Lentorama Saint of the Day: St. Venturino of Bergamo

A preacher, he became famous for his oratory in cities across northern Italy. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1335, bringing 30000 of his followers with him. The pope, Benedict XII, was at this point in Avignon and feared that Venturino was planning to set himself up as pope when he got to Rome. This led to a variety of commands and edicts banning the pilgrimage, although Venturino was apparently unaware of any of them (as you will see, this becomes a good lesson about forwarding your mail).

Venturino got to Rome, preached for a while, and left the city abruptly, marking the end of the pilgrimage. He then decided dropping in on Benedict would be a good idea, though when he got to Avignon he was arrested for completing his pilgrimage. He spent 8 years in prison before the next pope, Clement VI, released him. Of course, Clement had an ulterior motive - he wanted Venturino to preach a crusade against the Turks.

He was successful in this task, but was less successful (depending on your point of view) when he persuaded Clement to appoint Humbert II of Dauphiné as leader of the crusade. Humbert was an ineffectual leader and the crusade came to naught.