GIROLAMO MIANI (EMILIANI), saint
Born in Venice in 1486 (not in 1481), died at Somasca on 8 February 1537. A nobleman, he began a military career during the War of the League of Cambrai; in 1511 he was castellan of Castelnuovo. Taken prisoner by imperial forces, he began his return to God in the solitude of captivity. After escaping, between 1516 and 1519 he returned to Castelnuovo as rector, and during this stay he deepened the reasons for his conversion through meditation and study, preparing himself for the hidden ways of Providence. In 1527, after his term as regent expired, he returned to Venice. He began his work of mercy after the famine of 1528: he provided shelter for abandoned children and directed them to work (wool beating, the trade of his family). In April 1531 he moved with his orphans to the Ospedale degli Incurabili.
In his spiritual formation, with guidance and advice, a very significant role was played by G. B. Carafa and, in general, the entire group of the *Divino Amore*; indeed, it was his companions in the *Divino Amore* who provided him with financial support for his charitable work. Moreover, G. made his personal income available to the orphans, but he did this only until 1531, when he renounced his goods in favor of his nephews. Characteristic of his work was not only the spiritual formation of the young but also directing them in the choice of material work; a fundamental concept of the Saint was the establishment of the orphanage as an entity in itself.
In 1532 he left Venice, called to Verona by Giberti, where he organized the Institute for Orphans; then he went to Brescia, Bergamo (where he established a place for conversion), and Como. In 1533 he formed the first nucleus of the future Order of the Regular Clerics of Somasca, establishing the village of Somasca (Bergamo) as the central seat of his group. In 1534 he founded an orphanage in Milan, then the Work for Converted Women; he extended his activity to Pavia. The patent for the regular practice of his group dates to 1535.
A typical and luminous example of a man of the Catholic Reformation, he was rich in humility and asceticism, in trust in God and in men, and in serene Christian optimism: “he seemed to have Paradise in his hands, so secure was he; he made various exhortations to his followers, and always with a cheerful and smiling face, which inspired and intoxicated with the love of Christ whoever beheld him,” thus he is described in 1537 by the vicar general of Bergamo (cf. G. Landini, op. cit. in bibliography, p. 485). His letters (only six of which remain) give a vivid profile of his personality: active, shrewd, an excellent administrator. Moreover, his realism as a practical man, transfused and sublimated in the mystical expectation of Christ, is captured in the splendid portrait attributed to Leandro da Ponte (Museo Correr).
Benedict XIV beatified him in 1747; Clement XIII canonized him in 1767. His feast is celebrated on 20 July.