Saint Gaétan de Thiene
Fondateur de l'ordre des
Théatins (+ 1547)
Contemporain de Martin
Luther, il fut de ceux qui, au temps de la Réforme et bien avant le concile de
Trente, travaillèrent à préserver l'Italie du protestantisme. Pendant 13 ans,
il fut secrétaire au Vatican sous le pape Jules II et le pape Léon X. Ce qu'il
y vit n'était guère conforme à l'Évangile et sa piété le portait alors à imiter
encore davantage Notre-Seigneur. A la mort de sa mère, il renonça à sa
charge et passa les six années suivantes à donner aux pauvres son héritage à
Vicence, Venise ou Vérone, visitant les taudis, balayant dans les hôpitaux, soignant
les incurables. Il fonda avec son ami Jean-Pierre Carafa, le futur pape Paul
IV, un institut de prêtres qui mèneraient, comme lui, une vie pauvre et
austère, les Théatins. Ils s'engageaient à ne pas mendier pour eux, à soigner
les malades, à répandre l'usage des sacrements parmi les laïcs et à ramener le
clergé à ses devoirs. Il mourut à Naples, étendu sur un lit de cendres. Le mode
de vie de son Institut inspira les grands réformateurs du XVIe siècle.
Le sanctuaire Saint
Cayetano (Saint Gaetan), patron en Argentine du 'pain et du travail' se trouve
dans un quartier périphérique de Buenos Aires. Chaque année, le 7 août, des
milliers de fidèles se mettent en file indienne pour passer devant la statuette
du saint et prier... le cardinal Bergoglio (maintenant Pape François) avait
l’habitude de remonter la file des pèlerins pour discuter avec eux et bénir les
enfants.
"Ne vas pas à la
rencontre de l’autre pour le convaincre de devenir catholique, non, non, vas le
rencontrer parce qu’il est ton frère!" Message
du Pape pour la Saint Cayetano, patron des travailleurs argentins - 7
août 2013
Chierici
Regolari Teatini - site en italien
Mémoire de saint Gaétan
de Thienne, prêtre, qui se consacra aux œuvres de charité, en particulier aux
souffrants de maladie incurable, encouragea des associations pour la formation
chrétienne des laïcs et, pour la réforme de l’Église, fonda une société de
clercs réguliers, en engageant ses disciples à vivre à la manière des premiers
Apôtres. Il mourut à Naples en 1547.
Martyrologe romain
"Quand nous
demandons du travail, nous demandons de pouvoir avoir de la dignité"
Message
du Pape pour la Saint Cayetano, patron des travailleurs argentins, août 2016
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1635/Saint-Gaetan-de-Thiene.html
.jpg)
San Gaetano intercede per le anime purganti presso la Madonna, Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli a Pizzofalcone, Napoli
Saint Gaétan
Gaétan, juriste de
formation, était devenu à Rome secrétaire du Pape Jules II, lequel était
surtout un homme de guerre, soucieux de restaurer la puissance politique de
l'Église. Très déçu par un tel comportement si opposé à l'Évangile, Gaétan
quitte la Cour pontificale où son avenir était pourtant prometteur. Ce sont les
pauvres qu'il préfère et qui l'attendent. Grand timide, il surmonte à force de
prière ses appréhensions.
Il se met au service des
orphelins, des incurables et des prisonniers : pour eux, il fonde l'Association
de l'Amour divin. Heureusement, il a comme soutien un prêtre ami, Jean-Pierre
Caraffa, lequel deviendra Pape sous le nom de Paul IV. Comme ce dernier était
évêque de Théate, la congrégation que fonde Gaétan en 1523 sera appelée les
Théatins : des clercs et des laïcs rassemblés par une vie sacramentelle intense
et par l'amour fraternel, en priorité pour les pauvres et les petits. Mission
providentielle, alors qu'à cette époque, Martin Luther stigmatisait les vices
et le train de vie du Clergé. Avec d'autres, Gaétan fait partie de ceux qui,
avant le concile de Trente, ont travaillé à la Réforme de l'Église en Italie,
préservant le pays du Protestantisme.
Saint Gaétan avait mis
l'accent dans son Institut sur l'idéal de consécration au Christ, spécialement
par la prédication évangélique et le renouveau de la Liturgie. Recteur de
paroisse à Vicence, son pays natal, il y déploya une vive ardeur apostolique.
Il termine son "combat" à Naples le 7 août 1547 au milieu des
pauvres, les préférés du Christ.
En Gaëtan, les mouvements
caritatifs comme les Équipes de saint Vincent de Paul et le Secours catholique
peuvent trouver un modèle toujours actuel. Gaëtan vient du latin gaietanus, qui
signifie "habitant de la ville de Gaète", cité située dans le Latium
pendant l'Antiquité romaine.
Rédacteur: Frère Bernard
Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Saints/Gaetan-de-Thiene
Andrea Vaccaro (1604–1670), San Cayetano
ante la Sagrada Familia, 1660, 123 x 76, Museo del Prado
SAINT GAÉTAN de THIENNE
Fondateur des Théatins
(1480-1547)
Saint Gaétan, né à
Vicence, de race illustre, fut consacré à Marie dès le sein de sa mère, puis
ensuite à sa naissance. On lui donna le nom de Gaétan, pour conserver un
célèbre nom familial; mais on y ajouta le nom de Marie, pour marquer sa
consécration à la Reine du Ciel.
Gaétan de Sainte-Marie
montra de bonne heure un grand amour pour les pauvres; ce fut là, du reste, un
des beaux caractères de toute sa vie. Son coeur d'enfant, tendre et délicat, le
faisait pleurer souvent à la vue des misères qui s'offraient à lui; les
pauvres, qui le connaissaient tous, l'appelait leur petit ami, en attendant
qu'il fût leur père. L'enfant leur rendait mille petits services, et lorsqu'il
recevait quelque argent de ses parents à titre de récompense, il n'avait rien
de plus pressé que de le distribuer à ses chers mendiants. La petite somme
était toujours vite épuisée; alors Gaétan mettait en mouvement tous les
ressorts de sa jeune politique, et il finissait toujours par reconstituer son
petit trésor. À bout d'expédients, il demandait l'aumône à ses parents pour
l'amour de Dieu.
Devenu prêtre, il bâtit
une église dans ses domaines pour y exercer le saint ministère. Comme il était
très simple et même négligé dans ses vêtements, son père se fâchait souvent et
l'accusait de déshonorer son nom en se mêlant aux mendiants. Le plus souvent
Gaétan répondait à ce reproche par son silence. Il s'occupa avec zèle des
ouvriers, ce qui lui attira la persécution de ses proches, puis l'admiration de
tous, quand on vit son ministère opérer de grands fruits de sanctification.
Partout où il allait, sa première visite était pour les pauvres et les malades.
Un jour de Noël,
Notre-Seigneur lui apparut sous la forme d'un petit enfant; il Le prit dans ses
bras et Le caressa longtemps, pendant que son coeur se fondait d'amour.
A Rome, Gaétan, plein du
désir de donner au clergé des modèles à imiter, fonda, de concert avec quelques
saints prêtres, la congrégation des Théatins. La confiance absolue en Dieu
valait plus pour lui que tous les conseils de la prudence humaine, et nulle
part la Providence ne le laissa manquer du nécessaire.
Le Saint était déjà âgé
quand il tomba malade, à Naples; il refusa un matelas et voulut mourir sur la
cendre et le cilice; il refusa aussi un médecin extraordinaire, disant:
"Je suis un pauvre religieux, qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être
assisté." Marie vint Elle-même chercher son âme. Il laissa la réputation
d'un séraphin à l'autel et d'un apôtre en chaire.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : https://viechretienne.catholique.org/saints/35608-saint-gaetan-de-thienne
Ambito
marchigiano, San Gaetano Thiene, seconda metà XVIII sec., dalla chiesa del
Santissimo Crocifisso d'Appresso
Saint Gaetan est le
patron :
• Des Théatins, mais
aussi :
• Des chômeurs et
demandeurs d'emploi.
En Argentine, Saint
Gaétan est considéré comme le patron des travailleurs. Tous les 7 août, à
Buenos Aires, les abords de l'église Saint Gaétan sont fréquentés par des
centaines de personnes qui cherchent du travail.
Troisième enfant du condottiere Gaspard de Thiène et de la comtesse Maria Porto, Gaétan de Thiène naquit à Vicence en octobre 1480.
C'est en souvenir d'un de ses oncles, chanoine et professeur à l'Université de Padoue (mort en 1465), qu'il reçut au baptême le prénom de Gaétan. Orphelin de père dès l'âge de deux ans, il fut éduqué par sa mère, fille spirituelle des dominicains de Santa Corona de Vicence.
Après avoir fait ses humanités à Vicence, il fréquenta l'Université de
Padoue où il conquit le doctorat in utroque jure (17 juillet 1504). La même année,
il reçut la tonsure des mains de l'évêque de Vicence, Pietro Dandolo. Très
soucieux de l'éducation religieuse et de la promotion sociale des paysans
vivant sur les terres que sa famille possédait à Rampazzo (province de
Vicence), il y érigea en 1505, avec son frère Battista, une église dédiée à
sainte Marie-Madeleine pour qui la Renaissance avait une grande dévotion.
Désireux d'accroître sa
culture, Gaétan partit à Rome (1507) où, remarqué par Jules II, il fut nommé
protonotaire apostolique et scrittore des lettres pontificales. Il reçut en
bénéfice deux églises paroissiales du diocèse de Vicence : Santa Maria di
Malo (16 octobre 1507) et Santa Maria di Bressanvido (20 novembre 1507) ;
il en confia la cura animarum à des desservants de son choix et de vertu
exemplaire. A Rome, il habitait près de l'église San Simone ai Coronari, sur
l'actuelle place Lancellotti, non loin du Génois Giambattista Pallavicini,
évêque de Cavaillon, puis cardinal, dont il fut l'auxiliaire et le familier, et
qu'il assista à l'article de la mort (août 1524). Par la suite, il s'efforça
d'aplanir le conflit qui avait éclaté en 1509 entre Jules II et Venise à propos
de la Ligue de Cambrai.
Après un bref séjour à
Padoue et dans son église paroissiale de Santa Maria di Malo (1512), Gaétan
retourna à Rome où il entra dans l'Oratorio del Divino Amore (1515) qui
rassemblait alors l'élite des ecclésiastiques de la Ville Éternelle et
« la plupart des hommes qui désiraient réellement la réforme de
l'Église » ; les membres de cette confrérie se réunissaient en
l'église de Santa Dorotea, au Transtévère, et leurs activités caritatives
s'orientaient vers les incurables du refuge de San Giacomo in Augusta, dont
Gaétan deviendra plus tard le custode. Dans ce climat tout imprégné de
spiritualité évangélique, la vocation sacerdotale de Gaétan arriva à maturité.
Grâce aux dispenses canoniques qui lui furent concédées par Léon X, il fut
ordonné sous-diacre, diacre et prêtre les 27, 28 et 29 septembre 1516, par Mgr
Francesco Bertoli, évêque titulaire de Milepotamo. Pour mieux s'y préparer
spirituellement, il remit la célébration de sa première messe à l'Épiphanie de
1517. Cette année là, il commença de correspondre avec la sœur Laura Mignani,
une mystique de Brescia, qu'il prit comme guide spirituel. Dans sa lettre du 28
janvier 1528, il révèle qu'au cours de la nuit de Noël 1517, en la basilique de
Sainte-Marie-Majeure, lui apparut la Vierge qui déposa l'Enfant-Jésus dans ses
bras.
Gaétan retourna à Vicence
en avril 1518. Il s'agrégea (9 janvier 1519) à la Compagnie des
Saints-Clément-et-Jérôme qu'il réforma selon la nouvelle spiritualité de
l'Oratoire du Divin Amour. Il fit de même avec la Compagnie du Saint-Corps du
Christ, de Vérone, dont il devint membre le 10 juillet 1519. Les registres de
celle-ci témoignent de la ferveur avee laquelle il soutenait la vie spirituelle
de ses confrères, notamment en les exhortant à la fréquentation des sacrements.
Gaétan de Thiène est d'ailleurs considéré comme l'un des premiers zélateurs de
la communion fréquente à son époque. En 1520, à Vicence, il réorganisa
l'hôpital de la Miséricorde qu'il transforma en refuge pour incurables et l'unit
in spiritualibus à celui de San Giacomo de Rome.
Après le décès de sa mère
(novembre 1520) et le mariage d'Elisabetta Porto, l'unique nièce qui lui
restait, Gaétan put se consacrer totalement à l'apostolat. En 1522, sur les
conseils du célèbre dominicain Giambattista da Crema qu'il avait choisi comme
directeur spirituel, il gagna Venise. Au cours du carême de la même année, aidé
par quelques nobles dames vénitiennes, il y fonda de ses deniers l'Ospedal
Nuovo pour incurables (sur le canal de la Giudecca).
A la fin de 1523, Gaétan
retourna à Rome, avec le projet de s'unir avec d'autres clercs dans la pratique
d'une vie commune. Il trouva ses premiers compagnons et collaborateurs parmi
les membres de l'Oratoire du Divin Amour : Giampietro Carafa (le futur
pape Paul IV), Bonifacio de' Colli et Paolo Consiglieri. Tous les quatre
renoncèrent à leurs bénéfices ecclésiastiques, et avec l'autorisation de
Clément VII (bref du 24 juin 1524), ils prononcèrent leurs voeux solennels le
14 septembre 1524, en la basilique Vaticane, en présence de Mgr C. Bonciani,
évêque de Caserte, délégué par le Pape. Ainsi était créé le premier des ordres
modernes de clercs réguliers. La base de l'Institut était la vie commune dans
la pratique des conseils évangéliques. L'accent était mis sur la pauvreté la
plus rigoureuse La norme fondamentale du nouvel institut était le renouveau de
la Vita apostolica telle qu'elle est décrite dans les Actes des Apôtres. Les
célébrations communautaires de la liturgie eucharistique et chorale ainsi que
la cura animarum devaient être exemplaires. Ayant renoncé aux rentes et à la
mendicité, les quatre compagnons espéraient que l'exercice de leur ministère et
la charité des fidèles leur procureraient des ressources suffisantes. Ils
entendaient d'ailleurs s'en remettre totalement à la Divine Providence.
La première demeure des
Théatins (ainsi nommés parce que Carafa, qui fut leur premier supérieur,
portait le titre d'episcopus theatinus, c'est-à-dire de Chieti) fut située au
Champ de Mars, près de l'actuelle église de San Nicola dei Prefetti. Ils
résideront ensuite dans une maison du Pinclo, près de l'actuelle Villa Medici.
Celle-ci devint rapidement un foyer d'intense spiritualité sacerdotale. Gaétan
fut agressé et subit les sévices des troupes d'occupation lors du sac de Rome
en 1527. Lui et ses compagnons, qui étaient alors au nombre de douze, furent
libérés par un capitaine espagnol. Il gagna Venise, où les Théatins, en
novembre 1527, se fixèrent définitivement en l'église San Nicola dei Tolentini.
Le 14 septembre 1527, au cours du chapitre général, Gaétan fut élu supérieur de
l'Institut, charge qu'il conserva pendant trois ans. Comme à Rome, la
communauté devint sous sa direction un centre de réforme et de spiritualité.
Avec Giampietro Carafa, il dirigea et soutint saint Jérôme Emilien dans ses
œuvres en faveur de l'enfance abandonnée. Il fut aussi très lié avec
Bonaventura da Centis, artisan de la réforme de la province franciscaine de
Venise, avec le dominicain Bartolomeo da Pisa, avec le bienheureux Paolo
Giustiniani qui œuvrait à la réforme des Camaldules, avec l'humaniste et poète
Marcantonio Flaminio qui demanda en vain d'être reçu parmi les Théatins, avec
le célèbre imprimeur de Salo Paganino Paganini, qu'il invita à Venise pour
installer une imprimerie près du couvent des Théatins.
Saint Gaétan œuvra tout
particulièrement avec Gian Matteo Giberti à la réforme du diocèse de Vérone, où
il résida probablement en 1531et 1532 et de nouveau en 1541. La communauté
pouvait désormais élargir le champ de ses activités pastorales et caritatives
aux oratoires et hôpitaux de Vicence, Vérone, Padoue, Brescia et Salo (lac de
Garde). Mais c'est sur l'Oratoire de Venise que l'influence des Théatins fut
particulièrement intense et elle était d'ailleurs plus nécessaire aussi en
raison de la position stratégique qu'il occupait du point de vue religieux.
C'est à Venise que Gaétan
et ses clercs réguliers entrèrent pour la première fois en contact avec les
courants luthériens. En 1530, le nonce Averoldo Altobello confia à Carafa le
procès (suivi d'une condamnation) du conventuel Girolamo Galateo qui
manifestait des sympathies pour Luther. Dans le bref du 8 mai de la même année
qu'il adressa à Carafa, Clément VII loua son zèle et l'encouragea à poursuivre
dans cette voie. Le Memoriale que Carafa envoya à Rome le 4 octobre 1533 (il y
mettait à nu les plaies de l'Église et indiquait les moyens les plus efficaces
pour promouvoir la réforme et réprimer les erreurs) témoigne de l'esprit qui
animait les clercs réguliers dans leur volonté de préserver la foi et de
promouvoir la réforme catholique.
Avec l'autorisation du
Saint-Siège (bref de fondation, confirmé par un autre bref de Clément VII du 21
mars 1529), les Théatins furent à la base d'un renouveau d'un autre genre sur
le plan liturgique : il s'agissait de la révision soit des textes soit des
célébrations liturgiques qu'ils devaient expérimenter dans leur communauté et
soumettre ensuite à l'approbation du Siège apostolique. Si la réforme du Petit
office de la Sainte Vierge fut rapidement menée à bien. Celle du Bréviaire et
du missel romain fut plus longue et plus ardue. Lorsque Pie V rendit
obligatoires le Bréviaire puis le Missel romains par les bulles Quod a nobis (9
juillet 1568) et Quo primum (14 juillet 1570), on put se rendre compte à quel
point l'œuvre des Théatins et les critères qu'ils adoptèrent pour réaliser
cette réforme avaient été utiles.
Au cours de l'été 1533,
accompagné par le bienheureux Giovanni Marinoni, Gaétan gagna Naples, appelé
par le Conseil de la cité. Après avoir demeuré à Santa Maria della
Misericordia, puis à Santa Maria della Stalletta, dite de Jérusalem, grâce à
l'intervention du vice-roi Pedro de Toledo, les Théatins s'installèrent près de
San Paolo Maggiore (19 mai 1538). Gaétan dirigea in spiritualibus le monastère
de la Sapience fondé par Maria Carafa, sœur de Paul IV. Avec l'aide de deux
dames de la noblesse espagnole dont il était le conseiller, il contribua à
fonder le monastère des Capucines, près de Santa Maria in Gerusalemme, et le
foyer des filles repenties de Santa Maria Maddalena. Fin 1534, Gaétan était
correttore de la Compagnie des Bianchi qui assistaient les condamnés. Un groupe
de prêtres diocésains, formés selon la spiritualité des clercs réguliers, fut
installé près de l'hôpital des incurables pour favoriser le renouveau du clergé
napolitain. En collaboration avec Giovanni Marinoni et avec l'aide de quelques
nobles, Gaétan fut aux origines du Mont de Piété. Il dénonça le péril des
cercles crypto-luthériens.
Saint Gaétan fut élu à
plusieurs reprises preposito de Naples ; il fut preposito de la maison de
Venise de 1541 à 1543. Il retourna ensuite à la maison de Naples dont il fut
élu de nouveau preposito (1547). L'acte par lequel les Théatins s'agrégèrent
les Somasques est de sa main. Il mourut à Naples le 7 août 1547, après avoir
offert sa vie pour la pacification de la ville qui était déchirée par une lutte
fratricide.
Béatifié par Urbain VIII
(8 octobre 1629), saint Gaétan de Thiène fut canonisé par Clément X (12 avril
1671) qui ordonna la célébration de sa mémoire dans l'Église universelle (27
mars 1673).
Ambito
marchigiano, San Gaetano Thiene, seconda metà XVIII sec., dalla chiesa del
Santissimo Crocifisso San Gaetano Thiene con Gesù Bambino e la Madonna, olio su
tela, intorno al 1740 a Ginosa (TA)
Kajetan von Thiene mit dem Jesuskind und der Madonna, Öl auf Leinwand um 1740
Regardez, Seigneur, du
fond de votre sanctuaire, du haut des cieux où vous habitez, et voyez cette
très-sainte Hostie que le grand Pontife, votre divin Fils, Jésus
Notre-Seigneur, vous offre pour les péchés de ces frères. Laissez-vosu toucher
par cette offrande, malgré l'excès de notre malice. Voici la voix du Sang de
Jésus, notre Frére, qui crie vers vous du haut de la croix. Exaucez-nous,
Seigneur ; apaisez votre courroux, considérez notre détresse, et suspendez
votre indignation. Ne différez plus, ô mon Dieu, de nous secourir, pour l'amour
de vous-même, parce que cette ville sainte et ce peuple sont à vous et qu'ils
ont la gloire de porter votre nom. O Dieu, traitez-nous selon votre infinie
miséricorde ! Ainsi soit-il.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/08/07.php#biographie1
Giambettino Cignaroli (1706–1770), Madonna
col Bambino adorati da San Gaetano di Thiene, 1751, dai SS. Siro e Libera, chiesa
San Francesco al Corso, G.B. Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum
Giambettino Cignaroli (1706–1770), Madonna col Bambino adorati da San Gaetano di Thiene, 1751, dai SS. Siro e Libera, chiesa San Francesco al Corso, G.B. Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum
Saint Gaétan de Thienne
Leçons des Matines avant
1960.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon. Gaétan
naquit à Vicence, de la noble famille de Thienne. Aussitôt qu’elle lui eut
donné le jour, sa mère l’offrit à la sainte Vierge, Mère de Dieu. L’innocence
brilla tellement en lui dès ses tendres années, que tout le monde le nommait le
Saint. Après avoir obtenu à Padoue le grade de docteur dans l’un et l’autre
droit, il partit pour Rome, où le Pape Jules II le mit au rang des Prélats.
Ordonné Prêtre, il fut si ardemment embrasé de l’amour de Dieu que, se dérobant
à la cour, il se voua tout entier à Dieu. Ayant fondé des hôpitaux à ses
propres frais, il y servait lui-même les pauvres pestiférés. Le zèle qu’il ne
cessa de déployer pour le salut du prochain le fit surnommer le Chasseur
d’âmes.
Cinquième leçon. Les mœurs
du clergé étaient alors devenues moins régulières ; voulant les ramener à la
forme de vie apostolique, il institua un ordre de Clercs réguliers, qui, se
déchargeant de toute préoccupation quant aux biens terrestres, devaient ne
posséder aucun revenu, ni demander aux fidèles de quoi subsister, mais se
contenter, pour vivre, d’aumônes spontanément offertes. Ayant obtenu
l’approbation de Clément VII, Gaétan, accompagné de Jean-Pierre Caraffa, Évêque
de Chiéti [4] depuis souverain Pontife sous le nom de Paul IV, et de deux
autres personnages d’une grande piété, émit solennellement ses vœux devant
l’autel majeur de la basilique du Vatican. Lors du sac de Rome, des soldats le
brutalisèrent afin de lui extorquer l’argent qu’il avait déjà placé dans les
trésors célestes par la main des pauvres. Les coups, les tortures, la prison,
il supporta tout avec une patience invincible. Se confiant à la seule
providence de Dieu, qui ne lui fit jamais défaut, ainsi que l’attestent
plusieurs prodiges, il persévéra avec une constance inébranlable dans la règle
de vie qu’il avait embrassée.
Sixième leçon. L’amour du
culte divin, le zèle pour entretenir la maison de Dieu, l’observance des rites
sacrés, une participation plus fréquente à l’adorable Eucharistie, furent les
choses qu’il s’appliqua le plus à encourager. Plus d’une fois il découvrit et
confondit à néant les embûches et les erreurs de l’hérésie. Il prolongeait son
oraison pendant huit heures environ, et l’accompagnait de larmes, souvent ravi
en extase. Le don de prophétie l’a rendu célèbre. Étant, la nuit de Noël, près
de la crèche du Seigneur, à Rome, il mérita de recevoir dans ses bras l’enfant
Jésus, des mains de la Vierge Mère. Quelquefois Gaétan passait des nuits
entières à châtier son corps à coups de discipline ; jamais on ne put l’amener
à adoucir l’austérité de sa vie, et il témoigna souvent le désir qu’il avait de
mourir couché sur la cendre et revêtu d’un cilice. Enfin la douleur qu’il
ressentit de voir le peuple offenser Dieu par une sédition le fit tomber malade
et, réconforté par une vision céleste, son âme passa de la terre au ciel. C’est
à Naples qu’il mourut, et l’on y conserve très religieusement son corps dans
l’église de Saint-Paul. Les miracles qu’il opéra pendant sa vie et après sa
mort l’ont rendu glorieux, et le souverain Pontife Clément X l’a inscrit au
nombre des Saints.
Au troisième nocturne.
Lecture du saint Évangile
selon saint Matthieu. Cap. 6, 24-33.
En ce temps-là : Jésus
dit à ses disciples : Nul ne peut servir deux maîtres. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint
Augustin, Évêque. Liber 2 de Sermone Domini in monte, cap. 14
Septième leçon. « Nul ne
peut servir deux maîtres ». A cette même intention (bonne ou mauvaise [5]), se
rapporte ce que notre Seigneur expose en conséquence de son assertion, disant :
« Ou il haïra l’un et il aimera l’autre, ou il s’attachera à l’un et méprisera
l’autre ». Il faut examiner attentivement ce passage ; le Seigneur lui-même
indique quels sont ces deux maîtres, en ajoutant : « Vous ne pouvez servir Dieu
et mammon ». Les Hébreux donnent, dit-on, aux richesses, le nom de mammon. En
langue punique, ce mot a le même sens ; car mammon signifie gain.
Huitième leçon. Servir
mammon, c’est être l’esclave de celui que sa perversité a préposé aux choses
terrestres, et que le Seigneur appelle « prince de ce monde ». Donc : « ou
l’homme le haïra et aimera l’autre », c’est-à-dire Dieu, « ou il s’attachera à
l’un et méprisera l’autre ». En effet, quiconque est esclave des richesses,
s’attache à un maître dur et a une domination funeste ; enchaîné par sa
cupidité, il subit la tyrannie du démon, et certes il ne l’aime pas ; car, qui
peut aimer le démon ? Mais cependant il le supporte.
Neuvième leçon. « C’est
pourquoi, continue le Sauveur, je vous dis : Ne vous inquiétez point pour votre
vie de ce que vous mangerez, ni pour votre corps de quoi vous vous vêtirez ».
Il ne veut pas que notre cœur se partage à la recherche, non seulement du
superflu, mais même du nécessaire, et que, pour nous le procurer, notre
intention se détourne de sa véritable fin, dans les actions que nous paraissons
faire par un motif de miséricorde. C’est-à-dire qu’il ne veut pas que, tout en
paraissant nous dévouer aux intérêts du prochain, nous ayons moins en vue son
utilité que notre avantage personnel, et que nous nous regardions comme exempts
de fautes, parce que nous ne voulons obtenir que le nécessaire et non le
superflu.
[1] Matth. 6, 33.
[2] Deut. 10, 15.
[3] Eccli. 45, 9.
[4] Chieti, en latin
Theate, d’où le nom de Théatins.
[5] S. Augustin vient
dans le chapitre précédent de son explication du Sermon sur la Montagne, de
parler longuement de la bonne et de la mauvaise intention, en expliquant ces
paroles de notre Seigneur : « Si ton œil est simple, tout ton corps sera
lumineux ».
Anonymous author, The Crucifix with Saint Andrew Avellino, Saint Cajetan and the Souls of Purgatory, Crema (Italy), church of San Bernardino da Siena
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
Gaétan apparut comme le
zélateur du sanctuaire, à l’heure où la fausse réforme lançait par le monde ses
manifestes de révoltée. La grande cause du péril d’alors avait été
l’insuffisance des gardiens de la cité sainte, leur connivence par complicité
de cœur ou d’esprit avec les doctrines et les mœurs païennes, qu’une
renaissance mal entendue avait ramenées. Ravagée par le sanglier de la forêt,
la vigne du Dieu des armées retrouverait-elle jamais sa fertilité des beaux
jours [8] ? Gaétan reçut de l’éternelle Sagesse la révélation du nouveau mode
de culture qui convenait à cette fin pour une terre épuisée.
L’urgent besoin de ces
jours néfastes était le relèvement du clergé par la dignité de la vie, le zèle
et la science. Il fallait à cette œuvre des hommes qui, clercs eux-mêmes dans
l’acception entière du mot et la variété des obligations qu’il comporte,
fussent pour les membres de la sainte hiérarchie un modèle permanent de la
perfection primitive, un supplément à leurs impuissances, un levain qui peu à
peu régénérerait et soulèverait la masse entière [9]. Mais où trouver ailleurs
que dans la vie des conseils et la stabilité des trois vœux qui en forment
l’essence, l’impulsion, la puissance, la durée nécessaires aux éléments d’une
telle entreprise ? L’inépuisable fécondité de l’Ordre religieux ne fit pas plus
défaut à l’Église en ces temps de décadence qu’aux époques de sa gloire. Après
les moines tournés vers Dieu dans leurs solitudes, et attirant sur la terre
qu’ils semblaient oublier la lumière et l’amour ; après les familles des
religieux mendiants, gardant par le monde leurs habitudes claustrales et
l’austère parfum du désert : les clercs réguliers faisaient leur entrée sur le
champ de bataille, où leur poste de combat, leur genre extérieur de vie, leur costume
même, allaient confondre leurs rangs avec ceux de la milice séculière ; ainsi
on fortifie les cadres d’une troupe hésitante en y versant des soldats éprouvés
de mêmes armes, qui agissent par la parole, l’exemple et l’entraînement sur les
faibles.
Comme d’autres avaient
été les initiateurs des grandes formes antérieures de la vie religieuse, Gaétan
fut le patriarche des Clercs réguliers. Le 24 juin 1524, un bref de Clément VII
approuvait sous ce nom l’institut qu’il fondait cette année même avec l’évêque
de Théate, d’où vint aussi aux nouveaux religieux l’appellation de Théatins.
Bientôt, Barnabites, compagnie de Jésus, Somasques de saint Jérôme Émilien,
clercs réguliers Mineurs de saint François Carracciolo, clercs réguliers
Ministres des infirmes, clercs réguliers des Écoles pies, clercs réguliers de
la Mère de Dieu, d’autres encore, se pressaient dans la voie ouverte et
montraient l’Église toujours seule belle, toujours digne de l’Époux, laissant
retomber de son poids sur l’hérésie l’accusation d’impuissance qu’elle lui
avait lancée.
Ce fut sur le terrain du
détachement des richesses, dont l’amour avait causé mille maux dans l’Église,
que Gaétan voulut commencer et qu’il mena le plus avant la réforme. On vit les
Théatins présenter au monde un spectacle inconnu depuis les Apôtres, pousser le
zèle du dénuement jusqu’à s’interdire la faculté de mendier, et attendre toutes
choses de l’initiative spontanée des fidèles. Héroïque hommage rendu à la
Providence de Dieu, à l’heure même où Luther en niait l’existence, et que
maintes fois le Seigneur se plut à reconnaître par des prodiges.
Qui comme vous, ô grand
Saint, fit honneur à la parole de l’Évangile : Ne vous inquiétez du manger, ni
du boire, ni du vêtement [10] ? Vous connaissiez aussi l’autre parole, également
divine : Celui qui travaille mérite qu’on le nourrisse [11] ; vous saviez
qu’elle s’appliquait principalement aux ouvriers de la doctrine [12] ; vous
n’ignoriez point que d’autres semeurs du Verbe avaient avant vous fondé sur
elle l’incontestable droit de leur pauvreté, embrassée pour Dieu, à revendiquer
du moins le pain de l’aumône. Sublime revendication d’âmes affamées d’opprobres
à la suite de Jésus, et rassasiant en elles ainsi surtout l’amour ! Mais la
Sagesse qui plie les aspirations des saints aux circonstances du temps où elle
place leur vie mortelle, fit prédominer en vous sur la soif des humiliations
l’ambition d’exalter dans votre pauvreté la sainte Providence ; n’était-ce pas
ce qu’il fallait à un siècle dont le néo-paganisme semblait, avant même d’avoir
écouté l’hérésie, ne plus compter sur Dieu ? Hélas ! de ceux même à qui le
Seigneur s’était donné pour possession au milieu des enfants d’Israël [13], on
pouvait trop justement dire : Ils recherchent comme des païens les biens de ce
monde [14]. Vous eûtes à cœur, ô Gaétan, de justifier le Père qui est aux
cieux, de montrer qu’il était toujours prêt à tenir la promesse faite pour lui
par son Fils adoré : Cherchez premièrement le royaume de Dieu et sa justice, et
toutes ces choses vous seront données par surcroît [15].
C’était bien ainsi que,
par le fait, il s’imposait de commencer la réforme du sanctuaire à laquelle
vous aviez résolu de dévouer votre vie. Il fallait tout d’abord rappeler les
membres de la sainte milice à l’esprit de la formule sacrée qui fait les
clercs, au jour béni où, déposant l’esprit du siècle avec ses livrées, ils
disent dans la joie de leur cœur : Le Seigneur est la part de mon héritage et
de mon calice ; c’est vous, à Dieu, qui me rendrez mon héritage [16].
Le Seigneur, ô Gaétan,
reconnut alors votre zèle et bénit vos efforts. Gardez en nous le fruit de
votre labeur. La science des rites sacrés reste grandement redevable à vos fils
; puissent-ils prospérer, dans une fidélité renouvelée aux traditions de leur
père. Que votre bénédiction de patriarche accompagne toujours les nombreuses
familles des Clercs réguliers marchant à la suite de la vôtre. Que tous les
ministres de la sainte Église éprouvent qu’au ciel vous restez puissant pour
les maintenir, et, au besoin, les ramener dans la voie de leur saint état,
comme vous l’étiez sur la terre. Que l’exemple de votre confiance sublime en
Dieu apprenne à tous les chrétiens qu’ils ont au ciel un Père dont la
Providence n’est jamais en défaut pour ses fils.
[8] Psalm. LXXIX.
[9] Matth. XIII, 33.
[10] Matth. VI, 31.
[11] Matth. X, 10.
[12] I Tim V, 17-18.
[13] Num. XVIII, 20.
[14] Matth. VI, 32.
[15] Ibid. 33.
[16] Pontificale roman.
De clerico faciendo, ex Psalm. XV, 5.
Scuola umbra, Apparizione di Gesù a San Gaetano di Thiene, circa 1700, Museo del Duomo, Terni
Bhx cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Ce cher Saint, doux et si
humble qu’il demanda à Dieu que son tombeau, après sa mort, ne fût connu de
personne († 1547), a le mérite d’avoir été, avant même saint Ignace, un des
représentants les plus autorisés de la réforme ecclésiastique accomplie au XVIe
siècle.
Rome chrétienne le vénère
comme un de ses citoyens d’élection. La basilique Libérienne évoque encore le
souvenir de la messe qu’il célébra à la crèche du Seigneur avec la ferveur d’un
Séraphin, le jour où il mérita de recevoir dans ses bras le Divin Enfant.
La confession du Prince
des Apôtres conserve également le souvenir du jour mémorable — c’était le 14
septembre 1524 — où Gaétan de Thienne et l’ardent Jean-Pierre Caraffa (le futur
Paul IV) instituèrent le nouvel Ordre des Clercs Réguliers, en émettant le vœu
difficile de se confier entièrement à la divine Providence pour vivre seulement
des aumônes qui leur seraient spontanément offertes par les fidèles.
Saint Gaétan eut une part
notable dans la réforme du Bréviaire sous Clément VII. Sa fête entra dans le
Missel au temps de Clément X, et Innocent XI l’éleva au rang du rite double.
La messe est celle des
confesseurs, à l’exception des parties suivantes : Prière. — « O Dieu qui avez
accordé au bienheureux Gaétan la grâce de suivre la règle de vie jadis donnée à
vos Apôtres ; par son intercession faites que, d’après ses exemples, nous
mettions en vous toute notre confiance et désirions seulement les choses
célestes ». La règle apostolique de vie, c’est la pauvreté parfaite consacrée
par vœu, selon l’exemple des Apôtres qui, ayant tout abandonné, suivirent le
Sauveur.
La lecture évangélique
sur le parfait abandon à la divine Providence est commune au quatorzième
dimanche après la Pentecôte. Le Seigneur nous y enseigne qu’il ne veut point
supprimer l’action, mais seulement la préoccupation excessive. Dieu veut que
nous agissions ; où nous n’arrivons pas, nous, il arrivera, lui. Aide-toi, le
ciel t’aidera, dit un proverbe populaire, bien expressif.
Il est un autre proverbe
populaire qui ne manque pas, non plus de vérité. Lascia fare a Dio, ch’è santo
vecchio. Cela veut dire que Dieu sait ce qu’il fait, et ce qui convient
davantage à notre bien.
Urbà
Fos (1615-1658). Sant Gaietà, Oli sobre llenç, 58 x 55, Museu de Belles Arts de
Castelló.
Dom Pius Parsch, Le
guide dans l’année liturgique
La confiance en la divine
Providence.
1. Saint Gaétan. — Jour
de mort : 7 août 1547. Tombeau : à Naples, dans l’église Saint-Paul. Vie :
Saint Gaétan est le fondateur de l’ordre des Théatins. Jules II l’éleva, jeune
encore, à la dignité de prélat. Ordonné prêtre en 1517, il renonça à la cour
papale et se voua tout entier au service de Dieu. Il soignait de ses propres
mains les malades. Son zèle de tous les instants au salut du prochain lui valut
le surnom de « Chasseur d’âmes ». Dans le but de restaurer la discipline
ecclésiastique, il institua, en 1524, un Ordre de clercs réguliers appelés à
donner l’exemple d’une vie vraiment apostolique. Dédaigneux des biens de la
terre, ces religieux ne devaient posséder aucun revenu et même ne rien
solliciter des fidèles, se contentant pour leur subsistance de ce qui leur
était spontanément offert. Ils vivaient ainsi dans une absolue confiance envers
la divine Providence. Saint Gaétan passait souvent jusqu’à huit heures en
prière. Il eut un rôle particulièrement actif dans la réforme du bréviaire sous
Clément VII. La vertu dominante de ce saint, plein de mansuétude, fut
l’humilité. A Rome, près de la Crèche, une nuit de Noël, il mérita de recevoir
l’Enfant Jésus des bras de la Vierge Marie. Pendant le sac de Rome par
Charles-Quint, il fut violemment maltraité par les soldats déçus de n’en
pouvoir obtenir les biens qu’il avait distribués aux pauvres. La nouvelle d’une
sédition populaire l’affecta si profondément qu’il en mourut.
2. La messe (Os justi). —
Messe du commun des confesseurs, excepté l’Évangile et l’Oraison. L’Église y
insiste sur la principale vertu de saint Gaétan, une grande confiance en Dieu
et un vif désir du ciel. « Accorde-nous, par son intercession et son exemple,
de mettre toujours en toi notre confiance et de n’avoir d’autres désirs que les
biens du ciel ».
C’est pourquoi l’Évangile
nous annonce le « joyeux message » de la confiance en Dieu. « Regardez les
oiseaux du ciel : ils ne sèment ni ne moissonnent, ils n’amassent rien dans les
greniers ; votre Père céleste les nourrit. Ne valez-vous pas beaucoup plus
qu’eux ? Considérez les lis des champs comme ils grandissent ; ils ne
travaillent pas et ils ne filent pas. Je vous le dis, Salomon même, dans toute
sa gloire, n’a pas été vêtu comme l’un d’eux ».
Voici les deux pensées
que l’Église inscrit au programme de notre journée ; le matin : « Ne vous
inquiétez point et ne dites pas : Que mangerons-nous ? Que boirons-nous ? Votre
Père sait ce qui vous est nécessaire » ; et, le soir : « Cherchez d’abord le
royaume de Dieu et sa justice, et tout cela vous sera donné par surcroît ».
3. L’examen particulier
liturgique. — On connaît la pratique de l’examen particulier préconisée par
saint Ignace. Elle consiste à examiner sa conscience sur tel défaut ou telle
vertu nettement déterminée. C’est un exercice excellent.
Depuis des siècles,
l’Église nous offre quelque chose de semblable. Lorsqu’elle observe chez un
saint une vertu particulièrement frappante, elle ne cesse de nous la proposer
en exemple toute la journée. Comment ? Il nous est aisé de le voir aujourd’hui.
L’Église s’y prend de quatre manières :
1) Elle nous montre cette
vertu en pratique dans la vie même du saint. Ceci à matines. Les mots nous
touchent ; les exemples nous entraînent.
2) Elle nous la fait
demander dans l’oraison du jour, non pas seulement une fois, mais jusqu’à six
fois : à toutes les Heures de l’Office. C’est la grande prière de la journée,
le point culminant de chaque partie de l’office.
3) Par la messe, surtout,
nous participons à la vertu du saint. L’avant-messe d’aujourd’hui est
éminemment instructive : le Christ nous y apprend pour ainsi dire lui-même, de
sa propre bouche, la sollicitude du Père éternel pour ses enfants. Puis, cet enseignement,
l’Église le pénètre de la rosée de grâce du Saint-Sacrifice. Ainsi, la Sainte
Communion de ce jour a pour fruit particulier la confiance en la divine
Providence.
4) Voici enfin le
quatrième procédé de l’Église. Elle nous fait chanter les passages essentiels
du saint Évangile. Ce qu’on chante se grave profondément dans le cœur. Au lever
du soleil, nous chantons aujourd’hui cette parole du Christ : « Ne vous
inquiétez pas... » ; et à la tombée de la nuit : « Cherchez d’abord le Royaume
de Dieu... » De tout cela nous pouvons conclure que l’Église fait preuve d’une
habileté admirable à enseigner la pratique de la vertu.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/07-08-St-Gaetan-de-Thienne
Francesco Solimena (1657–1747), San
Gaetano di Thiene, San Gaetano, Vicenza
7 août. Saint Gaëtan de
Thiène, fondateurs des Clercs réguliers dits Théatins. 1547.
- Saint Gaëtan de Thiène (Thiènne ou Thienne), fondateur des Clercs réguliers dits Théatins. 1547.
Pape : Paul III. Roi de Naples : Charles Quint (Charles IV de Naples).
" Je ne cesserai de donner aux malheureux qu'au moment où je me verrai si dénué de biens qu'il me faille inhumer par charité."
Saint Gaëtan de Thiène.
Ce saint mérite que l'on relève particulièrement l'importance de sa vie et de
ses oeuvres. En effet, il fait partie de ces grands personnages qui fondèrent
un corps de clercs combattants pour défaire les hérétiques du XVIe siècle et
pour réformer les mœurs dépravées des catholiques de leur temps.
Notre saint naquit à Vicenze, ville de la république de Venise, en 1480. Fruit
de l'illustre famille des Thiène, très célèbre par d'excellents personnages qui
en étaient sortis et que l'on avait vus se distinguer dans les dignités de
l’Église et dans la profession des armes, il fut consacré à Marie dès le sein
de sa mère, puis ensuite à sa naissance. On lui donna le nom de Gaétan, pour
conserver un célèbre nom familial ; mais on y ajouta le nom de Marie, pour
marquer sa consécration à la Reine du Ciel.
En effet, outre le fameux Gaëtan de Thiène, chanoine de Padoue, qui a laissé
des Commentaires sur la philosophie naturelle d'Aristote et qui
passait pour le prince des théologiens de son siècle (XIVe), il y eu plusieurs
prélats, vice-légats et cardinaux de cette maison, des gouverneurs de Milan et
des vice-rois de Naples. La France a connu en particulier le seigneur Nicolas
de Thiène, page de François Ier, qui fut un fameux capitaine d'ordonnance sous
Henri II puis un Ligueur habile, et qui en épousant Jeanne de Villars, fille du
marquis de Villars, Grand amiral de France, forma la souche de la branche
tourangelle des Thiène.
Gaétan de Sainte-Marie montra de bonne heure un grand amour pour les pauvres ;
ce fut là, du reste, un des beaux caractères de toute sa vie. Son coeur
d'enfant, tendre et délicat, le faisait pleurer souvent à la vue des misères
qui s'offraient à lui ; les pauvres, qui le connaissaient tous, l'appelait leur
petit ami, en attendant qu'il fût leur père. L'enfant leur rendait mille petits
services, et lorsqu'il recevait quelque argent de ses parents à titre de récompense,
il n'avait rien de plus pressé que de le distribuer à ses chers mendiants. La
petite somme était toujours vite épuisée ; alors Gaétan mettait en mouvement
tous les ressorts de sa jeune politique, et il finissait toujours par
reconstituer son petit trésor. À bout d'expédients, il demandait l'aumône à ses
parents pour l'amour de Dieu.
Après avoir fait de brillantes études - il devint un excellent orateur, un
philosophe de tout premier ordre et un jurisconsulte très doué : il obtint le
grade de docteur en droit canon et en droit civil -, il bâtit une église sous
l'invocation de sainte Marie-Madeleine dans ses domaines à Rampazzo, avec
l'aide de son frère aîné Jean-Baptiste, pour y exercer le saint ministère et
permettre aux villageois trop éloignés de l'église paroissiale d'assister plus
commodément à la sainte messe.
Comme il était très simple et même négligé dans ses vêtements, son père se
fâchait souvent et l'accusait de déshonorer son nom en se mêlant aux mendiants.
Le plus souvent Gaétan répondait à ce reproche par son silence. Il s'occupa
avec zèle des ouvriers, ce qui lui attira la persécution de ses proches, puis
l'admiration de tous, quand on vit son ministère opérer de grands fruits de
sanctification. Partout où il allait, sa première visite était pour les pauvres
et les malades.
A Rome, à l'invitation du pape Jules II qui le pria de demeurer à sa cour,
Gaétan, plein du désir de donner au clergé des modèles à imiter quoique peu
enclin à vivre ainsi dans la proximité du gouvernement de l'Église (il fut
néanmoins protonotaire), contribua à la réformation des moeurs douteuses qui
régnaient alors dans la ville sainte et en particulier hélas dans certaines
branches de la curie.
Par un bref d'extra tempora (lequel permet de surseoir au cursus
traditionnel de formation du prêtre) et une dispense des interstices (qui
permet d'éviter le temps traditionnel entre chaque réception des degrés de
l'ordre), le pape lui permit de recevoir la prêtrise en trois fêtes proches les
unes des autres.
Un jour de Noël, Notre-Seigneur lui apparut sous la forme d'un petit enfant ;
il Le prit dans ses bras et Le caressa longtemps, pendant que son cœur se
fondait d'amour.
Il se mit dès lors sous la conduite spirituelle du Révérend Père
Jean-Baptiste de Crema, dominicain, et sa vertu d'obéissance s'y exerça avec
une très sainte ponctualité, faisant l'admiration même de son directeur.
Bientôt, il fonda, de concert avec quelques saints prêtres, la congrégation des
Théatins. Le premier des compagnons de saint Gaëtan fut Gian-Pietro (Jean-Pierre) Caraffa
della Stadera, alors évêque de Théate (ou Chieti) dans le royaume de
Naples, et archevêque de Brindes puis cardinal et pape sous le nom de Paul
IV, un des grands pape de la lutte contre l'hérésie et auteur de la
fameuse bulle Cum ex apostolatus. Le deuxième fut Paul Consiglieri,
de la famille des Ghisleri, qui joignit toute sa vie une éminente sainteté
à une sagesse et une prudence consommées. Le troisième fut Boniface de
Colle, d'une ancienne maison de la ville d'Alexandrie dans le Milanais.
La confiance absolue en Dieu valait plus pour lui que tous les conseils de la
prudence humaine, et nulle part la Providence ne le laissa manquer du
nécessaire. Il convient de noter que jamais, et ce fut la volonté de notre
saint, le service des pauvres et des malades ne fut séparés du combat contre
l'hérésie ; l'un étant la source de charité de l'autre.
Voici les principales fins de ce saint institut :
1. donner un modèle aux clercs, qui vivaient à cette époque dans de graves désordres et avaient grand besoin de réforme ;
2. donner l'exemple d'une parfaite pauvreté ;
3. rétablir la propreté des églises et des autels et la majesté des saintes cérémonies, qui se faisaient alors sans révérences et donnaient lieu aux hérétiques de les décrier et de les faire passer pour des superstitions ;
4. animer les fidèles à la fréquentation des Sacrements qui étaient alors si peu en usage qu'un nombre scandaleux de Chrétiens ne se confessait et ne communiait qu'une fois l'an sans grand dessein d'un amendement sincère, et avec une nonchalance qui faisait gémir le peu de gens de bien qu'il restait ;
5. d'annoncer d'une manière savante et pieuse la parole de Dieu, que les prédicateurs d'alors mêlaient souvent à un langage profane et ridicule ;
6. de visiter les malades pour les disposer à recevoir les Sacrements et surtout fortifier les agonisants contre les tentations du démon et les assauts de la mort ;
7. accompagner les malfaiteurs au supplice, afin de leur faire éviter la rigueur des châtiments éternels ;
8. poursuivre partout les hérésies qui s'étaient renouvelées depuis quelques
années par l'impiété de Luther et de quelques autres apostats d'Allemagne et
d'ailleurs.
Le Saint était déjà âgé quand il tomba malade, à Naples ; il refusa un matelas
et voulut mourir sur la cendre et le cilice ; il refusa aussi un médecin
extraordinaire, disant :
" Je suis un pauvre religieux, qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être
assisté."
Il répétait à tous moment
les paroles de Daniel : " Placare, Domine, attende et fac " ("
Seigneur, pardonnez ; Seigneur, soyez attentif et agissez ").
Marie vint Elle-même
chercher son âme. Il laissa la réputation d'un séraphin à l'autel et d'un
apôtre en chaire.
Urbain VIII béatifia saint Gaëtan en 1629 et Clément X le canonisa en 1669.
Les Théatins reçurent de grands privilèges de la part de l'un de leur
fondateur, le pape Paul IV. Ils donnèrent à l’Église un nombre conséquent de
prélats aussi saints que savants, dont le fameux TRP Ventura de Raulica au
XIXe siècle auteur entre autres de ce mot fameux ; " la plus grande
ruse du diable est de faire croire qu'il n'existe pas ".
CULTE ET RELIQUES
Saint Gaëtan fut enterré au cimetière Saint-Paul à Naples. Il est devenu l'un
des principaux patrons de cette ville où il est en grande dévotion. Sa statue
est au côté de celle de saint Janvier sur toutes les portes de cette ville.
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1683–1754),
The Guardian Angel with Sts Anthony of Padua and Gaetano Thiene, circa 1729,
250 x 112, San Vitale, Venice
Also
known as
Cajetan the Theatine
Cajetan of Thiene
Cajetanus
Cayetano
Gaetano
Gaetanus
Gaetano dei Conti di
Tiene
Gaetano da Thiene
Profile
Cajetan was born the
second son of pious and noble parents, Caspar de Thienna and Maria Porta, who
dedicated him as an infant to
the Blessed Virgin
Mary. From childhood he
was known as “the Saint”, and in later years as “the hunter of souls.” A
distinguished student,
he studied law in Padua, Italy,
and was offered positions in the government, but he turned them down and left
his native town to seek a religious vocation and obscurity in Rome.
Found out, he was forced at age 28 to accept a position at the court of Pope Julius II.
He was ordained a priest at
age 36.
On the death of Pope Julius,
Cajetan returned to Vicenza and
disgusted his relatives by joining the Confraternity of Saint Jerome,
whose members normally were drawn from the lowest and poorest classes. Cajetan
spent his fortune in building hospitals,
and devoted himself to nursing the plague–stricken.
He founded a bank to
help the poor and
offer an alternative to loan sharks; it later became the Bank of Naples. He was
known for a gentle game he played with parishioners in
which he would bet prayers, rosaries or
devotional candles on whether he would perform some service for them; he always
did, and they always had to “pay” by saying the prayers.
To renew the lives of the
clergy, on 3 May 1524 in Rome,
with the help of three others, including the future Pope Paul IV, he
formed the Congregation of Clerks Regular, known as the Theatines.
They devoted themselves to preaching,
the administration of the Sacraments, and the careful performance of the Church‘s
rites and ceremonies. Saint Cajetan
was the first to introduce the Forty Hours’ Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament as an antidote to the heresy of Calvinism. When the Germans,
under the Constable Bourbon, sacked Rome, Saint Cajetan was scourged to extort
money from him; what his attackers did not understand was that he had long
before spent his worldly wealth on good works.
Cajetan had a great
devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His piety was rewarded one Christmas eve
when she appeared to him and placed the Infant Jesus in his arms. When Saint
Cajetan was on his death-bed, resigned to the will of God, she appeared to him
again, this time surrounded by ministering angels. He said, “Lady, bless me!”
Mary replied, “Cajetan, receive the blessing of my Son, and know that I am here
as a reward for the sincerity of your love, and to lead you to Paradise.” She
then told him to have patience with the illness that
had attacked him, and gave orders to the choirs of angels to
escort his soul to heaven. “Cajetan,” she said, “my Son calls you. Let us go in
peace.” And so, he did.
Born
October 1480 at Vicenza, Italy as Gaetano
dei Conti di Tiene
1547 at Naples, Italy of
natural causes
8 October 1629 by Pope Urban VIII
12 April 1671 by Pope Clement X
–
in Italy
Additional
Information
Book of
Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Life
of Saint Gaëtan, Founder of the Order of Théatins
New
Catholic Dictionary: Saint Cajetan
New Catholic
Dictionary: Theatines
Novena
for the Feast of Saint Gaëtan
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Roman
Martyrology, 3rd Turin edition
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
The Wanderer: The Patron Saint of Gamblers
images
videos
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
Abbé
Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
Pious exercises are a
necessary means to maintain a religious spirit in the heart, but the essence of
religion consists in an entire conformity of our will to the will of God. – Saint Cajetan
All the enjoyments of
this life are deceptive, because they do not satisfy, but only puff one up; God
alone who made our hearts can fill them with consolations. – Saint Cajetan
He who fully realises his
own vileness in the sight of God, will naturally be patient, gentle, and sweet,
in dealing with his neighbour. – Saint Cajetan
No one should be foolish
enough to meddle in affairs which do not concern him. It is a sufficiently
grave responsibility to have to render an account to God of all our special
obligations. – Saint Cajetan
A Christian who lives in
forgetfulness of his true country, which is Heaven, is like a traveller who,
blinded by drink, cannot find his way home. – Saint Cajetan
He who has the most care
for his own life and most esteem for himself, feels most the weight of human
misery. – Saint Cajetan
If we study with all our
hearts to please God, we shall find Him ever ready to remember us in all our
necessities. – Saint Cajetan
Never let us forget that
as, day by day, we draw nearer to the end of our mortal life, we ought to
rejoice, because we are drawing so much nearer to the beginning of
eternity. – Saint Cajetan
Never let us trust in our
own merits, or in the certainty of our eternal salvation, for God alone holds
in His hand the grace of final perseverance. – Saint Cajetan
To be satisfied with not
being in mortal sin is the worst peril for a soul, because the mostinsiduous;
and is a real offence against the infinite love and mercy of God. – Saint Cajetan
Let us fear lest by
deceiving ourselves in over-indulging our bodies, we become really cruel
towards our souls. – Saint Cajetan
In combating our infernal
enemy let us always consider ourselves as new and untried soldiers, without
arms and fall of worldly affections; above all, let us remember that he never
sleeps. – Saint Cajetan
MLA
Citation
“Saint Cajetan“. CatholicSaints.Info.
6 April 2024. Web. 22 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cajetan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cajetan/
Salvator
Rosa (1615–1673), San Gaetano, 1652, National
Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata, Palazzo Lanfranchi
(Saint) (August 7)
(16th
century) Of the noble family of the Lords of Thienna, near Vicenza, in
Lombardy. Born A.D. 1480, and from his youth upwards known as “The Saint,” he
renounced the dignities offered him in Rome in order to devote himself to the
service of the sick and of the poor of Vicenza. Later, with Peter Caraffa
(afterwards Pope Paul IV) he founded the Congregation of Regular Clerks, called
Theatines, from Theate (Chieti) in the Abruzzi, where Caraffa was Bishop. This
Institute was one of the most prominent among the fruits of the revival of
Christian piety in the sixteenth century, and distinguished by the absolute
trust in Divine Providence which was its characteristic. It spread through
Italy during the lifetime of the Founder, and exists to our own day. Saint
Cajetan died at Naples A.D. 1547.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Cajetan”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 19
September 2012.
Web. 22 April 2025. <http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-cajetan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-cajetan/
Gaetano Zompini (1700–1778), Saint
Cajetan of Thiene Holding the Infant Jesus, circa 1730, Pen and brown ink,
brush and gray wash. Framing lines in pen and gray ink, 22.7 x 17.4, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers
Fund, 1966
Saints and
Saintly Dominicans – 7 August
Consecrated to our
Blessed Lady before his birth, Cajetan always had the tenderest love for her,
and called Our Lord by no other title than that of Jesus, Son of Mary, saying
that these two names were all his joy. Before celebrating Holy Mass he clothed
his soul with Our Lady’s merits, and at the consecration he begged her to give
him anew the blessed fruit, of her womb. Guided in the way of perfection by
Father John Baptist, a Dominican of Verona, he left his home and instituted the
Order of Clerks Regular, called Theatins. They were destined to combat the
recent heresy of Luther, which was already formidable, by encouraging the
faithful to the use of frequent Communion, prepared for by a worthy reception
of the sacrament of penance; and by reanimating in the clergy a zeal for Divine
worship and the love of poverty. His. religious were not even allowed to
solicit alms, but were obliged to be satisfied with what was spontaneously
offered. Their first General Chapter was held at the Minerva. The ardor of
Saint Cajetan and his success in laboring for the salvation of his neighbor,
won for him the title of “Hunter of Souls.” He energetically assisted in the
reform of the Dominican nuns at Naples, undertaken by the Venerable Mother
Caraffa, sister of Pope Paul IV. (1547)
Prayer
Blessed Virgin Mary,
clothe me with your interior dispositions, especially when I am to receive Holy
Communion.
Practice
Examine your love of the
liturgical offices, and see if you strive to obtain instruction that you may
profit by them. On the contrary, do you not speak of them with little esteem
and reverence?
– taken from the
book Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-saintly-dominicans-7-august/
Saint
Cajetan. Collection of the Church of Santa Bárbara, Bogotá.
San
Cayetano. Colección de la Iglesia de Santa Bárbara, Bogotá.
Cajetan (Gaetano) of
Thienna, Priest (RM)
Born in Vicenza, Lombardy, Italy, in 1480; died in Naples, Italy, on August 7,
1547; beatified by Urban VIII in 1629; canonized by Clement X in 1671. Saint
Cajetan, founder of the blue-habited Theatines, was the son of Lord Gaspar of
Thienna (Tiene) and his wife Mary di Porto. Both were known for their piety. At
his birth his mother, a fervent Dominican tertiary, dedicated Cajetan to the
Blessed Virgin. Although his father died while fighting for the Venetians
against King Ferdinand of Naples when Cajetan was only two, the example of his
mother helped Cajetan to grow into a man of sweet temper, constant
recollection, and unwavering compassion, especially toward the poor and
afflicted.
After attaining a
doctorate in both civil and canon law at Padua, Italy, he became a senator in
Vicenza. He built a parochial chapel at his own expense at Rampazzo, where
those living far from the parish church might be catechized and worship.
Thereafter he fled to Rome in 1506, where he had hoped to live in obscurity
among the crowds; however, Pope Julius II compelled him to accept the office of
protonotary in his court. Although Julius II was one of the least inspiring
examples of a pope, Cajetan saw through the lustful, simonious, indulgent,
war-loving court to the essential holiness of the Church. He knew that despite
the vices and follies of Her servants, Holy Mother Church still held the keys
to the salvation of the world.
He thanked God for the
flowering of the arts in the Renaissance, knowing that the genius of the artist
was but a reflection of the creativity of God. Yet he knew that the Church was
in need of reformation. Unlike his contemporaries Luther and Savonarola,
however, Cajetan wanted to bring about the reform patiently and humbly. He put
his trust in the Holy Spirit and the love Christ has for His Bride.
During the thirteen years
Cajetan labored in Rome for reform, he did what he could to bring comfort to
others: he visited the sick in hospitals and sought out the incurable and the
dying in their homes. He had joined the Confraternity of Divine Love, a small,
unofficial group devoted to works of charity. They cared for the sick, the
poor, foundlings, and prisoners. Gradually their influence spread further
afield in Italy.
He resigned as
protonotary upon Julius's death in 1513 and was ordained in 1516. The following
year, while praying at the Christmas crib in the church of Saint Mary Maggiore,
he had a mystical experience. He records, "Encouraged by the Blessed Saint
Jerome, whose bones lie in the crypt beneath the crib, I took from the hands of
the timid Virgin who had just become a mother her tender Child, in whom the
eternal Word had been made flesh."
In 1518, Cajetan returned
to Vicenza and his dying mother. There he joined the Oratory of Saint Jerome. Upon
Mary di Porto's death, he dedicated his considerable inheritance to relieving
distress, first in Vicenza and then in Verona and Venice. He founded a similar
oratory at Venice and continued his work, particularly with the incurable.
In 1523, he returned to
Rome, Paul Consiglieri, Boniface da Colle, and Bishop Giovanni Pietro Caraffa
of Chieti (or Theate), who later became Pope Paul IV. These men helped Cajetan
implement his vision of an order of priests whose lives would be as simple as
those of the Apostles and who would serve as models for the secular clergy. The
members of the Congregation of Clerks Regular (more generally known as the
Theatines) were to dress in black and concentrate on the essentials of the
priestly life: embracing poverty, spreading charity, and bringing life in the
sacraments. The institute was approved by Pope Clement VII with Bishop Caraffa
as the order's first provost general.
In 1524, twelve priests
installed themselves in a house on the Pinicio in Rome, where Cajetan occupied
himself in the humblest tasks. When Rome was sacked three years later by
Charles V, the Theatines moved to Venice, where the famine and plague gave them
ample opportunity to devote themselves to the service of others. The Venetians
called them "hermits" because of their extreme simplicity of life and
Cajetan they named "the saint of Providence." Cajetan was elected
superior in 1530, and Caraffa re- elected in 1533. That same year the Theatines
founded a house in Naples with Cajetan as its superior. Thereafter, the order
rapidly spread throughout Italy, then Europe.
In Naples Cajetan fought
widespread opposition to the reforms of the bishops and the prevalent heresies.
Later, with Blessed John Marinoni, he founded the montes pietatis to help
extend loans to the poor and combat usury.
Cajetan, one of the great
Catholic reformers, died in Naples, worn out by his frequent travels and many
obligations as superior, on a bed of ashes. At his request, he was buried in a
common grave in the church of Saint Paul. Many of the reforms of the Council of
Trent were anticipated and implemented by Cajetan long before that council
convened (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Cajetan is
depicted as a Theatine monk with a winged heart. He may sometimes be shown (1)
with a book, pen, lily, and flaming heart (not to be confused with Saint
Augustine, who never has a lily); (2) seeing a vision of the Holy Family with a
lily at his feet; or (3) holding the Christ-Child as an angel holds a lily nearby
(Roeder). He is venerated in Chieti and Naples (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0807.shtml
St. Cajetan
(GAETANO.)
Founder of the Theatines,
born October, 1480 at Vicenza in Venetian territory;
died at Naples in
1547. Under the care of a pious mother
he passed a studious and exemplary youth, and took his degree as doctor
utriusque juris at Padua in his twenty-fourth year. In 1506 he
became at Rome a prothonotary Apostolic in
the court of Julius
II, and took an important share in reconciling the Republic
of Venice with that pontiff. On the death of Julius in
1523 he withdrew from the court, and is credited with founding, shortly after,
an association of pious priests and prelates called
the Oratory of Divine Love, which spread to
other Italian towns. Though remarkable for his intense love of God,
he did not advance to the priesthood till
1516. Recalled to Vicenza in
the following year by the death of his mother, he founded there a hospital for
incurables, thus giving proof of
the active charity that filled his whole life. But his zeal was
more deeply moved by the spiritual diseases that, in those days of
political disorder, infected the clergy of
all ranks, and, like St.
Augustine in earlier times, he strove to reform them by instituting a
body of regular clergy,
who should combine the spirit of monasticism with the
exercises of the active ministry.
Returning to Rome in
1523 he laid the foundations of his new congregation, which
was canonically erected by Clement
VII in 1524. One of his four companions was Giovanni
Pietro Caraffa, Bishop of Chieti (in Latin Theate),
afterwards Paul
IV, who was elected first superior, and from whose title arose
the name Theatines.
The order grew but slowly. During the sack of Rome in
1527 the Theatines,
then twelve in number, escaped to Venice after
enduring many outrages from the heretic invaders.
There Cajetan met St. Hieronymus Æmiliani (see SOMASCHI),
whom he assisted in the establishment of his Congregation of Clerks
Regular. In 1533 Cajetan founded a house in Naples,
where he was able to check the advances of Lutheranism.
In 1540 he was again at Venice,
whence he extended his work to Verona and Vicenza.
He passed the last four years of his life, a sort of seraphic existence,
at Naples where
he died finally of grief at the discords of the city, suffering in his last
moments a kind of mystical crucifixion. He was beatified by Urban
VIII in 1629, and canonized by Clement
X in 1671. His feast is
kept on the 7th of August.
Keating,
Joseph. "St. Cajetan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 7 Aug.
2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03145a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Marcia L. Bellafiore.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03145a.htm
<
Gustavo
A. Madero, Mosaic of Saint Cajetan, Saint Cajetan Church, Federal District,
Mexico
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatine Order
Article
Saint Cajetan, founder of
the holy order, whose members are called Theatines, was born in 1487, at
Vicenza, in Lombardy, of noble and pious parents. Immediately after his
baptism, his mother consecrated him to the Blessed Virgin, humbly begging her
to guard him and take his spiritual welfare under her motherly protection. His
entire after life proved how effectual his mother’s prayers had been. He was
never, even in his most tender years, like other children; his greatest
pleasure consisted in praying, building small altars, giving alms to the poor,
and being most perfect in his obedience to his parents. His whole conduct was
such, that even in childhood, he was called a saint He afterwards went to the
University, and always made it his greatest care to preserve his innocence
unspotted among so many temptations. Having received, at Padua, the degree of
civil and canon laws, he repaired to Rome, where he was ordained priest, and
preferred by Pope Julius II to a high ecclesiastical position. After the death
of the Pope, he resigned his dignity and returned to his home, desiring to work
more effectually for the salvation of souls. He served the sick in and out of
the hospitals, with untiring charity, in the time of pestilence. His labors
were at first, confined to his native town; later, however, he went to Venice.
His principal aim was to save souls. The sick, he persuaded by kind and gentle
exhortations; and others he moved to virtue by his earnest sermons. The popular
saying was, that Cajetan looked like a seraph when standing before the altar,
and like an Apostle when in the pulpit. His devotion when he said mass, was
equalled by his fervor and zeal while preaching. Whenever he had the
opportunity, he tried to win a soul for the Almighty. After some time, he went
again to Rome, where, inspired by God, and with the co-operation of three other
pious and learned men, he founded an Order for such priests as desired to live
an apostolic life, to reform the negligence of the clergy, and the corrupt
morals of the people of the world; to observe carefully the sacred ceremonies
of the church; restore the observance of pious conduct in the temples dedicated
to the worship of the Most High; to labor in opposition to the heretics; assist
the sick and dying, and in a word, to promote the welfare of men to the best of
their ability. He imposed a special obligation on the members in regard to the
vow of poverty; they were not only forbidden to have annual revenues, but even
to ask alms. They had to leave the whole care of their subsistence to God, and
wait patiently for what Providence would send them. Hard as this seemed to be,
still many were found willing to bear such abject poverty. The first house of
the order was at Rome; but it was abandoned after the first year, on account of
an inroad of imperial soldiers, who also treated Cajetan with great cruelty.
Among these soldiers there was ‘One who had formerly been acquainted with the
Saint at Vicenza, and knew that, at that time, he was very rich. Believing that
he still possessed great treasures* he tried to force them from him, by
maltreating him most brutally, and several times casting him into prison. From
Rome, the holy founder went to Venice, where he again nursed those stricken
down with pestilence. He was then ordered by the Pope to Naples, to found a new
house for his Order. This city had to thank the vigilance of this Saint, under
God, for its preservation from heresy; for, several disciples of Luther, who at
that time disseminated his poisonous doctrines in Germany, had come to Naples
and begun privately, as well as publicly, to maintain, under the name of
“Evangelical liberty,’* the teachings of Luther. They had also brought with
them several books which contained the Lutheran doctrines, designing to give
them to the people, and thus contaminate the city with the doctrines they
contained. When Saint Cajetan was informed of this, and had, moreover, seen the
Evil One standing in the pulpit beside Bernardin Ochino, one of Luther’s
disciples, whispering into his ear every word that he preached, he notified the
ecclesiastical authorities of these facts, and preached so zealously against
the new heresy, that the heretical books were all given up and burnt, and the
inhabitants of the city were preserved in the true faith. The Saint rendered
the same service to several other cities in Italy.
The holy man was
exceedingly severe towards himself. He never divested himself of his rough
hair-shirt. Almost daily he scourged himself most mercilessly. In partaking of
nourishment he was so temperate, that his life might justly be called a
continual fast. He spent most of his nights in devout exercises, taking but a
short rest upon straw. He never spoke except to honor God or benefit man. He
was indefatigable in his exertions for the salvation of souls, and hence it is
not surprising that God bestowed many graces upon him. One Christmas Eve, when
he was passing the night in the Church of Saint Mary Major, the Holy Child
appeared to him, and the Blessed Virgin, who carried Him, laid Him. into the
Saint’s arms, filling his soul with heavenly consolation. The holy man had many
other visions during his life, and was often seen in a state of ecstacy during
his prayers. He also possessed the gift of prophecy, and miraculously cured a
great many sick. There was a priest of his Order, whose foot was to be
amputated. The evening before the operation was to be performed, the Saint
examined the foot, which was extremely swollen and affected with gangrene; he
kissed it, made the holy sign of the cross over it, bandaged it anew, exhorting
the sufferer to put his trust in God and to ask the intercession of Saint
Francis. After this he turned to God m prayer. When on the following day, the
surgeon came to perform the painful and dangerous amputation, they found, to
their amazement, that the foot was healed.
When Saint Cajetan sailed
from Venice to Naples, a terrible storm arose, and all on board expected the
boat to sink every moment. Cajetan took his Agnus Dei and threw it into the
sea, which immediately became calm. His life is filled with similar events; we,
however, having no space for more of them, will only relate how happily and
with what heroic charity he ended his earthly career.
The authorities at
Naples, civil as well as ecclesiastical, had resolved to institute the
Inquisition in the city, to guard the faithful more thoroughly against heresy.
The people were, however, opposed to it to such an extent, that a revolt was
feared, and neither the exhortations and persuasions of Saint Cajetan nor of
other men were of any avail. The holy man was deeply distressed at the danger
of so great a city and still more of so many souls. Hence he offered his life
as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of the Almighty, praying that God would
accept of it, restore peace, and spare the city and its inhabitants. The
following event will show how pleased the Almighty was with this sacrifice.
Soon after the Saint had offered himself to Heaven, he became dangerously sick,
and repeating his offer, died a most peaceful and holy death, having had the
privilege of seeing Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The Saviour assured him of
his salvation, the Divine Mother of her protection until his death. And yet he
would not die in any other manner than as a penitent; for when the physician said
he needed a more comfortable bed, he protested most emphatically against it,
saying that he would not, in his last hour, allow his body any comfort, but
that he would be laid in his penitential robes upon ashes on the ground,
adding: “There is no road leading to Heaven but that of innocence or
repentance. He who has departed from the first, must take the second; else he
is eternally lost.” He received the last Sacraments with great devotion, turned
his eyes towards Heaven, and rendered up his soul tranquilly to God, in the
year of our Lord 1547. The strife in the city soon after ceased and peace was
restored, as if God had wished to show that He had accepted the life of Saint
Cajetan as a peace offering for the salvation of innumerable souls. Many miracles
were wrought by the Almighty to recompense the great faith which Saint Cajetan
manifested in the Divine Providence, when he instituted such complete poverty
in his new order. After his death also, God honored him by working many
miracles through his intercession.
Practical Considerations
I particularly desire
that the last maxim which Saint Cajetan gave on his death-bed should sink
deeply into your heart. “There is no road to Heaven but that of Innocence or
Penance.” This is a truth which is founded upon Holy Writ. If then it is your
earnest wish to go to Heaven, examine yourself carefully, and see if you are
walking in the right path. How is it with your innocence? How with your
penance? I leave it to you to answer these questions, and will only say, in the
words of Saint Cajetan: “If you have departed from the road of innocence, you
must enter that of penance; else you are eternally lost.” Having said this much
to you, I will give you a few instructions on the life of this great servant of
God.
• Saint Cajetan placed a
special trust in God in regard to the necessaries of life. Many persons are too
much concerned about their temporal matters; others, too little; the latter
lead an idle life, take no care of their homes, do not work according to their
station in life, or squander their earnings or inheritance. But by far the
greater number are too greedy of wealth. Their thoughts, from early morning
till late at night, are occupied with their temporal affairs. They do not even
take time to say a morning prayer or to assist at Holy Mass, because they fear
to miss some hing by it, or think they neglect their household duties. They
give not one thought to God or to their soul during the whole day. In short,
they are as much absorbed in their temporal affairs, as if riches were the sole
aim and object of their existence. They expect everything from their own
exertions, not remembering that all success depends on the Almighty. May you
not belong to either of these classes. Work for your livelihood according to
your position; avoid idleness; but above all, trust in God, who will assuredly
not forsake you, if you do your duty. “Behold the birds of the air; for, they
neither sow nor do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they? And for raiment why are
you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they labor not,
neither do they spin. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and
to-morrow is cast into the oven, God does so clothe; how much more you, O ye of
little faith? Seek therefore first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all
things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:2) Saint Cajetan never suffered
from want. God frequently assisted him by miracle. With many men it is quite
different. They are often in want, and God does not assist them. For some, it
is their own fault; for others, it is a trial. The latter must console
themselves with the thought that this want serves them to obtain salvation. God
wishes to lead them, like Lazarus, through poverty, into Heaven. Had Lazarus
possessed worldly goods like the rich man, perhaps he would have had to suffer
in hell like him. Therefore, they must not grieve over their poverty, but bear
it with resignation. They must endeavor to lead a Christian life and put entire
trust in God, and He will surely not forsake them. But those who have come to
poverty, because they have been idle, or worked on Sundays or holidays without
necessity, or sought for gain by unlawful means, should not be surprised, if
they suffer want; for, how can they reasonably expect to be blessed by the
Almighty, if they so often, without shame or fear, transgress His commandments?
Do they not know that God’s curse threatens him who transgresses His laws?
“Cursed shalt you be in
the city, cursed in the field. Cursed shall be thy barn and cursed thy stores.
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy ground, the herds of
thy oxen and the flocks of thy sheep,” etc. But the Almighty also promises His
blessing to those who keep His commandments “Blessed shalt thou be in the city
and in the fields; blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb and of thy ground,
and the fruits of thy oxen and the droves of thy herds. Blessed thy barns,”
etc. (Deuteronomy 27) If men desire that God should help them in their poverty,
they must resolve to keep His commandments better, to work according to their
station, and take sufficient care of their affairs. “Be- hold, says He, this
day I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose
therefore life.”
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatine Order”. Lives of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
25 March 2018. Web. 12 December 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cajetan-founder-of-the-theatine-order/>
August 7
St. Cajetan of Thienna,
Confessor
See his life compiled by
Antonio Caraccioli, Pr. of his Order, published in Latin with those of the
three other founders in 1612. Also the same given more at large in Italian, by
F. Jos. Silos, of the same Order, on the occasion of his canonization in 1671,
with the bull of his canonization, and the comments of the Bollandists. See
also his life written by Del Tufa, bishop of Acerra; Helyot, Hist. des
Ord. Relig. t. 4, p. 71. Contin. Fleury, t. 32, et la Vie de S. Cajetan de
Thienne, par D. Bernard. Paris, 1698, 12mo.
A.D. 1547
ST. CAJETAN was son of
Gaspar, lord of Thienna, 1 and
Mary Porta, persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of
Vicenza, in Lombardy, and eminent for their piety. The saint was born in
1480. 2 His
mother by earnest prayer recommended him from his birth to the patronage of the
Blessed Virgin, and as he grew capable of instruction, never ceased setting
before his eyes the example of our divine Redeemer’s humility, meekness,
purity, and all other virtues; and such was his docility to her lessons that
from his infancy he was surnamed the Saint. The perfect mortification of his
passions from the cradle, made an unalterable sweetness of temper seem as it
were the natural result of his constitution. The love of prayer taught a
constant recollection, and the continual application of his mind to eternal
truths, made him shun all loss of time in amusements or idle conversation; for
no discourse seemed agreeable or interesting to him, unless it tended to raise
the mind to God. His affections were entirely weaned from the world, and he
directed all his aims to the life to come. His tender charity towards all men,
particularly his compassion for the poor, and all who were in affliction, were
remarkable on all occasions. The long exercises of devotion which he daily
practised, were no hinderance to his studies, but sanctified them, and purified
the eye of his understanding, enabling him the better to judge of truth. He
distinguished himself in the study of divinity; likewise in the civil and canon
laws, in which faculty he took the degree of doctor with great applause at
Padua.
To devote himself
perfectly to the divine service he embraced an ecclesiastical state; and, out
of his own patrimony, built and founded a parochial chapel at Rampazzo, for the
instruction and benefit of many who lived at a considerable distance from the
parish church. After this he went to Rome not in quest of preferment, or to
live at court, but hoping to lie concealed in that great city, and to lead an
obscure and hidden life, which it was impossible for him to do in his own
country. Nevertheless, Pope Julius II. compelled him to accept the office of
protonotary in his court, and by that means drew him out of his beloved
solitude, though the saint had the art to join interior recollection with
public employments, and to live retired in courts. Being much delighted with
the end proposed by the confraternity in Rome, called of the love of God, which
was an association of zealous and devout persons who devoted themselves by
certain pious exercises and regulations to labour with all their power to
promote the divine honour, he enrolled himself in it. Upon the death of Julius
II. he resigned his public employment, and returned to Vicenza. There he
entered himself in the confraternity of St. Jerom, which was instituted upon
the plan of that of the love of God in Rome; but which in that place consisted
only of men in the lowest stations of life. This circumstance was infinitely
pleasing to the saint, but gave great offence to his worldly friends, who
thought it a blemish to the honour of his family. He persisted, however, in his
resolution, and exerted his zeal with wonderful fruit in the most humbling
practices of charity. He sought out the most distressed objects among the sick
and the poor over the whole town, and served them with his own hands, being
most assiduous about those who laboured under the most loathsome diseases in
the hospitals of the incurables, the revenues of which house he considerably
augmented. In obedience to the advice of his confessor, John of Crema, a
Dominican friar, a man of great prudence, learning, and piety, the saint
removed to Venice, and taking up his lodgings in the new hospital of that city,
pursued his former manner of life. He was so great a benefactor to that house
as to be regarded as its principal founder, though his chief care was to
provide the sick with every spiritual succour possible. He at the same time
emaciated his body with penitential austerities, and seemed to rival the most
eminent contemplatives in the sublime grace of prayer; and it was the common
saying both at Rome, Vicenza, and Venice, that Cajetan was a seraph at the
altar, and an apostle in the pulpit.
By the advice of the same
director, Cajetan left Venice to return to Rome, in order to associate himself
again to the confraternity of the love of God, among the principal members of
which, many were no less eminent for their learning and prudence than for their
extraordinary piety. He deliberated with them on some effectual means for the
reformation of manners among Christians, grieving that the sanctity of this
divine religion should be so little known and practised by the greater part of
those who profess it. All agreed that this could not be done but by reviving in
the clergy the spirit and zeal of those holy pastors who first planted the
faith. To put all the clergy in mind what this spirit ought to be, and what it
obliges them to, a plan was concerted among the associates for instituting an
order of regular clergy upon the perfect model of the lives of the apostles.
The first authors of this design were St. Cajetan, John Peter Caraffa,
afterwards pope under the name of Paul IV., but at that time archbishop of
Theate, now called Chieti, a town in Abruzzo; Paul Consigliari, of the most
noble family of Ghisleri, and Boniface de Colle, a gentleman of Milan. Those
among them who were possessed of ecclesiastical livings addressed themselves to
Pope Clement VII. for leave to resign them with a view of making such an
establishment. His holiness made great difficulties with regard to the
archbishop; but at length he gave his consent. The plan of the new institute
was drawn up, laid before the pope, and examined in a consistory of cardinals
in 1524. The more perfectly to extirpate the poison of avarice, always most
fatal to the ecclesiastical order where it gets footing, and to establish in
the hearts of those who are engaged in that state the most perfect spirit of
disinterestedness, and the entire disengagement of their hearts from the goods
of this world, the zealous founders made it an observance of their institute,
though not under any vow or obligation (as several French writers of note have
mistaken), that this regular clergy should not only possess no annual revenues,
but should be forbidden ever to beg or ask for necessary subsistence, content
to receive the voluntary contributions of the faithful, and relying entirely
upon Providence. The cardinals objected a long time to this rule, thinking it
inconsistent with the ordinary laws of prudence. But their opposition was at
length overcome by the founders, who urged that Christ and his apostles having
observed this manner of life, the same might be perfectly copied by those who were
their successors in the ministry of the altar, and of the divine word. But this
clause was added to the rule, that if a community should be reduced to extreme
necessity, they should give notice of their distress by a toll of the bell. The
Order therefore was approved by Clement VII. in 1524, and Caraffa was chosen
the first general. As he still retained the title of archbishop of Theate,
these regular clerks were from him called Theatins. 3 The
principal ends which they proposed to themselves were to preach to the people,
assist the sick, oppose errors in faith, restore among the laity the devout and
frequent use of the sacraments, and reestablish in the clergy
disinterestedness, regularity, a perfect spirit of devotion, assiduous
application to the sacred studies, the most religious respect to holy things,
especially in whatever belongs to the sacraments and pious ceremonies.
Rome and all Italy soon
perceived the happy effects of the zeal of these holy men, and the odour of
their sanctity drew many to their community. They lived at first in a house in
Rome, which belonged to Boniface de Colle; but, their number increasing, they
took a larger house on Monte Pincio. In the following year they were afflicted
with a calamity which had like to have put an end to their Order soon after its
birth. The army of the Emperor Charles V., which was commanded by the constable
Bourbon, who had deserted from the French king to the emperor, marched from the
Milanese to Rome, and took that city by assault on the 6th of May, 1527. This
Duke of Bourbon, after having committed horrible outrages, was killed by a
musket shot in mounting the wall; but Philibert of Challons, prince of Orange,
took upon him the command of the army, which was composed in a great measure of
Lutherans, and other enemies of the see of Rome. The pope and cardinals retired
into the castle of St. Angelo; but the German army plundered the city, and were
guilty of greater cruelties and excesses than had been committed by the Goths a
thousand years before. The house of the Theatins was rifled, and almost
demolished; and a soldier, who had known St. Cajetan at Vicenza before he renounced
the world, falsely imagining he was then rich, gave an information to his
officer against him to that effect; whereupon he was barbarously scourged and
tortured to extort from him a treasure which he had not. Being at length
discharged, though in a weak and maimed condition, he and his companions left
Rome, with nothing but their breviaries under their arms, and with clothes
barely to cover themselves. They repaired to Venice, where they were kindly
received, and settled in the convent of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. Caraffa’s
term for discharging the office of general expired after three years, in 1530,
and St. Cajetan was chosen in his room. It was with great reluctance that he
accepted that charge; but the sanctity, zeal, and prudence with which he laboured
to advance the divine honour, especially by inspiring ecclesiastics with
fervour and the contempt of the world, drew the esteem of the whole world on
his Order. The fruits of his charity were most conspicuous during a raging
plague which was brought to Venice from the Levant, and followed by a dreadful
famine. Excited by his example, Jerom Emiliani, a noble Venetian, in 1530,
founded another congregation of regular clerks, called Somasches, from the
place where they lived, between Milan and Bergamo, the design of which was to
breed up orphans, and such children as were destitute of the means of a
suitable education.
At the end of the three
years of Cajetan’s office, Caraffa was made general a second time, and our
saint was sent to Verona, where both the clergy and laity were in the greatest
ferment, tumultuously opposing certain articles of reformation of discipline
which their bishop was endeavouring to introduce among them. The saint in a
short time restored the public tranquillity, and brought the people unanimously
and cheerfully to submit to a wholesome reformation, of which they themselves
would reap all the advantages. Shortly after he was called to Naples to found a
convent of his Order in that city. The count of Oppido bestowed on him a convenient
large house for that purpose, and used the most pressing importunities to
prevail upon him to accept a donation of an estate in lands: but this the saint
constantly refused. A general reformation of manners at Naples both in the
clergy and laity was the fruit of his example, preaching, and indefatigable
labours. No occupations made him deprive himself of the comfort and succour of
his daily long exercises of holy prayer, which he sometimes continued for six
or seven hours together, and in which he was often favoured with extraordinary
raptures. In 1534 Caraffa was created Cardinal by Paul III. Clement the
Seventh’s successor. He was afterwards raised to the papacy upon the death of
Marcellus II. in 1555, and died in 1559. Our saint was then gone to receive the
recompense of his labours. In 1537 he went back to Venice, being made general a
second time; but after his three years were expired, returned to Naples, and
governed the house of his Order in that city till his happy death. Being worn
out by austerities, labours, and a lingering distemper, he at length perceived
his last hour to approach. When his physicians advised him not to lie on the
hard boards, but to use a coarse bed in his sickness, his answer was: “My
Saviour died on a cross, suffer me at least to die on ashes.” His importunity
prevailing, he was laid on a sackcloth spread on the floor, and strewed with
ashes; and in that penitential posture he received the last sacraments, and
calmly expired in the greatest sentiments of compunction on the 7th of August,
1547. Many miracles wrought by his intercession were approved at Rome after a
rigorous scrutiny, a history of which is published by Pinius the Bollandist.
St. Cajetan was beatified by Urban VIII. in 1629, and canonized by Clement X.
in 1671. His remains are enshrined in the church of St. Paul at Naples. 4
The example of this saint
inculcates to us the holy maxims of disinterestedness which Christ has laid
down in his gospels. He teaches us that all inordinate desires, or excess of
solicitude for the goods of this world is a grievous evil, and extremely
prejudicial to all Christian virtues; he presses upon all his followers the
duty of fighting against it in the strongest terms, and explains the rigorous
extent of his precept in this regard. 5 It
is incredible how much avarice steels the heart against all impressions of
charity, and even of humanity, and excludes all true ideas of spiritual and
heavenly things. The most perfect disinterestedness and contempt of the world,
necessary in all Christians, is more essentially the virtue of the ministers of
the altar; it always formed the character of every holy pastor. But alas! how
often does the idol of covetousness, to the grievous scandal of the faithful,
and profanation of all that is sacred or good, now-a-days find a place in the
sanctuary itself! New fences against this evil have been often set up, but all
become ineffectual in those who do not study perfectly to ground their souls in
the true spirit of the opposite virtue.
Note 1. The house of
Thienna, illustrious for the antiquity of its nobility, its alliances and
military honours, still subsists at Vicenza. Two branches of this house were
settled in France; one in Dauphiny in the year 1563, under Charles IX. and the
other near Loches in Touraine, according to F. Giri. Nicholas of Thienna, says
this author, was page to Francis I. captain of a company of artillery under
Henry II. and highly esteemed under the three following reigns, and under that
of Henry IV. He married Jane de Villars, daughter of Honoratus of Savoy,
marquis de Villars, and grand admiral of France. But these two branches of the
house of Thienna, although originally from Vicenza, were not descended from
Gaspar of Thienna, father of St. Cajetan; John Baptist, only brother to our
saint, having but one daughter, in whom the branch of Gaspar of Thienna was
extinct.
Our saint was called
Cajetan, from his uncle the famous Cajetan of Thienna, who was canon of Padua,
and esteemed one of the greatest philosophers of his age. We have a work of his
printed at Padua, an. 1476, fol. under the following title: “Gaëtani de Tienis
Vicentini Philosophi clarissimi in IV. Aristotelis Meteorum libros expositio.”
This edition is “rare and very much sought after,” says the author of the
Bibliographie instructive, No. 1277. Spondanus mistakes in pretending that St.
Cajetan was called Marcellus. Fleury has been guilty of the same mistake,
Instit. au Droit Eccles. t. 1, p. 202. [back]
Note 2. Baillet says
that St. Cajetan was born either at Vicenza or at Thienna; but he is the only
person who has admitted this alternative. All the historians of his life are
unanimous that he was born at Vicenza; nevertheless the day of his birth is not
exactly known; most authors place it at the latest in 1480. [back]
Note 3. Baillet is
mistaken in dating the bull of the institution of regular clerks of St. Cajetan
in 1525, it being given in 1524. The 14th of September following, St. Cajetan
and his companions made their vows. See the form of these vows in the life of
the saint, by J. B. Caraccioli, p. 49, of the edition of Pisa, in 1738.
St. Cajetan was the first institutor of regular clerks, that is, priests united by vows to fulfil the duties of an ecclesiastical state. They reckon generally eight congregations of regular clerks in Italy. 1. Regular clerks of St. Paul, called Barnabites, from their house dedicated to God in honour of St. Barnaby at Milan, instituted in 1533. 2. Regular clerks of the Society of Jesus, instituted in 1540. 3. Regular clerks of St. Mayeul or Somasquos, thus called from a village near Milan, instituted in 1530. This congregation was united to that of the Theatins in 1546, and again separated in 1555. 4. Regular clerks, Minors, instituted in 1588. 5. Regular clerks, ministering to the sick, called also cross-bearers, from a red cross which they wear on their cassock, instituted in 1591. 6. Regular clerks of pious schools, instituted in 1621. 7. Regular clerks of the Mother of God, instituted at Lucca in 1628. 8. Theatins; but as these were the first, they had no other name given them in the bull of their institution than that of regular clerks, without any other addition, as Spondanus in his Church Annals takes notice. These different congregations have nearly the same dress; they make use of the ancient cassock which the secular priests wore towards the end of the sixteenth century, and in the beginning of the seventeenth.
Thomassin (Discipl. de l’Eglise, t. 1, p. 1806. Edit. 1725,) says,
that the life of the regular clerks is nearly the same as that of the canon
regulars; there is yet this difference, that the ancient canon regulars
observed the fasts, the abstinences, the silence, and the night watchings of
the monks; whereas the regular clerks, according to their institution, embraced
the functions of the ecclesiastical state, without practising the great
austerities of those religious men who dedicated themselves to silence and
retirement. See the statutes of the canon regulars of the Order of
Premontré. [back]
Note 4. The Order of
Theatins has eight houses in Naples, two in Rome, several in other parts of
Italy, Spain, and Poland, and one in France, which was founded at Paris by
Cardinal Mazarin in 1648. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/071.html
Überlingen
( Baden-Württemberg ). Saint Nicholas minster - Altar ( 1727 ) of Saint
Cajetan: Vision of Christ by Saint Cajetan
Überlingen
( Baden-Württemberg ). Münster St.Nikolaus - Kajetanaltar ( 1727 ) - Vision
der Christi durch den heiligen Kajetan. Photographie : Wolfgang Sauber
Miniature
Lives of the Saints – Saint Cajetan
Article
Cajetan was born at
Vicenza in 1480, of noble and pious parents, who dedicated him to our Blessed
Lady. From childhood he was known as the Saint, and in later years as “The
hunter of souls.” A distinguished student, he left his native town to seek
obscurity in Rome, but was there forced to accept office at the court of Julius
II. On the death of that Pontiff he returned to Vicenza, and disgusted his
relatives by joining the Confraternity of Saint Jerome, whose members were
drawn from the lowest classes, while he spent his fortune in building
hospitals, and himself in nursing the plague-stricken. To renew the lives of
the clergy, he instituted the first community of Regular Clerks, known as
Theatines. They devoted themselves to preaching, the administration of the
Sacraments, and the careful performance of the Church’s rites and ceremonies.
Saint Cajetan was the first to introduce the Forty Hours’ adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament, as an antidote to the heresy of Calvin. He had a most tender
love of our Blessed Lady, and his piety was rewarded. One Christmas Eve she
placed the Infant Jesus in his arms, and she appeared to console him as he
died. When the Germans, under the Constable Bourbon, sacked Rome, Saint Cajetan
was barbarously scourged, to extort from him riches which he had long before
securely stored in heaven. Worn out with toil and sickness, he went to his
reward in 1547.
Imitate Saint Cajetan’s
devotion to our Blessed Lady by invoking her aid before every work.
Let us pray our most
Blessed Advocate, the Mother of our Redeemer, to deign to cover our iniquities,
and plead for us before the just Judge, her Son. — Saint Cajetan
When Saint Cajetan was on
his deathbed, resigned to the will of God, eager for pain to satisfy his love,
and for death to attain to life, he beheld the Mother of God, radiant with
splendour, and surrounded by ministering Seraphim. In profound veneration he
said, “Lady, bless me.” Mary replied, “Cajetan, receive the blessing of my Son,
and know that I am here as a reward for the sincerity of your love, and to lead
you to Paradise.” She then exhorted him to patience in fighting an evil spirit
who troubled him, and gave orders to the choirs of angels to escort his soul in
triumph to heaven. Then turning her countenance mil of majesty and sweetness
upon him, she said, “Cajetan, my Son calls thee. Let us go in peace.”
For she is an infinite
treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God. – Wisdom
7:14
MLA
Citation
Henry Sebastian Bowden.
“Saint Cajetan”. Miniature Lives of the Saints for
Every Day of the Year, 1877. CatholicSaints.Info.
8 March 2015. Web. 12 December 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/miniature-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cajetan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/miniature-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cajetan/
Francesco Solimena (1657–1747). Saint
Cajetan Appeasing Divine Anger, prima metà del XVIII sec, basilica di San Paolo Maggiore , Napoli piazza
San Gaetano, nel centro
antico della città.
Heaven’s
Bright Queen – Apparition to Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatins, Lombardy,
Italy, 1517
Article
Saint Cajetan was born at
Vicenza in 1480, and was dedicated from infancy to the Blessed Mother of God.
After having made legal studies with great distinction at Padua, he was
appointed Prothonotary Apostolic at the Roman Curia. But he gave all the time
he could spare to the wrork of pious fraternities, spending his fortune in
building hospitals and devoting himself in person to the nursing of the
plague-stricken. Finally, his zeal for souls led him to resign his office and
enter the priesthood. In 1524, in conjunction with Bishop Caraffa, who was
afterwards Pope, he founded the first congregation of regular clerks, which
took its name from Chieti, or Theate, the See over which his co-laborer had
presided.
“They embraced a more
than Franciscan poverty,” says Mr. Arnold, “for they bound themselves not only
to have no property or rents, but to abstain from asking for alms, being
persuaded that the providence of God and the unsolicited charity of the
faithful would sufficiently supply their wants.”
The Theatins devoted
themselves to preaching the administration of the sacraments, and the careful
performance of the rites and ceremonies of the Church. They have produced many
eminent, men, including Cardinal Thomassi and Father Ventura, The holy
brotherhood lived in Rome on Mount Pincio, and the year after settling there,
the Constable of Bourbon, commander of the army of Charles V., marched from
Milan to Rome, and took the city in May, 1527. Philibert of Chalons, Prince of
Orange, who succeeded in command after the wicked Constable had been slain,
plundered the city, and was guilty of great cruelties. The house of the
Theatins shared the fate of the rest, and Saint Cajetan being recognized, and
imagined to be possessed of great wealth, was barbarously scourged and tortured
to extort from him his supposed treasure.
The mystery of the
Nativity was his special subject of contemplation, in which the eternal love of
God for man was made so wonderfully manifest. It was in the year 1517, when,
according to his custom, Cajetan was rapt in ecstasy before the altar of the
Crib on Christmas eve. Tears flowed down his cheeks, so deeply was he moved by
the mystery of the birth of the Lord, whom he pictured to himself as a little
helpless Child lying in the arms of His Mother. Then arose in his heart the
great desire to entreat the venerable Mother of God that she would lay the
Divine Child in his arms, but his humility permitted him not. Whilst, however,
his heart longed for this favor, behold! there appeared to him Saint Jerome and
Saint Joseph, who desired him to hold out his arms and approach them to the Divine
Mother. He did so, and the Queen of Angels truly laid the Child Jesus in his
arms. The happiness which entered into his heart, passes description. The
impression which this vision left behind never departed from the holy man
during the course of his life, but so often as he received the Body and Blood
of the Lord in Holy Communion he paused a little, believing that Mary herself
was there offering him, under the form of the most Holy Sacrament, her Divine
Child to caress.
Saint Cajetan was the
first to introduce the custom of the Forty Hours Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament as a means of counter-acting the heresy of Calvin, who propagated a
fearful disrespect for the Eucharistic Presence of our Lord.
He always cherished a
tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin and when, writes Father Bowden:
“He was on his death-bed,
resigned to the Will of God, eager for pain to satisfy his love, and for death
to attain to life, he beheld the Mother of God, radiant with splendor, and
surrounded by the ministering seraphim. In profound veneration, he said: ‘Lady,
bless me!’ Mary replied: ‘Cajetan, receive the blessing of my Son, and know
that I am here as a reward for the sincerity of your love, and to lead you to
Paradise.’ She then exhorted him to patience in fighting an evil spirit who
troubled him, and gave orders to the choirs of angels to escort his soul in
triumph to Heaven. Then turning her countenance full of majesty and sweetness
upon him, she said: ‘Cajetan, my Son calls thee. Let us go in peace.'”
When his hour of death
came, his physicians told him not to lie on the floor, but he replied, “My
Saviour died upon the Cross; suffer me to die upon ashes.” Thus died Saint
Cajetan on 7 August 1547.
MLA
Citation
William J Walsh.
“Apparition to Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatins, Lombardy, Italy,
1517”. The Apparitions and Shrines of Heaven’s
Bright Queen, 1905. CatholicSaints.Info.
1 August 2014. Web. 12 December 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/heavens-bright-queen-apparition-to-saint-cajetan-founder-of-the-theatins-lombardy-italy-1517/>
_Glorie_des_hl_Kajetan.jpg)
Seguace
di Martin Johann Schmidt (1718–1801).
Glorie des hl. Kajetan, 1740, 74 x 57, Monogramma e data: M.I.S 17(40)
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Cajetan
Article
Cajetan was born at
Vicenza, in 1480, of pious and noble parents, who dedicated him to our Blessed
Lady. From childhood he was known as the Saint, and in later years as “the
hunter of souls.” A distinguished student, he left his native town to seek
obscurity in Rome, but was there forced to accept office at the court of Julius
II. On the death of that Pontiff, he returned to Vicenza, and disgusted his
relatives by joining the Confraternity of Saint Jerome, whose members were
drawn from the lowest classes; while he spent his fortune in building
hospitals, and devoted himself to nursing the plague-stricken. To renew the
lives of the clergy, he instituted the first community of Regular Clerks, known
as Theatines. They devoted themselves to preaching, the administration of the
Sacraments, and the careful performance of the Church’s rites and ceremonies.
Saint Cajetan was the first to introduce the Forty Hours’ Adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament, as an antidote to the heresy of Calvin. He had a most tender
love for our Blessed Lady, and his piety was rewarded; for one Christmas eve
she placed the Infant Jesus in his arms. When the Germans, under the Constable
Bourbon, sacked Rome, Saint Cajetan was barbarously scourged, to extort from
him riches which he had long before securely stored in heaven. When Saint
Cajetan was on his death-bed, resigned to the will of God, eager for pain to
satisfy his love, and for death to attain to life, he beheld the Mother of God,
radiant with splendor and surrounded by ministering seraphim. In profound
veneration, he said, “Lady, bless me!” Mary replied, “Cajetan, receive the
blessing of my Son, and know that I am here as a reward for the sincerity of
your love, and to lead you to Paradise.” She then exhorted him to patience in
fighting an evil who troubled him, and gave orders to the choirs of angels to
escort his soul in triumph to heaven. Then, turning her countenance full of
majesty and sweetness upon him, she said, “Cajetan, my Son calls thee. Let us
go in peace.” Worn out with toil and sickness, he went to his reward in 1547.
Reflection – Imitate
Saint Cajetan’s devotion to our Blessed Lady, by invoking her aid before every
work.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Cajetan”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info.
13 December 2018. Web. 12 December 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cajetan/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cajetan/
Pietro Gagliardi, San Gaetano,1882, Ħamrun, Malta
July 24, 2019
By RAY CAVANAUGH
Whether one views it as fun or as a reckless waste of money, gambling has long been a popular activity the world over. In fact, gamblers even have their own patron saint, Cajetan (also known as Gaetano). August 7 is his feast day.
He was born in 1480 in Vicenza in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy.
Raised in an aristocratic family, as a young man he studied theology and law at
the University of Padua, from where he obtained degrees in both civil and canon
law. He proceeded to work as a diplomat on behalf of Pope Julius II.
In 1513, Cajetan resigned from his position and devoted the next three years to
preparing for the priesthood. Ordained in 1516, he returned to his hometown of
Vicenza in 1518. There he joined the Oratory of St. Jerome, which — according
to Butler’s Lives of the Saints — included only men from underprivileged
backgrounds.
People who knew Cajetan regarded his joining such an order as an insult to his patrician family’s honor. Cajetan remained unfazed by this idea and instead devoted his attention to caring for the most disfigured patients in the local hospital. He also founded a hospital for those suffering from incurable conditions in his hometown of Vicenza.
Along with these pursuits, Cajetan served as a parish priest. Thomas J. Craughwell’s book This Saint’s for You! related how Cajetan would make non-monetary bets with parishioners who sought his guidance on various issues. If his advice helped, then they would have to “pay up” by lighting the holy candles. If his advice did not help, then he would agree to light the candles. In this rather harmless way, he became associated with “gambling.”
Cajetan was a priest when the Protestant Reformation was gaining momentum. He strove to combat this phenomenon by establishing an order, the Theatines, who emphasized pastoral care, dedicated preaching, and correctly conducted worship, as stated by Butler’s Lives of the Saints.
Cajetan had been dismayed by the state of many Catholic clergy in that era, and — through the Theatine Order, which were established in 1524 — he sought to set an example of how Catholic clergy should operate. Among the Order’s four original members was Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, who later became Pope Paul IV.
Due to political turbulence, Cajetan and his colleagues had to relocate to Venice in 1527. He tirelessly attended to people in need during a plague and subsequent famine around the year 1530. The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions that in 1533 he founded a Theatine house in Naples, where, among other duties, he kept a watchful eye on any advances made by Protestantism.
Over the ensuing years, Cajetan exhausted himself in his efforts to improve the spiritual atmosphere in Naples and mitigate the city’s civil unrest. He fell ill in the summer of 1547. Even on his deathbed, he refused a mattress and insisted on a hard board instead. In this austere manner, he died on August 7, 1547, at age 66. He was beatified in 1629 by Pope Urban VIII and canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X.
The Theatine Order thrived in Italy and by the 1700s, other Theatine houses saw establishment in Munich, Prague, Salzburg, and other venues. The Order lasted for about four centuries, until it dissolved in the early 1900s.
The twenty-first century has seen word circulate that Cajetan also serves as a patron saint of gamers (people who play video/computer games, often excessively). But before you tell your video-game addict nephew that he has a patron saint, it turns out that this information is apocryphal. There is no official patron saint of gamers, not yet anyway.
As for Cajetan’s well-established gambling patronage, it extends to both the occasional wagerer who could use a bit of luck as well as to full-blown gambling addicts who seek to change their predicament.
Aside from Cajetan, gambling and the Church have also intersected in the tradition of betting on papal elections. On this activity records exist dating back to the fifteenth century, according to Liam O’Brien’s Don’t Bet the Farm, which adds that such gambling likely existed long before this era as well.
A complex papal betting market had emerged by the mid-sixteenth century, with banks in Rome offering odds on cardinals viewed as having a chance at the papacy. Such betting fell out of popularity after 1591, when Pope Gregory XIV threatened excommunication against participants.
Despite the lofty penalty, gambling on the conclave was popular in Italy once again by the late-nineteenth century. The late-twentieth century saw a British archbishop warn Catholics against engaging in such bets. And the 2005 conclave saw security guards remove a prominent Irish bookmaker from St. Peter’s Square, as reported by the BBC.
Though bookmakers are clearly unwelcome on Vatican grounds, the Internet age
has expanded the opportunities to wager on papal elections. That said, bettors
who seek to make money on Popes might be asking too much of St. Cajetan’s
patronage.
SOURCE : https://thewandererpress.com/catholic/news/featured-today/the-patron-saint-of-gamblers/
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770),
san Gaetano da Thiene, circa 1710, 98 x
78, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. Rio
de Janeiro Angelo Antonio Rosea collection. Entered the collection of
the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in 1862, and was legally acquired in 1874.
San Gaetano
Thiene Sacerdote
7
agosto - Memoria Facoltativa
Vicenza, ottobre 1480 -
Napoli, 7 agosto 1547
Nacque a Vicenza dalla
nobile famiglia dei Thiene nel 1480, e fu battezzato con il nome di Gaetano, in
ricordo di un suo celebre zio, il quale si chiamava così perché era nato a
Gaeta. Protonotario apostolico di Giulio II, lasciò sotto Leone X la corte pontificia
maturando, specie nell'Oratorio del Divino Amore, l'esperienza congiunta di
preghiera e di servizio ai poveri e agli esclusi. È restauratore della vita
sacerdotale e religiosa, ispirata al discorso della montagna e al modello della
Chiesa apostolica. Devoto del presepe e della passione del signore, fondò
(1524) con Gian Pietro Carafa, vescovo di Chieti (Teate), poi Paolo IV
(1555-1559), i Chierici Regolari Teatini. Per la sua illimitata fiducia in Dio
è venerato come il santo della provvidenza.
Etimologia: Gaetano
= nativo di Gaeta, dal latino
Martirologio
Romano: San Gaetano da Thiene, sacerdote, che a Napoli si dedicò a pie
opere di carità, in particolare adoperandosi per i malati incurabili, promosse
associazioni per la formazione religiosa dei laici e istituì i Chierici
regolari per il rinnovamento della Chiesa, rimettendo ai suoi discepoli il
dovere di osservare l’antico stile di vita degli Apostoli.
Nacque a Vicenza dalla
nobile famiglia dei Thiene nel 1480, e fu battezzato con il nome di Gaetano, in
ricordo di un suo celebre zio, il quale si chiamava così perché era nato a
Gaeta.
Laureatosi a Padova in
materie giuridiche a soli 24 anni, si dedicò allo stato ecclesiastico, senza
però farsi ordinare sacerdote, perché non si sentiva degno; fondando nel
contempo nella tenuta di famiglia a Rampazzo, una chiesa dedicata a S. Maria
Maddalena, che è ancora oggi la parrocchia del luogo.
Trasferitosi a Roma nel
1506, divenne subito segretario particolare di papa Giulio II, ed ebbe
l’incarico di scrittore delle lettere pontificie, ufficio questo che gli diede
l’opportunità di conoscere e collaborare con tante persone importanti.
Siamo nel periodo dello
splendore rinascimentale, che vede concentrati a Roma grandi artisti, intenti a
realizzare quanto di più bello l’arte era in grado di offrire, e che ancora
oggi il Vaticano e Roma offrono all’ammirazione del mondo; nel contempo però la
vita morale della curia papale, del popolo e del clero, a Roma come altrove,
non brillava certo per santità di costumi.
Gaetano non si lasciò
abbagliare dallo splendore della corte pontificia, né si scoraggiò per la
miseria morale che vedeva; egli ripeteva: “Roma un tempo santa, ora è una
Babilonia”; invece di fuggire e ritirarsi in un eremo, da uomo intelligente e
concreto, passò all’azione riformatrice, cominciando da sé stesso; incoraggiato
da una suora agostiniana bresciana Laura Mignani, che godeva di fama di
santità.
Prese ad assistere gli
ammalati dell’ospedale di San Giacomo, si iscrisse all’Oratorio del Divino
Amore, associazione che si riprometteva di riformare la Chiesa partendo dalla
base, il tutto alternandolo con il lavoro in Curia; anche in queste attività
conobbe altre personalità, che avevano lo stesso ideale riformista.
Nel settembre 1516 a 36
anni, accettò di essere ordinato sacerdote, ma solo a Natale di quell’anno,
volle celebrare la prima Messa nella Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore. In una
lettera scritta a suor Laura Mignani a cui era legato da filiale devozione,
Gaetano confidò che durante la celebrazione della Messa, gli apparve la Madonna
che gli depose tra le braccia il Bambino Gesù; per questo egli è raffigurato
nell’arte e nelle immagini devozionali con Gesù Bambino tra le braccia.
Ritornato nel Veneto, nel
1520 fondò alla Giudecca in Venezia l’Ospedale degli Incurabili. Instancabile
nel suo ardore di apostolato e di aiuto verso gli altri, ritornò a Roma e nel
1523 insieme ad altri tre compagni: Bonifacio Colli, Paolo Consiglieri,
Giampiero Carafa (vescovo di Chieti, diventerà poi papa con il nome di Paolo IV),
chiese ed ottenne dal papa Clemente VII, l’autorizzazione a fondare la
“Congregazione dei Chierici Regolari” detti poi Teatini, con il compito
specifico della vita in comune e al servizio di Dio verso gli altri fratelli.
Il nome Teatini deriva
dall’antico nome di Chieti (Teate), di cui uno dei fondatori il Carafa, ne era
vescovo. L’ispirazione che egli sentiva impellente, era di formare e donare
alla Chiesa sacerdoti che vivessero la primitiva norma della vita apostolica,
perciò non ebbe fretta a stendere una Regola, perché questa doveva essere il
santo Vangelo, letto e meditato ogni mese, per potersi specchiare in esso.
Le costituzioni
dell’Ordine furono infatti emanate solo nel 1604. I suoi chierici non devono
possedere niente e non possono neanche chiedere l’elemosina, devono
accontentarsi di ciò che i fedeli spontaneamente offrono e di quanto la
Provvidenza manda ai suoi figli; con le parole di Gesù sempre presenti:
“Cercate prima il regno di Dio e la sua giustizia e tutte queste cose vi
saranno date in aggiunta”.
Nel 1527 avvenne il
feroce ‘Sacco di Roma’ da parte dei mercenari Lanzichenecchi, il papa Clemente
VII della famiglia fiorentina de’ Medici, fu costretto a rifugiarsi in Castel
S. Angelo difeso dal Corpo delle Guardie Svizzere, che subì pesanti perdite
negli scontri.
Anche s. Gaetano da
Thiene, come tanti altri religiosi, fu seviziato dai Lanzichenecchi e
imprigionato nella Torre dell’Orologio in Vaticano; riuscito a liberarsi si
rifugiò a Venezia con i compagni dell’Istituzione.
Rimase nel Veneto fino al
1531, fondando, assistendo e consolidando tutte le Case del nuovo Ordine con le
annesse opere assistenziali; accolse l’invito del celebre tipografo veneziano
Paganino Paganini, affinché i Padri Teatini si istruissero nella nuova e
rivoluzionaria arte della stampa tipografica, inventata nel 1438 dal tedesco
Giovanni Gutenberg.
Nel 1533 per volere del
papa Clemente VII, si trasferì insieme al suo collaboratore il beato Giovanni
Marinoni, nel Vicereame di Napoli, stabilendosi prima all’Ospedale degli
Incurabili, fondato in quel tempo dalla nobile spagnola Maria Lorenza Longo,
insieme ad un convento di suore di clausura, dette ‘le Trentatrè’, istituzioni
ancora oggi felicemente funzionanti; e poi nella Basilica di S. Paolo Maggiore
posta nel cuore del centro storico di Napoli, nella città greco-romana.
La sua attività
multiforme si esplicherà a Napoli fino alla morte; fondò ospizi per anziani,
potenziò l’Ospedale degli Incurabili, fondò i Monti di Pietà, da cui nel 1539
sorse il Banco di Napoli, il più grande Istituto bancario del Mezzogiorno;
suscitò nel popolo la frequenza assidua dei sacramenti, stette loro vicino
durante le carestie e le ricorrenti epidemie come il colera, che flagellarono
la città in quel periodo, peraltro agitata da sanguinosi tumulti.
Per ironia della sorte,
fu proprio il teatino cofondatore Giampiero Carafa, divenuto papa Paolo IV a
permettere che nell’Inquisizione, imperante in quei tempi, si usassero metodi
diametralmente opposti allo spirito della Congregazione teatina, essenzialmente
mite, permissiva, rispettosa delle altre idee.
E quando le autorità
civili vollero instaurare nel Viceregno di Napoli, il tribunale
dell’Inquisizione, il popolo napoletano (unico a farlo nella storia triste
dell’Inquisizione in Europa) si ribellò; la repressione spagnola fu violenta e
ben 250 napoletani vennero uccisi, per difendere un principio di libertà.
Gaetano in quel triste
momento, fece di tutto per evitare il massacro e quando si accorse che la sua
voce non era ascoltata, offrì a Dio la sua vita in cambio della pace; morì a
Napoli il 7 agosto 1547 a 66 anni, consumato dagli stenti e preoccupazioni e
due mesi dopo la pace ritornò nella città partenopea.
L’opera che più l’aveva
assillato nella sua vita, era senza dubbio la riforma della Chiesa, al
contrario del contemporaneo Martin Lutero, operò la sua riforma dal basso verso
l’alto, formando il clero e dedicandosi all’apostolato fra i poveri, i
diseredati e gli ammalati, specie se abbandonati.
A quanti gli facevano
notare che i napoletani non potevano essere così generosi negli aiuti, come i
ricchi veneziani, rispondeva: “E sia, ma il Dio di Venezia è anche il Dio di
Napoli”.
Il popolo napoletano non
ha mai dimenticato questo vicentino di Thiene, venuto a donarsi a loro fino a
morirne per la stanchezza e gli strapazzi, in un’assistenza senza risparmio e
continua. La piazza antistante la Basilica di S. Paolo Maggiore è a lui
intitolata, ma la stessa basilica, per secoli sede dell’Ordine, è ormai da
tutti chiamata di S. Gaetano; il suo corpo insieme a quello del beato Marinoni,
del beato Paolo Burali e altri venerabili teatini è deposto nella cripta
monumentale, che ha un accesso diretto sulla piazza, ed è meta di continua
devozione del popolo dello storico e popoloso rione.
Nella piazza, come in altre
zone di Napoli, vi è una grande statua che lo raffigura; da secoli è stato
nominato compatrono di Napoli. Il suo è uno dei nomi più usati da imporre ai
figli dei napoletani e di tutta la provincia. Egli venne beatificato il 23
novembre 1624 da papa Urbano VIII e canonizzato il 12 aprile 1671 da papa
Clemente X.
San Gaetano da Thiene è
la testimonianza di quanto la Chiesa nei secoli, attraverso i suoi figli, sia
stata sempre all’avanguardia e con molto anticipo sul potere laico, nel
realizzare, inventare e gestire opere di assistenza in tutte le sue forme per
il popolo, specie dove c’è sofferenza. Ecco così i Monti di Pietà per giusti
prestiti ed elargizioni, l’istituzione degli ospedali, orfanotrofi, ospizi,
lebbrosari, ecc. a cui ieri come oggi i governanti più avveduti e non ostili,
hanno dato il loro consenso o il prosieguo, anche se a distanza a volte di
molto tempo.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770), The Holy Family Appearing in a Vision to St Gaetano (Saint Cajetan), circa 1735, 128 x 73, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venezia
Quanti bambini a Napoli sono stati chiamati Gaetano? Tantissimi, in onore a San Gaetano di Thiene, nato a Vicenza nel 1480. Di nobile famiglia, Gaetano porta il nome di un suo zio chiamato così perché nato a Gaeta (Latina). Il padre Gaspare muore quando Gaetano ha due anni. La madre Maria da Porto è buona e generosa e aiuta gli affamati che bussano alla porta della sua splendida casa. Educa il figlio ai valori cristiani che, diligente nello studio, si laurea e potrebbe diventare avvocato. Gaetano aspira, però, alla vita religiosa anche se si sente indegno al sacerdozio, tale è la sua umiltà. Si reca a Roma e diventa il segretario di papa Giulio II.
Ordinato sacerdote nel 1516, un giorno mentre prega per essere aiutato ad essere un buon servitore di Dio, gli appare la Madonna che gli porge il Bambino Gesù. Questa è la risposta dal Cielo. Gaetano torna nel Veneto dove fonda l’Ospedale degli Incurabili a Venezia. Egli stesso cura i malati più gravi e, durante il diffondersi di una pestilenza, percorre le calli veneziane per soccorrere i contagiati.
Deluso dal comportamento di alcuni rappresentanti della Chiesa, che con la loro vita agiata sono indifferenti ai bisogni dei diseredati, il prete fonda, assieme al vescovo di Chieti Gian Pietro Carafa, futuro papa Paolo IV, una comunità di sacerdoti, i “Teatini” (dal nome degli abitanti di Chieti). I Teatini intendono vivere il Vangelo e tornare alle origini del Cristianesimo: come gli apostoli non possedere niente e condividere tutto con i poveri.
Dal 1533 è soprattutto a Napoli, dove tuttora è molto venerato, che Gaetano fa conoscere la sua santità. Non si risparmia per gli ammalati, soprattutto durante le epidemie di colera e le ricorrenti carestie; crea il primo Monte di Pietà, dal quale trae origine il Banco di Napoli, per dare aiuto economico a chi ha bisogno; promuove il valore del presepio che ama con tutto se stesso e da cui avrà origine la famosissima tradizione del presepe napoletano, con le sue stupende statuine.
Gaetano ama i napoletani al punto da offrire la sua vita a Dio per far cessare la guerra civile che ha già causato 250 vittime: muore il 7 agosto del 1547 e lo stesso giorno a Napoli torna la pace. Oggi San Gaetano, detto il “Santo della Provvidenza”, riposa nella Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore a Napoli. È protettore dei disoccupati, di chi è in cerca di lavoro e dei donatori di sangue. Viene invocato contro le malattie in genere (soprattutto per la guarigione delle cisti) e affinché arrivi la Provvidenza Divina.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/28700
Monumento
a Gaetano Thiene a piazza San Gaetano, nel centro storico di Napoli.
Gaetano Thiene
(1480-1547)
Beatificazione:
- 08 ottobre 1629
- Papa Urbano VIII
Canonizzazione:
- 12 aprile 1671
- Papa Clemente X
- Basilica Vaticana
Ricorrenza:
- 7 agosto
Sacerdote, che a Napoli
si dedicò a pie opere di carità, in particolare adoperandosi per i malati
incurabili, promosse associazioni per la formazione religiosa dei laici e
istituì i Chierici regolari per il rinnovamento della Chiesa, rimettendo ai
suoi discepoli il dovere di osservare l’antico stile di vita degli Apostoli.
Divenuto sacerdote, nel
1523 fonda con tre compagni (uno dei quali sarà Papa Paolo IV) la Congregazione
dei Teatini. La loro regola è il Vangelo “sine glossa”.
"Non con il fervore
dell’affetto, ma con il fervore dell’effetto si purificano le anime”
Gaetano Thiene nacque a
Vicenza nell’ottobre del 1480 in una nobile famiglia pervasa di religiosità,
nella quale trovò le condizioni più adatte per corrispondere sin dall’inizio
alla santità fondamentale ricevuta nel battesimo, ossia alla grazia santificante,
alle virtù soprannaturali e ai doni dello Spirito Santo, che egli coltivò in
sé.
Per questo egli sempre
più, e più fedelmente di giorno in giorno seguiva Cristo, che lo chiamava alla
santità, dapprima nello stato laicale e poi in quello sacerdotale e, infine, in
quello della vita religiosa.
Giovane di buoni costumi,
alunno dell’Università di Padova, dove conseguì il dottorato “in utroque iure”.
Dopo di questo ricevette la sacra tonsura, obbedendo ad una interiore chiamata
allo stato ecclesiastico; ammirarlo nell’Aula del Sommo Pontefice, nella quale,
preposto all’ufficio di scrittore delle Lettere Pontificie con la dignità di
Protonotario Apostolico, sotto i pontificati di Giulio II e di Leone X, che gli
volevano un gran bene, lavorò con zelo per la Curia Romana.
Poveri, incurabili,
chiunque avesse una mano tesa era suo amico.
La sua attività
nell’Oratorio del Divino Amore e l’aiuto portato agli inguaribili nell’Ospizio
di San Giacomo in Augusta, furono esempi di carità e di riforma interiore che
egli offrì, esercitando anche dell’apostolato in Confraternite di laici,
specialmente a Vicenza, sua patria, e a Venezia, dove rinnovò lo spirito di
quei pii sodalizi - come già quello del sodalizio romano del Divino Amore -
incitando i membri a pregare in comune, ad ascoltare la parola di Dio e a
meditarla, nonché a ricevere con frequenza i Sacramenti: pii esercizi, questi,
che erano connotati dalla carità per i malati e i poveri,
Giustamente il Sommo
Pontefice Pio XII, nella Lettera a voi diretta in occasione delle celebrazioni
centenarie della morte di questo vostro fondatore, lo chiamò “apostolo ardente
del Divino Amore e antesignano di misericordia cristiana”. (In Tabulario
genaali Ordinis Clericorum Regularium vulgo Theatinorum [Roma])
Obbedendo alla ispirazione
divina Gaetano, con tre compagni, Giovanni Pietro Carafa, Vescovo di Chieti e
poi Papa Paolo IV, e Paolo Consiglieri, con la professione dei voti solenni,
emessa il 14 settembre dell’anno 1524 presso la tomba di San Pietro in
Vaticano, diede inizio all’Istituto dei Chierici Regolari, il cui scopo era
quello di ripristinare gli esempi della primitiva comunità cristiana di
Gerusalemme, nella quale i fedeli, mossi dallo Spirito Santo, vivevano uniti
nella fede e obbedienti alle disposizioni degli apostoli, perseveranti nella
frazione del pane e nelle preghiere, distribuendo a tutti, secondo il bisogno
di ciascuno, i loro bani e, raccolti nell’amore di Cristo, erano un cuore solo
e un’anima sola.(cf. At 2, 41-47; 4, 32-35.).
L’opera che più l’aveva
assillato nella sua vita, era senza dubbio la riforma della Chiesa, al
contrario del contemporaneo Martin Lutero, operò la sua riforma dal basso verso
l’alto, formando il clero e dedicandosi all’apostolato fra i poveri, i
diseredati e gli ammalati, specie se abbandonati.
A quanti gli facevano
notare che i napoletani non potevano essere così generosi negli aiuti, come i
ricchi veneziani, rispondeva: “E sia, ma il Dio di Venezia è anche il Dio di
Napoli”. Il popolo napoletano non ha mai dimenticato questo vicentino di Thiene,
venuto a donarsi a loro fino a morirne per la stanchezza e gli strapazzi, in
un’assistenza senza risparmio e continua.
A Napoli vi è una
grande statua che lo raffigura; da secoli è stato nominato compatrono di
Napoli. Il suo è uno dei nomi più usati da imporre ai figli dei napoletani e di
tutta la provincia.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/gaetano-thiene.html
Mattia Bortoloni (1695–1750), Gloria
di san Gaetano da Thiene / Gloria di san Gaetano da Thiene / Gloria di san
Gaetano da Thiene, circa 1729, Colori su carta, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
Al diletto figlio
Michele Tucci
Preposito Generale dell’Ordine dei Chierici Regolari
comunemente Teatini
Nella celebrazione
liturgica dei Santi la Chiesa è solita ricordare il loro giorno di nascita alla
eterna beatitudine; ma è bene rinnovare anche il ricordo, con gratitudine verso
Dio, datore di tutti i beni, dei giorni in cui essi sono nati alla terra. I Santi,
che Dio chiama “secondo il suo disegno e la sua grazia” (2 Tm 1, 9),
perché siano in particolar modo conformi all’immagine di Cristo suo Figlio,
sono membra elette del Corpo Mistico di Cristo, che è la Chiesa (Col 1,
18), modelli di perfezione evangelica, e per lo più sono costituiti perché con
la loro multiforme attività lascino dei ricordi negli eventi della Chiesa e del
genere umano.
Perciò con gioia di
padre, o dilettissimi figli spirituali di San Gaetano da Thiene, apprendiamo
che voi state per celebrare il suo quinto centenario (della nascita).
Gaetano, nato a Vicenza
nell’ottobre dell’anno 1480, come secondo la verità storica è stato tramandato,
in una famiglia pervasa di religiosità trovò le condizioni più adatte per
corrispondere sin dall’inizio alla santità fondamentale ricevuta nel battesimo,
ossia alla grazia santificante, alle virtù soprannaturali e ai doni dello
Spirito Santo, che egli coltivò in sé. Per questo egli sempre più, e più
fedelmente di giorno in giorno seguiva Cristo, che lo chiamava alla santità,
dapprima nello stato laicale e poi in quello sacerdotale e, infine, in quello
della vita religiosa.
È bello osservarlo,
giovane di buoni costumi, alunno dell’Università di Padova, dove conseguì il
dottorato “in utroque iure”. Dopo di questo ricevette la sacra tonsura,
obbedendo - è lecito congetturarlo - ad una interiore chiamata allo stato
ecclesiastico; ammirarlo nell’Aula del Sommo Pontefice, nella quale, preposto
all’ufficio di scrittore delle Lettere Pontificie con la dignità di
Protonotario Apostolico, sotto i pontificati di Giulio II e di Leone X, che gli
volevano un gran bene, lavorò con zelo per la Curia Romana.
La sua attività
nell’Oratorio del Divino Amore e l’aiuto portato agli inguaribili nell’Ospizio
di San Giacomo in Augusta, furono esempi di carità e di riforma interiore che
egli offrì, esercitando anche dell’apostolato in Confraternite di laici,
specialmente a Vicenza, sua patria, e a Venezia, dove rinnovò lo spirito di
quei pii sodalizi - come già quello del sodalizio romano del Divino Amore -
incitando i membri a pregare in comune, ad ascoltare la parola di Dio e a
meditarla, nonché a ricevere con frequenza i Sacramenti: pii esercizi, questi,
che erano connotati dalla carità per i malati e i poveri, perché, come egli
diceva, “non con il fervore dell’affetto, ma con il fervore dell’effetto si
purificano le anime”. (Lettere di S. Gaetano da Thiene, in “Studi e Testi”,
Città del Vaticano 1954 p. 31.) Giustamente il Sommo Pontefice Pio XII, nella
Lettera a voi diretta in occasione delle celebrazioni centenarie della morte di
questo vostro fondatore, lo chiamò “apostolo ardente del Divino Amore e
antesignano di misericordia cristiana”. (In Tabulario genaali Ordinis
Clericorum Regularium vulgo Theatinorum [Roma])
Ma perché il carisma
proprio di San Gaetano possa essere valutato esattamente, occorre piuttosto
tenere conto che egli rinnovò nella Chiesa del suo tempo la vita apostolica;
richiamò le persone ecclesiastiche alla santità della loro vocazione;
testimoniò apertamente la povertà evangelica e, insieme, imitò Cristo con intensissimo
ardore.
Obbedendo alla
ispirazione divina Gaetano, con tre compagni, Giovanni Pietro Carafa, Vescovo
di Chieti e poi Papa Paolo IV, e Paolo Consiglieri, con la professione dei voti
solenni, emessa il 14 settembre dell’anno 1524 presso la tomba di San Pietro in
Vaticano, diede inizio all’Istituto dei Chierici Regolari, il cui scopo era
quello di ripristinare gli esempi della primitiva comunità cristiana di
Gerusalemme, nella quale i fedeli, mossi dallo Spirito Santo, vivevano uniti
nella fede e obbedienti alle disposizioni degli apostoli, perseveranti nella
frazione del pane e nelle preghiere, distribuendo a tutti, secondo il bisogno
di ciascuno, i loro bani e, raccolti nell’amore di Cristo, erano un cuore solo
e un’anima sola.(cf. At 2, 41-47; 4, 32-35.)
Si ripetevano, perciò,
quelle note comunità sacerdotali che, costituite a più riprese, erano state al
servizio dei Pastori e delle loro Chiese e, avendo sempre testimoniato
sinceramente il Vangelo di Cristo, avevano resa sicura ogni vera riforma della
Chiesa. A buon diritto l’esimio Cardinale di S.R.C. Guglielmo Sirleto, che per
alcuni anni era stato ospite a Roma dei Teatini, disse di questo Istituto:
“Nella cura del culto divino, nel disprezzo delle ricchezze, nel rimanente modo
di vivere, seguendo le orme degli apostoli, ripropongono nella nostra età quei
primi tempi della Chiesa Cristiana”. (Antonio Caracciolo, Synopsis veterum
religiosorum, Parigi 1628, p. 2.) Ugualmente il Cardinale Cesare Baronio, nelle
note al martirologio romano, accennando ai Teatini dice: “Santamente e
devotamente praticano la primitiva forma di vivere apostolica, restaurata
completamente”.(cf. Regnum Dei: Collectanea theatina, 2 [1946] 47)
Questo è, secondo la
storia, il carisma dello spirito di San Gaetano. Perciò la Chiesa, celebrando
nella liturgia la sua memoria, prega così: “O Dio, che al beato sacerdote
Gaetano hai concesso di imitare una apostolica forma di vita”; e perciò chiede
al Signore che, per la sua intercessione, le dia di aver fiducia in lui e di
cercare il suo regno. (Ex Missali Romano, die VII m. Augusti.)
Questa noncuranza e
disprezzo dei beni umani, e questa fiducia nel Padre celeste, che nutre gli
uccelli del cielo e veste i gigli del campo, (Mt 6, 26. 28.) giovò molto
alla diffusione del culto del vostro fondatore, particolarmente tra i popoli
detti latini, e a che fosse invocato come “il Santo della Provvidenza”.
Da allora, molti insigni
Ordini di Regolari, con l’aiuto di Dio, hanno imitato, innanzitutto quanto al
tempo dell’istituzione (1524), l’Ordine dei Chierici Regolari, (cf. Annuario
Pontificio: “Chierici Regolari”) e anch’essi, osservando lo spirito della
primitiva comunità apostolica, furono di grande aiuto sia per la celebrazione
del Concilio di Trento e alla messa in pratica dei suoi decreti, sia alla
realizzazione della riforma cattolica, che cominciò ad essere effettuata nel
secolo decimosesto.
Con la testimonianza di
queste comunità, composte di sacerdoti riformati, San Gaetano mirava anche, e
principalmente, alla riforma del clero, richiesta da quel tempo di diffusa
corruzione. Dall’Istituto di San Gaetano, come dagli altri del medesimo genere,
gli ecclesiastici, traevano una spinta innanzitutto per una riforma interiore,
da dimostrare con una vera e totale conversione di mentalità e di costumi e con
l’esercizio del ministero sacerdotale, da svolgere secondo la volontà di Cristo
Sommo Sacerdote e Pontefice della Nuova Alleanza, il quale li avverte: “Badate
a quello che fate”. A questo proposito, un analista teatino poté dire con tutta
verità: “Coloro che non avevano nessuna regola, guardandosi nello specchio dei
Chierici Regolari, si sarebbero accorti di quanto fossero lontani dalla via che
anch’essi dovevano seguire”. (Valerio Pagano, in Regnum Dei: Collectanea
theatina, 24 [1968] 57)
Ma nel seguire Cristo
Gaetano e i compagni, imbevuti del vero spirito della povertà evangelica,
offrirono un non minore esempio quanto ai beni materiali.
Con animo grande, anzi
eroico, Gaetano e Giovanni Pietro Carafa, insieme con gli altri compagni che
avevano pure fondato l’Istituto, lasciarono i loro beni ecclesiastici e il
patrimonio. In seguito stabilirono di vivere - come ammoniva San Paolo - con le
entrate del sacro ministero, poiché “l’operaio è degno della sua mercede”, (Lc 10,
7) e delle offerte volontarie dei fedeli. Senza beni fissi e rendite, e senza
mendicare, vivevano affidandosi, come figli, alla provvidenza del Padre
celeste.
Questo grandissimo e
quasi incredibile disprezzo delle cose umane fece sì che la società di
quell’epoca desse credito alla riforma che Gaetano proponeva agli ecclesiastici
e, per mezzo loro, al popolo cristiano, chiamato da Dio alla perfezione
evangelica del suo stato.
Gaetano poté fare tutto
questo perché era spinto da grande amore di imitare Cristo; tenendo infatti gli
occhi fissi in lui raggiunse il vertice della perfezione evangelica, e si
consacrò talmente alla carità che, prossimo agli ultimi giorni, dopo aver
invocato con ardenti preghiere la clemenza divina, offrì a Dio la sua vita per
impetrare la pace per la città di Napoli, turbata da cruente lotte cittadine:
cosa che i suoi biografi narrano concordemente.
Perciò non c’è chi non
veda quanto anche di questi tempi valgano gli insegnamenti di San Gaetano per
ciò che riguarda l’utilità delle anime e della società.
Giustamente San Gaetano
può essere proposto alla imitazione dei fedeli: perché ebbe spirito
sacerdotale, appassionatissimo di rinnovare continuamente l’uomo interiore, per
dedicarsi meglio all’amore di Dio e del prossimo, nel quale risiede la
perfezione cristiana; perché con infaticabile ardore cercò di rinnovare
realmente la Chiesa del suo tempo, “sempre bisognosa di essere riformata”;
perché con sincerità e forza tornò alle fonti pure del Vangelo e alla forma di
vita degli apostoli e dei discepoli del Signore, sia nella pratica della
povertà privata e comunitaria, sia nel modo di vivere dei cristiani, uniti
dall’amore di Cristo in un cuore solo e un’anima sola; perché fervidamente curò
il decoro della Casa di Dio e di un degno servizio liturgico, alla cui
celebrazione la sua famiglia religiosa doveva provvedere in modo particolare;
perché continuamente fu al servizio degli ammalati, dei poveri, degli
emarginati, degli appestati e dei colpiti da malattie ripugnanti - simili
veramente alle calamità di quest’epoca; perché, infine, si affidò, con fiducia
alla provvida bontà del Padre celeste, il quale esorta l’uomo a guardare,
sperare e raggiungere le cose che sorpassano il modo di sentire di questo
mondo, teso solo all’utile e riprovato dal Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano II;
perché rifulse per tutti questi meriti e doti dell’anima.
Lieti di partecipare con
voi, in qualche modo, a queste celebrazioni, con questa lettera, senza dubbio a
voi soprattutto gradita, specialmente perché San Gaetano amò intensamente la
fede di Pietro, vi esortiamo nel Signore ad imitare sempre il vostro fondatore,
come lui imitò Cristo: e ciò senz’altro farete seguendo Cristo, aiutando i
fedeli nell’anima e nel corpo; esercitando le opere del vostro ministero
sacerdotale, contribuendo alla edificazione del corpo di Cristo (Ef 4,
12).
Con questi sentimenti,
diletto figlio, benevolmente impartiamo a te e a tutta la famiglia religiosa,
alla quale sei a capo, la Benedizione Apostolica, auspice di grazie celesti.
Dai Palazzi Vaticani, il
7 agosto, anno 1980, secondo del nostro pontificato.
GIOVANNI PAOLO II
© Copyright 1980 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
_02b.jpg)
Statua
di Gaetano Thiene realizzata dallo scultore spagnolo Pedro Alonso de los Ríos,
nella chiesa di Tommaso De Vio a Madrid
Al querido hijo
Michele Tucci,
Prepósito general de la Orden de los Clérigos Regulares -teatinos-.
La Iglesia, en la
celebración litúrgica de los Santos, suele conmemorar el ala de su nacimiento
para el cielo; pero también es conveniente renovar, con gratitud a Dios dador
de todos los bienes, el recuerdo del día en que nacieron para la tierra. Los
Santos, a los que llama Dios "en virtud de su propósito y de la
gracia" (2 Tim 1, 9) para que sean conformes de manera especial
con la imagen de su Hijo Cristo, son miembros preclaros del Cuerpo místico de
Cristo, que es la Iglesia (cf. Col 1,18), ejemplos de perfección
evangélica, y muchas veces han sido puestos para que dejen testimonio con su
multiforme actividad en las grandes empresas de la Iglesia y del género humano.
Con paternal gozo, pues,
he sabido, queridísimos hijos de San Cayetano de Thien, que vais a celebrar el
V centenario de su nacimiento.
Cayetano, como atestigua
la historia, nació en Vicenza el mes de octubre de 1480, de una familia llena
de religiosidad, y aprovechó estas circunstancias tan a propósito para fomentar
enseguida la santidad fundamental recibida en el bautismo, es decir, la gracia
santificante, las virtudes sobrenaturales y los dones del Espíritu Santo, que
cultivó personalmente, ya que cada día siguió más de cerca y con mayor fidelidad
a Cristo que le llamaba a la santidad, primero en el estado laical, luego en el
sacerdotal y, finalmente, en la vida religiosa.
Resulta hermoso verle
joven de buenas costumbres, como alumno de la universidad de Padua, donde
obtuvo el grado de doctor "in utroque iure", después de lo cual
recibió la sagrada tonsura, tratando de seguir —como es lícito conjeturar— la
vocación interior al estado eclesiástico. Resulta hermoso verle en el palacio
del Sumo Pontífice, donde se le encomendó el cargo de escritor de las Cartas
Pontificias con la dignidad de Protonotario Apostólico, bajo los pontificados
de Julio II y León X, que tanto lo estimaron, y trabajó diligentemente en la
Curia Romana.
Su celo en el Oratorio
del Divino Amor, y la ayuda prestada a los incurables en el hospital de
Santiago en Augusta, fueron ejemplos preclaros de caridad y reforma interior
que dio también ejerciendo el apostolado en las Confraternidades laicales,
sobre todo en Vicenza, su patria, en Verona y Venecia, donde instauró el espíritu
de aquellos piadosos sodalicios, lo mismo que antes en el sodalicio de Roma del
Divino Amor, estimulando a los compañeros a orar en común, a oír la Palabra de
Dios y meditarla, así como a frecuentar los sacramentos: y estos piadosos
ejercicios se traducían eficacísimamente en caridad para con los enfermos y los
pobres porque, como él mismo decía: "Las almas se purifican no por el
fervor del afecto, sino por el fervor del efecto" [1]. Con razón el Sumo Pontífice Pío XII,
teniendo en cuenta sus obras de caridad, en la Carta que os dirigió al celebrar
las fiestas centenarias de la muerte de vuestro fundador, lo llamó "apóstol
ardiente del Divino Amor y abanderado de la misericordia cristiana" [2].
Mas, para que se pueda
apreciar rectamente el carisma propio de San Cayetano, es preciso considerar
también que él restableció la vida apostólica en la Iglesia de su época; urgió
a los eclesiásticos la santidad propia de su vocación y de su estado; dio
testimonio abiertamente de la pobreza evangélica y, al mismo tiempo, imitó a
Cristo con diligentísimo afán.
Obedeciendo a la
inspiración divina, Cayetano, con sus tres compañeros, Juan Pedro Carafa,
obispo de Thien y luego Papa Pablo IV, Bonifacio de Colli y Pablo Consigleri,
por medio de la profesión de los votos solemnes emitidos el 14 de septiembre de
1524, junto al sepulcro de San Pedro, en el Vaticano, dio comienzo al instituto
de Clérigos Regulares, cuyo propósito era restablecer los ejemplos de la
primitiva comunidad apostólica de Jerusalén, en la que los fieles, movidos por
el Espíritu Santo, vivían unidos en la fe, escuchando las enseñanzas de los
Apóstoles, perseverando en la fracción del pan y en la oración, compartiendo
con todos sus bienes, según la necesidad de cada uno, congregados en la caridad
de Cristo, tenían un solo corazón y una sola alma (cf. Act 2,41-47;
4, 32-35).
Se instauraban, pues,
aquellas conocidas comunidades sacerdotales que, instituidas sin cesar durante
siglos, siempre existieron en el ministerio de los Pastores y de sus Iglesias,
y que, dando testimonio sinceramente del Evangelio de Cristo, aseguraron la
auténtica reforma de la Iglesia. Con toda razón el insigne cardenal de la Santa
Iglesia Romana, Guglielmo Sirleto, que durante algunos años había sido huésped en
Roma de los teatinos, dijo del instituto: "En fomentar el culto divino, en
el desprecio de las riquezas, y en toda su conducta, siguiendo las huellas de
los Apóstoles, imitaban en nuestra época los primeros tiempos de la Iglesia
cristiana" [3]. También el cardenal Cesare Baronio, en
sus anotaciones al martirologio romano, hablando de los teatinos, dice:
"Se dedican pía y santamente a la primitiva forma apostólica de vida,
viviéndola de nuevo en su integridad" [4].
Según la historia, éste
es el carisma del espíritu de San Cayetano. Por lo que la Iglesia, al celebrar
en la liturgia su memoria, reza así: "Señor, Dios nuestro, que concediste
a San Cayetano presbítero imitar el modo de vivir de los Apóstoles"; y por
ello mismo pide al Señor que, por su intercesión le conceda poner en El su
confianza y buscar siempre el Reino de los cielos [5].
Este menosprecio y desdén
de las cosas humanas y esta confianza en el Padre celestial que alimenta a las
aves del cielo y viste a los lirios del campo (cf. Mt 6, 26. 28),
contribuyó en gran manera a que se propagase el culto de vuestro fundador,
sobre todo en los pueblos llamados latinos, y que se le invoque como
"Santo de la Providencia".
De ahí que a la Orden de
Clérigos Regulares, desde los primeros tiempos de su fundación (1524),
siguieran, con la ayuda de Dios, otras muchas insignes Ordenes de
Regulares [6], que observando también el espíritu de
las primeras comunidades apostólicas, sirvieron de gran ayuda, tanto para la
celebración del Concilio Tridentino y la aplicación de sus Decretos, como para
efectuar la reforma católica que comenzó a realizarse en el siglo XVI.
Con el. testimonio de
estás comunidades, compuestas por sacerdotes reformados, San Cayetano pretendía
también y principalmente la reforma del clero, que era necesaria en aquel
tiempo de tanta corrupción.
Del instituto de San
Cayetano, como de los otros similares, los eclesiásticos sacaban estímulo, en
primer lugar, para la reforma interior, que se manifestaba en la total
conversión del corazón y de sus costumbres, y en el ejercicio del ministerio
sacerdotal desarrollado de acuerdo con la voluntad de Cristo, Sumo Sacerdote y
Pontífice de la Nueva Alianza, exhortándoles así: "Mirad lo que
tratáis". A este respecto pudo afirmar con toda verdad un escritor teatino
de los Anales: "Quienes no seguían regla alguna, mirándose en el espejo de
los Clérigos Regulares, podían reconocer cuánto se desviaban del camino que
debían seguir" [7].
En cambio, Cayetano y sus
compañeros, abrazando el "seguimiento de Cristo", imbuidos del
espíritu de una auténtica pobreza evangélica, dieron el mismo ejemplo en el uso
de las cosas externas.
Con gran espíritu, más
aún, con espíritu heroico, Cayetano y Juan Pedro Carafa, junto con los demás
compañeros que habían fundado el instituto, dejaron sus bienes eclesiásticos y
su patrimonio. En adelante se propusieron —como aconsejaba San Pablo— vivir de
lo que obtenían por el sagrado ministerio, puesto que "el obrero es digno
de su salario" (Lc 10, 7), y de las limosnas que voluntariamente les
daban los fieles. Sin bienes ni ganancias seguras, pero sin mendigar, vivían
abandonándose como hijos en la Providencia del Padre celestial.
Este máximo y casi
increíble menosprecio de las cosas terrenas hizo que la sociedad de la época
creyera en la reforma que Cayetano aconsejaba a los eclesiásticos y, por medio
de ellos, al pueblo cristiano. llamado por Dios a la perfección evangélica
según su estado.
Cayetano pudo realizar todo
esto porque un amor vehemente le impulsaba a imitar a Cristo; fijos los ojos en
El, alcanzó el culmen de la perfección evangélica, y se entregó de tal manera a
la caridad que, cercano a los últimos días, después de implorar con ardientes
plegarias la clemencia divina, ofreció a Dios su vida, en Nápoles, ciudad
perturbada por cruentas luchas civiles, para impetrar la paz, según cuentan
Unánimemente sus biógrafos.
Por lo que se ve
claramente que también para estos tiempos es oportuno cuanto enseñó San Cayetano
en lo referente al bien de las almas y de la sociedad.
Realmente San Cayetano
estuvo adornado de espíritu sacerdotal, celosísimo de renovar constantemente
"al hombre interior", para que se entregue mejor al amor de Dios y
del prójimo, en lo que consiste la perfección cristiana; trató en realidad, con
infatigable ardor, de renovar en su tiempo la Iglesia, "semper
reformanda"; buscó sincera e intrépidamente las fuentes puras del
Evangelio y la forma de vivir de los Apóstoles y de los discípulos del Señor,
tanto en la pobreza privada y común, como en el modo de vivir de los
cristianos, unidos en un solo corazón y una sola alma por el vínculo del amor
de Cristo; cuidó afanosamente con esfuerzo en el decoro de la casa de Dios y en
la digna realización del ministerio litúrgico, en cuya celebración había de
esmerarse especialmente su familia religiosa; sirvió sin cesar a los enfermos,
pobres abandonados, a los que sufrían peste y otras enfermedades repugnantes
parecidas a esta plaga; finalmente, se entregó con toda confianza a la
providente bondad del Padre celestial, que exhorta al hombre para que reciba,
espere, busque las cosas que superan el criterio de este mundo, que sólo mira a
la utilidad y que ha desaprobado el Concilio. Ecuménico Vaticano II: Por haber
sobresalido en todo esto y en otras cosas del espíritu, el Santo justamente
puede ser propuesto a la imitación de los fieles.
Contento porque con esta
Carta, muy grata sin duda para vosotros, especialmente porque Cayetano amó
intensamente a la Sede de Pedro, comparto de algún modo con vosotros estas
celebraciones, os exhorto en el Señor a que imitéis a vuestro fundador, como él
imitó a Cristo. Y esto lo haréis ciertamente siguiendo a Cristo, ayudando a los
fieles tanto en el cuerpo como en el alma, ejerciendo el trabajo de vuestro
ministerio sacerdotal, contribuyendo a edificar el Cuerpo de Cristo (Ef 4,
12).
Guiado por este espíritu,
a ti, querido hijo, y a toda la familia religiosa que presides, imparto con
afecto la bendición apostólica, prenda de los dones celestiales.
Vaticano 7 de agosto de
1980, II año de nuestro pontificado.
IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
Notas
[1] Lettere
di San Gaetano da Thien, Cittá del Vaticano, Studi e Testi, 1954, pág. 31.
[2] En
el archivo general de la Orden de los Clérigos Regulares, llamados Teatinos
(Roma).
[3] Antonio
Caracciolo, Sinopsis veterum religiosorum, París 1628, pág. 2.
[4] Cf. Regnurn
Dei. Collectanea theatina, 2 (1946), pág. 47.
[5] Misal
Romano, día 7 de agosto.
[6] Cf.
Anuario Pontificio, Clérigos Regulares.
[7] Valerio
Pagano, en Regnum Dei, op. cit. 24 (1968), pág. 57.
© Copyright 1980 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Aulla,
Castello di Pallerone, interno, Cappella, Dipinto con San Gaetano di Thiene
Ao dilecto filho MIGUEL
TUCCI
Prepósito-Geral
dos Clérigos Regulares ordinariamente chamados Teatinos
Costuma a Igreja, na
celebração litúrgica dos Santos, celebrar-lhes o dia do nascimento para a
celestial bem-aventurança; mas convém ainda, com reconhecimento a Deus, dador
de todos os bens, renovar igualmente a memória dos dias em que nasceram para a
terra. Os Santos, que Deus chama "em virtude do Seu desígnio e graça"
(2 Tim 1, 9), para serem de maneira especial conformes à imagem de Cristo
Seu Filho, são membros escolhidos do Corpo Místico de Cristo, que é a Igreja (Col 1,
18), modelos da perfeição evangélica e a maior parte das vezes são constituídos
para, com a sua multiforme actividade, deixarem momentos na história da Igreja
e da humanidade.
Por isso, dilectíssimos
filhos espirituais de São Caetano de Tiene, fomos informado com alegria paterna
que ides celebrar o seu quinto centenário.
Caetano nascido em
Vicenza no mês de Outubro de 1480, como nos transmite a história, encontrou na
família profundamente religiosa condições favoráveis para corresponder, desde o
princípio, à santidade fundamental recebida no baptismo, isto é, à graça
santificante, às virtudes sobrenaturais e aos dons do Espírito Santo; foi o que
ele cultivou em si à medida que, mais de perto e mais fielmente, seguia a
Cristo, que o chamava à santidade, primeiro no estado laical, depois no
sacerdotal e por último na vida religiosa.
É belo observá-lo sendo
adolescente muito morigerado, como aluno da Universidade de Pádua, onde
conseguiu o grau de doutor "em ambos os direitos", depois do que
recebeu a sagrada tonsura, obedecendo — como é lícito supor — a um chamamento
íntimo para o estado eclesiástico; e é belo admirá-lo na Corte do Sumo
Pontífice, na qual prestou diligentes serviços à Cúria Romana como prefeito da
redacção das Cartas Pontifícias com a dignidade de Protonotário Apostólico nos
pontificados de Júlio II e Leão X, que muito o estimavam.
A sua actividade no
Oratório chamado do Divino Amor e o auxílio prestado aos incuráveis no hospital
de São Tiago "in Augusta" constituíram notabilíssimos exemplos de
caridade e reforma interior, exemplos que deu também exercendo o apostolado em
Confrarias laicais, sobretudo em Vicenza, sua terra, em Verona e em Veneza,
onde renovou o espírito dessas associações piedosas, como anteriormente da
associação romana do Divino Amor, levando os membros a orarem em comum, a
ouvirem e a meditarem a Palavra de Deus e a receberem frequentemente os
Sacramentos: estes piedosos exercícios manifestavam-se de maneira muito eficaz
pela caridade para com os doentes e os pobres, porque, como ele dizia, "as
almas purificam-se não com o fervor do afecto mas com o do efeito" [1]. Com razão o Sumo Pontífice Pio XII,
considerando as suas obras de caridade, na Carta que vos dirigiu ao celebrar-se
o centenário dá morte do vosso Fundador, lhe chamou "ardente apóstolo do
Divino Amor e instigador da misericórdia cristã" [2].
Mas, para o carisma
próprio de São Caetano se poder apreciar devidamente, convém de preferência
ponderar que ele restaurou a vida apostólica na Igreja do seu tempo; chamou os
eclesiásticos à santidade da própria vocação e estado; testemunhou abertamente
a pobreza evangélica e ao mesmo tempo imitou com a maior diligência a Cristo.
Obedecendo à inspiração
divina, Caetano com três companheiros — João Pedro Carafa, Bispo Teatino e
pouco depois Papa com o nome de Paulo IV, Bonifácio de' Colli e Paulo
Consiglieri — por meio da profissão de votos solenes emitida a 14 de Setembro
de 1524 junto do sepulcro de São Pedro no Vaticano, deu início ao Instituto dos
Clérigos Regulares, o qual se propunha restaurar os exemplos da primitiva
comunidade apostólica de Jerusalém, na qual os fiéis, movidos pelo Espírito
Santo, viviam unidos na fé e ouvindo os preceitos dos Apóstolos, perseverando
na fracção do pão e nas orações, repartindo com todos os próprios bens conforme
a necessidade de cada um e, unidos pela caridade de Cristo, eram um só coração
e uma só alma (cf. Act 2, 41-47; 4, 32-35).
Eram assim restauradas
aquelas conhecidas comunidades sacerdotais que, durante séculos constituídas
desse modo, tinham estado ao serviço dos Pastores e das suas Igrejas e,
testemunhando sempre sinceramente o Evangelho de Cristo, tinham assegurado
qualquer verdadeira reforma da Igreja. Com razão o exímio Cardeal Guilherme
Sirleto, que fora hóspede em Roma dos Teatinos, assim se exprimiu sobre o
Instituto destes: "na promoção do culto divino, no desprezo das riquezas e
no restante modo de viver, seguindo as pegadas dos Apóstolos, ele representava
na nossa idade aqueles primeiros tempos da Igreja Cristã" [3]. Do mesmo modo o Cardeal César Barónio,
nas suas notas ao Martirológio Romano, designando os Teatinos, diz:
"cultivam santa e piedosamente a primitiva forma de viver dos Apóstolos,
de todo restaurada" [4].
Este é o carisma do
espírito de São Caetano, segundo a história. Por isso a Igreja, celebrando na
liturgia a sua memória, assim ora: "Deus, que destes ao sacerdote São
Caetano a graça de imitar o género de vida dos Apóstolos"; por isso, roga
ao Senhor que, mediante a sua intercessão, lhe conceda sempre confiar n'Ele e
buscar o Seu reino [5].
O desprezo e o desdém das
coisas humanas e a confiança no Pai celeste, que alimenta as aves do céu e
veste os lírios do campo (cf. Mt 6, 26, 28), muito contribuíram para
se divulgar o culto do vosso Fundador, sobretudo entre os povos chamados
latinos, e para ser invocado como "o Santo da Providência".
Por isso, a Ordem dos
Clérigos Regulares, a primeira quanto ao tempo da instituição (1524), foi
seguida, com o auxílio de Deus, por várias outras insignes Ordens de Regulares
[6], que, mantendo o espírito primitivo da
comunidade apostólica, foram de grande auxílio quer para a celebração do
Concílio Tridentino e aplicação dos seus decretos, quer para se pôr em prática
a reforma católica, que principiou a realizar-se no século XVI.
Com o testemunho destas
comunidades, compostas de sacerdotes reformados, São Caetano tinha em vista
também, e mesmo principalmente, a reforma do clero, que era pedida por esse
tempo de corrupção alastrada. Do Instituto de São Caetano, como dos outros da
mesma espécie, tiravam os eclesiásticos incitamento principalmente para a
reforma interior, que devia mostrar-se na verdadeira e total conversão do
espírito e dos costumes e no exercício do ministério sacerdotal, segundo a
vontade de Cristo Sumo Sacerdote e Pontífice do novo Testamento, que os
advertia: "vede aquilo em que tocais". Neste ponto, com toda a razão
um escritor teatino de anais pôde afirmar: "aqueles, que não pensavam em
regra nenhuma, vendo-se no espelho dos Clérigos Regulares, hão-de notar quanto
se encontram apartados do caminho que deviam seguir" [7].
Caetano, porém, e os seus
companheiros, abraçando o "seguimento de Cristo" e embebidos no
espírito da verdadeira pobreza evangélica, não deram menor exemplo das coisas
exteriores.
Com ânimo grande, ou
melhor heróico, Caetano e João Pedro Carafa, do mesmo modo que os outros
companheiros que tinham igualmente fundado o Instituto, deixaram os bens
eclesiásticos e o património. Depois propuseram-se — o que São Paulo
recomendava — viver dos proventos do ministério sagrado porque, "o
trabalhador merece o seu salário" (Lc 10, 7), e viver das dádivas
espontâneas dos fiéis. Sem riquezas certas e sem rendimentos, mas também não
mendigando, viviam confiando, à maneira de filhos, na providência do Pai
celeste.
Este enorme e quase
inacreditável desprezo das coisas humanas fez que a sociedade daquele tempo
acreditasse na reforma, que persuadia Caetano aos eclesiásticos e, por meio
deles, ao povo cristão, chamado por Deus à perfeição evangélica do próprio
estado.
Tudo isto pôde conseguir
Caetano, porque era impelido por ardente amor de imitar a Cristo; com olhos
fixos n'Ele atingiu o ápice da perfeicão evangélica, e de tal maneira se
entregou à caridade que, próximo dos últimos dias, depois de invocar a divina
clemência, ofereceu a Deus a vida com fervorosíssimas preces, a fim de alcançar
a paz para a cidade de Nápoles, perturbada com lutas internas sangrentas: o que
narram unanimemente os historiadores da sua vida.
Ninguém deixa, pois, de
ver quanto são aptas, mesmo nos nossos tempos, as lições que São Caetano deu no
que respeita à utilidade das almas e da sociedade.
Foi verdadeiramente
adornado de espírito sacerdotal, empenhadíssimo em renovar assiduamente "o
homem interior", para melhor servir ao amor de Deus e do próximo, no que
está a verdadeira perfeição; procurou verdadeiramente, com infatigável ardor,
renovar a Igreja do seu tempo, "sempre necessitada de reforma";
recorreu sincera e fortemente às puras fontes do Evangelho e à maneira de viver
dos Apóstolos e dos discípulos do Senhor, seja na prática da pobreza particular
e comum, seja na maneira de viver dos cristãos, unidos pelo vinculo do amor de
Cristo, para terem um só coração e uma só alma; empenhou-se instantemente na
beleza da Casa de Deus e no digno ministério litúrgico, cuja celebração estava
particularmente ao cuidado da sua família religiosa; sem descanso serviu aos
doentes, aos pobres, aos abandonados, aos empestados e atacados por doenças
molestas e semelhantes calamidades; finalmente entregou-se confiadamente à providente
bondade do Pai celeste, que exorta o homem a receber, esperar e procurai obter
as coisas que ultrapassam o sentido deste século, que só pensa na utilidade e
foi repreendido pelo Concílio Vaticano II: porque brilhou por estes louvores e
por outras propriedades de espírito, São Caetano não sem motivo pode ser
proposto aos fiéis para imitação.
Com esta carta, sem
dúvida a vós sobretudo´agradável, primeiramente tendo Caetano amado
ardentemente a Sé de Pedro, alegre comunicamos de algum modo convosco nestas
celebrações; exortamo-vos no Senhor a que sempre imiteis o vosso Fundador, como
ele imitou a Cristo: fá-lo-eis sem dúvida seguindo a Cristo, ajudando os fiéis
quanto às almas e aos corpos, exercendo as obras do vosso ministério sacerdotal
e ajudando a edificar o corpo de Cristo (Ef 4, 12).
Levado por este espírito,
a ti, dilecto filho, e a toda a Família religiosa que diriges, concedemos com
amor a Bênção Apostólica, como auspício dos dons celestes.
Do Palácio do Vaticano, 7
de Agosto de 1980, segundo no Nosso Pontificado.
JOÃO PAULO PP. II
Notas
[1] Cartas de São Caetano de Tiene, Cidade
do Vaticano, Estudos e Textos, 1954, p. 31.
[2] No Arquivo geral da Ordem dos Clérigos
Regulares de ordinário chamados Teatinos (Roma).
[3] António Caracciolo, Synopsis veterum
religiosorum, Paris 1628, p. 2.
[4] Cf. Regnum Dei. Collectanea theatina,
2 (1946) p. 47.
[5] Do Missal Romano, dia 7 do mês de
Agosto.
[6] Cf. Anuário Pontifício, Clérigos
Regulares.
[7] Valério Pagano, in "Regnum Dei"
op. cit., 24 (1968) p. 57.
© Copyright 1980 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
