John of Parma

Blessed John of Parma, O.F.M.
Minister General O.F.M.
Born	ca. 1209 Commune of Parma Holy Roman Empire
Died	19 March 1289 Camerino, March of Ancona, Papal States
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (Order of Friars Minor)
Beatified	1777 by Pope Pius VI
Feast	20 March

The Blessed John of Parma, O.F.M., was an Italian Franciscan friar, who served as one of the first Ministers General of the Order of Friars Minor (1247–1257). He was also a noted theologian of the period.

John was born about 1209 in the medieval commune of Parma in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna; his family name was probably Buralli. Educated by an uncle, chaplain of the Church of St. Lazarus at Parma, his progress in learning was such that he quickly became a teacher of philosophy (magister logicæ). When and where he entered the Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the "Franciscans"), the old sources do not say. Affò assigns 1233 as the year, and Parma as the probable place. Ordained a priest, he taught theology at the University of Bologna and the University of Naples, and finally taught the Sentences of Peter Lombard at the University of Paris. He assisted at the First Council of Lyons in 1245, representing the current Minister General, Crescentius of Jesi, who was too ill to attend.