Bernardino of Siena, St (1380–1444)

Italian Franciscan. He became one of the most popular preachers of his day, his impassioned attacks on corruption and political violence winning wide approval. A keen reformer, he restored the strictness of the early Franciscan rule, and founded the Fratres de Observantia, a branch of the Franciscan order. In 1439 he played an active role in the Council of Florence. He was canonized in 1450.

He was born at Massa di Carrara, between La Spezia and Pisa. During an outbreak of plague in Siena in 1400 he took charge of a hospital there. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan Order and quickly became a popular preacher, travelling widely in Italy; he became vicar-general of the order in 1438. In 1427 he inaugurated the cult of devotion to the sacred name of Jesus, for which he was accused of heresy by the theologians of Bologna University, though he was eventually exonerated. Despite his piety, he accepted conventional beliefs about the guilt of the Jews and the power of witchcraft.