228 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
weak and indistinct at first, was said to have been made strong and clear through the grace of Mary, to whom he turned for help. He was the first vicar-general of the Observants, who numbered only a few congregations in Ital}^ when he joined them, but increased greatly under his administration. In 1424 he was in Rome and, as Infessura the Roman diarist reports,^ so influenced the people that they brought their games and articles of adornment to the Capitol and made a bonfire of them. Wherever he went to preach, a banner was carried before him containing the monogram of Christ, IHS, with twelve rays centring in the letters. He urged priests to put the monogram on the walls of churches and public buildings, and such a monogram may still be seen on the city building of Siena. 2 The Augustinians and Dominicans and also Poggio attacked liira for this practice. In 1427, he appeared in Rome to answer the charges. He was acquitted by Martin V., who gave him permission to preach everywhere, and instructed him to hold an eighty-days' mission in the papal city itself. In 1419, he appeared in the Lombard cities, where the people were carried away by his exhortations to repentance, and often burned their trinkets and games in the public squares. His bodyjies jin Aquila, and he was canonized by Nicolas V., 1450.
John of Capistrano,,13.S&-JJ:5ii, a lawyer, and at an early age intrusted with the administration oiJPejMJigia, joined the Observants in 1416 and became a pupil of Bernardino. He made a reputation as an inquisitor in Northern Italy, converting and burning heretics and Jews. No one could have^xcelled him in the ferocity of his zeal against hei;esy. His first appointment as inquisitor was made in 1426, and his fourth appointment 23 years later in 1449. ^
As a leader of his order, he defended Bernardino in 1427, and was made vicar-general in 144^. He extended liis preachiug
1 Diario, p. 25. For Bernardino, see Thureau-Danfj;in, St. Bernardin de Sienne. Un predicuteur popidaire, Paris, ISUti. Several edd.of his sermons have appeared, including the ed. of Paris, 1650, 5 vols., by De la Haye.
2 See Pastor, I. 231-23.3.
2 .Jacob, I. 30 sq. For John's life, see E. Jacob, John of Capistrauo. His Life and Writings, 2 vols., Breslau, 1906, 1907. Pastor, I. 463-468, 691-698; Lempp's art. in Herzog, III. 713 sqq.; Lea, Inquisition, II. 552 sqq.
§ 26. POPULAR PREACHERS. 229
to Vienna and far up into Germany, from Niirnberg to Dresden, Leipzig, Magdeburg^and Breslau, making everywhere a tremendous sensation. He used the Latin or Italian, which had to be interpreted to his audiences. Tliese are reported to have numbered as many as thirty thousand. ^ He carried relics of Bernardino with him, and through them and his own instrumentality many miracles were said to have been performed. His attendants made a note of the wonderful works on the spot.^ The spell of his preaching was shown by the burning of pointed shoes, games of cards, dice and other articles of pleasure or vanity. Thousands of heretics are also reported to have yielded to his persuasions. He was called by Pius H. to preach against the Hussites, and later against the Turks. He was present at the siege of Belgrade, and contributed to the successful defence of the city and the defeat of Mohammed IL He was Qanonized in IfiQP.
The life of Vincent Ferrei^d. 1419, the greatest of Spanish preachers, fell duiing the period of the papal schism, and he was intimately identified with the controversies it called forth. His name is also associated with the gift of tongues and with the sect of the Plagellanta, This devoted missionary, born in Valencia, joined the Dominican order, and pursued his studies in the universities of Barcelona and Lerida. He won the doctorate of theology by his tract on the Modern Schism in the Church — De moderno ecclesice schismate. Returning to Valencia, he gained fame as a preacher, and was appointed confessor to the queen of Aragon, lolanthe, and counsellor to her husband, John I. In 1395, Benedict XIII. called him to be chief penitentiary in Avignon and master of the papal palace. Two years later he returned to Valencia with the title of papal legate. He at first defended the Avignon obedience with great warmth, but later, persuaded that Benedict was not sincere in his professions looking to the healing of the schism, withdrew from him his support and supported the^ Council of Constanfie^
1 Yea, 60,000 at Erfurt. Jacob, I. 74.
2 See Jacob, I. 50 sqq., etc. ^neas Sylvius said he had not seen any of John's miracles, but would not deny them. In Jena alone John healed thirty lame persons. Jacob, I. 69.