Saint John of Capistrano
![[Saint John holy card]](saintj27.jpg "30kb jpg holy card of Saint John, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Giovanni da Capestrano;
John Capistran
- Memorial
- 23 October;
formerly 28 March
- Profile
- Son of a former German knight, his father died when John was still young.
Studied law at the University of Perugia.
Lawyer in Naples, Italy.
Reforming governor of Perugia under King Landislas of Naples.
When war broke out between Perugia and Malatesta in 1416, John tried to broker a peace, but instead his opponents ignored the truce, John became a prisoner of war.
During his imprisonment he came to the decision to change vocations.
He had married just before the war, but the marriage was never consummated, and with his bride's permission, it was annulled.
Franciscan at Perugia on 4 October 1416.
Fellow student with Saint James of the Marches.
Disciple of Saint Bernadine of Siena.
Noted preacher while still a deacon, beginning his work in 1420.
Itinerant priest throughout Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, preaching to tens of thousands.
Established communities of Franciscan renewal.
Reported to heal by making the Sign of the Cross over a sick person.
Wrote extensively, mainly against the heresies of the day.
After the fall of Constantinople, he preached Crusade against the Muslim Turks.
At age 70 he was commissioned by Pope Callistus II to lead it, and marched off at the head of 70,000 Christian soldiers.
He won the great battle of Belgrade in the summer of 1456.
He died in the field a few months later, but his army delivered Europe from the Muslems.
- Born
- 1386 at Capistrano, Italy
- Died
- 23 October 1456 at Villach, Hungary of natural causes
- Name Meaning
- God is gracious; gift of God
- Beatified
- 19 December 1650 by Pope Innocent X
- Canonized
- 16 October 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII
- Patronage
-
judges;
jurists;
military chaplains;
military ordinariate of the Philippines
- Representation
-
man with a crucifix and lance, treading a turban underfoot;
Franciscan with cross on his breast and carrying banner of the cross;
Franciscan preaching, angels with rosaries and IHS above him;
Franciscan pointing to a crucifix which he holds
- Additional Information
-
Google Directory
Catholics in the Military
Catholic Encyclopedia
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary
- Translate
-
español | français | deutsch | italiano | português
- Readings
- Those who are called to the table of the Lord must glow with the brightness that comes from the good example of a praiseworthy and blameless life.
They must completely remove from their lives the filth and uncleanness of vice.
Their upright lives must make them like the salt of the earth for themselves and for the rest of mankind.
The brightness of their wisdom must make them like the light of the world that brings light to others.
They must learn from their eminent teacher, Jesus Christ, what he declared not only to his apostles and disciples, but also to all the priests and clerics who were to succeed them, when he said, "You are the salt of the earth.
But what is salt goes flat?
How can you restore its flavor?
Then it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."
Jesus also said: "You are the light of the world."
Now a light does not illumine itself, but instead it diffuses its rays and shines all around upon everything that comes into its view.
So it must be with the glowing lives of upright and holy clerics.
By the brightness of their holiness they must bring light and serenity to all who gaze upon them.
They have been placed here to care for others.
Their own lives should be an example to others, showing how they must live in the house of the Lord.
from the treatise Mirror of the Clergy by Saint John of Capistrano
