St. John Cantius (also known as St. John of Kanty) was a priest of the diocese of Cracow, Poland, and a professor of philosophy and Sacred Scripture of the university there. He was highly esteemed not only for his scholarship, but for his personal holiness which endeared him to the entire university community.
His humble and mortified life also endeared him to the largely forgotten poor, to whom he manifested great love and respect. He exhorted his students and fellow professors as well to fight error but not persons, saying that roughness would only discredit the message of the truth. One of Poland’s patron saints, he died in 1473.
From Johnnette Benkovic’s Graceful Living: Meditations to Help You Grow Closer to God Day by Day
“With his humility went a rare and childlike simplicity . . . the thoughts of his heart were revealed in his words and actions. If he suspected that someone had taken offense at speaking the truth, before going to the altar he would ask forgiveness for what was not so much his own sin as the other person’s misunderstanding. . . . The God in his heart and the God on his lips were one and the same God.”
— From a letter of Pope Clement XIII on St. John of Kanty
What about St. John’s example speaks to me the most? How do I wish to respond?
image: Statue of St. John Cantius by mzopw / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
