St. John was born at Capistrano in the Abruzzi in Italy on 24 June 1385 and entered the Order of Friars Minor at the age of 18. God chose him to help deliver Europe from the Turks who threatened to invade in the fifteenth century. Mohammed II had taken Constantinople and was marching to Belgrade, Serbia. Pope Callistus III decreed a Crusade, and St. John preached the Gospel in Pannonia and other provinces and managed to enrol 70,000 Christians to fight the Turks and defeat them. St. John died in 1456.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of the holy martyrs Priscus, Malchus and Alexander. In the persecution of Valerian they were dwelling in the suburbs of Caesarea, but knowing that in the city the heavenly crown of martyrdom was to be gained, and burning with the divine ardour of faith, they went to the judge of their own accord, rebuked him for shedding the blood of the faithful in torrents, and were forthwith condemned to be devoured by beasts for the name of Christ.
At Tarsus in Cilicia, the holy martyrs Castor and Dorotheus.
In Africa, the holy martyrs Rogatus, Successus and sixteen others.
At Rome, St. Sixtus III, pope and confessor.
At Norcia, the abbot St. Speus, a man of extraordinary patience, whose soul at its departure from this life was seen by all his brethren to ascend to heaven in the shape of a dove.
At Chalons in France, the demise of St. Gontram, king, who devoted himself to exercises of piety, renounced the pomps of the world, and bestowed his treasures on churches and the poor.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
