23/08/2026
Cajetan: A Noble, Lawyer, Stateman, Priest and Saint.
St. Cajetan was born into a noble family of Thiene in Vicenza, Republic of Venice, Italy. He grew up in wealth, surrounded by nobility and earned doctorate in civil and canon law which opened many doors as a stateman.
He was a man of the state yet a man of God he saw himself best. He was a lawyer by profession in his early life but ultimately chose to enter religious life and became Priest at the age of 36.
He lived his life throughout the 15th Century where the church struggled very much from within, marked by corruption and detachment from Christβs teachings, he saw many Catholics grew detached from their faith, questioned the churchβs teachings and ultimately abandoned the Catholic Church.
St. Cajetan seeing all these, did not just stayed on the sideline doing nothing, he started the reformation of the Church not by leaving it but by correcting it. Together with his three friends one of which is Archbishop Gian Pietro Carafa (the future Pope Paul IV), they established the Congregation of Clerics Regular, commonly known as the Theatines which dedicated their lives to prayer, service to the poor, poverty by owning nothing and solely relying in the divine providence reflecting the lives of the first apostles whom Jesus cherished, called and sent forth to a broken world.
This congregation later on became a model to all priest on how religious life should be lived on, and that Christβs teachings should be demonstrated and lived out by the church through its people.
St. Cajetan continued to demonstrate his love, commitment and service to the Catholic Church by founding hospitals for the poor and incurably ill, orphanage for the abandoned children, a charitable nonprofit bank that would help the disadvantage ease high interest loans from loan sharks, offering them interest-free loans (which later became the Bank of Naples), he helped unemployed individuals find work, and devoted his life in the reformation of the church, mending what was broken and mediating civil conflicts between the clergy and the members of the church.
βWhen he fell ill in 1547, his doctors ordered him to lie on a mattress instead of the bare boards he used for his bed. βMy savior died on a cross,β Cajetan said. βAllow me at least to die on wood.β
He was a noble man and a noble servant of God. He was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1629 and was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. He is the Patron Saint of the unemployed, job seekers, and bread and work.
Saint Cajetan dedicated his life for the service of Christ whom he loved the most, his art is depicted holding a child Jesus from which he had a vision of Mary handing over the child Jesus to him on Christmas day.
May his life be a witness of devotion and commitment to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church whom Christ established. In a world that questions and attacks the imperfection of the people of the church may we find it in our hearts to model St. Cajetan, who acknowledged that the Priests, lay faithful and members needed reform not by leaving them but by lovingly correcting them and building the gap between human sinfulness and Christβs mercy.
Through St. Cajetan, may we also receive Jesus into our arms.
St. Cajetan of Thiene, Pray for us!
