GESUATI. - The G., or "Apostolic Clerics of St. Jerome," were founded in 1360 by the blessed Giovanni Colombini (v.) and devoted themselves to a life of rigorous penance and to the exercise of works of mercy, especially the care of the sick.
In 1367 they obtained from Urban V at Viterbo the approval of the Order. From their frequent repetition of the name of Jesus in their sermons, they were called G. They wore a white habit, gathered at the waist by a leather belt, with a square white hood and a gray cloak. At first their statutes were modeled, roughly speaking, on the Benedictine Rule; from 1426 they adopted the so-called Rule of St. Augustine and the constitutions compiled by the blessed Giovanni di Tossignano, prior of one of their houses.
The G. had a notable development in Italy; in 1425 some of them settled at Toulouse, where they led a hermitic life, on the Camaldolese model. In the frequent epidemics of the time they distinguished themselves by their very high spirit of sacrifice in assisting the afflicted and burying the dead; they had also specialized in the manufacture of medicines and of aqua vitae, and for this they were also called the Fathers of aqua vitae. They were all, without exception, laymen until 1606, when Paul V granted that they might ascend to the priesthood, so that in each monastery there were one or two priests.
Members of the Order of the G. included the blessed Giovanni da Tossignano and the blessed Giannetto da Verona, Bianco da Siena, the gentle fifteenth-century mystical poet, Paolo Moriggia (d. 1604), author of a History of the illustrious men of his Order, and Bonaventura Cavalieri, the well-known mathematician.
In the 17th century, the Order having declined from its original fervor, it was suppressed by Clement IX with the bull Romanus Pontifex (Dec. 6, 1668).
Around 1367 the blessed Colombini induced his cousin Caterina Colombini (d. Oct. 20, 1387) to institute the Gesuate, or Poor Gesuate of the Visitation of Our Lady, with a contemplative purpose. They observed silence, fasted frequently, scourged themselves twice every night, wore the hairshirt and slept on straw. The Gesuate survived in Italy as a Congregation until 1872.
BIBL.: sources