast 1 Jn 1:1-4/Jn 20:1a, 2-8 (697) Pss Prop.

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/john-the-apostle-651
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. JOHN THE APOSTLE

*St. John the Evangelist – Hals.

This artwork by F. Hals shows Saint John the Evangelist, the Youngest Apostle of Jesus, writing with a raven at his side.

**John the Apostle (Ancient Greek: Ἰωάννης; Latin: Iohannes c. 6 AD – c. 100 AD) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Apostle

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.  

Lk 1:68–69