Dienstag, 11. Mai 2010

My patron-saint: Johannes Capistranus

Johannes, or Giovanni da Capestrano is my patron-saint. Living in the 15th century, he first studied law and became a judge before he got entangled in local wars in Italy which led him to a life of the spirit taking lessons in asceticism from Bernhard of Siena. He is called the 'soldier saint' and here you can see him standing on dead Turkish enemies upholding the banner of faith (that statue of him is on the outside of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna). Mehmed II, the 'second' founder of the Ottoman Empire, had conquered the old venerable city of Constantinople in 1453 and had overrun nearly all of Eastern Europe, then. Johannes, after having raised a crusade of a 40000 to counter the threat even- as a 70 year old- led his own battalion into battle and reconquered the city of Belgrade.

3 Kommentare:

Lisa hat gesagt…

My patron saint is St. Cecilia!

Laguna Beach Fogey hat gesagt…

There is a city here in Southern California called San Juan Capistrano, named after this saint. Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order founded a Mission there in 1776, and today the Mission Church still stands and houses a small chapel where Latin Mass is said every week.

v. Braun. hat gesagt…

Very interesting, thanks. Once, one of my relatives did some research about adobe architecture (in Phoenix/Az. and Mexico) and actually made a film about Pater Eusebio Kino, SJ.