Baring-Gould’s sources: Usuardus, Ado, Notker, some copies of Bede's Martyrology, and the Roman Martyrology. Authority:—An ancient life published by the Bollandists, but evidently founded on tradition.
The life of this saint shall be translated from the original, as it deserves, from its quaint simplicity and freshness.
"It fell out in those days that as the blessed John was going forth from Syria, he prayed, saying, 'Lord God of heaven and earth, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of our Fathers, who madest heaven and earth with all their adornments, who by a word didst suspend the sea, who didst close the abyss and sign above it gloriously, whose mighty name all things revere, and before the face of whose virtue all things quake; I pray Thee, who art the true light, illumine me hoping in thee, and make my way prosperous before me, in which I go, and let this be to me for a sign that there I should rest, when that person to whom I give my psalter shall not return it to me the self-same day.'
"And it came to pass that he came to Italy, and was near to the metropolitan [the archbishop who heads a group of dioceses] city (of Spoleto) and had gone about five miles into the Angellan farm, when he met with a certain handmaiden of God, and he gave to her his psalter. And afterwards he asked the handmaid for it again, and she said, 'Servant of God, whither goest thou? Tarry here, and go thy way to-morrow.' And when they had long spoken, she insisted that he should remain there that night; so he remained. And the blessed John remembered his prayer that he had made, and he said in his heart, 'Verily this is what I besought of the Lord; here will I dwell.'
"So when the morning came, having received his psalter again, he went forth no more than four bow-shots. And, behold! an angel of God appeared to him, and went before him, and when they came to the place, the angel said to him, 'Sit down here, servant of the most high God, for the Lord hath commanded thee to dwell here,' and so saying, he led him under a tree and said, 'Here shalt thou have a great congregation, and find rest.' Then S. John, the Confessor of Christ, sat down under the tree.
"Now it was the month of December, and according to the custom of the month, it froze hard, and all the ground was stiff; but the tree under which the blessed John reposed, blossomed as the lily. And at that time hunters went by, and they found him sitting under the tree, and they thought that he was a spy, and they questioned him, saying, 'Whence comest thou?' Then the blessed John told them all, and how he had come to Italy. So they marvelled greatly, for they had never seen a habit like his. But he said to them, 'Do not, my sons, do not harm me, for I have come here in the service of Jesus Christ.'
"Then they observing the tree, that it shone as a lily, knew that the Lord was with him, and they told all things to the bishop of Spoleto. And when bishop John heard this, he was filled with great joy, and he hasted, and went to where the blessed John was praying. And when they saw one another, for joy they wept. And all that were present gave glory to God. Now through the mercy of God many people were collected there, and he built a monastery, and he lived therein all the rest of the days of his life. And he was there forty and four years, and he fell asleep in peace, and was buried with hymns and songs, where he reposes to this day, and there the blind receive their sight, devils are expelled, lepers are cleansed, and the divine offices are there performed to the present day, through the assistance of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth, through ages. Amen."
