THEATINES. - The first, chronologically, of the Congregations of Clerics Regular to arise in the 16th century, it was founded in Rome on 14 September 1524 by St. Cajetan of Thiene (v.), who had as his first companions: Gian Pietro Carafa, later Pope Paul IV (v.) and formerly bishop of Chieti (Teate, whence the name of the T.), Bonifacio De' Colli and Paolo Consiglieri or Ghisleri (v.). All four members of the Roman Oratory of the Divine Love, they aimed at the reform of the clergy and of the Christian people through an exemplary priestly life and the exercise of an austere apostolate.
The foundation, previously approved by Clement VII with a brief of 24 June 1524, not only authorized the founders to take vows, but placed the nascent Order "under the immediate jurisdiction and special protection of the Holy See"; it gave them the faculty to receive, after a year of probation, other members, to establish their own constitutions, and conferred on them the privileges of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. On the following 14 September, all four made their solemn profession in the Vatican Basilica, and Carafa was elected provost. They first resided in Via Leonina near S. Nicola ai Prefetti; then they moved to the Pincio hill. Their guests, among others, were Lodovico da Fossombrone, a follower of Matteo da Biscio, and Paolo Giustiniani with Pietro Gabrielli da Fano, for whom Carafa smoothed away at the Court the difficulties regarding the reforms of their respective Orders which they were then advocating. Roughly handled by the soldiery during the sack of Rome in 1527, they took refuge in Venice, where they obtained a permanent seat at S. Nicola da Tolentino. In Sept.
In the same year Gaetano Thiene succeeded Carafa as provost of the Congregation.
What distinguished the Theatine life from the very beginning was that it did not aspire to ecclesiastical benefices and lived in perfect poverty without possessing revenues even in common, trusting in Providence for its sustenance. The T. devoted themselves to promoting among the clergy and the laity the ascetic life through frequent Communion, then very little practiced, and the exercise of charity toward the poor and the sick, as was also in the program of the Compagnie del Divino Amore (v.) promoted and assisted by them. They also concerned themselves with the purity of Catholic doctrine and the decorum of worship, dedicating themselves as well to the revision of the books of the Roman liturgy in accordance with the authorization obtained from Clement VII (briefs of June 24, 1524 and Jan. 21, 1529).
After almost a decade of life, the T., by a brief of March 7, 1533, received from Clement VII full establishment and approval. In the same year St. Gaetano, the bl. Giovanni Marinoni (v.) and other companions founded the first house in Naples, where in 1538 they obtained from the viceroy Pedro de Toledo the church of S. Paolo Maggiore and there carried out a vast program of reforms. The innovators Ochino, Valdés, Vermigli found in them the most resolute adversaries. They exerted themselves in the hospital of the Incurabili, in the reform of women's monasteries (Dominicans of the Sapienza, Franciscans of S. Maria in Gerusalemme, Convertite agli Incurabili) and in social assistance: the Monte di Pietà, from which the Banco di Napoli is derived, regards Thiene and Marinoni as its inspirers. Having grown in number, the T. always stood beside the Apostolic See for the reform of the Church. In the Council of Trent an active part was taken by the English Theatine Tommaso Goldwel (1500-85), bishop of St. Asaph, to whom were entrusted the thorny questions regarding England; while in Rome the fathers Geremia Isachino and Bernardino Scotti, later cardinal, attended with Sirleto (v.) to important conciliar affairs. The primary part taken by the T. in the reform of the Breviary later sanctioned by Pius V (1568) is documented, as is that of the fathers Antonio Agelli (v.) and Vincenzo Massa in the Greek edition of the Septuagint and in the revision of the Vulgate and of the Roman Martyrology. In 1588 the T., who until then had had the annual general chapter as their supreme governing body, elected as first provost general the father Giambattista Milani. In 1604 the Constitutions drawn up in the general Chapters were approved by Clement VIII (July 28). Excellently commented upon by A. Caracciolo, Cardinal De Bérulle had them reprinted in Paris to make use of them in the ecclesiastical reform he promoted. Updated and revised according to the new Code, they were approved anew by Pius XII on July 12, 1948.
The Order is divided into provinces, houses and residences. The provost general is elected for six years, the provincial and local provosts for three. Characteristic is the "vocalato," integrated by the fathers elected by the general Chapter on the basis of their personal qualities; they form the provincial Chapter, to which belongs, among other tasks, the election of delegates for the general Chapter.
After the death of the founder the Order, which had only the houses of Venice, Naples and Verona, received from Paul IV the house of S. Silvestro al Quirinale (1555) and then spread rapidly in Italy, where at the end of the 17th century it counted more than fifty houses. Less rapid was its diffusion abroad. In Spain, which welcomed the T. in 1622, it established itself in Madrid, Saragossa, Barcelona, Salamanca, Alcalá, Palma de Mallorca. There followed the foundations of Paris (1647), Lisbon (1648), Munich (1662), Prague (1663), Lviv (Armenian College, 1663), Warsaw, Salzburg (1663). At the same time the T. began their missionary activity. An important part in the erection of the College of Propaganda Fide was had by the father Michele Ghisleri, whose spiritual son was the founder Monsignor Giambattista Cives; to the T. were entrusted by Urban VIII the direction and teaching of the students (1641). In 1626, led by the ven. Pietro Avitabile, they founded the missions of eastern Georgia and subsequently that of Mingrelia, Guria and Imeretia, where for over 70 years 41 religious exerted themselves. Famous among these is the father Clemente Galano (v.), to whom is due the foundation of the Armenian Colleges of Constantinople and Lviv, the latter being the center of the union of the Armenians with the Roman Church. Other missionaries, led by the same father Avitabile, in 1646 established themselves at Goa (Portuguese Indies) and from there in the regions of Golconda, Idalcan, Gerlim, Coromandel. The ven. Antonio Ventimiglia evangelized Borneo, while other confreres of his pushed on to Sumatra (1702) and as far as Meliapur and Manila. In the political conditions of 19th-century Europe, the Order suffered the fate that was common to the other religious families. Some houses in Italy resisted the suppressions until, through the protection of the bl. Pius X, the Order recovered, and today, with the houses of Italy, Spain, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, it is in confident rebirth.
In the new current of Christian spirituality the T. are represented by the Combattimento spirituale of the father Lorenzo Scupoli (v.), one of the fundamental treatises of modern spirituality. Particularly venerated by the T. is the Madonna della Purità, patroness of the Order, while the devotions practiced are those of the blue scapular of the Immaculate Conception and of the vow in favor of the souls in Purgatory illustrated and propagated by the father Gaspare de Olden (v.). The Order always continued in its original care for the splendor of divine worship and of the liturgical life, as is revealed in the treatise writers, such as Tomasi and Merati, and in the magnificent churches built for the most part by Theatine architects (Grimaldi and Guarini [v.]).
The Order counts two saints: Gaetano Thiene and Andrea Avellino (v.); three blesseds: Giovanni Marinoni (v.), Paolo card. Burali d'Arezzo (v.) and Giuseppe card. Tomasi, and a considerable number of venerables. It has had one pope: Paul IV (Carafa), 8 cardinals and over 250 bishops, for which in its early times it merited the appellation of "Seminary of bishops." Others besides, in good number, have distinguished themselves in sacred and profane science and in the arts: theologians (Diana, Pasqualigo, Verani), biblical scholars (Agelli [v.]), liturgists, orientalists (Galano [v.], Lamberti), philosophers (Ventura [v.]), historians (A. Caracciolo [v.], Silos, Paciaudi), mathematicians, astronomers (Piazzi [v.], Cossali), architects, painters (Zoccolini, Galletti).
The habit of the T. is that of ecclesiastics with a sash hanging from the right side; the coat of arms: the Cross on the trimento; the motto: Quaerito primum Regnum Dei.
Teatine. - St. Gaetano did not institute, under his own Rule, any women's congregation. However, the religious of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception founded by the ven. Orsola Benincasa (1547-1618) are Theatines; they, from their very beginnings, have been entrusted to the care and direction of the T. and have their Constitutions. They dedicate themselves to the education of youth and to missionary works. - See plate CXXXI.
Bibliography11 works
Francesco Andreu