medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (23. October) is also the feast day of:
John of Capestrano (d. 1456). Today's less well known saint of the
Regno (it's only the proverbial swallows of California's San Juan
Capistrano that are well known) was born into the minor nobility at
today's Capestrano (AQ) in Abruzzo. The youngest son of the local lord,
he was educated at home and then at the university of Perugia, where he
took a degree in law. In 1413 he was appointed to the governing board
of Perugia. Two years later, though, he was forcibly deposed and
imprisoned by a returning exile faction that had retaken the city with
the aid of the famous condottiere, Braccio da Montone. While recovering
from a broken leg sustained in a failed escape attempt he received a
vision in which St. Francis of Assisi invited him to join his order.
Ransoming himself for a heavy sum, J. took the Fransiscan habit in 1416,
at the age of thirty. His theological training proceeded rapidly. In
1418 J. became a secular priest and was made papal inquisitor against
the Fraticelli.
The remainder of J.'s career was spent as a preacher and as a defender
of orthodox Catholic belief. He became a prolific author, writing
treatises on dogmatics, moral theology, and law as well numerous sermons
and a Life of St. Bernardino of Siena to be used for the latter's
canonization. He never lost his interest in his Abruzzese homeland and
at different times founded a hospital at L'Aquila and, in the same city,
had a church erected in Bernardino's honor. In 1452 he was made papal
inquisitor in territories of the Holy Roman Empire, where he spent much
of his time in the east, working against Hussites. The fall of
Constantinople in 1453 made J. a soldier. He had a prominent role in
the Hungarian crusade led by János Hunyadi against the Turks and died
shortly after the successful defense of Belgrade in 1456.
J.'s cult was confirmed in 1514 for the diocese of Sulmona and was
extended to the entire Roman church in 1622. He was canonized in
1690 with a Francisan feast day falling on 23. October. In 1885 (the
estimated 500th anniversary of his birth) J. was placed on the general
Roman Calendar with a feast day of 28 March (since changed to today).
Capestrano is a strategically placed, walled hilltown overlooking the
valley of the Tirino:
[NB: Most of these views are from a set by Nicola Cipolla whose
individual links have been fractious yesterday and today. But all the
images are still there, though it may take some to-ing and fro-ing to
get them to load. The URL for the set is:
<http://xoomer.alice.it/eccip/images/capestrano/index.htm>
Sometimes it requires reloading in one's browser for a thumbnail not
to appear broken.]
Views:
http://tinyurl.com/bywnu
http://tinyurl.com/a9f6p
http://tinyurl.com/8zukl
Dominated at one end by its castle (which assumed its present form --
apart from the modern windows -- in the later fifteenth century under
the Piccolomini of Amalfi):
http://tinyurl.com/97476
http://tinyurl.com/7gjl2
, it has an old quarter that includes a house now shown as that of J.
Interior views of this are here:
http://tinyurl.com/aa9nd
and here:
http://tinyurl.com/88tkw
Outside of the town proper is the formerly monastic church of San Pietro
ad Oratorium, once a property of San Vincenzo al Volturno. In its
present form it is a very late eleventh- and early twelfth-century
structure notable for for, among other things, the carvings of its
portal, its ciborium, and its partly preserved frescoes. A few views
(expandable) are here:
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/eccip/images/san%20pietro/index.htm
An English-language discussion (click on the Italian version for help
when things become unclear) with expandable thumbnails is here:
http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2002_03/0203_a.htm
And an Italian-language discussion with expandable views (especially
good for the carvings) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/dmw4r
Also in the vicinity is the monastery of San Giovanni da Capestrano,
founded by the saint in 1447 and containing in its museum a variety of
objects once in J.'s personal possession:
http://web.tiscali.it/capestrano/convento.htm
Much rebuilt in the early modern period, it retains elements of the
original construction in its cloister:
http://tinyurl.com/78vkv
http://tinyurl.com/8ce7o
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post very lightly revised)
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