Bl. John of Parma
Today we celebrate the feast day of Bl. John of Parma. Bl. John of Parma was born during the year 1209 in Parma, Italy. Bl. John of Parma was the seventh minister general for the Franciscan order. Bl. John of Parma is known for his efforts in trying to get back the earlier spirit of the Franciscan order after St. Francis died.
Bl. John of Parma was a philosophy professor ever since the young age of around 25 and he was known for his piety and his ability to be obedient and understand the importance of following God’s will even if that meant he had to leave the materialistic comforts of his life.
After Bl. John of Parma made his decision to join the religious life, he went to Paris, France to complete his theological studies. After he was ordained, he was actually told to teach theology at Bologna, Italy then he later ended up teaching in Rome, Italy.
Bl. John of Parma taught and talked to people so well that many crowds of people would gather to hear him preach. During 1247, Bl. John of Parma was chosen to be the minister general for the Franciscan Order.
However during that time Bl. John of Parma faced a whole lot of difficulty due to the fact that some members of his community decided not to live up to their responsibilities and duties, due to the poor leadership that had been occurring. Some of the the disciples of St. Francis who were still alive rejoiced when Bl. John of Parma was elected because they expected the spirit of poverty and humility that was present during the early days of the Order was going to return. Bl. John did not disappoint them, he would travel by foot whether he was accompanied by one or two other friars, to all of the other Franciscan convents that existed during that the time. It is said that when he would arrive, he would spend time with the brothers at the places that he visited. Bl. John was always a peaceful, kind, caring, merciful and pleasant person to be around and everyone liked him because of the way he treated them. Bl. John was a very humble person as well and he would often visit different Franciscan houses and he would help the Brothers with anything that they needed help with, whenever he had the chance.
Bl. John actually visited a Franciscan house in England. When he arrived in England, King Henry lll had heard that Bl. John was in England and he decided to meet Bl. John. King Henry lll embraced the humble and caring person that Bl. John was. Also when Bl. John was in France he was visited by St. Louis lX. St. Louis lX visited him during the night before he departed for the Crusades, and he asked Bl. John for his blessing and prayers on his journey.
The Pope called on Bl. John to go to Constantinople and serve as a legate. Bl. John attended and he was very successful in winning back the schismatic Greeks. When he returned back to his work which was to try to restore discipline to his order. Many measure were taken to assure that friars obeyed the rules. However, Bl. John eventually asked that someone else would take over his role and govern the order. Bl. John urged and wanted that St. Bonaventure would be chosen to succeed him.
Bl. John later spent the rest of his life in prayer in a hermitage in Greccio, Italy. However many years later, Bl. John had learned that the Greeks who he helped bring back over to the Church had gone back into schism. Even though he was 80 years old at that time he got permission from Pope Nicholas lV which let him have the chance to return to the East in an effort to restore unity again. Unfortunately, on his way there Bl. John fell sick and died on March 19, 1289 and many miracles were reported to have occurred at his tomb. His feast day is celebrated on March 20.
Prayer to Bl. John of Parma:
Bl. John intercede that we may have the wisdom and understanding we need to follow God’s will immediately even if it means that we have to leave a life of materialistic comfort and satisfaction behind. Bl. John help us to have the strength we need to stand up for our faith and to seek to restore peace in our world even if it means we have to put our lives in risk. Bl. John place your mantel of protection over us and help us to guide more people to Christ.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven.
Amen
St. Joseph pray for us
Bl. John pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works cited:
Information (read from, not taken):
Catholic Online. “Bl. John of Parma.”Bl. John of Parma - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online . Accessed 20 March 2021.
Images:
Bl. John of Parma. March 20, 2021.
Bl. John of Parma. March 20, 2021.
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