GIOVANNI da San Facondo or di Sahagún, St. — Born in Sahagún in the region of León in Spain in 1420, died in Salamanca on 11 June 1479. In his youth he was entrusted to the Benedictines. He was ordained priest by the bishop of Burgos, who enrolled him among the canons of the cathedral.
Burning with love for souls, he renounced his canonry and began to officiate in a chapel, where he preached, heard confessions, and directed in the spiritual life all those who, in great numbers, came to him. When discord and bloody strife broke out among the nobles of Salamanca, he went to that city and worked effectively to extinguish the hatreds. Stricken by a very serious illness, he vowed to become a religious if he recovered. On 18 June 1463 he donned the Augustinian habit. He was an exemplary subject and superior. Inflamed with zeal for the spiritual and temporal welfare of his neighbor, he fearlessly reproved and chastised masters who oppressed their servants; for this reason more than once he was sought for death by the Duke of Alba and others. Clement VIII in 1601 granted him an Office and Mass; Alexander VIII in 1690 enrolled him among the saints. The bull of canonization was promulgated in 1691 by Innocent XII. Feast on 12 June.