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# John of God, a former soldier who founded a free hospital in Seville
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/sviatoi-ioann-bozhii-nesiot-bolnogo/
- Published: 2026-10-02T13:48:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T11:57:14.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Art, People

Saint John of God carrying a sick man. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. 1672\. Seville, the church of San Jorge at the Hospital de la Caridad

John of God is a real historical figure of the sixteenth century: in his youth he was a soldier, and in maturity he went through a profound spiritual crisis. He quite literally went out of his mind with compassion for the destitute: he ran about the streets of Seville, begged passers-by to beat him in atonement for his sins, and then founded one of the first free hospitals for the poor. John made his own rounds of the dens and the gutters, seeking out those whom the whole world had rejected, and carried them in his arms into the warmth