GAETANO ERRICO, Venerable — Founder of the Missionaries of the Holy Hearts, born at Secondigliano (Naples) on 19 Oct. 1791, died there on 29 Oct. 1860. He was ordained priest on 23 Sept. 1815. In 1833 he founded the Congregation of Missionaries of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1846 obtained its definitive approval from the Holy See. He carried on his apostolate throughout nearly all of southern Italy; he devoted himself to the cholera epidemics of 1836–37 and 1854. He enjoyed the esteem of Popes Gregory XVI and Pius IX, while Ferdinand II of Naples granted him free access to the court and more than once opened his conscience to him. On 18 Dec. 1884, Leo XIII declared him Venerable.
BIBL.: P. Rocco-M. Longo, La Chiesa e l'Addolorata del vescovo, G. E., Naples 1934. Luigi Maria Grande.