GIOVANNI di MATERA, saint. — Born at Matera in 1070 and died on 20 June 1139. After some years of eremitical life, he founded a convent near Ginosa about 1100. He was associated with s. Guglielmo di Monte Vergine. About 1130 he founded the Congregation of the monks of S. Maria di Pulsano (called Pulsanesi), on Monte Gargano, adopting the Benedictine Rule according to a strict interpretation.
This Congregation developed rapidly and numbered more than twenty monasteries, also scattered through Sicily, Tuscany, and Liguria. At Pisa the monks were called the Scalzi. The successors of G. di M. were the b. Giordano (d. 1145) and the b. Gioele (d. 1177). Toward the end of the fourteenth century, upon the death of the last abbot, Antonio, the abbey of Pulsano passed
into other hands and the Congregation died out. The feast of s. G. di M. is celebrated on 25 June.