St Jerome Emiliani, Patron of Orphans

Jerome Emiliani was a Venetian soldier, born in 1486. Captured, he was held in a dungeon, where he learned to pray, and tradition says Our Lady set him free. He became a priest. When plague and famine struck Italy he fed the hungry, tended the sick and opened orphanages for abandoned children. Around 1532 he and two other priests founded the Somascans, who still serve orphans. He died in 1537 of a disease caught tending the sick. His feast is February 8. Light a free candle for children who have no one to care for them. St Jerome, pray for us.