Christian Feast Day John Cantius [23rd of December]

Saint John Cantius (Latin: Joannis Cantii, 23 June 1390 – 24 December 1473) was a Polish priest, scholastic philosopher, physicist and theologian.

e held the professorship until his death in 1473. John spent many hours copying manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, theological tracts, and other scholarly works.

In physics, he helped develop Jean Buridan's theory of impetus, which anticipated the work of Galileo and Newton.

He subsisted on what was strictly necessary to sustain his life, giving alms regularly to the poor. He made one pilgrimage to Jerusalem and four pilgrimages on foot to Rome.[

Michael Miechowita, the medieval Polish historian and the saint's first biographer, described the saint's extreme humility and charity; he took as his motto:

Conturbare cave: non est placare suave, Infamare cave; nam revocare grave. (Beware disturbing: it's not sweetly pleasing, Beware speaking ill: for taking back words is burdensome.)

He died while living in retirement at his alma mater on 24 December 1473, aged 83. His remains were interred in the Collegiate Church of St Anne, where his tomb became and remains a popular pilgrimage site.

Tomb of Saint John Cantius Church of St. Anne, Kraków, Poland

John Cantius was beatified in Rome by Pope Clement X on 28 March 1676. He was named patron of Poland and Lithuania by Pope Clement XII in the year 1737.[3] Ninety-one years after his beatification, Blessed John Cantius was canonized on 16 July 1767, by Pope Clement XIII.

The Roman Breviary distinguishes him with three hymns; he is the only confessor not a bishop who has been given this honor in the Roman Catholic liturgy.

St. John Cantius is a popular saint in Poland.

In 1998, a new religious institute was founded, based in Chicago, which took St. John Cantius as their patron saint. Thus they are the Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius.

Saint John Cantius Church, Chicago

When Saint John Cantius's feast day was first inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1770, it was initially assigned to 20 October, but in the calendar reform of 1969 it was moved to the 23 December, the day before the anniversary of his death, which occurred on Christmas Eve 1473. The extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, which uses the General Roman Calendar of 1960, continues to celebrate it as a III Class Feast on October 20.

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