Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist

John and his brother James came from a family of fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus nicknamed them "Boanerges," "sons of thunder," probably because of their fiery temper. Peter, James and John were the three disciples closest to Jesus. Only they were with him at the Transfiguration, in his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in the house where he raised Jairus’s daughter.

The Disciple Who Leaned on His Breast

The author of John’s Gospel never gives his own name. He calls himself only "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and tradition has always taken this to be John. At the Last Supper he sat so close that he leaned back against Jesus’ chest. He was the only apostle brave enough to stand at the foot of the cross while the others ran away, and from the cross Jesus gave his mother into his care: "Behold thy mother." On Easter morning he raced Peter to the empty tomb and got there first.

A Vision on Patmos

Tradition holds that John wrote the fourth Gospel, three letters and the Book of Revelation. During a Roman persecution, the emperor Domitian is said to have exiled him to the island of Patmos, where he saw the visions he wrote down in Revelation. Every other apostle was martyred, but tradition says John died of old age in Ephesus. In his last years, it is said, he kept repeating the same piece of advice: "Little children, love one another." His feast day is December 27, two days after Christmas.