St John Capistrano

This lesser-known saint died precisely on October 23, 1456, at a time when the Catholic church was threatened by schisms and attacks from the Ottoman Empire of Turkey. St John Capistrano was canonized in 1630 and is quite popular in the USA, where one of the California missions is dedicated to him, and a popular tradition says that various sparrows return back to Capistrano on his feast-day.

John Capistrano was born in the village of Capistrano, close to Aquila in central Italy, from parents who most probably emigrated to Italy from a Scandinavian country. He studied law in Perugia and became Governor in 1412. He was caught and taken a prisoner when Malatesta di Rimini who attacked Perugia. But at that time, he had a vision of St Francis of Assisi encouraging him to become a Franciscan monk. That’s what he did and professed in 1418. His master was St Bernardine of Siena, and after his ordination to the priesthood in 1425, he dedicated his life to preaching in the Franciscan spirit.

He was asked by Pope Martin V to intervene between some Franciscans known as Fraticelli and later took part in the Council of Florence. Then he was sent as an Apostolic Nuncio to Sicily, and later as a papal legate to France. He also took part in many of the crusades, preaching in Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary, and often his sermons were against the Turkish Empire. After they conquered Constantinople, the Turks attacked a fortress in Belgrade, but with the prayers and hard work of St John Capistrano, they could not conquer it. He died at the age of 70, and left behind 70 volumes of his writings, besides over 700 letters, through which he consoled and comforted many people.