Veneration of Saint Jerome Emiliani

He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1747, and canonized by Pope Clement XIII in 1767. The Office and Mass in his honor were approved eight years later. He was thus not included in the 1570 Tridentine Calendar. When inserted in the Roman calendar in 1769, he was assigned the date of 20 July. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved his feast to the day of his death, 8 February.

St. Jerome Emiliani: A Different Kind of Saint

Born in Venice in 1486, the youngest of four brothers, Jerome Emiliani went through an adventurous youth. In 1531 he decided to abandon any military, political, and economical career. Though a layman, he dedicated himself to a unique mission: to share his life with the poor and to build a community with homeless children. His Christian experience took shape inside the Catholic Reformation through the movement of the Divine Love, under the guidance of such illustrious people as Cajetan Thiene (Founder of the Theatines), and John Peter Carafa (Pope Paul IV).

As a member of the Confraternity of the Divine Love, Jerome became a valuable organizer of the works of Charity in Venice (the Hospital of the Incurables and the Shop of St. Rocco). The fame gained in this field took him through the cities of Northern Italy such as Verona, Vicenza, Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, Como, and Pavia. The Bishops of these towns invited Jerome to organize works of mercy in their dioceses.

Around Jerome a group of cooperators started to take shape and some of them decide to take up his lifestyle. Consequently the "Company of the Servants of the Poor" was born. Today, it is called the Congregation of the Somascan Fathers and Brothers. Jerome died in Somasca, February 8, 1537, after having contracted the plague from the sick he was assisting during the epidemic. It was his last supreme gesture of love, according to the command of the Lord to lay down one's life for the others.

Biography of Saint Gerolamo Emiliani

Jerome Emiliani was born in Venice. He was the son of Angelo Emiliani( popularly called Miani) and Eleonore Mauroceni. He joined the army and, in 1508, defended Castelnuovo against the League of Cambray. He was taken as a prisoner and was miraculously liberated. He made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Treviso, in fulfillment of a vow. He was then appointed Venetian Magistrate of Castelnuovo, but after a short time returned to Venice to supervise the education of his nephews. All his spare time was devoted to the study of theology and to works of charity.

The hospitals and the hovels of the poor were his favorite resorts. In the year of plague and famine (1528), he seemed to be everywhere and showed his zeal, especially for the orphans, whose number had so greatly increased. He rented a house for them near the church of St. Rose and, with the assistance of some pious laymen, ministered to their wants. To his charge was also committed the hospital for incurables, founded by St. Cajetan. In 1531 he went to Verona and induced the citizens to build a hospital; at Brescia and at Bergamo, he erected orphanages, one for boys and another for girls. Here also he founded the first home for repentant prostitutes.

Two priests, Alessandro Besuzio and Agostino Bariso, then joined him in his labors of charity, and in 1532 Gerolamo founded a religious society, placing the motherhouse at Somasca, a secluded North Italian hamlet in the Comune of Vercurago between Milan and Bergamo, after which the members became known as Somaschi. In the Rule of this Society, Gerolamo stated the principal work of the community was the care of orphans, poor and sick, and demanded that dwellings, food and clothing would bear the mark of religious poverty.

St. Jerome became a martyr to his zeal; contracting a disease at Bergamo, he died at Somasca in 1537.

Saint Jerome Emiliani