St John of Capistrano

John of Capistrano has the kind of life that always seems to be moving. Trained in law and public office, he was drawn toward God through imprisonment, humiliation, and inward change, and he carried into the Franciscan life the same force of character that might once have made him a powerful worldly official. Under the influence of the Observant reform, especially St Bernardine of Siena, that energy became apostolic rather than political. As preacher, confessor, reformer, and papal envoy he crossed countries, revived discipline, defended the poor against exploitation, and confronted vice with unusual directness. The life has real breadth.

John was not merely a brilliant orator, nor merely an organizer of reform. He was a laboring apostle whose learning, penance, and self-command were continually being spent for the Church. Even the final crisis in which he helped stir Christian resistance against the Turks at Belgrade belongs naturally to the same life. He did not seek danger for display, but when danger pressed hardest, he moved toward it rather than away.