GIOVANNI (OLDRADI, OLDRATI) di MEDA, saint. — Born at Meda toward the end of the 11th century.
The tradition that makes him the founder of the Order of the Humiliati is entirely legendary. After a vision in which the Blessed Virgin is said to have shown him the habit of the Humiliati, he is said to have gone to Brera and there founded the First Order, composed solely of clerics, under the Rule of St. Benedict. He is also credited with the foundation of the house of S. Maria in Rondineto near Como. Through his apostolate he contributed greatly to the spread of the Order in Lombardy. He died at Brera in 1159. A. De Stefano went so far as to deny the historical existence of G. More rightly, L. Zanoni, while maintaining his historicity, would place the events of his life much later than the first half of the 12th century, since the documents attest that one cannot speak of an Order of the Humiliati composed solely of clerics before 1200, and that the house of Rondineto was still, in 1189, a confraternity composed solely of laymen.