Johannes van Parma (Northern Italy, 1208 or 1209 - Camerino, 1289) was an Italian Frenchman. He studied theology in Paris and taught logic in Bologna and Naples. In 1233 he became lesser brother. In 1247 he was elected to the General Supreme Court, succeeding Crescentius of Jesi. He was the first general minister who went to visit all provinces of the order. He also rested in order, after a fierce struggle between retarded and renewed people. Johannes van Parma was acceptable for both the largest, moderate part of the franciscans and for the zealots or zelanti. He also made reconciliation with Elias van Cortona. On the general chapter of 1257, he resigned because he was suspected of sympathy for Joachim van Fiore's ideas. He proposed Bonaventura as his successor. This imposed a persecution of Johannes van Parma on suspicion of heresy. John then volunteered in exile in Greccio, where he refused the function of cardinal and lived in isolation for 30 years. In 1289 Pope Nicolaas IV sent him as an envoy to Constantinople, but on his way he died in Camerino.
In 1777 John van Parma was blessed by Pope Pius VI.
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