San Gaetano

Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene, known in English as Saint Cajetan, was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is 7 August.

St Cajetan (Gaetano Thiene, 1480–1547) was a priest from Vicenza. With Gian Pietro Carafa, later Pope Paul IV, he founded the Theatines, an order of priests vowed to strict poverty and to reforming a worldly clergy. He spent his last years in Naples and died there. He is buried at San Paolo Maggiore, on the square in the old centre that now bears his name.

In Naples and in Latin America (especially Argentina, where his feast on 7 August draws huge crowds) he is the saint of work and bread. Neapolitans turn to him in practical crises. A street shrine under his protection would be one of the city’s thousands of edicole votive. These are niches with a painted or sculpted saint, kept lit and decorated by the families of the street. Many were put up in the eighteenth century, partly at the urging of the Dominican Padre Rocco, to light the streets at night.

Background

In Naples ’44