St. Joseph of Capistrano

St. John of Capistrano

St. John of Capistrano, Priest
1386 – 1456

October 23 – Optional Memorial
Liturgical Color: White
Patron Saint of military chaplains and jurists

The Collect  draws attention to St. John's flight but there is more to him than that.

Born of devout parents, as a young man Joseph of Cupertino was outstanding for his purity. In the convent of the Friars Minor at Grotella, he was first enrolled among the lay-brothers because of his lack of learning, and then, by a disposition of divine Providence, he joined the clerics and was ordained. He chastised his body with a hair-shirt, with scourgings and all kinds of austerities, and nourished his spirit continually with the food of holy prayer, so that he was called by God to the highest degree of contemplation. Outstanding for obedience and poverty, he cultivated chastity above all, and preserved in unharmed, conquering great temptations. He honored the Virgin Mary with a wonderful love and shone for his great charity toward the poor. His humility was so deep that he thought himself a great sinner and earnestly prayed God to take away the remarkable gifts he had been given. He journeyed through many places at the command of the superior of the Order and of the holy Inquisition; finally, at Osimo in Piceno, in the sixty-first year of his age, he made the last journey, to heaven.

Deus, qui ad unigénitum Fílium tuum exaltátum a terra ómnia tráhere disposuísti: pérfice propítius; ut, méritis et exémplo seráphici Confessóris tui Ioséphi, supra terrénas omnes cupiditátes eleváti, ad eum perveníre mereámur:
Qui tecum

O God, Who art pleased that thine Only-begotten Son being lifted up from the earth should draw all things unto Him, be entreated for the sake of thy servant Joseph, whom Thou didst make like unto one of the Seraphim, and so effectually work in us, that even as he, we also may be drawn up above all earthly lusts, and worthily attain unto Him:
Who with thee