Aemiliani, St Jerome

Aemiliani, St. Jerome, an Italian philanthropist, was born at Venice, of noble parentage, in 1481. Having been taken prisoner in his youth, upon his release he dedicated his life to the care of orphans, and accordingly collected a considerable number of them in a house, where they were educated in virtue and industry. This laid the foundation of the regular clerks of St. Maieul, or Fathers of. Somascho, so called from the place where he first established their community. He appears to have been a man of most humane disposition; and in 1528; when plague and famine raged in Italy, he sold even his furniture to assist the poor. He died in 1537, and was canonized by Benedict XIV. His Life was written by Andreas Stella, general of the Somaschians (q.v.).