The Third Day of Christmas, December 27, is the feast of St John the Apostle. John was one of Jesus’s disciples, and one of his closest friends. In the gospel that bears his name he is referred to as “the disciple that Jesus loved.” Tradition says he was the youngest of the disciples, perhaps only 18, and the only apostle to die a natural death. He and his brother James were known as the “Sons of Thunder.”
After James was martyred, tradition holds that John went to Asia Minor, where he likely helped found the Church at Ephesus. During the persecution of Domitian, he was exiled to Patmos, but he later returned to Ephesus and died there. While on Patmos he received the vision that forms the Book of Revelation. In the Middle Ages, this feast was dedicated to priests.
