Joachim of Fiore

Joachim of Fiore - (Italian Gioacchino da Fiore) (1135 - 1201), was the founder of monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore. He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist.

Born in Celico in the Kingdom of Naples, from Mauro the notary and Gemma, he became a notary himself and worked for the kings of Sicily when he had a spiritual conversion, and went off on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a time about which we know very little. When he returned, he lived as a hermit for several years before joining the Cistercian Order. He later became abbot of Corazzo.

One of his most important works is Age of the Spirit. He theorized a new age in which the hierarchy of the church would be unnecessary and infidels would unite with Christians. The most spiritual Franciscan monks acclaimed him as a prophet.

Dante Alighieri in the The Divine Comedy placed him in paradise.