JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SAINT

St. John theEvangelist, the youngest of theapostles, was called along with his brother James by Christ at Lake Genesareth. John was present at theTransfiguration, Agony in the Garden, andCrucifixion. After Christ's death, he went toRomewhere Emperor Domitian submitted him to martyrdom. Having escaped unscathed from a pot of boiling oil, he was exiled to the island of Patmos where, after experiencing visions, he wrote the Revelations, the final book in the Bible.Correggiodepicted St. John in one of those mystical moments in 1520-1524 in thedome frescoof San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, andHans Memlinc(1479; Bruges, Hospital of St. John) did the same in one of the lateral panels of hisAltarpieceof theVirginand Angels. After Domitian's death, St. John went to Ephesus where he also wrote his Gospel. He died there, the only apostle to do so of natural causes. Scenes from St. John's life are included in thePeruzzi ChapelatSanta Croce, Florence, rendered byGiottoin the 1320s, and in the chapel of Filippo Strozzi atSanta Maria Novella, Florence, painted byFilippino Lippiin 1502.

See alsoApocalypse.