[1] After years of living a highly religious way of life in Spain resulting from a conversion experience, in 1535 he founded his first hospital at Granada, where he served the sick and afflicted.

After ten years spent in the exercise of charity, he died 8 March 1550 of pneumonia after he had plunged into a river to save a young man from drowning.

The rich Krakowian merchant Valerian Montelupi (of Italian heritage) donated to the brothers a tenement house not far from the main square.

In the 1800s they were relocated to Kazimierz, the then-separate city, now district of Kraków, where to this day, they reside in their monastery and church, running their large hospital next door, in Trinitarska street.

[citation needed] In 1880 a house was founded at Scorton, North Yorkshire, England, for the reception of male patients with chronic infirmities, paralysis, or old age, and is supported by charitable contributions.

[1] In the early days, the St John of God Hospital had its own farm of about five acres of land which supported cows, pigs and poultry, along with a couple of horses.

[5] Activities in the Irish Republic include a base in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, helping people with disabilities in the area.

A large school and training center was established by Brothers from the Irish Province in New Jersey to meet the needs of the mentally and physically disabled.

Now it is a reference point for the entire region and has 290 beds, serving people from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, and Niger.

[13] The outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa in 2014 had a major impact on the medical centers run by the Hospitaller Brothers in that region.

[20] The Brothers undergo a special course of training in order to fit them for carrying out their various works of charity to which they devote their life.

Saints Blesseds Venerables Servants of God In 2013, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry (VPI) looked at the order's operations in Victoria, Australia.

[28]: 28 Graham told the VPI his order had no scrutiny or accountability mechanisms in place to prevent the abuse of the vulnerable children in their care.

"[28]: 22  Graham confirmed that despite 40% of the brothers in his order having serious allegations of sexual abuse levelled against them, no checks and balances were in place to vet prospective new members.

[28]: 30–31 The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse looked at some case studies pertaining to the order but was unable to fully investigate due to the trials of Bernard McGrath and John Clegg.

[29] In 2020, the second episode of the ABC documentary series Revelation followed the criminal trial of McGrath at the New South Wales District Court.

Events there in the 1970s would later lead to a high-profile scandal with sexual offence charges being laid against four members of the order: Brothers Bernard McGrath, Roger Maloney, Raymond Garchow, and William Lebler.

[32][33][34] The royal commission undertook to investigate the sexual abuse of children under the care of the Brothers of St John of God in Marylands, their residential school in Christchurch.

[needs update][35][36] In early August 2023, the Royal Commission released an interim report, titled "Stolen Lives, Marked Souls" to the Governor-General, which focused on three Christchurch institutions run by the Order: Marylands School, Hebron Trust, and St Joseph's Orphanage.

[37] The report documented several cases of depravity, sexual, physical and spiritual abuse at these institutions, with Marylands School and Hebron Trust being described as "hell on earth.

"[38][39] Australian convicted sex offender Brother Bernard McGrath, who worked for four years at Marylands School, was identified by the report as a "prolific abuser.

The bishop invited brothers of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God to teach boys aged predominantly between 8 and 15 who had behavioural, emotional and intellectual problems.

[51][52] The allegations related to the order's institutions at Churinga, Cheltenham, and Lilydale, Victoria, where it provided accommodation and education for orphans, state wards, and boys with intellectual disabilities from the 1950s to the 1980s.

In late 2012, journalist Rory Callinan tracked down Brother Roger 'Gabriel' Mount to a small community east of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he was living illegally.

[58] Mount was accused of abusing children when he was working as Brother Gabriel with the Order of St John of God at Kendall Grange, NSW and at boys homes in Victoria.

[59] In early 2014, Father Ben Fleming, a Port Morseby diocesan official, said the church would act to move Mount.

Judge Hannan sentenced Mount to seven years and 10 months imprisonment and required him to sign the sex offenders registry.