Agnellus of Pisa, Bl.
AGNELLUS OF PISA, BL.
First Franciscan superior in England; b. Pisa, c. 1194; d. Oxford, March 3, 1232. He was sent (c. 1217) by St. francis to France, where he became custos of Paris. As a deacon in 1224 he was appointed to introduce the franciscans into England, where he became the first minister provincial. At the urging of his superior, he became a priest (before 1229). He successfully defended the rights of his order against the claims of the bishops (1231). He propagated the order throughout much of England and is chiefly responsible for the reputation for science of the English Franciscans, since he obtained robert grosseteste as a teacher for the Franciscan house of studies in Oxford. Agnellus was declared blessed in 1892.
Feast: March 13 (Archdiocese of Birmingham, Eng.).
Bibliography: fr. gilbert, B. Agnellus and the English Grey friars (London 1937). j. harding, Agnellus of Pisa (Canterbury 1979). thomas of eccleston, De adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, ed. a. g. little (2d ed. Manchester, Eng. 1951). c. mariotti, Il b. Agnello da Pisa ed i Frati Minori in Inghilterra (Rome 1895). l. hardick, ed., Nach Deutschland und England (Werl 1957) 115–214.
[l. hardick]