Saint Cajetan
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox saint
Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene Template:Post-nominals (6 October 1480 – 7 August 1547), known in English as Saint Cajetan (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell), was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is 7 August.
Life
Cajetan was born in October 1480, the son of Gaspar, lord of Thiene, and Mary Porta, persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of Vicenza, in Veneto<ref name=butler>Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints, Vol. VIII, 1866</ref> Region.
His father died when he was two years of age. Quiet and retiring by nature,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Cajetan was predisposed to piety by his mother. Cajetan studied law in Padua, receiving his degree as Template:Lang (i.e., in civil and canon law) at age 24. In 1506 he worked as a diplomat for Pope Julius II, with whom he helped reconcile the Republic of Venice.<ref name=keating>Keating, Joseph. "St. Cajetan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 April 2013</ref> However, he was not ordained a priest until the year 1516.
With the death of Pope Julius II in 1513, Cajetan withdrew from the papal court.<ref name=keating/> Recalled to Vicenza by the death of his mother, he founded in 1522 a hospital for incurables there.<ref name=foley>Foley O.F.M., Leonard. Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast, (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media Template:ISBN</ref> By 1523, he had established a hospital in Venice, as well. His interests were as much or more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind, and he joined a confraternity in Rome called the "Oratory of Divine Love".<ref name=butler/> He intended to form a group that would combine the spirit of monasticism with the exercises of the active ministry.
Theatines
A new congregation was canonically erected by Pope Clement VII in the year 1524. One of his four companions was Giovanni Pietro Carafa, the Bishop of Chieti, elected first superior of the order, who later became pope as Paul IV. From the name of the city of Chieti (in Template:Langx), arose the name by which the order is known, the "Theatines".<ref name=foley/> The order grew at a fairly slow pace: there were only twelve Theatines during the sack of Rome in 1527, during which Cajetan was tortured by mutinous soldiers of Charles V.<ref name=Mullett>Mullet, Michael. The Catholic Reformation, Routledge, 2002 Template:ISBN</ref>
The Theatines managed to escape to Venice,<ref name=foley/> where Cajetan met Jerome Emiliani, whom he assisted in the establishment of his Congregation of Clerks Regular. In 1533, he founded a house in Naples. The year 1540 found him in Venice again and from there he extended his work to Verona.<ref name=keating/> He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to usurers (who charged high interest rates).<ref name=cna>"St. Cajetan", Catholic News Agancy</ref> It later became the Banco di Napoli.
Cajetan died in Naples on 7 August 1547.<ref name=cna/> His remains are in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples;<ref>"Saint Cajetan". New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 20 May 2016</ref> outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue.
Veneration
He was beatified on 8 October 1629 by Pope Urban VIII. On 12 April 1671, Cajetan was canonized by Pope Clement X.<ref name=cna/> Saint Cajetan's feast day is celebrated on 7 August.
Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino in 1691 established the mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori in honour of Cajetan. It is now Tumacacori National Historical Park in Arizona.
He is known as the patron saint of Argentina and of the unemployed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>