While still young, St. John had achieved such a reputation for learning that he was called the Scholastic. He gave up what promised to be a brilliant career and retired to a solitude on Mt. Sinai. Other young men came to him, for whom he founded a monastery and wrote Climax, or Ladder of Perfection.

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully unto his neighbor, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord. ~Matins: Psalm xxiil.

I am He that in an instant elevateth the humble mind to comprehend more reasons of the eternal truth than if anyone had studied ten years in the schools. ~Imitation: Book III.

Ideal: This is the fourth saint in succession by the name of John. He had a very, very bright mind and a splendid opportunity to make a name for himself, but he left all to become a monk in the desert; he was sixteen at the time he entered the desert.

Today: The monks said of St. John that there never was a more docile monk than he. Sometimes when students are especially bright, they get the mistaken notion that they know more than their parents. That very fact betrays ignorance.

Slogan: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

~A Character Calendar
Sister Mary Fidelis, Sister Mary Charitas
Imprimatur 1931