S. John, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents were of the lowest rank, but good and pious people. John spent a considerable part of his youth in service, under the chief shepherd of the count of Oropeusa, in Castile, and in great innocence and virtue. In 1522, he enlisted himself in a company of foot soldiers, raised by the count, and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards; and afterwards in Hungary, against the Turks, whilst the emperor Charles V. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his companions, he by degrees lost his fear of offending God, grew careless, and fell into many grievous sins. The troop to which he belonged having been disbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he entered the service of a rich lady near Seville, as a shepherd. He was now about forty years of age, and being stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he resolved to amend his life and do penance for his sins. He accordingly employed the greatest part of his time, both by day and night, in the exercises of prayer and mortification; bewailing his ingratitude towards God, and deliberating how he could best dedicate himself to His service. His compassion for the distressed moved him to pass into Africa, that he might there comfort and succour the slaves, not without hopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At Gibraltar he met a Portuguese gentleman condemned to banishment, whose estate had been confiscated by king John III. He was then in the hands of the king's officers, together with his wife and children, and was on his way to Ceuta in Barbary, the place of his exile. John, out of compassion, served him without wages. At Ceuta the gentleman fell sick, and was reduced to dispose of the small remains of his shattered fortune for the support of his wife and children, who were with him in exile. John, not content to sell what little stock he had to relieve them, hired himself as a day labourer at the public works to earn all he could for their subsistence. The apostasy of one of his companions alarmed him, and his confessor telling him that his going in quest of martyrdom was an illusion, he determined to return to Spain. Coming back to Gibraltar, his piety suggested to him to turn pedler, and sell little sacred pictures and books of devotion, which might furnish him with opportunities of exhorting his customers to virtue. His stock increasing considerably, he settled in Granada, where he opened a shop in 1538, being then forty-three years of age.