COLOMBINI, Giovanni, Blessed. - Sienese, b. in 1304; a wealthy merchant and respected citizen, married to Biagia Cerretani (1342); urged by her to read the life of St. Mary of Egypt (1355), he was inspired by God to charity until (c. 1364) he gave all that he had to the hospital of S. Maria della Scala and to the nuns of S. Bonda in Siena, reserving for himself the use of a house and a sum for his wife. He thus devoted himself to an intense life of penance and apostolate, gathering disciples who called themselves Gesuati (v.) but annoying the rulers, who exiled him (1357 or 1363); he then visited Arezzo, Città di Castello, Pisa, Lucca, Pistoia, Florence, but was soon recalled by his homeland, repentant and dismayed by the plague, interpreted as punishment for the unjust exile. He did not lack the accusation of heresy, but he had the approval of Urban V (Corneto, 4 June 1367). While returning to Siena he was struck by illness at Acquapendente and died at S. Salvatore on 31 July 1367. His cult was in a certain sense recognized by Gregory XIII, who inserted him in the Roman Martyrology, and by Paul V, who granted his Office and Mass to Siena and to the Gesuati.
A life of his by Pietro Petroni is lost; the attribution of lauds is uncertain, except for one: Diletto Gesù Cristo chi ben t'ama; certain are 114 letters full of compunction for himself, of understanding for others, of contempt for earthly goods, of confidence in divine help, and above all rich in an ardent and most sweet desire for Jesus, which without ceasing he seeks to communicate to others.
Bibliography2 works
P. Miscattelli (Florence 1923) and by Fantozzi (Lanciano 1925). For the life v.: G. Pardi, Della vita e degli scritti di G. C. da Siena, in Bull. sen. di st. patria, 2 (1895), pp. 1-50 and 202-30, and by the same author: Il b. G. C. da Siena, in Nuova viv. star., 11 (1927), pp. 286-336. For the life and for the art v.: N. Sapegno, Il Trecento, Milan 1934, pp. 510-55 and 564; A. Levasti, in Mistici del '200 e del '300, ibid. 1935, pp. 65-67, 1008-1010 (and the Lettere, pp. 749-81); G. Petrocchi, Le lettere del b. C., in Convictum, 2nd series, 3 (19-30, 1).