Hospitaller order of St. John of God

By Kevin Wallis

The St. John of God Brothers is a religious order of the Catholic Church. In some countries they are known as the Barmherzige Bruder or Fatebenefratelli. It was founded by the man who is know to histo ry as John of God who was born in 1495 in Portugal and died in 1550 in Spain.

After an adventurous early life John of God settled down in the southern Spanish city of Granada. Here he experienced a religious conversion that led directly to a distressing period of hospitalization that, in its turn, moved him to devote the remainder of his life to all those he could reach who suffered from any kind of need, sickness or deprivation. Before he died at the age of 55, his selfless dedication to the sick and ne edy of the society brought him to be known throughout Spain as both 'John of God' and 'The Father of the Poor'.

The movement of compassion launched by John of God through his hospital in Granada has been carried down through the centuries for some 450 yea rs by the religious Order that emerged from the group of employees, volunteers and benefactors that gathered around him.

The religious institute is known officially as the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God. The Brothers of the Order see themselves as the nucleus of the wider group of followers of the St. John of God that numbers some 35,000 throughout the world.

In Papua New Guinea the brothers are present in the Diocese of Aitape, Goroka and Port Moresby where they carry on the work of St. John of G od in the fields of nursing, pastoral care and counseling. The order has all its initial formation program located in the Diocese of Aitape.