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Saint Cajetan
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1480 births
   
cajetan
   
1547 deaths
   
people from vicenza
   
italian saints
   
founders of roman catholic religious communities
   
christianity in argentina
   
buenos aires
   
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thiene, cajetan count of
   
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theatines
   
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Saint Cajetan, born '''Gaetano dei Conti di Tiene''', also ''Thiene'' (b. October, 1480 at Vicenza in Venetian territory; d.  Naples in 1547 ) was a Catholic Saint , the founder of the Order of the Clerics Regular — better known as the Theatines . He is not to be confused with his contemporary, Cardinal Cajetan .

Predisposed to piety by his mother, he studied Law in Padua , receiving his degree as ''doctor utriusque juris'' (i.e., in civil and canon law) at age 24. In  1506 he worked as a diplomat for Pope Julius II with whom he helped reconcile the Venetian Republic . This history aside he did not advance to the Priest hood till  1516 .

Recalled to Vicenza in the following year by the death of his mother he founded a Hospital for incurables there. His interests were as much or more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind. He intended to form a group that would combine the spirit of Monasticism with the exercises of the active ministry. The death of Pope Julius in  1523 led him to withdraw from the court, founding an order based on these ideals, the Oratory of Divine Love.

This new congregation 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 at a fairly slow pace, however. There were only 12 Theatines during the Sack Of Rome In 1527 . That event is said to have seen them harassed by anti-Catholic forces, causing them to flee to Venice where he met St. Hieronymus Aemiliani . He assisted Hieronymus in the establishment of his Congregation of Clerks Regular. In  1533 he founded a house in Naples which aided those who wished to check the advances of Lutheranism . The year  1540 found him in Venice again and from there he extended his work to Verona and Vicenza. Despite successes, he died of grief at the discords of Naples.

His Beatification came in  1629 and Canonization in  1671 . The Catholic Church keeps his feast on August 7 . His most cited Virtue s are those of assiduous Prayer and Charity .