Johannes Capistranus

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Johannes Capistranus (born June 24, 1386 in Capestrano in Abruzzo , † October 23, 1456 in Ilok near Vukovar in today's Croatia ), Latin Ioannes Capistranus , Italian Giovanni da Capestrano , Serbo-Croatian Ivan Kapistran , also Johannes Kapistran , Johannes von Capistran or Johannes von Capestrano , was a Franciscan , traveling preacher, inquisitor and finally a military leader in the Turkish wars , who was famous throughout Europe in his time . He was also known for his hostility to Jews and initiated persecutions and pogroms against Jews . He was canonized in 1690 due to continued veneration and various miracle reports . In the Roman Catholic Church , Capistranus is considered the patron saint of lawyers and military chaplains .

Johannes Capistranus (bottom right) in a painting by Carlo Ceresa, 1581
Portrait of St. Johannes Capistranus in the church in Ilok , Croatia

Life

Born on June 24, 1386, he was named in the name of the saint of the day, St. John the Baptist , baptized. His father was a knight from the defeated army of Ludwig von Anjou , who probably converted into the service of the victorious side and became a small vassal of the Count of Celano with his seat in the mountain town of Capestrano. Johannes spent his childhood in Capestrano. He seems to have lost his father early on. Around the year 1400 he enrolled in the then papal university city of Perugia to study law, where he also heard canon law . After completing his studies around 1409, John began a public career as a councilor of the royal court in Naples, where political trials were also dealt with. There was a judicial murder in which he apparently felt complicit. From around 1412 he was a judge in Perugia. At first he lived a completely secular life and married the daughter of a count. According to him, the marriage remained virgin. As an envoy in a guerrilla war between Italian states, he was captured in 1415, an attempt to escape failed and worsened his situation. Due to several visions during his imprisonment, he made the decision to join the Franciscan order. After he was released for a moderate ransom of 40 ducats, he dissolved his marriage and publicly said goodbye to the world by riding backwards on a donkey into the market place; this was a ritual of how serious criminals were then led to the place of execution.

In October 1415, Capistran entered the monastery of the Franciscan Observants in Perugia as a novice , where he subjected himself to strict asceticism . He was ordained a priest probably in 1417; that same year he began to preach. In 1418, during an audience with Pope Martin V in Mantua, he tried to induce the Pope to take decisive measures against the heretical Franciscan community of the Fratizelles ; the Pope appointed him inquisitor and gave him powers against the fratizelles. According to Hofer, Capistran regarded it as a special life task to eradicate fraticellism. In addition, he was also charged with mediating between conventuals and observants. The Martinian Constitutions of 1430 go back to him. After Bernardine of Siena had taught Capistran theology and trained as a preacher, he was traveling as an itinerant preacher in Italy in the 1420s. In 1426 Capistran made peace between the warring Abruzzo cities of Sulmona and Lanciano and in 1427 between Lanciano and Ortona .

Capistran was an influential advisor to several popes. With Popes Eugene IV , Nicholas V and Kalixt III. he was on friendly terms long before their papal election. He had special access to them at the court of the popes, and otherwise he remained in correspondence with them. This close relationship was sought by himself. After the death of Queen Joan II of Naples , he stayed twice as papal envoy in 1435/36 for several months in the Kingdom of Naples to mediate in the controversy for the throne. In the dispute between conciliarists and papalists over the authority of councils , he supported the recognition of full papal authority as a papalist; around 1440 he wrote a treatise on the papal perfection of power.

In 1451 Capestrano established a Franciscan province for Austria with St. Theobald ob der Laimgrube in Vienna, in 1458 with the takeover of the Franciscan monastery in Katzelsdorf .

Penitential preacher Johannes Capistranus (1470/80)

A woodcut from 1519 by Hans Schäufelin depicts the burning of dice, cards and board games by Nuremberg citizens after a sermon given there in 1452.

Persecution of the Jews

In the course of the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church incorporated into its canon law laws that severely restricted the lives and professions of Jews. Pope Martin V reversed some of these restrictions and in 1421 allowed Jewish doctors to treat Christian patients in Spain; In 1422 a papal decree was issued against preachers hostile to Jews. However, at the beginning of 1423 the Pope revoked both edicts. The pope's panning has not yet been historically cleared up - according to Hofer, it can be traced back to Capistran's influence, especially because he was consulted at the papal curia on the Jewish question, and especially with regard to Spain. Capistran made repeated representations to secular rulers to ensure that restrictive and discriminatory Jewish laws are applied in their full severity, e.g. B. the dress code with the obligation to wear a Jewish costume . When in 1427 Pope Martin V admonished Queen Joan II of Naples to soften her severity against the Jews, she declared that the strict edict had been issued at Capistran's request. In 1447 Pope Nicholas V issued a bull which, according to Hofer, may be traced back to a suggestion by Capistran and which demanded the strict application of the Jewish laws or tightened these laws. The blocking of Jews from all intercourse with Christians should be carried out to the limit of what is possible. Capistran, also called "Scourge of the Hebrews", was entrusted with carrying out the bull himself. He is said to have even offered the Pope to load all of Italy's Jews onto ships and drop them off in a distant country. Literally carried out, the bull would have been a disaster for the Italian Jews, but it was not used in full force due to subsequent mitigations.

In 1453 there was a pogrom in Breslau. A farmer from Langewiese near Oels had accused Jews of desecrating the host . The elders of the Jews appropriated hosts and whipped them with sticks and thus desecrated them. Capistrano was commissioned by the king to investigate. As a result, on May 2, 1453, all 318 Jews in and around Breslau were arrested and confessions were extorted through torture. Capistrano had 41 Jews burned at the stake and the rest expelled from the city, but the children had to be left behind and forcibly baptized . The property of the Jews was confiscated, which, according to Cohn, was the real motive for the pogrom. In the archive alone, Cohn found eleven books with letters of mortgage that had belonged to the Jews. There were also large inventories of other items that the Jews owned. In 1455, the city of Wroclaw received from King Ladislaus Postumus the securitized Privilegium de non tolerandis Judaeis ("Privilege to not tolerate Jews"), which de jure remained in force until 1744.

Capistran also accused the Polish king Casimir IV. Prior to that existing in Poland special rights for Jews against canon law would violate. The defeat of Kasimir IV in the Battle of Konitz in 1454 was seen by Capistran as a divine punishment for the behavior of the king, who then had to bow to Capistran's wishes and carried out numerous pogroms in Poland.

Hussites

As a result of negotiations at the Council of Basel at the end of 1433, the Prague Compacts peace agreement between the Catholic Church and the moderate wing of the Hussites , the Utraquists . These were no longer viewed as heretics but recognized as part of the Catholic Church. After the military victory over the more radical Taborites in 1434 in the Battle of Lipan , the Hussite Wars , which lasted almost twenty years, were over. From August 1451 to June 1452 Capistran was in Moravia and Bohemia for the Hussite mission and again in Moravia from July to August 1454. He did not recognize the compacts, regarded the Utraquists as heretics and wanted to achieve that all ecclesiastical special status disappear and that the Utraquists return completely to the official Catholic faith. In addition to his sermons, Capistran wrote Hussite tracts. Pope Nicholas V went too far with his activities; he wanted Capistran to confine himself to pastoral activities such as preaching and listening to confession without exerting political influence. At the end of 1451, a papal letter restricted Capistran's powers as an inquisitor. Capistran had thereupon asked the Pope for the express declaration of invalidity of the compacts as well as for a power of attorney to proceed against the Hussites inquisitorial, if necessary by invoking the secular arm; The Pope's reply, delivered in May 1452, recognized Capistran's efforts, but ignored these requests with silence. Despite some local successes, Capistran could not achieve the goals of his Hussite mission. (In 1462 - after Capistran's death - Pope Pius II declared the compacts to be invalid.)

Turkish war

After the Turks defeated a Christian crusader army in the Battle of Varna in November 1444 , Pope Eugene IV again called for a crusade against the Turks and in early 1445 appointed a number of crusaders, including Capistran. At that time, however, other tasks were in the foreground for him. After the conquest of Constantinople , Pope Nicholas V again called for a crusade against the Turks, but was unable to spark any enthusiasm for this goal. Capistran, who had previously been in Poland, began his sermons on the cross on German soil in May 1454. (Hofer believes that it is unlikely that he should have given sermons to the Turks earlier, e.g. in Vienna.) Since Capistran found little support for this crusade in Germany and news about the advance of the Turks towards Hungary, he followed Hungary. He ignored the urgent requests of his friars, who wanted to bring him to Italy because of internal Franciscan conflicts. In June 1455 he took part in the deliberations of the Hungarian Diet in Raab and tried to persuade the arguing nobles to act together. He then went preaching through the Kingdom of Hungary including Transylvania . Only when Sultan Mehmed II advanced with a strong army against the southern border of the Kingdom of Hungary in April 1456 did the previously sluggish formation of troops advance. With his sermons on the cross, Capistran recruited a large number of volunteers who were keen to fight but poorly armed. In July 1456 he took part in the successful defense of Belgrade under the leadership of Johann Hunyadi . Shortly after the war, an epidemic broke out, which Hunyadi also succumbed to. At the beginning of August Capistran developed a high fever and died on October 23, 1456 in Ilok , Croatia .

After the victory, a dispute arose among the supporters of Hunyadi and Capistran as to who of the two had the main share of the victory. Although there are many eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Belgrade, the course of the struggle cannot be clearly determined because the various reports by eyewitnesses were made part of the party at an early stage.

Afterlife

His body rested for seventy years in a side chapel of the Franciscan church in Ilok and has been missing since the Turkish conquest of Ilok in 1526. Today there is the St. Ivan Kapistran Church on the place of his death.

Shortly after Capistran's death, efforts were made to achieve his canonization . Cardinal Juan Carvajal spoke out strongly against it and accused him of being rash during the battle for Belgrade, a lust for glory and an angry demeanor. Among other things, he had shown himself to be addicted to fame by not mentioning Hunyadi's services in his battle reports. Carvajal's triple indictment was not the main reason why the canonization took place after 234 years, but it had played a role in it. In the following years, Capistran's followers collected written evidence of his work and put together an extensive collection of miracle reports. On the other hand, doubts about his holiness were also expressed anonymously; So it was said, among other things, that the miraculous healings were based on self-delusions of the sick, which were caused by Capistran's companions. At the end of 1514 Pope Leo X allowed the diocese of Sulmona , in whose territory Capistran's birthplace Capestrano is located, to venerate him as a blessed. Pope Alexander VIII canonized Capistran on October 16, 1690. It was not until 1885 that his feast was celebrated in the entire Catholic Church.

Commemoration

Capistranus monument on the northeast side on the outside of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

His feast day in the Catholic Church is the day of his death, October 23.

Churches with a Capistran patronage ( Johannes Capistranus Church ) are St. Johann von Capistran (Munich) , St. Johann Kapistran (Vienna) and St. Johannes Kapistran in Sankt Pölten . The church of St. Johannes Capistran in Berlin-Tempelhof , built in 1968, was closed during the Berlin church closings in 2004 and demolished in 2005.

The city of San Juan Capistrano in California (USA) is named after him. The Capistran pulpit on the outside of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna shows in its baroque essay Capistran how he puts his foot on the corpse of a defeated Turk. In 1906, Windmühlgasse in Vienna- Mariahilf (6th district) was renamed Capistrangasse after him. In the Franciscan order Kapistran is sometimes given as an order name , e.g. B. in the case of Kapistran Peller or Capistrano Francisco Heim .

reception

Not only is Capistran's share in the victory in the Battle of Belgrade controversial, but also the effects of this victory on European history. While Catholic books of saints celebrate Capistran as the savior of the West because of this victory, the historian Erich Meuthen only mentions this victory in a half-sentence in his standard work on the 15th century and does not mention the winner at all: "The Turks stretched, despite the defeat at Belgrade in 1456, their power in the Balkans continues northwards. "

literature

Scientific literature and non-fiction books
  • Willy Cohn: Capistrano, a Breslau Jew enemy in a monk's robe . In: Menorah. Jewish family sheet for science, art and literature , vol. 4 (1926), no. 5 (May), pp. 262–265 digitized
  • Kaspar Elm : Johannes Kapistran's preaching journey on this side of the Alps. In: Hartmut Boockmann, Bernd Moeller , Karl Stackmann (eds.): Life lessons and world designs in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern age. Politics - Education - Natural History - Theology. Report on colloquia of the commission to research the culture of the late Middle Ages 1983 to 1987 (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen: philological-historical class. Volume III, No. 179). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-525-82463-7 , pp. 500-519.
  • Margret Heitmann, Harald Lordick: On the history of Judaism in Silesia. Exhibition catalog “Wake up to my heart and think!” - On the history of relations between Silesia and Berlin-Brandenburg - “Przebudz się, serce moje, i pomyśl” - Przyczynek do historii stosunków między Śląskiem a Berlinem-Brandenburgia . Edited by the Society for Interregional Cultural Exchange Berlin - Stowarzyszenie Instytut Śląskie - Opole, Berlin and Oppeln 1995, ISBN 3-87466-248-9 and ISBN 83-85716-36-X ( online version )
  • Johannes Hofer (Author), Ottokar Bonmann (Editing): Johannes Kapistran. A life struggling to reform the Church . New arrangement, Verlag Kerle, Heidelberg 1964/65 (2 vols .; Bibliotheca Franciscana 1-2)
  • Valeska Koal: "Ego libenter currebam ad tripudia". The sermons of John of Capestrano in the context of the late medieval dance debate . In: Frate Francesco. Rivista di cultura francescana Vol. 2 (2019), No. 85 (November), pp. 331-361.
  • Johann Evangelist Stadler (Ed.): Complete Lexicon of Saints . 1858–1882 ( online )
  • Harald Wagner:  Johannes von Capestrano. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 295-296.  ([ http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/j/Johannes_v_cap.shtml ( Memento from June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) article / beginning of the article in the Internet archive])
Fiction
  • Wilhelm von Scholz : The way to Ilok. Novel . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1952 (reprint of the Berlin 1930 edition).

Web links

Commons : Giovanni da Capistrano  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Hofer (author), Ottokar Bonmann (arrangement): Johannes Kapistran. A life struggling to reform the Church. New processing. Volume 1, Verlag Kerle, Heidelberg 1964, p. 31
  2. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 34f.
  3. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 38
  4. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 41f.
  5. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 373
  6. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 58f. and 376
  7. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 62f.
  8. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 95
  9. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 133
  10. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 95
  11. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 237-240
  12. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 107
  13. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 138f.
  14. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 139f.
  15. ↑ Horst von der Bey OFM: Dark Remembering: Jews and Franciscans. In: Horst von der Bey, Johannes-Baptist Freyer (Ed.): The Franciscan Movement. Volume 1: History and Spirituality. Mainz 1996, pp. 148-157, here pp. 155f.
  16. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, pp. 321f.
  17. ↑ Willy Cohn : Capistrano, a Breslau Jew enemy in a monk's robe . In: Menorah. Jüdisches Familienblatt für Wissenschaft, Kunst und Literatur , Vol. 4 (1926), No. 5 (May), p. 263 (digitized see literature).
  18. ↑ a b Vienna's street names since 1860 as “Political Places of Remembrance” (PDF; 4.4 MB), p. 132, final research project report, Vienna, July 2013
  19. ↑ Willy Cohn: Capistrano, a Breslau Jew enemy in a monk's robe . In: Menorah. Jüdisches Familienblatt für Wissenschaft, Kunst und Literatur , Vol. 4 (1926), No. 5 (May), p. 264 (digitized see literature).
  20. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, p. 108
  21. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, p. 135
  22. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 1, p. 303
  23. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, p. 299
  24. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, p. 342
  25. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, pp. 351-354
  26. ↑ Franz Babinger : Mehmed the Conqueror and his time. World striker at a turning point. F. Bruckmann, Munich 1953, p. 154
  27. ↑ Johannes Hofer (author), Ottokar Bonmann (arrangement): Johannes Kapistran. A life struggling to reform the Church . New processing. Volume 2, Verlag Kerle, Heidelberg 1965, p. 446
  28. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, pp. 435-444
  29. ↑ Hofer / Bonmann. Volume 2, p. 458
  30. ^ Berlin-Tempelhof: Church of St. Johannes Capistran
  31. ↑ Erich Meuthen : The 15th century . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1980, p. 65
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Capistranus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giovanni da Capistrano; Johannes Kapistran; John of Capistran; Saint Capestranus; Ivan Kapistranski
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian itinerant preacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1386
PLACE OF BIRTH Capistrano , Italy
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1456
Place of death near Ilok near Vukovar , Croatia