Which St. John? Every Saint Named John

St. John the Apostle died c. 100 · Feast day December 27

St. John the Apostle was one of the twelve apostles and the brother of St. James the Greater.

St. John the Baptist died c. 29 · Feast day June 24

St. John the Baptist was the Jewish prophet who prepared the way for Jesus, baptized him in the Jordan and pointed him out as "the Lamb of God." He was beheaded by Herod Antipas for condemning Herod's marriage.

St. John the Hermit 4th century · Feast day March 29

St. John the Hermit, called by the Orthodox Church Venerable John the Anchorite, was a fourth-century monk raised in Armenia who went into the desert and lived for ten years in an abandoned dry well, fasting and praying.

St. John the Warrior died 363 · Feast day July 30

St. John the Warrior was a Roman soldier under Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363) who was sent to hunt down Christians but was secretly one himself, warning them and helping them escape.

St. John of Egypt c. 305–c. 394 · Feast day March 27

St. John of Egypt, also called John of Lycopolis (about 305–395), was a carpenter who became a hermit and lived walled up in a cell above Lycopolis, the modern Asyut, for some forty years.

St. John Chrysostom c. 347–407 · Feast day September 13

St. John Chrysostom (about 347–407) was a priest of Antioch whose preaching earned him the name Chrysostom, "golden-mouthed." As archbishop of Constantinople he criticized the rich and the court and was twice exiled.

St. John Cassian c. 360–c. 435 · Feast day July 23

St. John Cassian (about 360–435) was a monk who spent years with the desert fathers of Egypt and then founded monasteries at Marseille, bringing Eastern monastic life to the West.

Pope St. John I died 526 · Feast day May 18

Pope St. John I (died 526) was a Tuscan who became pope in 523.

St. John the Merciful c. 550–c. 619 · Feast day January 23

St. John the Merciful, also called St. John the Almsgiver, was a widowed layman from Cyprus who became Patriarch of Alexandria around 610 and gave away the whole wealth of his Church to the poor, whom he called his…

St. John Climacus c. 575–c. 650 · Feast day March 30

St. John Climacus ("John of the Ladder") was a monk and abbot of Mount Sinai in the late 6th and 7th centuries who wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent, a guide to the spiritual life in thirty steps.

St. John Maron c. 628–707 · Feast day March 2

St. John Maron (Mar Youhanna Maroun, died 707) was a Syriac monk of the Monastery of St. Maron whom the Maronite Church honors as its first patriarch of Antioch.

St. John of Beverley died 721 · Feast day May 7

St. John of Beverley (died 721) was an Anglo-Saxon monk who became bishop of Hexham and then of York, ordained St. Bede, and founded the monastery that grew into Beverley Minster.

St. John of Damascus c. 675–c. 749 · Feast day December 4

St. John of Damascus, also called St. John Damascene, was a Syrian Christian who left a post at the Umayyad caliph's court to become a monk at Mar Saba.

St. John of Rila 876–c. 946 · Feast day August 18

St. John of Rila (876–946), called Ivan Rilski in Bulgarian, was a hermit who lived for decades in caves and a hollow tree in the Rila Mountains and founded the monastery that still bears his name.

St. John Theristus 11th century · Feast day February 23

St. John Theristus (San Giovanni Theristis, "John the Harvester") was a Greek-rite monk of the 11th century in Calabria, southern Italy.

St. John Gualbert c. 995–1073 · Feast day July 12

St. John Gualbert (about 995 to 1073) was a Florentine nobleman who, on a Good Friday, spared the man who had killed his brother, and became a monk.

St. John of Trogir c. 1034–c. 1111 · Feast day November 14

St. John of Trogir (Ivan Trogirski, about 1034–1111) was a Benedictine monk of St. Peter's at Osor who became bishop of Trogir, on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, around 1064 and led the city for nearly half a century.

St. Juan de Ortega 1080–1163 · Feast day June 2

St. Juan de Ortega (1080–1163) was a Spanish priest and disciple of St. Dominic de la Calzada who built bridges, roads and a hospice for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago in the wild Montes de Oca near Burgos.

St. John of Matha c. 1154–1213 · Feast day December 17

St. John of Matha was a French priest and Paris theologian who founded the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, the Trinitarians, to ransom Christians held captive in North Africa and Moorish Spain.

St. John III Doukas Vatatzes c. 1192–1254 · Feast day November 4

St. John III Doukas Vatatzes (about 1192–1254) was the Byzantine emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254, who rebuilt the Greek empire after the Fourth Crusade and was loved for his care for the poor.

Blessed John of Vercelli died 1283 · Feast day December 1

Blessed John of Vercelli (died 1283) was the sixth master general of the Dominicans, elected in 1264, who visited his friars almost always on foot.

Blessed John of Parma c. 1209–1289 · Feast day March 20

Blessed John of Parma (about 1209–1289) was minister general of the Franciscans from 1247 to 1257, and the Greeks called him an "angel of peace" when he went to them as papal envoy.

Blessed John Duns Scotus c. 1265–1308 · Feast day November 8

Blessed John Duns Scotus (about 1265–1308) was a Scottish Franciscan priest, philosopher and theologian, called the Subtle Doctor for the precision of his arguments.

St. John Koukouzeles 14th century · Feast day October 1

St. John Koukouzeles was the chief singer of the Byzantine imperial court who fled to Mount Athos, hid his gift as the goatherd of the Great Lavra, and became the greatest master of Orthodox chant.

Blessed John of Ruysbroeck 1293–1381 · Feast day December 2

Blessed John of Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) was a Flemish priest and mystic, called the Admirable Doctor, who left Brussels for Groenendael and became the first prior of its canons regular.

St. John of Nepomuk c. 1340–1393 · Feast day March 20

St. John of Nepomuk was a priest of Prague, thrown from the Charles Bridge by order of Wenceslaus IV on March 20, 1393.

St. John of Capistrano 1386–1456 · Feast day October 23

St. John of Capistrano (1386–1456) was an Italian lawyer and governor who became a Franciscan friar and one of the most famous preachers of the 1400s.

St. John Cantius 1390–1473 · Feast day December 23

St. John Cantius (John of Kanty, 1390–1473) was a Polish priest who taught philosophy and theology at the University of Kraków for more than forty years and became famous for giving everything he had to the poor.

St. John of Sahagún 1419–1479 · Feast day June 11

St. John of Sahagún (1419–1479) was a Spanish Augustinian friar who preached so boldly against the vices of Salamanca's nobles that they hired assassins against him, and who made peace between the city's feuding…

St. John of Dukla c. 1414–1484 · Feast day July 8

St. John of Dukla (about 1414–1484) was a Polish Franciscan friar who spent most of his life in Lviv and went on preaching and hearing confessions after he lost his sight.

St. John Fisher c. 1469–1535 · Feast day June 22

St. John Fisher (about 1469–1535) was the bishop of Rochester, chancellor of Cambridge University and a cardinal, beheaded on Tower Hill on June 22, 1535, for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church in…

St. John Houghton 1487–1535 · Feast day May 4

St. John Houghton (1487–1535), Carthusian prior of the London Charterhouse, rejected King Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church in England.

Blessed John Forest c. 1471–1538 · Feast day May 22

Blessed John Forest was an English Franciscan friar of the Observant reform, a preacher at Paul's Cross and confessor to Queen Catherine of Aragon.

St. John Stone died c. 1539 · Feast day May 12

St. John Stone was an English Augustinian friar of Canterbury who refused in 1538 to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.

St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin 1474–1548 · Feast day December 9

St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was an Indigenous Mexican convert who, according to the Guadalupe tradition, saw the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill in December 1531 and carried her image to the bishop on his cloak.

St. John of God 1495–1550 · Feast day March 8

St. John of God (1495–1550) was a Portuguese shepherd, soldier and bookseller who, after a dramatic conversion in Granada, Spain, cared for the sick poor in a hospital he founded there.

St. John of Ávila 1499–1569 · Feast day May 10

St. John of Ávila (1499/1500–1569) was a Spanish diocesan priest, the great preacher called the Apostle of Andalusia, and a spiritual guide to saints such as Teresa of Ávila, John of God and Francis Borgia.

Blessed John Story c. 1504–1571 · Feast day June 1

Blessed John Story (or Storey) was an English lawyer, Oxford's first Regius Professor of Civil Law and a member of Parliament who defended the Catholic faith under three Tudor monarchs.

St. John of Cologne died 1572 · Feast day July 9

St. John of Cologne was a Dominican friar and parish priest of Hoornaar.

St. John the Hairy of Rostov died 1580 · Feast day September 3

St. John the Hairy (Ioann Vlasaty), also called John the Merciful of Rostov, was a fool for Christ who arrived in Rostov around 1570 and lived without a home, praying from a Latin Psalter.

St. John Payne died 1582 · Feast day April 2

St. John Payne was an English Catholic priest who served the Petre family at Ingatestone and was hanged, drawn and quartered at Chelmsford on April 2, 1582, on a false charge of plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth I.

Blessed John Bodey 1549–1583 · Feast day November 2

Blessed John Bodey (1549–1583) was an English Catholic layman from Wells, a former fellow of New College, Oxford, and a schoolmaster in Hampshire, who spent three years in irons in Winchester jail, was condemned twice…

Blessed John Adams died 1586 · Feast day October 8

Blessed John Adams was an English priest from Dorset, not to be confused with the American president.

Blessed John Roche died 1588 · Feast day August 30

Blessed John Roche was an Irish Catholic layman and waterman in London who helped the priest William Watson escape from Bridewell prison in 1588 by exchanging clothes with him.

St. John of the Cross 1542–1591 · Feast day December 14

St. John of the Cross (1542–1591) was a Spanish Carmelite friar who worked with St. Teresa of Ávila to reform the Carmelite order and wrote some of the greatest poems in the Spanish language, among them The Dark Night.

Blessed John Cornelius 1557–1594 · Feast day July 4

Blessed John Cornelius (1557–1594) was a priest born in Cornwall to Irish parents who trained at Rheims and Rome and served English Catholics for about ten years.

St. John Boste c. 1544–1594 · Feast day July 24

St. John Boste (about 1544-1594) was an Oxford fellow from Westmorland who became a Catholic, was ordained at Reims, and served the hidden Catholics of northern England for twelve years.

St. John Jones died 1598 · Feast day July 12

St. John Jones (died 1598) was a Welsh Franciscan friar from Clynnog Fawr in Caernarfonshire who was hanged at St. Thomas Waterings, Southwark, on July 12, 1598, for being a Catholic priest in England.

St. John Rigby c. 1570–1600 · Feast day June 21

St. John Rigby (about 1570–1600) was a Catholic layman from Harrock Hall in Lancashire who was hanged, drawn and quartered at St. Thomas Waterings on June 21, 1600, because he had been reconciled to the Church and would…

St. Giovanni Leonardi 1541–1609 · Feast day October 9

St. Giovanni Leonardi (St. John Leonardi, 1541–1609) was a trained apothecary from Lucca who became a priest, taught the catechism to children, founded the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, and helped plan what…

St. John Roberts 1575–1610 · Feast day October 25

St. John Roberts (1576–1610) was a Welsh convert who became a Benedictine monk in Spain, ministered to Catholics and plague victims in London, and founded at Douai the monastery that became Downside Abbey.

St. Juan de Ribera 1532–1611 · Feast day January 6

St. Juan de Ribera (1532 to 1611) was a Spanish nobleman who became Bishop of Badajoz and then, for over forty years, Archbishop of Valencia.

St. John Almond c. 1567–1612 · Feast day December 5

St. John Almond (about 1567–1612) was a Catholic priest from near Allerton, Lancashire, who was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on December 5, 1612, after ten years of secret ministry in England.

St. John Ogilvie 1579–1615 · Feast day March 10

St. John Ogilvie (1579 to 1615) was a Scottish Jesuit who came home to serve Scotland's outlawed Catholics and was hanged for high treason at Glasgow Cross on March 10, 1615, for refusing the king's authority over the…

St. John Sarkander 1576–1620 · Feast day March 17

St. John Sarkander (1576–1620) was a priest of Holešov who, during the Thirty Years' War, was racked and burned at Olomouc because he would not reveal what he had heard in confession.

St. John Berchmans 1599–1621 · Feast day August 13

St. John Berchmans (1599–1621) was a Flemish Jesuit student from Diest, in present-day Belgium, who died in Rome at 22 before he could be ordained.

St. John Francis Regis 1597–1640 · Feast day June 16

St. John Francis Regis (1597–1640) was a French Jesuit who spent his last ten years preaching missions in the poor mountain villages of the Vivarais and Velay and caring for the poor of Le Puy.

Blessed John Duckett c. 1613–1644 · Feast day September 7

Blessed John Duckett was a secular priest from Sedbergh who served the Catholics of County Durham for about a year.

St. John Macias 1585–1645 · Feast day September 16

St. John Macias (1585–1645) was a Spanish shepherd from Extremadura who emigrated to Peru and spent his last twenty-two years as the porter of the Dominican convent of La Magdalena in Lima, feeding crowds of the poor at…

St. Jean de Lalande died 1646 · Feast day October 19

St. Jean de Lalande (died 1646) was a young layman from Dieppe who volunteered to go with St. Isaac Jogues to the Mohawk country, knowing he might be killed.

St. John Southworth 1592–1654 · Feast day June 28

St. John Southworth (1592–1654) was a Lancashire priest who spent decades in and out of English prisons, cared for the dying in Westminster during the plague of 1636 and was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on June…

St. John Kemble 1599–1679 · Feast day August 22

St. John Kemble (1599–1679) was a Catholic priest from Herefordshire who served the Catholics of the Welsh border for fifty-four years and was hanged at Hereford on August 22, 1679, at about eighty years old, during the…

St. John Wall c. 1620–1679 · Feast day August 22

St. John Wall (1620–1679) was an English Franciscan friar, Father Joachim of St. Anne, who served the Catholics of Worcestershire in secret for over twenty years and was hanged, drawn and quartered at Worcester on…

St. John Lloyd died 1679 · Feast day October 25

St. John Lloyd was a Welsh priest from Brecon who served the hidden Catholics of Wales for more than twenty years.

St. John Plessington c. 1637–1679 · Feast day July 19

St. John Plessington (about 1637–1679) was a Lancashire priest who served Catholics in secret around Holywell and Chester.

St. John Eudes 1601–1680 · Feast day August 19

St. John Eudes (1601–1680) was a French priest who preached more than a hundred missions, founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity to shelter women leaving…

St. John de Brito 1647–1693 · Feast day February 4

St. John de Brito (1647-1693), known in Tamil as Arul Anandar, was a Portuguese nobleman and Jesuit who spent twenty years as a missionary in southern India, living and dressing as an Indian holy man.

St. John of Tobolsk 1651–1715 · Feast day June 10

St. John of Tobolsk (1651–1715), born John Maximovitch, was a Ukrainian-born monk and preacher who became Metropolitan of Tobolsk and all Siberia.

St. John Baptist de La Salle 1651–1719 · Feast day April 7

St. John Baptist de La Salle (1651 to 1719) was a wealthy priest of Reims who gave up his fortune to train teachers for poor children.

St. John the Russian c. 1690–1730 · Feast day May 27

St. John the Russian (about 1690–1730) was a soldier of Peter the Great captured by the Turks in 1711 and sold as a slave in Prokopion, Cappadocia.

St. John Joseph of the Cross 1654–1734 · Feast day March 5

St. John Joseph of the Cross (1654-1734) was a barefoot Franciscan friar from Ischia who spent his life in Naples serving the poor and guiding souls.

St. John Vianney 1786–1859 · Feast day August 4

St. John Vianney (1786–1859), the Curé of Ars, was a French country priest who spent 41 years in the village of Ars.

St. John Neumann 1811–1860 · Feast day January 5

St. John Neumann (1811–1860) was a Bohemian-born Redemptorist who became the fourth bishop of Philadelphia.

St. John Bosco 1815–1888 · Feast day January 31

St. John Bosco (1815–1888), known as Don Bosco, was an Italian priest in Turin who gave his life to poor and abandoned boys.

St. John Henry Newman 1801–1890 · Feast day October 9

St. John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was an English priest and theologian who led the Oxford Movement in the Church of England, became a Catholic in 1845, founded the Birmingham Oratory and was made a cardinal in 1879.

St. John Wang Rui 1885–1900 · Feast day July 9

St. John Wang Rui (1885–1900) was a Chinese seminarian and Secular Franciscan from Shanxi who was put to death at Taiyuan at fifteen in the Boxer persecution, with his bishops.

St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini 1839–1905 · Feast day June 1

St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (1839–1905) was bishop of Piacenza in northern Italy for 29 years and founded the Missionaries of St. Charles (Scalabrinians) and the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo to care…

St. John of Kronstadt 1829–1908 · Feast day January 2

St. John of Kronstadt (1829–1908) was a Russian Orthodox priest who served 53 years at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, gave nearly everything to the poor, and became famous for healings reported through his prayers.

Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo 1848–1913 · Feast day November 20

Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo (1848–1913) was a Turin priest and for over thirty years the parish priest of Pancalieri.

St. John Kochurov 1871–1917 · Feast day October 31

St. John Kochurov (1871–1917) was a Russian Orthodox priest who served immigrants in Chicago and built Holy Trinity Cathedral there, then returned to Russia and was shot by Bolshevik soldiers at Tsarskoye Selo in 1917.

Blessed John Sullivan 1861–1933 · Feast day May 8

Blessed John Sullivan (1861–1933), son of a Protestant Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was a fashionable barrister who became a Catholic at 35.

Blessed Juan Duarte 1912–1936 · Feast day November 6

Blessed Juan Duarte Martín (1912–1936) was a deacon of Málaga, Spain, arrested in his village of Yunquera during the Spanish Civil War and tortured for a week to make him blaspheme.

St. Giovanni Calabria 1873–1954 · Feast day October 8

St. Giovanni Calabria (1873–1954) was a priest of Verona, Italy, who took in poor and abandoned boys and founded the Poor Servants and the Poor Women Servants of Divine Providence, trusting God for everything.

St. John XXIII 1881–1963 · Feast day October 11

St. John XXIII (1881–1963), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was a sharecropper's son from near Bergamo who became a Vatican diplomat, Patriarch of Venice and, in 1958, pope.

St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco 1896–1966 · Feast day July 2

St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco (John Maximovitch, 1896 to 1966) was a Russian Orthodox bishop who gathered orphans in Shanghai, led thousands of refugees from China to safety and ended his life as archbishop of…

Blessed John Paul I 1912–1978 · Feast day August 26

Blessed John Paul I (1912–1978), born Albino Luciani in a mountain village of northern Italy, was Patriarch of Venice and then pope for just 33 days, from August 26 to September 28, 1978.

St. John Paul II 1920–2005 · Feast day October 22

St. John Paul II (1920 to 2005), born Karol Wojtyła in Wadowice, Poland, was pope from 1978 until his death in 2005.