The Covid outbreak left millions of people jobless. As with most things, the Catholic Church has a saint for these times - St Cajetan - the patron saint for the unemployed, whose feast day is August 7. He was a religious reformer, co-founder of the order of preachers called Theatines.
Cajetan was born on October 6, 1480, in Vicenza, Italy, to nobleman Gaspar di Thiene and Maria de Porto, who consecrated Cajetan at a young age to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He studied Civil and Canon law at the University of Padua and moved to Rome to work as a jurist in the court of Pope Julius II. He left the job after the Pope's death to pursue the priesthood.
In 1516, he was ordained and founded the Oratory of Divine Love- a community of priests who lived a monastic form of poverty and worked closely with the poor. Fr Cajetan dedicated himself entirely to the service of the Lord and took care of the sick. Such zeal did he show for the salvation of his fellowmen that he was nicknamed – the huntsman for souls. To promote clerical reform through simplicity and apostolic work, Fr Cajetan and some priests founded the Congregation of Clerics Regular- a community of priests seeking to live like the apostles. Soon this association became known as the Theatines, and their motto was to live in poverty so strictly that they were allowed to beg for alms but relied totally on the providence of whatever God chose to send them to sustain them.
Fr Cajetan and his order sought to save souls primarily through living moral lives, religious studies and preaching. Concern for the poor always had a strong presence in his life. He practised charity constantly, whether in personal encounters or establishing institutions such as a hospital for incurable diseases. He even founded a bank for the poor to lend money without the usual high interest charged by other money lenders. He remained loyal to the Church and served as its great reformer during Protestant Reformation when many priests left the Church.
Fr Cajetan often prayed for eight hours daily. He was kind and mild but, above all, humble. He was also known to have visions of Mary. In particular, on one Christmas Eve, Fr Cajetan had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying Jesus and placing Him in Fr Cajetan's arms. He was also known for miraculous cures in his lifetime.
Fr Cajetan became seriously ill and offered his sufferings for the conversion of the people of Naples. He even refused to remove from the planks of wood that served as his bed so that he had more suffering to offer. He died on August 7, 1547- the feast of the Transfiguration. He was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1629 and Canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. He is the patron saint of job seekers and the unemployed. He is the patron saint of Bread and Work in Argentina.
With the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa in 1510, evangelization began in Ilhas. Monks from a different order of preachers were sent to Goa; among them were three Italian Theatine priests deputed by Pope Urban VIII in 1639 to spread Christianity in Golconda. As the priests could not make headway to Sultanate, they returned to Goa in 1640 and joined the Evangelisation. In the meanwhile, they had begun building a hospital that drew the ire of the Portuguese. They were rejected and finally banished from Goa in 1645.
The Italian heritage of the Theatines has contributed to the exceptionally well-crafted edifice - the St Cajetan Church at Old Goa. Built under the supervision of Italian architects, the church resembles the minor basilica in Rome - Sant Andrea Della Valle- that serves as the seat of the Theatine order.
The church is unique in many ways. Crowned with a massive hemispherical dome that is modelled after St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the church displays two quadrangular turrets instead of towers. Ornate Corinthian columns adorn the frontispiece of the church with four decorative niches carved into the façade where the statues of the apostles Peter, Paul, John, and Matthew are installed.
The inscription 'Domus mea, domus orationis' meaning, 'My House is a House of Prayer' is etched prominently across the portal. The Theatine motto derived from Mt 6:33, "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you," is inscribed around the cupola in Latin. A 72-foot-deep well is located directly beneath the dome. If you look through the opening, you can see the light from the dome reflected on the surface of the water.
The main altar is dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Providence. There are six additional altars inside the church, including one dedicated to St Cajetan. The luminous walls are furnished with paintings that depict scenes from the Saint's life. The adjoining Convent of St Cajetan, built on a much smaller scale than the church, houses the Pius X Institute of Pastoral Theology for the training of priests and a small museum of Christian relics.
Here is a small prayer to St Cajetan. "O God, Father of all goodness, who with wisdom and love, gave the earth to the work of human hands, so that from it we would receive our needed sustenance, causing us to contemplate your providence and greatness. Grant us, through the intercession of St Cajetan, the assurance that you heed the requests of those who humbly pray and deliver us from all evil. We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen."
