Errico, Gaetano, Venerable

ERRICO, GAETANO, venerable—Founder of the Missionaries of the Most Holy Hearts, born in Secondigliano (Naples) on 19 October 1791, died there on 29 October 1860. He was ordained a priest on 23 September 1815. In 1833 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1846 obtained its definitive approval from the Holy See. He carried out his apostolate throughout almost all of southern Italy; he devoted himself to those affected by the cholera epidemics of 1836–37 and 1854. He enjoyed the esteem of Pope Gregory XVI and Pius IX, while Ferdinand II of Naples granted him free access to the court and opened his conscience to him on several occasions. On 18 December 1884, Leo XIII declared him venerable.