BLESSED AGNELLO da Pisa. - Franciscan and disciple of St. Francis, born in Pisa around 1194, died in Oxford on March 13, 1232. Having entered the Franciscan Order, he was sent by St. Francis around 1217 to France, where he served as Custodian of Paris when he was tasked with founding the Franciscan province of England. He traveled there in 1224 with eight other friars, being a deacon at the time; however, he was later ordained a priest. The mission was highly successful, and soon the English province became renowned for its virtue and learning. After establishing a school in Oxford, which was to bring great glory to the Order, he invited Robert Grosseteste, chancellor of the University, to teach theology there. As assistant provincial, he attended the General Chapter held in Assisi in 1230. Two years later, he died a holy death, surrounded by universal esteem. Leo XIII confirmed his cult in 1892. His feast is celebrated on March 13.
AGNELLO DA PISA, BEATO
BIBL.: C. Mariotti, Il b. Agnello da Pisa, Rome 1895; Tommaso de Eccleston, De adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed. J. S. Brewer, in Monumenta Franciscana, I, London 1858, pp. 3 ff.; reprinted in Analecta Franciscana, I, Quaracchi 1885, pp. 217 ff.; and again by A. G. Little, Paris 1900.