St William the Hermit and Blessed John the Good, religious

Two of the most influential hermits among the ermitical groups that came together in 1256 in the Grand Union to form the new Augustinian mendicant order. Both were noted for their strict lives of prayer and penance after conversion from more wayward youthful ways – John had been a court jester. They have been venerated in the Order from its earliest days though they themselves predate it and recall its eremitical background. William was canonised by Pope Innocent III in 1202, John beatified in 1483 by Pope Sixtus IV.

X