JOHN
972
JOHN
1213, and was canonizod by Innocent XI, Jidj' 30, 1079. He is commemorated on Febnian^ 8. The dress of the order consists in a tlowing white gown, with a red and blue cross on the breast. Sec P. Ignace Dillaud, Vie de St. Jean de Matha (1G95); Baillet, Vies des Saints, Feb. 8; Hoefer. Noui: Biof/r. Gen. xxvi, 441; Mrs. Jameson, Lcf/ends of Monastic Orders, p. 217 sq.
John oi- Meda, St., founder, or rather reformer of the order of the llumUiati, was born at Meda, near Como, to- wards the close of the 11th century. He was a member of the Oldrati family of Milan. " After ordination he withdrew to the solitude of Kondenario, near Como, wliich he subsequently left to join the Humiliati, then a lay congregation. Chosen their superior, he subjected them to the rule of St. Benedict, only changing the ap- pellations ofbretJiren and monks into canons. He obUged them also to say the Virgin's mass every day, and com- posed a special breviary for their use, which was call- ed canons' office. The Humiliati (q. v.) thus became a regular order, with clerical and lay members. John of Meda gained a large number of proselytes by his preach- ing, and was reputed very charitable. He died Sept. 2G, 1159, and was canonized a few days after his death by pope Alexander HI. See St. Antonin, Hist, part ii, § XV, ch. xxiii ; Sylvestre Maurolyc, Mare Ocean di tutti li Relir/. ; IMoreri, Grand Diet, historique ; Richard et f iiraud. Biblioth. Sac. — Hoefer, Nouvelk Biog. Generale, xxvi.lll.
John THE Monk {Johannes Monachus), or John of Chessv, a French canonist, was born at Cressy, Pon- thieu, in the 13th centurj'. He was a Cistercian monk, and was created cardinal. He died in 1313. He wrote commentaries on the decretals of Boniface VIII and Benedict IX, and was the first who wrote on the whole Sej-tiis of Boniface VIII. The same work was after- wards done by Guido de Baisio, and still better by Jo- liannes Andrea;. The glossaries of Johannes Monachus were aimotated and published by Phil. Probus, doctor of the school of Bourges. His MSS., under the title Glos- sm in sextum decretulium, are preserved in the public U- brary of Chart res. He is also considered by some as the author of the JJefensorium Juris, but this is not proved See Savigny, Catalogue de la Bihl. de Chartres, iv, 274.— Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gen. xxvi, 559. (J. N. P.)
John OK Monte Cokvino, a celebrated early Ro- man missionary among the Jlongols, belonged to the Franciscan order, and flourished towards the close of the 13th century. He was born in Monte Corvdno, a small city in Apulia, and had, previous to his appoint- ment as Eastern missionary, distinguished himself (in 1272) as ambassador of the emperor Michael Palaeolo- gus to pope Gregory X in behalf of a contemplated union of the Eastern and Western churches. lie had travelled in the East, and, av.-are of the opening for C^hristian- ity among the JNIongols, had urged the Roman see to di>patch mis.si„iiaries to them; but their efforts proved uM.MiiT.ssful, an.l in \iH[) h,. linally, at the instance of pope iNu:holas IV, set out for that distant field himself. (-)l an energetic character, discouraged by no reverses liowctvcr great, or trials however severe, he finally suc- ceeded in building up a Christian Chiu-ch. As an in- stance of his undaunted courage may be cited the fact that lie liad to buy the children of natives in order to cducare them in Christian doctrines, and through them to nitluence maturer minds. About 1305 he had some SIX thousand converts, and the prospect of stiU greater additions. In 1307 other laborers were sent into the i(l<l, and John de Monte Corvino was appointed arch- bisliop (his see was named Cambalu). and the Christian int^ercsts were advanced among the Mongols even after Ji^hns death (1328), uiuil the downfall of the Mongol dynasty. See JIoncjols. (J. II.W.)
John OK Nei>omuk (more i>roperiv Pomuk), a very P"l|nlar IJohemian saint of the Roman Catholic Church ami honored hy them as a martyr of the inviolabilitv «•! the seal of confession. He was born at Pomuk, a
village in the district of Klatau, about the middle of the 14th century. After taking orders, he rose rapidly to distinction. He was created a canon of the Cathe- dral of Prague, and eventually vicar general of the dio- cese. The queen, Sophia, the second wife of Wenzel or Wenceslaus IV, having selected him for her confessor, Wenceslaus, himself a man of most dissolute life, con- ceiving suspicions of her virtue, required of John to re- veal to him what he knew of her life from the confes- sions which she had made to him. John steadfastly refused, and the king resolved to be revenged for the refusal. An opportunity occurred soon afterwards, when the monks of the Benedictine abbey of Kladrau elected an abbot in opposition to the design of the king, who wished to bestow it upon one of his owii dissolute favor- ites, and obtained from John, as vicar general, at once a confirmation of their choice. Wenceslaus, having first put him to the torture, at which he himself personally presided, had him tied hand and foot, and fiuiig, already half dead from the rack, into the Moldau (:\rarcli, 1393). These historical facts have been considcralily enlarged, and embellished with legendary additions, in his biog- raphy by Bohlislav Balbinus. According to these, his birth was signalled by miraculous signs, and after his martjTdom his body was discovered by a miraculous light which issued from it, was taken up, and buried with the greatest honor. Several able Romanist writers have frequently attempted to reconcile the points of conflict between the legend and the historical account. See Herzog, Real-Encgklop. vi, 749 sq. ; Pelzel, Kaiser Wenceslaus, i, 262 sq. ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. v, 725 sq. Dr. Otto Abel (Die Sage v. heil. Johan. v. Nep.) supposes the legend to be a Jesuitical invention, and to date from the restoration of popery in Bohemia, to serve as a popular counterpart to the martyrdom of Huss and Ziska. His memory is cherished with peculiar aflfectiou in his native country. He was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Benedict XIII in 1729, his feast being fixed for the 26th of March. By some historians, two distinct personages of the same name are enumerated — one the martyr of the confessional seal, the other of the resistance to the siraoniacal tyranny of Wenceslaus; but the identity of the two is well sustain- ed by Palacky, Gesch. von Bohinen, iii, 62. See Cham- bers, Cyclop, s. V. ; Aschbach, Ki7-chen-Lex. iii, 556 sq.