Cajetan

Cajetan (1480–1547), founder of the Theatine Order. Born at Vicenza and educated at Padua University, Cajetan distinguished himself in theology and law, but gave up the worldly career which his noble birth and ability could have won for him and became a priest in 1516. At Rome, Vicenza, and Venice he founded confraternities of clergy and laity for the service of the sick and the poor. At Rome in 1523 he founded, with Pietro Caraffa (afterwards the fanatically intransigent Pope Paul IV), a congregation of clergy bound by vows. The inspiration of the project was that of restoring true apostolic life among the clergy in an age of notorious corruption. Study of the Bible and Christian doctrine, restoration of the dignity and spirituality of worship, care for the sick and poor, preaching and pastoral care with complete disinterestedness were some of the characteristic marks of the new Order. Cajetan, who was Provost-General for three years, worked in Verona, Venice, and Naples. Here he founded the pawnshops called Monts de Piété which were designed to help, not exploit, their users. In 1547 the Englishman Thomas Goldwell, later a Marian bishop of St. Asaph's (1555–9), became a Theatine at Naples. The Order was famous as a spearhead of reform, although it was in some ways eclipsed by the better organized and more famous Order of Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola. No doubt it also suffered from the unpopularity of its co-founder Caraffa. Cajetan was canonized in 1671. Feast: 7 August.

Bibliography
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• AA.SS. Aug. II (1735), 282–301; modern Lives by P. Chiminelli (1948), S. da Valsanzibio (1949), A. V. Ballester (1950), and P. H. Hallett, Catholic Reformer (1959). See also B.L.S., viii. 46–8 and Bibl. SS., v. 1345–9

Cajetan [Lat.,=from Gaeta], 1469?–1534, Italian prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Gaeta. His original name was Giacomo de Vio. He joined the Dominicans (c.1484), became general of this order (1508), and was made a cardinal (1517). He played a leading role at the Fifth Lateran Council as an advocate of reform. As papal legate in Germany in 1518 and 1519 he attempted to reconcile the differences of Martin Luther with the church. He strongly opposed the divorce of Henry VIII of England from his first wife Katharine of Aragón. Cajetan's political skills helped secure the elections of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Adrian VI. He translated parts of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, and his commentaries are published with the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas in the pontifical edition of that work.