Prayer to St. Cajetan, Priest
You enabled St. Cajetan, Your priest, to lead an an apostolic life. Through his example and intercession, help us always to trust in You and seek Your Kingdom unceasingly. Amen.
St. Cajetan, Priest
St. Cajetan came into the world in 1480. Entering the ecclesiastical state, he went to Rome, hoping there to lead an obscure life, but Pope Julius II forced upon him the office protonotary apostolic. Upon the death of this Pope, however, he resigned the office and returned to Vicenza, his native city.
Both in Rome and in Vicenza, the Saint devoted himself as a member of pious confraternities to promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls. After some time he went to Venice and took up his abode in the hospital of that city. Having returned to Rome, he formed the idea of founding a society in which the members would endeavor to live like the Apostles of old. His companions in this enterprise were John Peter Caraffa, afterward Pope Paul IV., Paul Consiglieri, and Boniface de Colle. Thus began the Order of Regular Clerics, now known as Theatines. It was approved by Clement VII in 1524.
During the sack of Rome by the Constable de Bourbon, St. Cajetan was most cruelly treated. In 1530, he succeeded Caraffa as General of the Order and filled the office three years. In spite of his numerous occupations the Saint spent many hours of the day in prayer and was often favored with extraordinary ecstasies. Worn out by labors, he died in at Naples, on August 7, 1547, and was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X.
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