GIORDANO da PISA, blessed. — An eminent Dominican preacher, born in Pisa (or Rivalto?) around 1260, died at Piacenza on 19 August 1311.
He took the religious habit in the Pisan convent of S. Caterina (1280). There he began his studies, which he continued at Bologna and completed at Paris. He travelled through France, England, and Germany; at the General Chapter of Cologne in 1301 he was a definitor. He taught at Pisa, expounded Lombard’s Sentences at S. Maria Novella in Florence, and had finally been assigned to teach at Paris when death overtook him on the journey.
More than as a professor, he made a name for himself as a preacher. He preached in Pisa and Florence two, three, and even five times a day. Of his Latin or vernacular sermons, recorded by his hearers, only a portion was printed. Particularly noteworthy are those in the vernacular, which, owing to their purity of language, are a monument of Italian literature, from both the philological and literary points of view.
A testimony to his zeal is the foundation of the Confraternita del S.mo Salvatore, known as the Crocione, of Pisa, whose purpose was to lead men to a more intense religious life. Gregory XVI confirmed its cult on 23 August 1833. Feast day: 6 March.