Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/540

 JOHN

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JOHN

attack. In 1052, on the elevation of Helinard to the archiepiscopal See of Lyons, John was invited to succeed him as Abbot of Dijon. At first he retained also the abbacy of Fecamp, but, finding himself unable to carry the double burden, he resigned this office in 1056. Towards the close of liis life he under- took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, desiring to see before his death the sanctified places towards which his thoughts had so often turned during liis medi- tations. Seized and thrown into prison by the Turks, it was only in 1076 that he could return to France. He then retired to Fecamp.

As Abbot of St. Benignus John had been brought into close relations with Emperor Henry III — after 1038 also King of Burgundy — and with his spouse, Agnes of Poitiers. .4fter Henry's death his widow placed herself entirely under the spiritual guidance of the abbot, and for her John composed a series of ascetical works. These were entitled the " Liber precum variarum", "De divina contemplatione Christique amore", "De superna Hierusalem," "De institutione viduse," "De vita et moribus virginum", "De eleemosynarum dispensatione " (P. L., CXLVII, 147 sqq., 445 sqq.). A good indication of John's value as a writer is afforded by the fact that the " De divina contemplatione " was for a long time regarded as a work of St. Augustine, although it is now certain that it was composed either wholly or partly by John. Some letters dealing with incidents in the life of the cloisters are also collected in P. L., loc. cit., 153 sq.

Hist. lit. de la France, VIII, 48 sqq; Gallia Christ., XI, 206; Streber in Kirchenlex., s. v. Johannes von Fecamp; Nouvelle biographie gencrale, XXVI, 531 sqq.

Thomas Kennedy.

John of Fermo, Blessed, more often called John of L.\ Ver.na, from his long sojourn on that holy moun- tain, b. at Fermo in the Marches, 1259; d. at La Verna in Tuscany, 10 August, 1322. After a youth of preco- cious piety, he was received at the age of ten among the Canons of St. Peter's at Fermo. Three years later, desirous of leading a more austere life, he entered the Order of Friars Minor, and under the direction of the celebrated brother, James of Fallerone, soon made rapid progress in perfection. Shortly after his pro- fession, John was sent by the minister general to Mount La Verna, where St. Francis had received the stigmata, and there he spent many years in solitude, penance, and contemplation, being favoured with ec- stasies and celestial visions. His late years, however, were devoted to the Apostolic ministry, and he preached at Florence, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, Perugia, and many other towns of northern and central Italy, working wonders everywhere. His contemporaries relate much of Blessed John: they tell us that he en- joyed the gift of infused science, and that prelates and princes alike were astounded at his learning. He was linked in bonds of the warmest friendship with Jaco- pone of Todi, and administered the last sacraments to the dying poet in 1306. Jolm is said to have composed the preface which is said in the Mass of St. Francis. Feeling the approach of death at Cortona while on his way to Assisi, John returned to La Verna and died there at the age of sixty-three. He was buried on the holy mountain, where many miracles were wrought through his intercession, and where liis cell is still shown. The immemorial cultus of Blessed John was approved by Leo XIII in 1880, and his feast is kept in the Order of Friars Minor on 9 August.

Acta SS., August, II, 453 sqq., give a contemporary life of Blessed John by an anonymous biographer with a Comment. Pr(KV. by the Bollandist Cdyper.s. Other early lives are found in the Chron. X X JV Generalium in Anal. Francisc, III (1897), 439 sqq.; Bartholomew of Pisa, Liber de Conformitate in Anal. Francisc. IV (1906), 2.55 sqq. See also Bibl. Hag. Lat., I, 6.50; .Sabatier in Collection d'Hwles etc., II (1900), .59 sqq., IV (1902), ch. xl, sqq.; Fiorctti di H. Francesco, eh. xlix. sqq.; Lemmens, Catalogus Hand. Frat. Minor. (1903), 15; Clary, Lives o/ the Saints and Hlessed of the Three Orders oj St. Francis,

II (1886), 553 sqq.; Mencherini, Guida lUustrata della Verna (2nd ed.. Quaracchi, 1907), passim.

Paschal Robinson.

John of Gand. See John of Janduno.

John of Genoa (often called Balbi, or de Balbis),

grammarian; b. at Genoa, date unknown; d. there about 1298. Of his early life and education nothing is known. He distributed his wealth among the poor of the city, and entered the Order of St. Dominie, apparently at a somewhat advanced age. His noted work, the "Summa Grammatiealis", more commonly known as the " Catholicon ", has made his name widely celebrated. The work comprises treatises on orthog- raphy, etymology, grammar, prosody, rhetoric, and an etymological dictionary of the Latin language {primoe, media: et infimw Latinitatis) . The great number of MSS. in which the "Cathohcon" still exists, and the numerous editions through which it passed during the first seventy-five years after the invention of printing, attest the wide acceptance accorded it and the popu- larity it long enjoyed. For more than a century it was highly esteemed as a textbook. It has been the subject at once of excessive criticism and excessive praise. Erasmus, the most conspicuous of its critics, speaks of it in caustic terms in his " De Ratione Stu- diorum" and "Colloquia". Leander Albert! ("Viri Illustres Ord. Prsd." and " Discrittione di tutta Italia ") defends it against the aspersions of the hu- manist. If we bear in mind the materials the author had at his disposal, the purpose of the work, and the needs of the time, it must be conceded that the "Cathol- icon" possessed considerable merit. That it met the demands of the age is attested by its popularity. The author by his own assertion refuted those who would have made him an adept in Greek. Besides the "Catholicon", he wrote "Liber Theologiae qui vo- catur Dialogus de Qua-stionibus Animae ad Spiritum " and " Quoddam opus ad inveniendum festa mobilia ". A"Postilla super Joannem " and a "Tractatusde Om- nipotentia Dei " are also attributed to John of Genoa. QuETlF-EcHABD, SS. Ord. Prad., I (Paris. 1719), 462; Nou- velle bibliographic gcnerale, s. v. ViCTOB F. O'DanIEL.

John of God, Saint, b. at Montemor o Novo, Portugal, 8 March, 1495, of devout Christian parents; d. at Granada, 8 March, 1550. The wonders attend- ing the saint's birth heralded a life many-sided in its interests, but dominated throughout by impUcit fidel- ity to the grace of God. A Spanish priest whom he followed to Oropeza, Spain, in his ninth year left hira in charge of the chief shepherd of the place, to whom he gradually endeared himself through his punctuality and fidelity to duty, as well as his earnest piety. When he had reached manhood, to escape his master's well- meant, but persistent, offer of liis daughter's hand in marriage, John took service for a time in the army of Charles V, and on the renewal of the proposal he en- listed in a regiment on its way to Austria to do battle with the Turks. Succeeding years found him first at his birthplace, saddened by the news of his mother's premature death, which had followed close upon his mysterious disappearance; then a shepherd at Seville, and still later at Gibraltar, on the way to Africa, to ransom with his liberty Christians held captive by the Moors. He accompanied to Africa a Portuguese fam- ily just expelled from the country, to whom charity impelled him to offer his services. On the advice of his confessor he soon returned to Gibraltar, where, brief as had been the time since the invention of the printing-press, he inaugurated the Apostolate of the printed page, by making the circuit of the towns and villages about Gibraltar, selling religious books and pictures, with practically no margin of profit, in order to place them within the reach of all.

It was during this period (if liis life that he is said to have been granted the visitm of the Infant Jesus, Who bestowed on him the name by which he was later