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The saints

St. John of Capistrano

A governor thrown in prison who became a Franciscan and preached across Europe.

Feast: 23 October · 1386 to 1456 · The Middle Ages · Capestrano, Italy, and Belgrade

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Painting of St. John of Capistrano preaching from a pulpit to a crowd in a town square.

Unknown author, 1470. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. John of Capistrano

Perugia, Italy, 1416

John was a lawyer and governor of Perugia.1

During a war he was captured and thrown in prison.1

There he decided to give his life to God, and became a Franciscan.

Patron of judges1

01St. John of Capistrano

Belgrade

He preached across Italy and central Europe with St. Bernardine of Siena.1

At seventy he helped lead the defense of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456, and died soon after of plague.1

Live it this week

Use the setback

John found God in a prison cell after a career collapse. If something has knocked you down this year, spend twenty minutes this week asking God, on paper, what He wants to build from it.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint John of Capistrano”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.