Saint Who?
Saints Who Taught about Prayer
Saint John Cassian
Priest and founder († 435) Feast: July 23
Saint John Cassian may not be a household name, but he has been well known and loved by monks for many centuries.
Often known simply as Cassian, he was probably born in Romania. He was a young man when he and a friend set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The two men decided to become monks in Bethlehem and then moved to Egypt. Cassian later traveled to Constantinople, where he became a disciple of the patriarch of the city, Saint John Chrysostom, and was ordained a deacon. When he settled in Marseilles, France, men soon sought him out and placed themselves under his direction. Cassian built two monasteries—one for monks and one for nuns—near the tomb of a French martyr.
Cassian’s influence and writings spread far beyond his monasteries even during his lifetime. Almost sixteen centuries later, the Catechism quotes his advice. If we want to pray like humble children, Cassian teaches, we should remember to pray “by the contemplation of God alone, and by the warmth of love, through which the soul, molded and directed to love him, speaks very familiarly to God as to its own Father with special devotion.”
Heavenly Father, grant us the grace to pray to you
like children, with trust and tenderness.
