Saint Cajetan

Saint Cajetan

Born: October 1, 1480, Vicenza, Italy

Died: August 7, 1547, Naples, Italy

Beatified: October 8, 1629, Rome by Pope Urban VIII

Canonized: April 12, 1671, Rome by Pope Clement X

Feast day: August 7

Patron saint of Argentina, bankers, unemployed people, workers, gamers, gamblers, document controllers, job seekers

Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene, known as Saint Cajetan, was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer. He was the co-founder of the Theatines and is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church.

He studied law and was a diplomat in the papal court. Saint Cajetan left Rome after the death of Pope Julius II to return to Vicenza. He was ordained a priest in 1516 and established hospitals for the incurably sick in Vicenza and Venice.

Gaetano joined the order of Theatines in Rome, which Pope Clement had formed in 1524. After the sack of Rome in 1527 he was tortured by Spanish soldiers, but he and the other Theatines managed to escape to Venice.

He assisted Jerome Emiliani in the establishment of a house of the Congregation of Clerks Regular in Venice, and in 1533 he founded a house of the Clerks in Naples.

In 1540 Gaetano established a bank in Verona to help the poor and provide an alternative to usurers who charged very high interest rates. It later became known as the Banco di Napoli.

Saint Cajetan died in Naples on August 7, 1547. He was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X.