St. John Joseph of the Cross

St. John Joseph of the Cross was born Carlo Gaetano Calosinto on 15 August 1654 on the island of Ischia near Naples, Italy. Drawn to a life of penance, he entered at sixteen the Franciscans of the strict Alcantarine reform, the austere observance begun by St. Peter of Alcantara, and became the first Italian to embrace that reform, which had until then been Spanish. He was sent while still young to found a friary of the reform in Italy, laboring even as a manual workman in its building.

Ordained a priest only reluctantly, out of humility, he served his brethren as superior and as novice master, teaching by his own example a life of extreme austerity, silence, and prayer; he slept little, fasted rigorously, and gave himself to long hours of contemplation, and was granted mystical graces and reported gifts of prophecy and healing. Gentle and humble despite his severity toward himself, he was sought by many for counsel. He died in Naples on 5 March 1734 and was canonized in 1839. His memory is kept on 5 March.