St John the Evangelist

This life gathers John’s life first from the New Testament: the son of Zebedee called with his brother from the nets, the beloved disciple at the Last Supper, the apostle who stayed by the Cross and received Our Lady into his care, the runner to the empty tomb, and the companion of Peter in the first days of the Church. He then follows the later and more universal tradition that places John at Ephesus and Patmos, linking him with the Apocalypse, the Fourth Gospel, and the epistles that return so often to truth and charity.

It also keeps several old stories that show John’s character in age: fleeing the baths when Cerinthus was within, riding out to reclaim the young robber who had gone bad, and in the end repeating to the faithful, “My little children, love one another.”