July 20th St. Jerome Emiliani (1481 - 1537)
Gerolamo Emiliani was born in Venice in 1481 to a noble family.
The following detailed account is given by Holy Church:
Military Life, Capture, & Miraculous Rescue
Jerome was born at Venice, of the Patrician family of the Emiliani, and from his boyhood embraced a military life.
At a time when the Republic was in great difficulty, he was placed in command of Castle Novo, in the territory of Quero, in the mountains of Treviso. The fortress was taken by the enemy, and Jerome was thrown, bound hand and foot, into a horrible dungeon. When he found himself thus destitute of all human aid, he prayed most earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, who mercifully came to his assistance. She loosed his bonds, and led him safely through the midst of his enemies, who had possession of every road, till he was within sight of Treviso. He entered the town; and, in testimony of the favor he had received, he hung up at the altar of Our Lady, to whose service he had vowed himself, the managers, shackles, and chains which he had brought with him.
Piety and Charity On his return to Venice he gave himself with the utmost zeal to exercises of piety. His charity towards the poor was wonderful; but he was particularly moved to pity for the orphan children who wandered poor and dirty about the town; he received them into houses which he hired, where he fed them at his own expense and trained them to lead Christian lives.
At this time Blessed Cajeton and Peter Carafa, who was afterwards Paul IV, disembarked at Venice. They commended Jerome's spirit and his new institution for gathering orphans together. They also introduced him into the hospital for incurables, where he would be able to devote himself with equal charity to the education of orphans and to the service of the sick.
Founding of Orphanages, A Home for Repentant Prostitutes, & the Beginning of His Order
Soon, at their suggestion, he crossed over to the continent and founded orphanages, first at Brescia, then Bergamo and Como. In Bergamo, his zeal was specifically prolific for there, besides two orphanages, one for boys and one for girls he opened a house, an unprecedented thing in those parts, for the reception of fallen women who had been converted.
Finally, he took up his abode at Samoscha, a small village in the territory of Bergamo, near to the Venetian border, and this he made his headquarters; here, too, he definitely established his congregation, which for this reason received the name of Somashim. In course of time it spread an increased, and for the greater benefit of the Christian Republic it undertook, besides the ruling and guiding of orphans and the taking care of sacred buildings, the education, both liberal and moral, of young men in colleges, academies, and seminaries. Pius V enrolled it among religious orders, and other Roman pontiffs have honored it with privileges.
Expanding His Charity
Entirely devoted to his work of rescuing orphans, Jerome journeyed to Milan and Pavia, and in both cities he collected numbers of children and provided them, through the assistance given him by noble personages, with a home, food, clothing, and education. He returned to Samoscha, and making himself all to all, he refused no labor which he saw might turn to the good of his neighbor. He associated himself with the peasants scattered over the fields, and while helping them with their work of harvesting, he would explain to them the mysteries of faith. He used to take care of children with the greatest patience, even going so far as to cleanse their heads, and he dressed the corrupt wounds of the village folk with such success that it was thought he had received the gift of healing.
Penance & Miraculous Spring
On the mountain which overhangs Samoscha he found a cave in which he hid himself, and there scourging himself, spending whole days fasting, passing the greater part of the night in prayer, and snatching only a short sleep on the bare rock, he expiated his own sins and those of others. In the interior of this grotto, water trickles from the dry rock, obtained, as constant tradition says, by the prayers of the servant of God. It still flows even to the present day, and being taken into different countries, it often gives health to the sick.
Death
At length, when a contagious distemper was spreading over the whole valley, and he was serving the sick and carrying the dead to the grave on his own shoulders, he caught the infection, and died at the age of 56. His precious death, which he had foretold a short time before, occurred in the year 1537. He was illustrious both in life and death for many miracles. Benedict XIV enrolled him among the blessed, and Clement the XIII solemnly inscribed his name on the catalog of the saints.
Commentary on St. Jerome Emiliani from Dom Prosper Gueranger:
"Sprung from the powerful aristocracy which won for Venice twelve centuries of splendor, Jerome came into the world when that city had reached the height of its glory. At 15 years of age he became a soldier, and was one of the heroes in that formidable struggle wherein his country withstood the united powers of almost all Europe in the league of Cambrai. The Golden City, crushed for a moment, but soon restored to her former condition, offered her honors to the defender of Castlenovo, who, like herself, had fallen bravely and risen again. But Our Lady of Treviso had delivered him from his German prison, only to make him her own captive; she brought him back to the city of St Mark, there to fulfill a higher mission than the proud republic could have entrusted to him. The descendant of the Emiliani, captivated, as was Lawrence Justinian a century before, by Eternal Beauty, would now live only for the humility which leads to Heaven, and for the lofty deeds of charity. His title of Nobility will be derived from the obscure village of Samoscha, where he will gather his newly recruited army; and his conquests will be the bringing of little children to God. He will no more frequent the palaces of his patrician friends, for he now belongs to a higher rank; they serve the world, he serves Heaven; his rivals are the Angels, whose ambition, like his own, is to preserve unsullied for the Father the service of those innocent souls whom the greatest in heaven must resemble."
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