St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome,
brother to James the Greater. He was called the Beloved disciple of
Christ and stood by at his Crucifixion. He wrote the Gospel after the
other Evangelists, about sixty-three years after our Lord's Ascension.
Many things that they had omitted were supplied by him. The original
was written in Greek; and by the Greeks he is titled: The Divine. St.
Jerome relates that, when he was earnestly requested by the brethren to
write the Gospel, he answered he would do it, if by ordering a common
fast, they would all put up their prayers together to the Almighty God;
which being ended replenished with the clearest and fullest revelation
coming from Heaven, he burst forth into that preface: IN THE BEGINNING
WAS THE WORD.