John means the Lord's grace; or, he who is in grace; or, he to whom it has been given; or, he to whom a present has been given by God. In these four interpretations of the name John, we see the four divine gifts which he possessed. The first is the extraordinary love God had for Saint John, for God loved him more than He did the other apostles, and gave him many secret signs of His love; he is called the Lord's grace, because the Lord was gracious to him. Yes, Christ loved him more than he did Peter. For there is a love of the heart and a love of manifestation; and although the Lord loved John and Peter equally with His heart, He showed His love in a different manner. To John He gave more of His intimate confidences, while He conferred more external benefits upon Peter. The life of Saint John the Evangelist was written by Miletus, Bishop of Laodicea. A summary of it was made by Isidore, in his Life and Death of the Saints.

When, after Pentecost, the apostles separated, John the Apostle and Evangelist went. to Asia, and there founded many churches. The Emperor Domitian, hearing of his fame, summoned him to Rome, and had him plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil which was set up before the gate called the Porta Latina; but the saint came forth untouched, just as he had escaped the corruption of the senses. Seeing which, the emperor exiled him to the island of Patmos, where, living alone, he wrote the Apocalypse. But the cruel emperor was slain that same year, and the Senate revoked all his decrees. Thus it came about that Saint John, who had been deported, as a criminal, returned to Ephesus covered with glory: the multitude ran out to meet him, crying: 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!' And as he entered the city, he met a procession which accompanied the mortal remains of a woman named Drusiana, who of old had been his most devoted friend, and more than anyone else had looked forward to his return. The kinsmen of this woman, and the orphans and widows of Ephesus, said to Saint John: 'Here we are about to bury Drusiana, who, in accordance with thy monitions, ever nourished us with the divine word, and yearned more than any other for thy return, saying: "Ali, if I might see the Apostle of God once more before I die!" And now thou art come back and she was not able to see thee.' Then the apostle ordered them to set down the coffin and open it; and he said: 'Drusiana, my Master Jesus Christ raises thee to life! Arise, go into thy house, and prepare my repast!' And at once she arose and went off to her house, thinking that she had awakened from sleep, and not from death.

The day following the arrival of Saint John at Ephesus, a philosopher whose name was Crato called the people together on the public square, to show them how they should despise the world. He had commanded two very rich young men to sell their entire heritage, and to buy in exchange certain diamonds of great price; and then, at his order, the young men smashed their diamonds to pieces before the eyes of all. The apostle, however, chanced to pass by, and he called the philosopher, and showed him how blameworthy was his manner of despising the world. For, said he, the contempt of riches is meritorious only when the rejected riches benefit the poor, wherefore the Lord said to the young man of the Gospel: 'If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor!' Then said Crato to him: 'If thy master truly be God, and if He will that the price of these diamonds benefit the poor, then do thou make them whole again, thus accomplishing for the glory of thy Master what I have accomplished for human glory.' Then Saint John gathered the fragments of the diamonds in his hand, and prayed; and instantly the stones took the form which they had had before being broken. And the philosopher and the two young men believed in Jesus, and the diamonds were sold, and the proceeds given to the poor.

Two other young men, seeing this, sold all their worldly possessions, gave their money to the poor, and followed the apostle. But one day, these two young men, seeing their former slaves arrayed in precious robes, while they themselves were clothed in beggars rags, began to be discontented. Seeing this in their faces, Saint John had some reeds and stones brought to him from the seashore, and changed them into gold and diamonds. Then, upon his order, the goldsmiths of the city examined the gold and the diamonds for seven days, and declared that they had never seen any so pure. Whereupon the saint said to the young men: 'Go and buy back the land which you sold! Since you have.lost the treasures of Heaven, be flourishing, but only to wither; be rich for a time, but only to be beggars for eternityl' Then he began to speak about riches, enumerating the six reasons which should dissuade us from the immoderate desire of earthly goods. The first of these motives is the written Word, and Saint John related the story of the rich man and Lazarus the poor man. The second motive is nature itself: man is born naked and dies naked. The third motive is the creation: for just as the sun, the moon the stars, and the air, are common to all and all share their benefits, so among men everything should be held in common. The fourth motive is the uncertainty of riches. For the rich man is the slave of his money; he does not possess it, but it possesses him: and he is a slave to the Devil; for the Gospel says that a rich man is the slave of mammon. The fifth motive is the care and worry which riches impose: for men toil night and day to acquire riches, and live in fear lest they lose them. Finally, the sixth motive is the evil consequences which ensue from the possession of wealth, in this life as well as in the next.

While Saint John was speaking in these terms against riches, he met the funeral cortege of a young man, who had died thirty days after marriage. Then the mother and the widow of the young man, and all his friends, threw themselves at the apostle's feet, and besought him to raise the dead man to life, in the name of God, as he had raised Drusiana. And the Apostle, after praying for a long time, revived the young man, and told him to make known to the two wealthy youths the penalty which they had incurred and the glory which they had lost. Then the man who had been brought back to life spoke of the glory of Paradise and of the pains of Hell, which he had just seen with his. own eyes. He told the two rich young men that they had lost everlasting palaces, built of precious stories, filled with a marvelous light, furnished with delicate viands, and replete with everlasting joys and delights. Then he told them of the eight pains of Hell, which are brought together in the verse:
Vermes et tenebrae flagellum frigus et ignis
Daemonis adspectus scelerum conflusio luctus
which means: the worms, the darkness, the whip, the cold, the fire, the sight of the dcvil, remorse, and despair. Then he added, addressing the two rich men: 'And I saw your guardian angels weeping and lamenting. Oh miserable ones that you are!' Then the three prostrated themselves at the knees of the apostle, and prayed him to call down the pardon of Heaven. And the apostle said to the two young men: 'Do penance for thirty days, and pray that the sticks and stones return to their former shape.' They did this; and the reeds and stones became as before, and the rich youths obtained their pardon.

When Saint John had preached throughout Asia, the idolators dragged him to the temple of Diana, and tried to force him to offer sacrifice to the goddess. Then the saint proposed this alternative to third: he said that if, by calling on Diana, they succeeded in overthrowing the church of Christ, he would offer sacrifice to Diana; but if on the contrary, by calling upon Christ, he destroyed the temple of Diana, they would have to believe in Christ. The greater number of the people agreed to his trial. John then ordered out of the temple all who were within; and when be prayed, the temple fell to the ground, and the statue of Diana was reduced to dust.

Thereupon the high priest Aristodemus incited a sedition among the populace, until the two parties were at the point of coming to blows. And the apostle said to him: 'What must I do to appease thee?' He answered: 'If thou wishest me to believe in thy God, I will give thee poison to drink; and if it does thee no harm, thy God will be the true God.' The apostle said: 'Do as thou hast said.' And he replied: 'But first I wish thee to see other men die of the effects of this poison, that thou mayest know its power.' And Aristodemus asked the proconsul to hand over two condemned men to him: he gave them poison to drink, and they fell dead on the spot. Then the apostle took the cup in his turn; and making the sign of the cross over it, he drank all the poison, and felt no ill effect: and all began to praise God. But Aristodemus said: 'I still have a doubt; but if you restore to life the two men who died of the poison, I shall doubt no longer, and shall believe in Christ.' The apostle, without answering a word, gave him his mantle. And he said: 'Why dost thou give me thy mantle? Thinkest thou that it will transmit thy faith to me?' Said Saint John: 'Go and spread this mantle over the corpses of the two dead men, and say, "The apostle of Christ sends me to you, that you may rise in the name of Christ." Aristodemus did as he was bidden, and straightway the dead men arose. Then the apostle baptized the high priest and the proconsul with his whole family; and they, at a later time, raised a church in honor of Saint John.

Saint Clement relates, as we can read in the Ecclesiastical History, that one day Saint John converted a comely and audacious young man, and left him in the care of a bishop, as a trust. Some time later, however, the young man abandoned the bishop to become the leader of a band of brigands. And when, later on, the apostle asked the bishop to return his trust, the bishop answered: 'My venerable father, the man is dead, at least so far as his soul is concerned; for now he dwells upon a mountain top, with the brigands whose leader he has become.' Hearing this, the apostle tore his mantle, and beat himself upon the head with his fists; and straightway he had a horse saddled, and rode off, without an escort, toward the mountain where the brigand was. But the latter, overcome with shame at the sight of him, mounted his horse and made off. Then the apostle, forgetful of his age, set out in pursuit, crying : 'What, beloved son, dost thou flee thy father, an old man , unarmed? Fear naught, my son, for I shall account. for thee to Christ, and I promise that I shall willingly die for thee, in like manner as Christ has died for us. Come back, my son, come back! The Lord Himself has sent me!' Hearing these words, the young man turned back, drew near the saint, and burst into tears. Then the apostle threw himself at his feet, took his hand, and covered it with kisses. And he prayed and fasted for him, and obtained his pardon. And some time later he ordained him a bishop.

One day Saint John was given a live partridge. And as the saint was caressing it with his hand, a youth said laughingly to his comrades: 'Look at the old man playing with a bird, like a child.' Then Saint John, guessing the boy's thoughts, called him and asked why he held a bow and arrow in his hand. The boy answered: 'To shoot birds in flight.' The apostle said: 'How dost thou that?' The bov stretched his bow and held it taut in his hand: but as the apostle said nothing, he was not slow to slacken his bow. Then said Saint John: My son, why hast thou loosened thy bow?' He replied: 'If I held it taut any longer, it would become too weak to launch the arrows.' And the apostle said: 'And in like manner, our human nature would become too weak for contemplation if, persisting in its severity, it refused to yield at times to its fragility. Knowest thou not that the eagle, which flies higher than any other bird, and looks straight into the sun, must, nevertheless, by its very nature, come back to earth? So likewise the human spirit, after relaxing a little from the contemplation of heavenly things, returns to it with renewed ardor.'

Saint Jerome recounts as follows: Saint John, who remained in Ephesus into his extreme old age, grew so feeble that his disciples had to carry him to the church, and he could scarcely open his mouth. Yet at every step he repeated one and the same phrase: 'My children, love one another!' One day, however, the faithful, surprised that he always repeated the same thing, asked him the reason for it. And the saint answered: 'Because it is the great commandment of the Lord; and if one only fulfils this, it is enough.'

Helinandus asserts that when Saint John was about to write his gospel, he first ordered the faithful to fast and to pray, that he might be inspired by God. And then, when he retired to the solitary spot where he was to write the divine book, he prayed that the book might be protected against the ravages of the wind and rain. And it is said that even today this spot is spared by the elements.

Finally, here is what we read in the book of Isidore: When Saint John had reached the age of ninety-nine years, the sixty-seventh year of the Passion of the Lord, Jesus appeared to him with His disciples and said: 'Come to me, My well-beloved, for the time has come when thou shalt sit at table with Me and with thy brethren!' And Saint John rose up and prepared to go. But Jesus said to him: 'No, thou shalt come to Me on Sunday.' Therefore, on the following Sunday, the whole populace gathered in the church. And Saint John, recovering his vigor, preached from the crowing of the cock, telling them to be strong, in the faith and fervent in carrying out the commands of Christ. After which he had a square grave dug near the altar, and saw that the earth was carried outside the church. Then, going down into the grave, and raising his hands to Heaven, he said: 'Thou hast invited me to Thy table, Lord; and behold I come, thanking Thee for having invited me, for Thou knowest that I have desired it with all my heart.' When he had made this prayer, a blinding light surrounded him. And when the light faded away, the saint had vanished, and the grave was filled with manna; and it is said that even today this manna issues from the grave, as if it were a spring.

Saint Edmund, King of England, used never to refuse anything that was asked of him in the name of Saint John. One day, in the absence of the king's chamberlain, a certain pilgrim approached Edmund, and asked him for alms in the name of Saint John the Evangelist. And the king, having nothing else to give him, gave him the precious ring which he wore on his finger. Some time later, an English soldier who was overseas met the same pilgrim, and the latter returned the ring to him, telling him to carry it to his king with these words: 'He for whose love thou hast given this ring, returns it to thee.' Whence it was clearly evident that it was Saint John himself who had appeared to the king in the guise of a pilgrim.

Isidore wrote in his Life and Death of the Saints: 'John changed sticks into gold, and the pebbles of the beach into precious stones; he made broken jewels whole; at his command the widow awoke, the youth arose and the soul returned to the body; unharmed he drank the poison and restored life to them whom the poison had killed.'

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1. From: The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, trans. and adapted by Ryan, Granger and Helmut Ripperger. (Arno Press: Longmans, Green & Co) 1941. pp. 58–64.