Mar 20 Bl John of Parma b. 1209 d. 1289 bl. 1777

John and Thommy

Good morning
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It’s been too long since I did a saints and sons. When I pulled up my ncyicb address, where I get my daily email from Catholic online, there were 29 unread emails. March third was my last entry. I’ve skipped almost all of March. In Lent. With some monster biggies. Another sign of my times.
So, on Sunday, 3-29-09, a step back to the most recent John/William/Jesuit/etc. …. 68 degrees in GSO, 28 inches of snow in Tulsa….


March 20
John of Parma b. 1209 d. 1289 bl. 1777

Aka, John Buralli. We pick up his bio when he is under the tutelage of his uncle, chaplain of the church of St Lazarus at Parma. Again, I regret we don’t easily have the bio of his boyhood as well as a bit of a blurb about his family life during his formative years. Oh well….

John of Parma quickly became a teacher of philosophy. Not only must he have been an astute student, he must have had connections - by family via the chaplain et al. as well as his own talents.

He entered the Friars Minor in 1233ish. As a learned priest and representative of the order, John of Parma taught theology at Bologna, Naples, and Paris - the biggies. He also assisted at the first Council of Lyons in 1245. Such explicitly witnesses to his great learning.

John of Parma also exhibited great sanctity we are told. I wish we had some substance of that in the catholic encyclopedia online et al. An indication of that is the recorded Joy of the survivors of St. Francis when John of Parma was elected minister general of the Franciscans in 1247 [until 1257].

John of Parma was dedicated to the full observance of the Rule. He must have exemplified it. And with the relatively recent passing of their founder, the Order was drifting and fractionating. John of Parma was dedicated to the Order’s observance of the Rule as well as his own. That is what you want in you your leaders.

John of Parma wanted to know personally the state of the Order. MBWA: a new concept in the thirteenth century - unfortunately, we’re still having to preach it to leaders today. In his rounds, he was received honorably by the monarchs: Henry III, (St) Louis IX, and the Spanish king. At the Friars Minor’s General Chapter in 1249ish, John of Parma codified his insistence that the Friars observe Francis’ Rule and not some watered down version.

He was so humble that when he visited the different houses of the Order, he would often help the Brother wash vegetables in the kitchen. He loved silence so that he could think of God and he never spoke an idle word.

The Pope sent John of Parma, his angel of peace, to the Orthodox Church to seek re-union. This meeting set the table for the Council of Lyons. What type of man would be a success on such a mission? And when you have such a responsibility, how will you emulate him?

In the mid-thirteenth century, arose the dispute between the Mendicants and the University of Paris.

[Mendicant Friars are members of those religious orders which, originally, by vow of poverty renounced all proprietorship not only individually but also (and in this differing from the monks) in common, relying for support on their own work and on the charity of the faithful. Hence the name of begging friars. ]

The Dominicans and Franciscans broke ground by not confining themselves to sacred ministry. They claimed equality with other professors at the universities. In such and similar work, the Church exempted the orders from the jurisdiction of the bishops. The opposition to the mendicants was particularly strong at the University of Paris. It was not only about academic status and ecclesiastical power. The mendicants were permitted to serve the faithful beyond the reach of the bishops - and the generous gifts that once went to parish priests for, e.g., weddings now were scooped up by popular mendicants. This freedom also enabled the Papacy to correct abuses within the far reaches of the church.

John of Parma went to Paris, 1253ish, to seek peace in concert with the Master General of the Dominicans. This struggle was unresolved and becoming universally nasty within the Church when John of Parma was up for re-election as leader of the Franciscans.

In addition to his efforts for the Mendicants, John of Parma gave his primary efforts to the renewal of the Order for which he received significant opposition within the Order. For the good of the Order, John of Parma stepped aside and supported the election of St Bonaventure, his successor as professor at Paris.

John of Parma retired to the hermitage of Greccio near Rieti - remember St. Francis’ connection…. John of Parma lived in solitude of prayer, writing, and teaching within the hermitage.

During his time at the Hermitage of Greccio, John of Parma was accused of Joachimism: A general term denoting several groups of Friars Minor, existing in the second half of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, who, in opposition to the main body of the order, pretended to observe the Rule of St. Francis in its primitive severity. Attendance at the universities and life in towns required certain modifications in the life of the friars, perhaps somewhat different from what it may have been in St. Francis's time. The doubts that arose amongst the friars about the observance of the rule were generally settled by the sovereign pontiffs with a view of meeting new conditions, and at the same time safeguarding the letter of the rule. Whilst the greater part of the order followed without reluctance this natural and logical evolution, some more zealous friars, to whom every development seemed a departure from the first ideal of St. Francis, were strongly opposed to it.

Purists. Are they/we opponents? In what way are Purists a threat to the Order? In could be that it is this effort/desire by John of Parma to observe the Rule more like Francis that led to his removing himself from the candidacy for General? And his wisdom and love of the Order shown in his support of the more ‘practical’ Bonaventure? Could it be that this cost John of Parma canonization? What would such canonization now say about today’s Franciscans?

John of Parma was acquitted and returned to the Hermitage to continue his life of prayer and work. If I could clear my slate, I too would relish such a life…. [without debt, there is total freedom]

At 80, twice the expected life of thirteenth century men, John of Parma heard that the Greeks were abandoning the union he worked to accomplish at Lyons in 1274. He received permission from the Pope to go to Greece and try again. John of Parma died in the convent of the Friars in Camerino on 19 March, 1289.


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