St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

St. John Chrysostom was born in Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey), in about 349. His early education trained him in law and oratory. He was baptized when he was eighteen years of age, and he thought of becoming a monk. This dream, however, was not realized until 373, when he joined a group of hermits living in the mountains near Antioch. Seven years later, he returned to the city and began his studies for the priesthood. Shortly after his ordination in 386, he was assigned to preach. He became an outstanding preacher, and for twelve years he preached regularly to the people of Antioch. His homilies, which were commentaries on the Scriptures, were published, and it is because of these and his other writings that he was later declared a doctor of the Church. John was made Bishop of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 398, and he immediately instituted much-needed reforms in his diocese, opened hospitals, and saw that the poor were given the help they needed. His honesty and frankness in speaking out against the luxury of the imperial court and its laxity in morals earned him the hatred of the wealthy and influential, and thus he was forced into exile in June 404.

John spent three years at a frontier outpost in Armenia, but because he still had some influence in Constantinople by means of his letters, he was moved further away. On his way to his new place of exile, he was forced to walk the entire distance, over mountains, through rain, and under the burning sun. Finally, his health broke, and he died at Comana on the Black Sea on September 14, 407. From 438 on, a liturgical feast was celebrated in his honor, and ten years later his body was brought to Constantinople’s Church of the Apostles. By the sixth century, the name “Chrysostom,” a Greek word meaning “golden-tongued” that alludes to his eloquence, had been added to his Christian name. Then, in 1568, Pope Pius V (see April 30) declared him a doctor of the Church. The prayer in today’s Mass also speaks of his eloquence and heroic sufferings.