I am in Mass drenched and late to hear the last words of the sermon.

“He died exhausted from his work in 404.”

Who was he, I wondered. He was St John Chrysostom, a noted preacher and bishop of Constantinople. But who was he?

His writings, we are told, “reveal the brilliance of his intellect and his strength of faith”.

But many have strength of faith and brilliance of mind. Not I in either case sadly. But who was he? How did these men achieve such strength of faith and how does it elude me?