ON VENERABLE JOHN OF CASTROVILLARI OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS OF OBSERVANCE.
AT COSENZA IN CALABRIA.
AROUND THE YEAR 1533
CommentaryVenerable John of Castrovillari, of the Order of St. Francis of Observance, at Cosenza in Calabria (St.)
D. P.
After in the year 1434 the most ancient convent of St. Francis, built at Cosenza at the very beginnings of the Order, passed over to Professors of more observant discipline; such distinguished sanctity flowered
there, that for the course of a whole century, with no less zeal for study than before, it bore illustrious men for this praise: Antony of Cetraro, Angelus, and Zaccheus, Cosentines, of whom this one on the 16th of February, that one on the 10th of November, the first on the 11th of April by Arturus is named in the Franciscan Martyrology: then Matthew of Cetraro the Priest, also himself counted as Blessed on the 13th of July. All these however since they did not precede by a full hundred years the constitution of Urban VIII, The veneration of the incorrupt body: and of their public veneration nothing has become known to us, they have been or will be placed among the Omitted by us, until we obtain more certain documents. We cannot however pass over in this place Blessed John of Castrovillari (a town of Hither Calabria at the source of the river Cibaris), whose body is kept with the highest veneration in the sacristy of the aforesaid Convent, on account of the enormous miracles, miracles which are produced daily at his invocation: thus on this day in his Annotations Arturus from Gonzaga, Wadding, Barezzo. The Rector of our College at Cosenza, Francis Lubellus, in the year 1666 being asked by us, to investigate the truth and quality of that veneration, responded in these words: "The venerable pledge of this Blessed Deacon is placed in a double chest, one of crystal, the other of wood, and entirely uncorrupt lies with reverence in a certain more prominent place; to which also the people of Cosenza are carried with incredible devotion, because of the relics of so great a Blessed one." The same asking the Fathers of that Convent about the miracles, which the blessed man was said to have worked and to work daily, he received no other answer, than that it was not necessary to describe them, because they were abundantly and faithfully reported by Arturus and Wadding. May God pardon men so supinely negligent, when they recount not even one miracle of him to him, nor even of others, content only with naming them: from which it appears they have not even seen those they cite: and although they might have had a few things succinctly, was it not worth the labor to have the original memorials, if any exist? Whether this day was chosen arbitrarily by Arturus, or whether is kept sacred by peculiar cult to the Convent and people, age, we have not yet ascertained: we believe however that to him who around the year 1533 is still thought to have been alive, such public veneration is not given, except with the consent of the Apostolic See, otherwise it would have been abrogated after Urban's Constitution. If we can obtain the Decrees themselves, the Processes formed, and the relations of miracles, we shall willingly give them hereafter, either in the Appendix, or in the Supplement to be constructed after the completion of the work.
April II: 17. April
Heiligenlexikon as a USB stick or as a DVD
Support for the Ecumenical Heiligenlexikon
Page optimized for printing
Our travel blog:
Travels to the places where the Saints lived and are venerated.
Send a recommendation to friends
Comment on articles / report errors
Questions? - our FAQs answer!
Search in the Heiligenlexikon
Imprint - Data Protection Declaration