SAINT OF THE DAY:ST. CAJETAN
St. 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. 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 then 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 confined to his native town however, he went to Venice. His aim was to save souls. The sick, he persuaded by kind and gentle exhortations; and others he moved to virtue by his earnest sermons.
