BERNARDINO DA BALVANO. - Capuchin preacher, born at Balvano (Potenza), died piously at Cosenza in 1558. He carried out his apostolate in the Salerno region, in Puglia, and in Calabria.
Adding austerity and holiness of life to powerful eloquence, he reaped abundant fruits among the people. He encountered the opposition of the local heretical sects, which even attempted to kill him. He fought them openly everywhere and in some places succeeded in extinguishing them. He established a “College” for conversion. He was favoured with supernatural charisms.
The following mystical writings by him are known: Meditationes de vita Christi et eius Matris Virginis Mariae, 2 vols. in 8°; Mysterium Flagellationis D. N. I. Christi pro singulis diebus hebdomadae, a work published in Italian at Venice in 1537 and in French at Paris in 1601; De novem effusionibus Sanguinis D.N.I. Christi, Venice 1559, Paris 1601; De septem regulis bene vivendi; Speculum orationis, Rome 1537-56, Venice 1893, Paris 1601, Saragossa 1604; Tractatus de Gloria Paradisi.