John of Matha

John of Matha (* 1154 in Faucon -de- Barcelonnette, † December 17, 1213 in Rome) was one of the founders of the Trinitarian Order. 1694 he was appointed by Pope Innocent XII. canonized.

Life

He studied theology in Paris, and earned his doctorate in 1185 ordained a priest. Later he joined the much older hermit Felix of Valois (1127-1212) on, with whom he founded in 1198 the Trinitarian order ( Order of the Holy Trinity ), the task turned out to liberate Christian captives from Muslim prisons.

John of Matha lived the last years in Rome as a hermit in a room of Dolabella arc. After his death he was buried in the adjacent church of San Tommaso in formees, his remains, however, kidnapped in 1665 by Spain. He was buried in the Trinity Church in Madrid in 1966 and brought to Salamanca, where is the restored by the Archaeological Museum Nacional de España coffin in the Trinitarian church Iglesia San Juan de Mata.

A shoulder relic is in the Trinitarian San Crisogono in Rome. His feast day is December 17.

On the Charles Bridge in Prague John of Matha is shown together with Felix of Valois, Saint Ivan and a Turk as a sculptural group. The artwork is by the sculptor Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff.