Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/567

 JOHN

495

JOmviLLE

Migne attributed to John the Faster [a treatise on Confession (P. G., LXXXVIir, 18S9-191S), a shorter work on the same subject (ibid., 1919-1932), " Of Pen- ance, Temperance, and Virginity" (ibid., 1937-1978)] are not authentic. No authentic works of his are ex- tant. He has often been confused with a certain Cappadocian monk, John the Faster, who came to Constantinople about the year 1100. The patriarch, at Iiis deatli, left no property but a cloak, a blanket, and a praying-stool, which the emperor kept as relics. The Orthodox Church has canonized him and keeps his feast on 2 September.

One of his clergy, Photinos, wrote his life soon after his death. Fragments of this are preserved in the Acts of the Second Council of Nica-a, for which see Mansi, XIII, 80-S5: Leqdien, OriVji.9 Christianus, I (Paris, 1740), 226; Gedeon, narpiopxiitoi Divaice? (Constantinople. 1890), 232-36; Hek- GENROTHER, Photius, I (Ratisbon, 1867), 178-90; GHis.tR, Oekumenischer Patriarch und Diener der Diener Gottes in Zeil- schrifl fur kalh. Theologie. IV (Innsbruck, 1880), 468-523; Gelzer, Der Streit utn den Titel des okumenischen Patriarchen in Jahrbiicher far prol. Theologie, XIII (1887), 549-584; Kat- TENBUSCH, Konfessionskunde, I (Freiburg im Br., 1892), 111- 17.

Adrian Fortescde.

John the Silent (Hesychastes, Silentiarius), Saint. Bishop of Colonia, in Armenia, b. at NicopoHs, Arnipuia, S ,Ian., 452; d. 558. His parents, Encratius and iMiphemia, wealthy and honoured, belonged to families that had done great service in the State and had given to it renowned generals and governors, but they were also good Christians, and gave their son a holy education. After their death in 471, John distri- buted his inheritance among his relatives, retaining only a small share, with which he built a church and a monastery. Here, with ten congenial companions, he began a life of mortification and self-denial, wonderful traits of which are recorded by his biographer. The Bishop of Sebaste tlrew him out of his solitude and made him Bishop of Colonia (Taxara) in 481, against which promotion John vainly struggled. In his new dignity he preserved the monastic spirit entire, and the austerities and exercises as far as was compatible with duty. His brother-in-law Pasinius oppressed the Church to such an extent that John had to call upon the Emperor Zeno for assistance. As soon as matters had been properly arranged, John left his see, went to the Laura, near Jeru.salem, and placed himself under the obedience of St. Sabas, without revealing his identity. In course of time Sabas, who had subjected John to all kinds of trials and had found him ready to perform even the most common and menial labours, thought him worthy of receiving priesthood, and for this purpose sent liim to Elias, the Patriarch of Jeru- salem. John now revealed all, and Elias informed Sabas that John had confided to liini things which for- bade his ordination. Sabas at first felt very sad, but was comforted by a vision in which the true state of affairs was made known to him. John with the per- mission of his superior entered a hut built against the face of a rock in the desert, and here passed the re- mainder of his days in seclusion and perpetual silence, whence his surname. A contemporary, Cyril of Scy- thopolis, wrote his life. His feast is on 13 May.

Butler, Lives of the Saints; Acta SS.. May, III, 230; Streber in Kirchenlex, s. v. Johannes Hesychastes,

Francis Mershman. John Thome, Blessed. See Richard Whiting, Blessed.

Joinville, Jean, Sire de, Seneschal of Cham- pagne, hi.storian, b. in 1225; d. at Joinville, 1317. His family held an important place in the feudal sys- tem of t'hampagne in the eleventh century. His father, Simon de Joinville, hereditary Seneschal of Champagne, defendetl Troycs in 1230 against the enemies of t'ount Thibaut IV. Simon having died in 1233, Jean was reareil by his mother, Beatrix, daughter of the Count of Burgundy. He received the knightly education of the times, learned to read and write, and

even a little Latin. In 1241, Jean de Joinville ap- peared for the first time at the French Court on the occasion of the festival given at Saumur for the knighthood of Alfonso of Poitou, brother of the king. He afterwards made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostela. In 1248, Joinville took the cross, following the example of St. Louis, but refused to be sworn by the king, as he was not his "man". He took at his own expense two bannerets and ten knights and allied himself with his cousin Jean d'Apremont, Count of Saarbriicken. His little troop went down the Saone and the Rhone by boat and embarked at Marseilles (August, 1348). In three weeks they arrived at Lima.ssol, in Cyprus, where Louis IX then was. He welcomed Joinville and took him into his pay.

Joinville took part in the Crusade of Egypt, where he contlucted himself valiantly; he was in grave danger at Mansourah (Feb., 1250), fell ill in his tent, ami was taken pri-soner with the king. Having been liberatetl in Jlay, 1250, he followed Louis IX to Saint- Jean d'Acre despite the advice of powerful barons who counselled him to remain in Palestine until all the pri-soners should have been freed. A "Chanson d'Acre ", of which he is probably the author, makes allusion to these facts ("Romania", 1893, 544). The king, who was charmed, made him henceforth his familiar friend, and gave him command over fifty knights. In 1253 he granted him in fief a rental of 200 pounds (40,53 francs).

Having returneil to France with the king and queen in 12.54, Joinville thenceforth divided his time be- tween the management of his estates and the court of his royal friend. However, in 1267, despite the solicitations of St. Louis, he refused to take the cross and disapproved of the Crusade of Tunis: " Je entendi que tuit cil firent pechie mortel qui li loierent I'al^e" (ed.Na talis de Wailly, 262). After the death of St. Louis in 1282, he was one of the witnesses heard in the inquiry of canonization, and he erected an altar to the saint in his chapel of St. Laurent at Joinville. Under Philip the Fair, Joinville played an important part in Champagne and did not conceal his dislike for the new methods of government. In 1314 he entered the league of the nobility of Champagne. In 1315 he wrote a letter of reconciliation to King Louis X. He died at Joinville, where he was buried.

Joinville is the author of a new explanation of the Creed, composed at Acre in 1250-51, which contains information concerning his captivity (ed. Natalis de Wailly, at the end of the history of St. Louis). But his chief work is "Le livre des saintes paroles et des bonnes actions de St Louis", composed at the re- quest of Jeanne of Navarre, wife of Philip the Fair (d. 1305). The work is divided into two unequal parts; the first, which is very short, comprises anec- dotes concerning St. Louis's manner of life and his familiar speech; the second, which is very much longer, is a real autobiography of Joinville during the Egyptian Cru-sade. Gaston Paris ("Romania ", 1894, 508-524) supposes that this portion was written by Joinville as early as 1273, because there is no allusion to subsequent events.

Joinville appears to have written from personal recollections. Beginning with 1254, he is satisfied with making extracts from the ' ' Chronique de France". The book concludes with an abridgment of the instructions given by St. Louis to his son, and with details concerning his canonization. The original MS., which was presented to the king and preserved in the UUrair'u- of Charles V, no longer exists. The two priiicip;d MSS. are: that of Brussels (Paris, Bib. Nat.fr., 1:'..")(iS), written under Charles V; and that of Lucca (Paris, Bib. Nat. fr., 10148), copied from the original at the Chateau of Joinville about 15.50. The first edition (Antoine-Pierre de Rieux, Poitiers, 1547) was made from a poor copy and was reproduced many