[Officium]
St. John of St. Facundus, Confessor

[Ant 1]
I will liken him unto a wise man, * which built his house upon a rock.

[Oratio]
God, the Author of peace and Lover of concord, Who didst wonderfully adorn thy blessed Confessor John with the grace of making peace between them that were at war, grant unto us for his sake and by his prayers, to be so solidly established in the love of thyself, that no trials whatsoever may be able to part us from thee.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
John Gonzalez was born, the offspring of a noble race, at San Fagondez in Spain, (on Midsummer Day in the year of grace 1430.) His father and mother after long childlessness, obtained him from God by prayers and good works. From his earliest years he gave clear signs of his after holiness of life. He was used to climb up upon an high place to preach to the other little boys, and to exhort them to be good and to worship God, and he made it his work to reconcile their quarrels. While he was still at home he was given in charge to the monks of the Order of Saint Benedict, at the village of San Fagondez, to teach him his first lessons. While he was thus busied, his father obtained for him the benefice of the Parish, but no persuasions could induce him to keep this preferment. He became one of the household of the Bishop of Burgos, and that Prelate, seeing his uprightness, took him into his counsels, ordained him Priest, and made him a Canon, heaping upon him many kindnesses. However, that he might serve God the more quietly, he left the Bishop's Palace, resigned all his Church income, and betook him to a certain Chapel wherein he celebrated the Holy Liturgy every day, and oftentimes preached concerning the things of God, with great profit to all that heard him.

[Lectio5]
He went later to Salamanca to study, and there being taken into the celebrated College of St. Bartholomew, he did his priestly office, so that he was at once constant to the studies he desired and busy with sermons. Here he had a severe illness, and vowed to take up a sterner way of living. In fulfillment of this vow, he gave to an half-naked beggar the better of the two garments which were all that he had, and then went to a Convent of the friars of St. Augustine, which was then in the richest bloom of rigid discipline. Being admitted therein, he surpassed the most advanced in obedience, lowliness, watchings, and prayer. At the time that he had charge of the table, one keg of wine abundantly sufficed in his hands for all the friars, throughout an whole year. After his year of novitiate, he undertook the duty of preacher at the command of his Superior. At that time, owing to bloody feuds, all things human and divine at Salamanca were in such utter confusion, that murders were committed almost every hour, and the streets and squares, and the very churches, flowed with the blood of all classes, especially of the nobility.

[Lectio6]
It was John, who by public preaching and private conversations, softened the hearts of the citizens so that the town was restored to peace. He grievously offended one of the nobles by rebuking him for his cruelty toward his vassals. This man sent two knights to murder him on the road. They had already come nigh him when God sent a terror upon them, so that they and their horses stood still, until they cast themselves down before the feet of the Saint, imploring his forgiveness for their sin. The Prince himself, also, smitten with a sudden dread, despaired of his salvation, till he had sent for John, who, finding him repent of his deed, restored him to soundness. Some quarrelsome men, likewise, who were fain to give him a cudgelling, found their arms stiffen, nor would their strength come back till they had asked his pardon for their wickedness. Oftentimes when he was celebrating the Holy Liturgy, the Presence of the Lord Christ became sensibly manifest to him, and he drank in things heavenly from their Divine Well-head Himself. Oftentimes also he could see the secrets of men's hearts, and foretell strange things to come. He raised from the dead his own niece, aged seven years. He foretold the day of his own death, and prepared himself by receiving most devoutly the Sacraments of the Church, (and then fell asleep in the Lord, upon the 11th day of June, in the year 1475.) God glorified him by many miracles, both before and after his death. These being duly proved, Alexander VIII. numbered him among the Saints. the Christians took them, and buried them honourably.

[Lectio94]
John, born of a noble family at Sahagun [St. Facundus] in Spain, was granted by God to his parents, who had long been childless, in answer to their good works and prayers. From his earliest years, he gave signs of his future holiness. When ordained priest, he renounced, of his own accord, all the ecclesiastical benefits which had been given him, that he might serve God in greater tranquillity. When he incurred a serious illness in Salamanca, he bound himself by vow to observe a severer discipline. To do so, he went to the monastery of St. Augustine, where there flourished the greatest severity of discipline. As a religious, he excelled the most advanced monks in all virtues. Through his public talks and private conversations, as well as the holiness of his life, he brought back to peaceful living the citizens of Salamanca, who had been disturbed by bloody factions. In the course of this work, he was not infrequently saved from imminent death by divine power. The Lord Christ often appeared to him while he was celebrating Mass. Often also he could divine the secrets of hearts and foretell the future. At length, having predicted the day of his death, he departed this life in a most holy way, glorified by many miracles both before and after his death. These miracles were duly proved, and Alexander VIII enrolled him in the number of the Saints.
&teDeum