John Parenti
JOHN PARENTI
Franciscan minister general, 1227 to 1232; b. probably at Civita Castellana; b. and d. dates unknown. He was a Roman citizen and doctor of laws who joined the order soon after its establishment. In 1219 he was made provincial minister of Spain. His policies as minister general advanced the development of the Friars Minor into an educated and efficient order. Two notable events occurred in 1230: the translation of the relics of St. francis to the basilica in assisi and the acquisition of the bull Quo elongati, and gregory ix's exposition of the Rule. In 1232 Parenti resigned under pressure from the friars supporting elias of cortona.
Bibliography: thomas of eccleston, Tractatus de adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed. a. g. little (2d ed. Manchester 1951). gratien de paris (e. badin), Histoire … de l'ordre des frères mineurs au XIII e siècle (Paris 1928). r. b. brooke, Early Franciscan Government (Cambridge, Eng. 1959).
[r. b. brooke]