Saint John of
Capistrano (also known as Giovanni da Capestrano; John Capistran) was
born in 1386 at Capistrano, Italy. His father had formerly been a
German knight, and died when John was still young. He was the
reforming governor of Perugia under King Landislas of Naples. When
war broke out between Perugia and Malatesta in 1416, John tried to
broker a peace, but instead his opponents ignored the truce, and John
became a prisoner of war.
During his
captivity, he came to the decision to change vocations. He had
married just before the war, but the marriage was never consummated,
and with his bride's permission, it was annulled. John joined the
Franciscans at Perugia on October 1416. He was a student with Saint
James of the Marches, and a disciple of Saint Bernadine of Siena.
John was a noted preacher while still a deacon, beginning his work in
1420, and he was an itinerant priest throughout Italy, Germany,
Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, preaching to tens of
thousands. He established communities of Franciscan renewal, and was
reported to heal by making the Sign of the Cross over a sick person.
He was a prolific writer, writing mainly against the heresies of his
day.
After the fall of
Constantinople, he preached Crusade against the Muslim Turks. At the
age of 70, he was commissioned by Pope Callistus II to lead it, and
marched off at the head of 70,000 Christian soldiers. He won the
battle of Belgrade in the summer of 1456, and he died in the field a
few months later, but his army delivered Europe from the Muslims.
Saint John of
Capistrano died of natural causes in 1456 at Villach, Hungary.
