Saint John de Massias was born to a pious and noble family on March 2, 1585 in Estramadura, Spain. He was orphaned at age four and went to work as a shepherd with his uncle. Through a vision, he then moved to Lima, Peru where he worked on a cattle ranch. He joined the Dominicans as a lay brother on January 23, 1622. He worked at the friary for over twenty years as a porter and doorkeeper. He had visions and cared for the poor in Lima. He prayed the rosary very frequently and offered his prayers for the release of the souls in Purgatory. It is said that he freed over a million through his prayers. In Lima, he met Saint Martin de Porres and the two become close friends. He died in Lima of natural causes on September 16, 1645. Two-hundred years later he was beatified by Pope Pius VII and he was then canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1975. His image is located on the main altar of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Lima. A temple was built in his honor in 1970 in Lima. Every third Sunday of November his image along with Martin de Porres are paraded around the streets and venerated by the faithful of Peru.
While reading more about John de Massias, whose birth name was Juan de Arcas Sanchez, I am obviously thinking about the Fraternas (Marian Community of Reconciliation) since they were founded in Lima, Peru. I am so grateful that I know them and can learn from them.
I have become closer to our mother Mary because of them and I have learned more about myself and God's plan for me. May God bless their community with many vocations from young women who have heard God's call and will respond. O God, who was pleased that John, Thy Confessor, early endowed with the richness of Thy grace, should in a lowly state of life blossom with a brilliance of virtue, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to follow his footsteps that by purity of mind we may merit to come to Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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