SAINT JEROME EMILIANI

Feast Day: February 8

Lived (1486 – February 8, 1537)

Patron Saint of Orphans and Abandoned Children

Jerome was a Soldier of Venice, careless, and has a nonchalant attitude towards religion. He was captured in a fight at an outpost town and chained in a Prison. There he had time to think about his life, and he gradually learned pray. When he escaped, he returned to Venice where he took charge of the education of his nephews—and he himself opted for the priesthood.

Soon after his ordination, events again called Jerome to a decision and a new lifestyle. Plague and famine swept northern Italy. Jerome began caring for the sick and feeding the hungry at his own cost. While serving the sick and the poor, he soon resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, particularly to abandoned children. He founded three Orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes and a hospital.

Around 1532, Jerome and two other priests established a congregation, the Clerks Regular of Somasca, dedicated to the care of orphans and the education of youth. Jerome died in 1537 from a disease he caught while tending the sick. He was canonised in 1767.