Saint of the Day – 19 March – Saint John (6th Century) Founder Abbot in Civita-di-Penna, Umbria, Italy, Miracle-worker. Accounts of John’s birthplace differ but he certainly died at his Monastery, dedicated to St Stephen, in Penna, Umbria of natural causes. Also known as – Giovanni/John di Penna, of Panaca, of Parran, the Abbot, the Syrian.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Civita-di-Penna, the birthday of the blessed St Joh, a man of great holiness, who came from Syria into Italy, where he constructed a Monastery and, after having been the spiritual guide of many servants of God for forty-four years, rested in peace, renowned for great virtue.”
There is an ancient legendary Vita which states that he was born in Syria in the 6th Century and being persecuted by the heretical monophysites, he fled to Italy. He arrived in the dead of winter, when the trees were bare of leaves and fruit. Some hunters witnessed John sit beside a bare, leafless pear tree which suddenly burst into full bloom due to the holy man’s proximity, supplying him and all who passed by with delicious fruit.
He settled in the locality of Nocera in the Diocese of Spoleto.
In this pleasant locality, he founded his own Monastery which he then led as the Abbot for for 44 years.
As the Abbot, he instructed and assisted numerous young Monks to increase in virtue and sanctity, ever ascending the ladder of perfection. John used the instruments of silence and prayer as the greatest means of achieving perfection.
In the Roman Martyrology it is stated that he was the father of numerous servants of God. In the volume of the Biblioteca Sanctorum, under the entry Giovanni di Penna, it is reported that even if the Roman Martyrology indicates him as being from Penna, it seems that this transcription is incorrect, while on various other Italian platforms, he is described as being from Spoleto in Umbria.
Saint John the Abbot is also remembered both in the Martyrology of Adone and in that of Usuardo.
AnaStpaul 