Giovanni da Capistrano

Saint Giovanni da Capestrano ("in English", Saint John Capistrano and "in Hungarian", János Kapisztrán), June 24, 1386 – October 23, 1456), was a Franciscan friar from Italy. Famous as a preacher, theologian and inquisitor, he earned himself the nickname 'the Soldier Saint' when in 1456 at age 70 he led a crusade against the invading Turks at the siege of Belgrade. Elevated to Sainthood, he is now considered the patron saint of Jurists as well as the namesake of the Franciscan missions San Juan Capisrano in Southern California and San Juan Capistrano in San Antonio, Texas

Early life

As was custom in this time, Giovanni took his name from his birthplace: 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 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, never having consummated the marriage, and started studying theology with St. Bernardine of Siena.

Friar and preacher

Together with St. James of the Marches, Capestrano entered the Franciscan order at Perugia on October 4, 1416. At once he gave himself up to the most rigorous asceticism, violently defending the ideal of strict observance and orthodoxy, following St. Bernardine as he preached, and from 1420 onwards, preaching himself with great effect in many cities. Unlike most Italian preachers of repentance in the 15th 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.

Reformer

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 Girlamo 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 St. Bernardine of Siena, he strongly emphasized 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; 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 prosecuted the last Fraticelli of Ferrara, 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.

The soldier Saint

After the Fall of Constantinople, when Mohammed II was threatening Vienna and Rome, Pope Calixtus III sent him at the age of seventy, to preach and lead a Crusade against the invading Turks at the Diet of Frankfurt in 1454, and he succeeded in gathering together enough troops to march onto Belgrade, which at that time was under siege by Mahommed II. In the summer of 1456, this troops, together with John Hunyadi managed to raise the siege of Belgrade, the old and frail Capestrano actually leading his own contingent into battle. This feat earned hin the moniker of 'the Soldier Priest'. although Capestrano survived the battle, he fell victim of the bubonic plague, which shortly afterwards flourished in the unsanitary conditions of the battlefield. He died at nearby Újlak, Kingdom of Hungary (which is now a border town between Croatia and Serbia across the Danube from Bácspalánka).

St. John Capistrano, in spite of this restless life, found time to work, both in the lifetime of his master St. Bernardine 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).

ainthood and feast day

The year of St. John Capistrano's canonization is variously given as 1690, by Pope Alexander VIII or 1724 by Pope Benedict XIII. In 1890, his feast day was included for the first time in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and assigned to 28 March. [http://www.katolikus.hu/hun-saints/john.html ST JOHN OF CAPISTRANO (A.D. 1456)] Retrieved September 13, 2006; "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 106)] In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved his feast day to 23 October, the day of his death. Traditionalist Catholics commemorate his feast day on 28 March, as in the Church's calendar from 1890 to 1969.

Popular Culture

* Capistrano is a character in the game "Legendary Warriors". Far from how the real Franciscan friar was, he is portrayed as a radical warrior priest who has mass support with the peasants. He is also shown to be a close friend of John Hunyadi. His history is changed slightly in that he actually dies at Belgrade. He wields a flail.

Namesake

As a Franciscan reformer preaching simplicity, Capestrano became the namesake of two Spanish missions founded by the Franciscans in the North of the then Spanish Americas:
Mission San Juan Capistrano in today's Southern California and Mission San Juan Capistrano just outside the city center of today's San Antonio in Texas

References

See also

* Church of St. Wojciech, in Krakow, Poland, sermons
* Mission San Juan Capistrano in Southern California
* Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Antonio, Texas

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08452a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: "St John Capistran"] DEFAULTSORT:Giovanni da Capistrano