John Joseph of the Cross (15 August 1654 – 5 March 1739) (not to be confused with

John of the Cross John of the Cross, OCD ( es, link=no, Juan de la Cruz; la, Ioannes a Cruce; born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and a Carmelite friar of converso origin. He is a major figu ...

) - born Carlo Gaetano Calosinto - was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and a professed member from the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

who hailed from the island of

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...

.Hess, Lawrence. "St. John Joseph of the Cross." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 6 Aug. 2013
/ref>Foley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media
He had a reputation for austerity and for the gift of

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

s and was appointed Master of Novices.Butler, Alban. ''The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints'', Vol. I, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864
/ref> He was beatified in 1789 and later canonized in 1839.

Life

Carlo Gaetano Calosirto was born on 15 August 1654 on the island of

off the coast of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He entered the

in Naples before he turned sixteen and assumed the religious name of "John Joseph of the Cross". He was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of

Peter of Alcantara Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

. In 1674 he was sent to found a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

for the order at Afila in

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and assisted in the actual construction itself. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood - much against his will it should be noted - and as the superior performed the lowliest tasks. In 1702 the Italian convents were no longer dependent on the Spanish houses but were formed into a separate province. He was appointed as the Vicar Provincial of the Alcantarine Reform in the Italian peninsula as a result of this. As the superior he ordered that no beggar should be dismissed from the convent gate without some form of relief: in times of need he devoted to their necessities his own portions and even that of the convent he lived at. When he trekked across the mainland as the provincial he would not make himself known at the inns where he lodged because he disliked distinction and did not believe such should be paid to him. He desired those whom he restored to health to take some certain medicine that the cure might be attributed to a mere natural source and with regard to his own prophecies - which were numerous - he affected to judge from analogies and experiences.

Sainthood

He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

under Pope Pius VI on 24 May 1789 and was later

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 26 May 1839 under

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He ...

. At the Aragonese Castle (Il Castello Aragonese) on Ischia there is a small

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

consecrated to the late friar.

References

External links

Santi e Beati

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, John Joseph of the 1654 births 1739 deaths Italian Roman Catholic saints Italian Friars Minor 18th-century Christian saints Beatifications by Pope Pius VI Venerated Catholics Canonizations by Pope Gregory XVI Franciscan saints