John of Parma

John Of Parma, also called JOANNES BORELLUS or BURALLUS, a learned monk of the 13th century, was born at Parma about 1209. He became a Franciscan, taught theology with great success at the universities of Naples, Bologna, and Paris, and in 1247 was made general of his order by the chapter assembled at Avignon. He showed great zeal for the reformation of convents, and strictly enforced the discipline. In 1249 he was sent to Greece by Innocent IV, with a view to the reconciliation of the Eastern Church, but failed in that undertaking, and returned to Italy in 1251. A chapter held at Rome in 1256 accused him of favoring the heresies of Joachim, abbot of Floris, whose work, The Everlasting Gospel, he edited, and accompanied with a preface of his own (see Farrar, Crit. Hist. Free Thought, p. 86), and he was obliged to resign the generalship of the order. His successor, Bonaventura Fidanza, even caused him to be condemned to imprisonment, but the protection of cardinal Ottoboni, afterwards Adrian V, prevented the execution of the sentence. He was nevertheless obliged to hide himself in the convent of Grecchia, near Rieti. He subsequently set out to return to Greece, but died at Camerino in 1289. He was canonized in the 18th century by the Congregation of Rites. None of his writings were published.

See Hist. Litteraire de la France, 20, 23; Wadding, Script. Ord. Minor.; Fleury, Hist. Eccl.; Ireneo Affo, Memorie degli Scrittori et Litterati Parmigiani; Sbaraglia, Supplem. et castig. ad Script. Ord. S. Francisc.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 26, 550; Moasheim, Ch. Hist. cent. 13, pt. 2, ch. 2, § 33, note. (J.N.P.)