Unlike other men of the cloth, Saint John of Capistrano was depicted not in a heavenly trance or a moment of reflective meditation. Instead, he is typically portrayed standing proud with a stern face, and in his hands an army banner fluttering in the air. Some paintings even show him donning a battle armor on top of his brown Franciscan habit.
Aside from being one of the greatest preachers of the 15th century, Saint John was also known as the priest who raised an army against the Ottoman Empire. His life exemplifies what it is like to achieve holiness in serving both Church and State.
Experiencing conversion in civic duty
Years before he became an army builder, John was a government official. Born in 1386 in Capistrano, Italy, his well-off family groomed him for public service. He was sent to Perugia to study civil and canon law. Proving himself a wise and responsible man, he was appointed as governor of Perugia in 1421 when he was 26.
In this role, John handled constant conflicts between Perugia’s noble families. In his attempt to uphold honesty and get rid of their corrupt practices, he drew the ire of these powerful clans. In 1416, he was put behind bars by the Malatesta family. In prison, John experienced harsh treatment, which he countered with deep prayer. In one of his dreams, he saw Saint Francis of Assisi, and thus discovered a new, and more meaningful, path in his life.
Embracing the Franciscan way of life
After getting out of prison, John let go of his wealth and influence to join the Order of Friars Minor at the age of 30. After being mentored by another Franciscan saint, Bernardine of Siena, he was ordained to the priesthood four years later. As a Franciscan preacher, John ventured into Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, teaching about repentance and establishing local Franciscan communities.
Within the Franciscan Order, John attempted to mend the strained relationship among its members due to differences in interpretation of the Rule of Saint Francis. Although he was unsuccessful in this arena, he became a key person in establishing a brief reunion between the Greek and Armenian Churches at the Ecumenical Council of Florence.
A voice of God in battle
When Constantinople fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, Pope Callixtus III appointed John to raise an army for the crusades. John, armed with intense preaching knowledge from Saint Bernardine, scoured Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary to gather enough troops to save Belgrade from being conquered by the Turks in 1456.
Together with General Janos Hunyadi, they succeeded in saving the city from an Ottoman invasion, and John personally led one section of the army. But due to his old age, being seventy at the time, he caught the plague after the battle and died of a painful illness three months later.
Marrying Church and State
John was canonized in 1724 and hailed as the patron saint of military chaplains, judges, and jurists. In a general audience in 2002, Pope Saint John Paul II noted his “great generosity for the salvation of souls.”
“May his glorious evangelical witness sustain you, dear young people, in your dedication to daily fidelity to Christ; may it encourage you, dear sick persons, to follow Christ on the path of trial and suffering,” he said.
Saint John of Capistrano is honored in the Catholic Church as a steadfast missionary who utilized his expertise in law and politics to inspire people to make a stand in the name of Christ. We turn to his guidance in living a life of mission for the betterment of society, deeply rooted in holiness and duty.
(Luke Godoy is a freelance writer based in the Philippines who contributes regularly to RVA.)
