St. John of Capistrano BARTOLOMEO VIVARINI c. 1480

March 28: Traditional
1386-1456

He was born in Capistrano in the Abruzzi region of Italy and studied law at Perugia, where he was appointed the governor in 1412. He married and was then imprisoned during a regional conflict; this experience caused him to change his life. He obtained a dispensation to enter a religious order, despite his marriage, and publicly confessed his sins.

In 1416 he joined the Friars Minor, studying under St. Bernardino of Siena and was ordained four years later. He had immediate success as a preacher, converting thousands upon thousands to a more religious way of life. He was instrumental, along with Bernardino in drawing up lans for the general chapter at Assisi in 1430. Later he met St. Colette in Paris and joined her efforts to reform the Poor Clares. He was a papal legate and inquisitor against the Fraticelli, a heretical sect that had separated from the Franciscan Order on account of the disputes concerning poverty.

He died of the plague in Austria and was canonized in 1690. He is the Patron of military chaplains.




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