CINI, GIOVANNI, blessed. - Of the Third Order of St. Francis, founder of a short-lived Order and of a Company of Disciplinati in Pisa, probably born in Pisa and died there after 1331; he was often confused with Giovanni della Pace, also of the Third Order. Involved in an act of party vengeance (1295) and punished, he renounced the world and lived as a hermit, later withdrawing to a dwelling near the Porta della Pace in Pisa.
He was one of the founders of the Casa della Misericordia, whose statutes were approved by the bishop and then by the Republic (1305). He founded an Order of Penance, which by 1370 seems already to have been absorbed by the Gesuati. The Company of the Disciplinati of St. John the Evangelist had a more lasting existence; it was suppressed in 1785. The year and day of his death are unknown. The last document mentioning him among the living is dated 13 Nov. 1331. His tomb is still in the cemetery of Pisa. His cult was confirmed by Pius IX on 10 Sept. 1857. His feast is on 12 Nov.