John of Atarés

Saint John of Atarés was a hermit of the 7th century (toward its end) who settled in the mountains of Aragon, near Jaca in Spain. Renouncing his fortune, he withdrew to the mountain to lead a hermit's life, first in a cave on Mount Pano, near Jaca. He set up there a wooden cross, before which he prayed continually.

One day the devil appeared to him, dressed as a great knight, and offered him great riches and a palace if he would enter his service. John said the Our Father and the devil vanished; in his place came an angel, who advised him to move his dwelling to a cave on Mount Oroel, where he settled and raised an altar dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.

In the following century two other hermits, Voto and Felix, settled in the same cave. According to the story, Voto, pursuing a stag, fell from a cliff; as he fell he commended himself to Saint John, his horse came gently to rest on a rock, and he reached a cave in which lay the body of the hermit John, his head resting on a stone bearing a note that he was the first hermit of the place and had built the church there in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Voto buried him. From that place, in time, grew the monastery of San Juan de la Peña. He is venerated in the monastery and the region and is commemorated on 29 May. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.