Saint of the Day

01 · Read · A life to discover

St. John the Apostle

John, son of Zebedee and brother of James, was one of the Twelve Apostles. The Gospels place him among the disciples closest to Jesus, including at the Transfiguration and in Gethsemane. They also show the brothers needing correction when their ambitions or anger conflicted with Jesus' teaching.

The Gospel portraits do not begin with a detached theologian but with a fisherman called into discipleship alongside his brother. Their closeness to Jesus did not eliminate misunderstanding. Episodes of correction are part of the apostolic story and prevent later symbols of wisdom and love from flattening the human character of that calling.

Christian tradition identifies John with the beloved disciple of the Fourth Gospel and associates him with Ephesus and several New Testament writings. These identifications should be distinguished from what the texts explicitly say: the Gospel does not name its beloved disciple, and the identity of Revelation's John was disputed even in antiquity. The liturgical tradition remembers the apostle especially as a witness to divine love.

The Church reads the Johannine writings as an important witness to Christ, while their literary relationships remain a subject of scholarship. Revelation names a John exiled on Patmos; identifying that figure with the son of Zebedee is a traditional interpretation rather than an explicit statement of the book. The distinction protects the texts' actual testimony.

This saint is included on this recurring date in the U.S. Roman Rite calendar published by the USCCB. This reading guide gives U.S. calendar saints priority; the Mass celebrated on a particular year’s date can differ because of Sundays, seasons or higher-ranking celebrations.