(A.D. 1213.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--the Bull of his Canonization by
Innocent III.]
S. John was born of pious and noble parents, at Faucon, on the borders
of Provence, June 24th, 1169, and was baptized John, in honour of S.
John the Baptist. His mother dedicated him to God by a vow from his
infancy. His father Ephemius sent him to Aix, where he learned
grammar, fencing, riding, and other exercises fit for a young
nobleman. But his chief desire was to advance in virtue. He gave the
poor a considerable part of the money his parents sent him for his own
use; he visited the hospital every Friday, assisting the sick poor,
dressing and cleansing their sores, and affording them all the comfort
in his power.
On his return home he begged his father's leave to continue the pious
exercises he had begun, and retired to a little hermitage not far from
Faucon, with a view of living at a distance from the world, united to
God alone. But finding his solitude interrupted by the frequent visits
of his friends, he desired his father's consent to go to Paris to
study divinity, and this he easily obtained. He accomplished his
studies with extraordinary success, and received the degree of doctor
of divinity with uncommon applause. He was soon after ordained priest,
and said his first mass in the chapel of the bishop of Paris, at which
the bishop himself, Maurice de Sully, the abbots of S. Victor and of
S. Geneviève, and the rector of the university, assisted; admiring the
graces of heaven in him, which appeared in his extraordinary devotion
on this occasion, as well as at his ordination.
On the day he said his first mass, by a special inspiration from God,
he resolved to devote himself to the ransoming of Christian slaves
from captivity. But before he entered upon so important a work, he
thought it needful to spend some time in retirement, prayer, and
mortification. And having heard of a holy hermit, S. Felix of Valois,
living in a great wood near Grandlieu, in the diocese of Meaux, he
repaired to him, and begged he would admit him into his solitude.
Felix soon discovered him to be no novice, and would not treat him as
a disciple, but as a companion.
One day, as they were sitting together on the bank of a spring, John
disclosed to Felix the design he had formed on the day on which he
said his first Mass, of succouring the Christians under Mahomedan
slavery, and spoke so movingly upon the subject, that Felix was
convinced the design was from God, and offered to assist him in
carrying it into execution. They took some time to recommend it to God
by prayer and fasting, and then set out for Rome in the midst of a
severe winter, towards the end of the year 1197, to obtain the Pope's
benediction. They found Innocent III. promoted to the chair of St.
Peter, and he being already informed of their sanctity and charitable
design by letters of recommendation from the Bishop of Paris, received
them as two angels from heaven; lodged them in his own palace, and
gave them many long private audiences. After which he assembled the
cardinals and some bishops in the palace of S. John Lateran, and asked
their advice. After their deliberations he ordered a fast and special
prayers, to ascertain the will of heaven. At length, being convinced
that these two holy men were led by the Spirit of God, and that great
advantage would accrue to the Church from such an institute, he
consented to their erecting a new religious order, and declared S.
John the first general minister. The Bishop of Paris, and the abbot of
S. Victor, were ordered to draw up the rules, which the Pope approved
by a bull, in 1198. He ordered the religious to wear a white habit,
with a red and blue cross on the breast, and to take the name of the
Order of the Holy Trinity. He confirmed it some time after, adding new
privileges by a second bull, in 1209.
The two founders having obtained the Pope's blessing and certain
indulgences, returned to France, presented themselves to the king,
Philip Augustus, who authorized the establishment of their Order in
his kingdom, and favoured it with his liberalities. Gauthier III.,
lord of Châtillon, gave them land whereon to build a convent. Their
number increasing, the same lord, seconded by the king, gave them
Cerfroid, near Grandlieu, the place in which S. John and S. Felix
concerted the first plan of their institute. It is situated in Brie,
on the confines of Valois. This house of Cerfroid, or De Cervo
frigido, was the chief of the order. The two saints founded many other
convents in France, and sent several of their religious to accompany
the counts of Flanders and Blois, and other lords, to the Crusade.
Pope Innocent III. wrote to recommend these religious to the Emir of
Morocco; and S. John sent thither two of his religious in 1201, who,
on the first voyage, redeemed one hundred and eighty-six Christian
slaves. The year following, S. John went himself to Tunis, where he
purchased the liberty of one hundred and ten more. He returned into
Provence, and there received great charities, which he carried into
Spain, and redeemed many in captivity under the Moors. On his return
he collected large alms among the Christians towards this charitable
undertaking. His example produced a second order of Mercy, instituted
by S. Peter Nolasco, in 1235.
S. John made a second voyage to Tunis, in 1210, in which he suffered
much from the infidels, enraged at his zeal and success in exhorting
the poor slaves to patience and constancy in their faith. As he was
returning with one hundred and twenty slaves he had ransomed, the
barbarians took away the helm from his vessel, and tore all its sails,
that they might perish in the sea. The saint, full of confidence in
God, begged Him to be their pilot, and hung up his companions' cloaks
for sails, and, with a crucifix in his hands, kneeling on the deck,
singing psalms, after a prosperous voyage they all landed safe at
Ostia, in Italy. Felix, by this time, had greatly propagated his order
in France, and obtained for it a convent in Paris, in a place where
stood before a chapel of S. Mathurin, whence these religious in France
were called Mathurins.
S. John lived two years more in Rome, which he employed in exhorting
all to penance with great energy and fruit. He died on the 21st of
December, in 1213, aged sixty-one. He was buried in his church of S.
Thomas, where his monument yet remains, though his body has been
translated into Spain.
[26] For an account of the conflict with S. Wilfrid, and the
opposition of the Northumbrian Church and princes to his innovations,
see his life, Oct. 12.
[27] Montalembert, Monks of the West, iv. p. 412.
[Illustration: An enthusiastic Collector of Saintly Legends]
February 9.
S. APOLLONIA, _V. M. at Alexandria_, A.D. 249.
S. NICEPHORUS, _M. at Antioch in Syria_, _circ._ A.D. 258.
S. ATHENODORUS, _B. M. at Pontus_, _circ._ A.D. 270. (_Translated in
Modern Roman Martyrology to October 18th._)
SS. PRIMUS AND DONATUS, _DD. MM. at Lemele in Africa, 3rd cent._
S. ROMANUS THE WONDER-WORKER, _Monk at Antioch in Syria, 5th cent._
S. ATHRACTA, _V. in Ireland, 6th cent._
S. NEBRIDIUS, _B. of Egara, near Barcelona, 6th cent._
S. TEILO, _B. of Llandaff_; _circ._ A.D. 560.
S. SABINE, _B. of Canosi_; _circ._ A.D. 566.
SS. SABINE AND EUNOMIUS, _Bishops of Lesina, in Italy_.
SS. VICTOR, _M_. AND SUSANNA, _V. at Mouzon_.
S. ANSBERT, _B. of Rouen_, A.D. 695.
S. AUDOBERT, _B. of Senlis_; _circ._ A.D. 700.
S. ALTO, _Ab. in Bavaria_; _circ._ A.D. 760.
B. MARIANUS SCOTUS, _Ab. at Ratisbon_, A.D. 1088.
S. RAYNALD, _B. of Nocera, in Umbria_, A.D. 1225.