Saint John of Capistrano

San Giovanni da Capistrano
Pulpit of John Capistrano at the Stephansdom in Vienna
Born	June 24 1386(1386-06-24) in Capestrano
Died	October 23 1456 (aged 70) in Ilok, modern Croatia
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism
Canonized	1690 or 1724
Feast	28 March
Patronage	Jurists

Saint Giovanni da Capestrano (in English, John Capistrano (June 24, 1386 – October 23, 1456), was an Italian friar, theologian, and inquisitor.

He was born at Capistrano, near Naples in Italy, in 1385. He studied and practiced both secular and canon law, but later was imprisoned during a war, during which time he renounced his marriage. He resolved while still in prison to serve God, and after his release, he sold his property and entered a monastery where the Rule of Saint Francis was observed in its purity.

For seven years, John practiced great austerities, cared for the sick in the hospitals, and preached the word of God. He became a disciple of Saint Bernardine of Siena, assisting him in public conferences and discussions. However, he was accused of having taught errors and went to Rome to justify his teachings in the presence of the Pope and a group of cardinals, where he defended himself well.

Afterwards, he preached all over Italy. Five Popes in succession gave John commissions to represent them in important affairs, and he traveled to France, Austria, Poland, and Germany. Everywhere his negotiations were crowned with success, but none of the Popes succeeded in raising him to a higher episcopal position; their efforts met an absolute resistance in his humility.

John's extraordinary qualities proved to be of great assistance to the Holy See in another circumstance. When Mohammed II was threatening Vienna and Rome, Saint John Capistrano, at the bidding of Pope Callixtus III, enrolled him to help lead a crusade of 70,000 Christians, which won a great victory at Belgrade in 1455.

Saint John died the following year at the age of 71. He was canonized in 1690.

Biography

Saint John was born in the village of Capestrano, in the diocese of Sulmona in the Abruzzi region of central Italy. His father had come to Italy with the Angevin court of Louis I of Anjou, King of Naples. John lived at first a wholly secular life, studied law at the University of Perugia under the legal scholar Pietro de Ubaldis, married, and became a successful magistrate. In 1412, Ladislas of Naples appointed him governor of Perugia, a tumultuous and resentful papal fief held by Ladislas as the pope's champion, in order to effectively establish public order. When war broke out between Perugia and Sigismondo Malatesta in 1416, John was sent as ambassador to broker a peace, but Malatesta threw him in prison.

During the captivity, in despair he put aside his new young wife, with the claim that he had never consummated the marriage, and, studying with St Bernardino of Siena, together with St Giacomo della Marca, he entered the Franciscan order at Perugia on October 4, 1416. The superiors, fearing this vocation to be a passing fancy, tested him severely, even sending him away twice; but he remained day and night at the door, suffering joyfully all trials. His heroic perseverance disarmed their fears and severity, and he was admitted to religious profession.

At once he gave himself up to the most rigorous asceticism, violently defending the ideal of strict observance and the narrowest reading of orthodoxy, following Bernardino as he preached, and from 1420 onwards, preaching himself with great effect in many cities.

Unlike most Italian preachers of repentance in the fifteenth century, Giovanni da Capestrano was effective in the north, in Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, and Poland. The largest churches could not hold the crowds, so he preached in the piazzas: at Brescia he preached to a crowd of 126,000. When he was not preaching, he was writing tracts against heresy of every kind. This facet of Giovanni's life is covered in great detail by his early biographers, Nicholas of Fara, Christopher of Varese, and Girolamo of Udine. While he was thus evangelizing, he was actively engaged in assisting Bernardino in the reforms of the Franciscan Order, largely in the interests of more rigorous hierarchic discipline.

Like Saint Bernardino of Siena, he greatly proselytized devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and, together with that saint, was accused of heresy on this account. In 1429, John, together with other Observant friars, was called to Rome on the charge of heresy, and he was chosen by his companions to defend them; the friars were acquitted by the Commission of Cardinals. He was frequently deployed to embassies by Popes Eugene IV and Nicholas V.

In 1439, he was sent as legate to Milan and Burgundy, to oppose the claims of the Antipope Felix V; in 1446, he was on a mission to the King of France; and in 1451, he went at the request of the emperor as Apostolic nuncio to Austria. During the period of his nunciature, John visited all parts of the Empire, preaching and combatting the heresy of the Hussites; he also visited Poland at the request of Casimir IV.

As legate, or inquisitor, he persecuted the last Fraticelli of Ferrara and the Jesuati of Venice; the Jews of Sicily, Moldavia and Poland; and, above all, the Hussites of Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia. His aim in the last case was to make conferences impossible between the representatives of Rome and the Bohemians, for every attempt at conciliation seemed to him to be conniving at heresy.

[[Image:San Juan Capistrano, O.F.M..jpg|thumb|250px|San Giovanni da Capistrano, O.F.M., patron saint of the Spanish mission outposts in California and Texas, U.S.A.

Unfortunately, John's oratory was not only used to inspire religious faithm, but to incite mobs to conduct the mass murders of Jews in different cities in Germany. For example, 41 Jews were burned in the city of Breslau, while 36 Jews were burned in the Berlin marketplace. In addition, the entire Jewish community of Liegnitz was burned to death because of John's incitement of mobs. Finally, after the Fall of Constantinople, when Mohammed II was threatening Vienna and Rome, Pope Calixtus III sent him at the age of 70 to preach and lead a Crusade against the invading Turks. At the Diet of Frankfurt in 1454, John succeeded in gathering troops together.

In the summer of 1455, with Capistrano leading a contingent, helped John Hunyadi to raise the siege of Belgrade, which was being blockaded by Mahommed II. Marching at the head of the crusaders, John entered Belgrade at the head of the army. This General of the Friars Minor won a remarkable victory, when 40,000 of the enemies of the Christians perished, but virtually none among the latter. Saint himself died of bubonic plague at Illok, Hungary the following year at the age of 71. He is regarded as a martyr, for enemies of the faith twice succeeded in giving him poison, which was ineffectual; he died only from the disease he had suffered in the defense of the city of Belgrade. “An infinity of miracles” followed his death. He was canonized in 1690.

Quotes

"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

Legacy

Saint John of Capistrano, in spite of this restless life, found time to work, both in the lifetime of his master Bernardino, and after, at the reform of the order of the minor Franciscans. and to uphold both in his writings and his speeches the most advanced theories upon the papal supremacy as opposed to that of the councils (see Conciliar Movement).

The year of his canonization is variously given as 1690 or 1724. His feast day was originally the day of his death, 23 October; it was moved to 28 March in 1890, when his feast was made general for the entire Roman Catholic Church.Since the calendar reform following the Second Vatican Council his feast day has been returned to October 23.

The heart of the San Juan, is famed Mission San Juan Capistrano, named for St. John of Capistrano, Italy, a theologian of the 14th century.Mission San Juan Capistrano, named for St. John of Capistrano, Italy, a theologian of the 14th century, is the seventh mission founded November 1, 1776, the Feast of All Saints, by Fr. Junipero Serra. It happens every spring. Every year around the 19th of March, the world pauses momentarily and focuses on that compelling phenomenon of nature — the return of the Swallows to Capistrano.

Romanticized in Leon Rene’s famous song "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano," the return of the little birds to Capistrano every Spring has captured the imaginations of millions and provides a major media event every year. The Old Spanish Mission has become world famous as the haven of the swallows, those romantic symbols for nature’s migration with the seasons.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Attwater, Donald, & Cumming, John. A New Dictionary of Saints, Liturgical Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0814623244
• Frazier, Alison Knowles. Possible Lives: Authors and Saints in Renaissance Italy, Columbia University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0231129763
• Thurston, Herbert J., & Attwater, Donald. Butler's Lives of the Saints, Christian Classics, 1976. ISBN 978-0870610455
• Tylenda, Joseph N. Saints and Feasts of the Liturgical Year, Georgetown University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0878403998

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: St John Capistrano

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