JOHN OF LA VERNA, BL.

Franciscan priest; b. Fermo, near ancona, Italy, 1259; d. La Verna, Aug. 9, 1322. Ascetical even as a child, at ten he joined the Augustinian canons and at 13 the Franciscans. After residing in hermitages in the Marches of Ancona and Fermo, he settled in a hermit's cell at La Verna (Alvernia) c. 1290. He received graces of rapture, infused knowledge, and prophecy. His mystical experiences, described in part in the fioretti, included visions of the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Virgin, St. francis, and St. lawrence. Though he opposed the Franciscan spirituals, he befriended and gave the last rites to their partisan, the poet jacopone da todi. In his last years John preached throughout Tuscany, and in 1311 he testified in favor of the portiuncula indulgence. He wrote the one-page, mystical De gradibus animae, but his authorship of the Preface of St. Francis is disputed. His cult was approved in 1880.

Feast: Aug. 13.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum August 2:453–474. Fioretti di San Francesco, ch. 49–53; English ed. r. brown (Garden City, NY 1958) 155–168, 211–213, 305–307, 329, 332, 343, 347, 349. I fioretti del B. Giovanni della Verna, ed. g. melani (La Verna 1959). l. oliger, "Il B. Giovanni della Verna," La Verna (Arezzo 1913) 116–155. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 3:324–325. d. cresi, "Il prefazio di S. Francesco," Studi francescani 35 (1960) 95–102. giovanni da settimo, Vita del B. Giovanni della Verna, ed. g. melani (La Verna 1962).

[r. brown]