GIOVANNI di San Gimignano. – Dominican preacher and writer, born ca. 1260–70, died after 6 May 1333. A Dominican in the convent of Siena, in 1300 he was lector at Arezzo, in 1305 at the Minerva in Rome, then (1310–13) prior at Siena. Elected (1310) companion of the definitor for the General Chapter of 1311, G. oversaw the theological study and the fraternity of the Virgin and St. Dominic in his convent and received various donations for it (1318, 1325). Finally, he established a foundation at S. Gimignano. In addition to his doctrinal and preaching activity, he was a prolific writer, carefully studied by Dondaine.
His works include: *Sermones dominicales de epistolis et evangelii per totum annum*, 132 sermons from 1300 to 1310; *Sermones de adventu, de operibus sex dierum*, from 1300 to 1310, in 2 collections printed by Pietro de Turdito in Paris in 1512; *Quadragesimale*, from 1304 to 1314 (printed in Paris 1511, Venice 1548, Cologne 1612); *Expositiones epistolarum et prophetiarum totius quadra-
GIOVANNI di San Paolo. – Benedictine monk and later cardinal, died between 1214 and 1215. The identity with the homonymous physician of the Salernitan school, author of several medical books, seems well established.
G. was certainly a monk (perhaps rector or abbot) of S. Paolo fuori le mura. Created cardinal of S. Prisca in 1193 by Celestine III, he wielded great influence under this pope, who, upon dying in 1197, apparently wished him as successor. G. also played a major role in the governance of the Church under Innocent III. In 1198 he was sent as papal legate to Markward of Anweiler, the imperial duke of the March of Ancona, who was encroaching upon the rights of the Pontiff. In 1200–1201 he served as papal legate against the Albigensians in Narbonne and Provence and also worked to resolve the issue between Philip Augustus and his wife Ingeburga (Council of Soissons, March 1201). A testimony from Gerald of Cambrai in 1200 shows that G. was at that time papal penitentiary, the first known to hold that office, a position he retained even after his elevation to bishop of Sabina (late 1204). G. is chiefly remembered for his strong support of St. Francis and his nascent Order, having defended the Franciscans before the Pope and secured the approval of their first Rule in 1209 (or 1210?), possibly through the intercession of Bishop Guido of Assisi. G. died before the Fourth Lateran Council.