Saint Cajetan, Confessor
S. Caietani Confessoris
Saint Cajetan, a priest of burning charity and total trust in Divine Providence, founded the Theatine Clerks Regular and laboured for the reform of the clergy and the relief of the poor.
Saint Cajetan was born in 1480 at Vicenza, in northern Italy, of a noble family, and was raised in piety by a devout mother. He studied law at Padua, taking the doctorate in both civil and canon law, and afterward went to Rome, where for a time he served in the papal court. But his heart was set on higher things, and he was ordained a priest, giving himself wholly to the service of God and of souls.
Reformer and founder
In an age when the clergy stood in great need of renewal, Saint Cajetan laboured to restore among priests the fervour, learning, and holiness of life proper to their calling. To this end he founded, together with companions of like mind, a congregation of clerks regular — priests living in community under vows, yet devoted to the active care of souls. From the title of one of the founders, who was bishop of the see anciently called Theate, the congregation came to be known as the Theatines. Its members bound themselves to a life of evangelical poverty so complete that they would not even beg, but trusted entirely to the providence of God for their support, asking nothing and accepting only what was freely given.
This boundless confidence in Divine Providence was the mark of Saint Cajetan’s whole life. He gave himself unsparingly to preaching, to the frequenting of the sacraments, and to the care of the sick and the poor; he laboured among the incurable and the abandoned, and had a part in works of charity that lent money to the needy without usury, that they might be delivered from those who preyed upon their distress. In all things he sought to rekindle in the Church the spirit of the Gospel and of the apostolic life.
His holy death
Saint Cajetan spent his last years at Naples, where he continued his works of charity and his labours for souls amid the troubles of the time. He died there on the seventh of August, 1547, and was afterward canonised. So great was his trust in God that he is honoured to this day as a patron of those who seek work and of those who place their cares in the hands of Providence.
The collect of his feast prays that, as the Lord granted Saint Cajetan to imitate the manner of life of the Apostles, so by his intercession and example we may ever trust in God and seek the things of heaven alone. His feast is kept on the seventh of August.
The Collect
O God, who didst grant unto blessed Cajetan, thy confessor, to imitate the manner of life of the Apostles: grant us, by his intercession and example, ever to trust in thee, and to seek after heavenly things alone.
Deus, qui beáto Caietáno Confessóri tuo apostólicam vivéndi formam imitári tribuísti: da nobis, eius intercessióne et exémplo, in te semper confídere et sola cæléstia quærere.
Patronage
He is venerated as the founder of the Theatines and is invoked as a patron of the unemployed and of those who seek work, and as a model of trust in Divine Providence.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on the same day, 7 August, as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Cajetan?
His feast is kept on 7 August in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes him on 7 August, as an optional memorial.
Who was Saint Cajetan?
He was an Italian priest of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries who founded the Theatine Clerks Regular and worked for the reform of the clergy, the renewal of the spiritual life, and the relief of the poor and the sick. Renowned for his trust in Divine Providence, he died at Naples in 1547.
Why is he invoked by those seeking work?
Saint Cajetan and his Theatines lived in such complete poverty that they relied entirely on the providence of God, asking nothing and accepting only what was freely given. This heroic trust in God’s care has led the faithful to invoke him as a patron of the unemployed and of all who commend their needs to Providence.
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