John of Capistrano, was a Franciscan friar and Catholic
priest from the Italian town of Capestrano. Famous as a preacher, theologian,
and inquisitor, he earned himself the nickname "the Soldier
Saint." Elevated to sainthood, he is the patron saint of jurist and military
chaplains, as well as the namesake of two Francisian missions, one
Southern California and the other in San Antonio, Texas.
As was the custom of this time, John is denoted by the village
of Capestrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, in the Abruzzi Kingdom of
Naples. His father had come to Italy with the Angevin court of Louis I of
Anjou, King of Naples. He studied law at the University of Perugia.
In 1412, King Ladislaus 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 the House of Malatesta in 1416, John was sent as
ambassador to speak peace, but the Malatestas threw him in prison. It
was during this imprisonment that he began to study theology. When he
was released, he decided to become a Franciscan friar, citing a dream
where Saint Francis of Assisi ordered him to enter the Order. He had
married before the war but asserted that the marriage was never consummated
and received permission to take holy orders.
Together with James of the Marches, John entered the Order
of Friars Minor at Perugia on October 4, 1416. Along with James, he
studied theology at Fiesole, near Florence, under Bernardine of Siena.
He soon gave himself up to the most rigorous asceticism, violently
defending the ideal of strict observance and orthodoxy, following the
example set by Bernardine. From 1420 onwards, he preached with
great effect in numerous cities and eventually became well known. He
was ordained in 1425.
Unlike most Italian preachers of repentance in the 15th century,
John was effective in northern and central Europe in German states
of Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia,
and the Kingdom of Poland. The largest churches could not hold the
crowds, so he preached in the public squares; at Brescia in Italy, he
preached to a crowd of 126,000. When he was not preaching, John was
writing tracts against heresy of every kind. This facet of his life is covered
in great detail by his early biographers, Nicholas of Fara, Christopher
of Varese and Girlamo of Udine. While he was evangelizing, he
was actively engaged in assisting Bernardine of Siena in the reform of
the Franciscan Order, largely in the interest of more rigorous discipline
in the Franciscan communities. Like Bernardine, he strongly emphasized
devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and, together with Bernardine,
was accused of heresy on this account. In 1429, these Observant
friars were called to Rome to answer charges of heresy, and John was
chosen by his companions to speak for them. They were both acquitted
by the Commission of Cardinals appointed to judge the accusations.
He survived many battles, but John fell victim to the bubonic
plague, which flourished in the unsanitary conditions prevailing among
armies of the day. He died on October 23, 1456, at the nearby town
of Ilok. The year of John of Capistrano's canonization was liturgically
celebrated October 16, 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII. The Bull of Canonization,
Rationis Congruit, was published on June 4, 1724 by Pope
Benedict XIII. In 1890, his feast day was included for the first time in
the General Roman Calendar and assigned to March 28. In 1969, Pope
Paul VI moved his feast day to 23 October, the day of his death.
