BONVISI, GIOVANNI, blessed. – Franciscan, born in Lucca at the beginning of the fifteenth century. From childhood he showed an inclination toward a withdrawn and penitential life. Having gone to Spain for commercial reasons, he entered the Order of Friars Minor, later moving to Italy, among the Observants of the province of Florence. He was outstanding in obedience, poverty, and the spirit of penance. Master of novices and guardian, he was terribly tried by demonic temptations. Endowed by God with visions and ecstasies, he worked miracles, “some of which,” writes the author of the Franceschina, “I saw with my own eyes.” He died in 1472, in the convent of S. Maria degli Angeli near Assisi. He is listed in the Franciscan Martyrology on 14 May.
Marco da Lisbona, in his Croniche, reports a discourse by the Blessed on humility (ch. 39), in which it is said that “knowing one’s own misery is the most useful science that we can acquire in this life.” He also reports one of his discourses on the love of God and of neighbor (ch. 40), one on abstinence (ch. 42), and one on obedience (ch. 43), which certainly reflect the thought and doctrine of the blessed man.