St. John Capistrano was born in Italy. He was a lawyer and Governor of Perugia. When enemies of the city threw John into prison, he started to think about what he was doing with his life. In the meantime, his wife died. John began to realize that the only thing that really mattered was to save his soul. So when he was set free by a miracle, he entered the Franciscan monastery. He was thirty years old at the time. He did much penance. For many years he ate not meat at all, except when he was sick. He slept only three or four hours at night and his bed was a hard board.
After he was made a priest, John was sent out to preach. He and St. Bernardine of Siena spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus everywhere. John preached all over Europe for forty years, and all who heard his sermons were moved to love and serve Our Lord better.
The greatest moment in the life of this Saint came at the tremendous battle of Belgrade. The Turks had made up their minds to conquer all Europe and wipe out the Church of Jesus. The Pope sent St. John to all the Christian Kings of Europe to beg them to unite to fight the mighty Turkish army. The Kings obeyed this poor, barefoot monk who stirred up their love of God and their courage with his fiery words. But even though a big army of Christians came to fight Mohammed II and hit Turks, it looked as though they would lose, for the enemy army was much bigger. Then it was that the Saint himself, though he was seventy years old, ran to the front lines and encouraged the men to keep fighting. Holding his crucifix up high, this thin, small old man kept crying, “Victory, Jesus, victory!” And the Christian soldiers felt full of more courage than ever. They fought until the enemy ran away in great fear!
Just one person can do great things, if he is on God’s side. Let us make up our mind always to be on Our Lord’s side and stand up for what is right.
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