St. John of Matha

St. John of Matha was born in 1160 at Faucon in Provence, France, and became a learned priest and doctor of theology at Paris. Tradition holds that during his first Mass he received a vision of Christ freeing two captives, one Christian and one Muslim, which he understood as a call to devote his life to the redemption of prisoners.

Together with the hermit St. Felix of Valois, he founded in 1198 the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, the Trinitarians, approved that same year by Pope Innocent III, whose members dedicated themselves to ransoming Christians enslaved in the wars between Christendom and Islam. The order set aside a third of all its revenues for this work and sent its friars to negotiate the freedom of captives across the Mediterranean and into North Africa. John himself led such missions, redeeming many. He died in Rome on 17 December 1213 and is honored as a great liberator of captives.