JOHN OF MONTMIRAIL, BL.

Cistercian monk; b. 1165; d. Longpont Abbey, Sept. 29, 1217. An impetuous and loyal knight in the service of King philip ii augustus of france, he converted to a less worldly life and established a hostel near his castle, where he himself cared for the sick. In 1210 he left his wife and children to become a cistercian monk at the Abbey of Longpont in the diocese of Soissons. There he distinguished himself by his extraordinary devotion to the virtues of obedience and humility. His relics were translated to the abbey church in 1253, and he was honored as early as 1491 in the Cistercian martyrology. His cult was approved July 19, 1891.

Feast: Sept. 29 (Italian Cistercians and in the Dioceses of Soissons and Châlons-sur-Marne).

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum September 8 (1863) 186–235. u. chevalier, Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen-âge. Biobibliographie, 2 v. (2d. ed. Paris 1905–07) 2:2448. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige, 4 v. (Metten 1933–38) 3:115–118. a. dimier, "Le Bienheureux Jean de Montmirail moine de Longpont," Mémoires de la fédération des sociétés savantes de l'Aisne 7 (1960–61) 182–191. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheueux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by The Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56) 9:613–615. k. spahr, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 5:1063.

[m. standaert]