Jakov of Zadar

Blessed
Jakov Varingez
O.F.M.
His remains housed in Bitetto.
Religious
Born c. 1400
Zadar, Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia
Died 27 April 1490 (aged 89-90)
Bitetto, Bari, Kingdom of Naples
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified 29 December 1700, Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Clement XI
Feast
  • 20 April (Franciscans)[1]
  • 27 April
Attributes Franciscan habit
Patronage Bitetto

Blessed Jakov Varingez (Italian: Giacomo Illirico; c. 1400 – 27 April 1490) was a Croatian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor.[1][2]

Life

Jakov Varingez was born in Zadar around 1400 to Leonardo and Beatrice.

In 1420 he entered the Order of Friars Minor as a brother assistant after having relocated to Bari to flee Turkish invaders and joined the order in neighboring Bitetto at Saint Peter's convent.[2][1] In 1438 his superior requested him to participate in the General Chapter for the order in Bari as his aide. The friar decided to remain in Bari and lived in various monasteries until 1450 where he served as a cook before settling in Bitetto. He had a deep devotion to the Passion and to the Blessed Mother and was known to have fallen into raptures sometimes. He had also been tasked with collecting alms and he travelled around to do this. The friar also cared for patients infected with the plague during an epidemic in 1482.[2]

The friar remained in Bitetto until 1463 before moving to Bari where he remained until moving to Cassano delle Murge in 1469 at the Santa Maria degli Angeli convent. He returned to Bitetto from 1480-1483 before moving to the Santa Maria dell'Isola convent in Conversano until 1485 when he moved for the final time back to Bitetto.[2]

He died in Bitetto in 1490 and his remains were interred in a chapel built for him.[1] Public honor in his name is reported since 1505. He is honored in the San Francesco church where pilgrims have brought his picture in 1989 as well as reliquaries.

Beatification

His fame for holiness led to the beatification process being opened in 1629 to assess his saintliness. But it was suspended and resumed in 1694. Pope Clement XI beatified the late friar on 29 December 1700 upon the recognition of the late friar's enduring local cultus - or popular and longstanding veneration.[1][2] Pope Leo XIII extended veneration to him to the Zadar archdiocese during his pontificate.

The process for his canonization was later resumed in a diocesan process that was opened in the Bari archdiocese on 27 June 1989; the diocesan phase completed in 1990 and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated the process on 18 December 1998 and a decade later on 19 December 2008. The postulation later submitted the Positio dossier to the C.C.S. for further assessment in 1999 with historians granting first approval on 30 November 1999. Theologians also assented to the cause on 7 November 2008 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. on 27 October 2009. Pope Benedict XVI titled the friar as Venerable on 19 December 2009 - the friar remained a Blessed since the cause worked in a different manner.[1] Clement XI had beatified the friar without proclaiming his heroic virtue as Benedict XVI had done who filled in the gaps of the cause.

His canonization all depends upon one miracle recognized as to have been attributed to his intercession. There was an investigation into one such case that was transferred to Roman authorities for additional assessment. Medical experts came to an inconclusive result on 8 March 2012 and requested another session of the medical board to discuss the miracle.

The current postulator for this cause is the Franciscan Fra Giovangiuseppe Califano.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Blessed Jakov Varingez". Saints SQPN. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Beato Giacomo da Bitetto". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.