01 Religious Icon, St. Cajetan, from Spanish Colonial Mexico, with footnotes #38

19th C. Mexican Spanish Colonial Painting

St. Cajetan

Painted on wood

33.3" L x 25.25" W (84.6 cm x 64.1 cm)

Private collection

Sold for $1,400 USD in September 2022

Spanish Colonial, Mexico, 19th century. A large Spanish Colonial painting on canvas depicting Saint Cajetan (San Cayetano). He wears the black robe of his order and a luxurious bejeweled chain thought to symbolize either his rejection of wealth since the Theatines took vows of poverty, his aristocratic upbringing as Count of Thiene, or his leadership of his order. The Crucifixion behind him refers to the mystical crucifixion he endured when Theatine brothers wanted to transport him from the hardwood floor that he slept upon to a proper bed. 

He kneels in prayer and presents a lace scarf to the Virgin and Child; a ray of holy light runs from her hand to St. Cajetan; a ray of red blood runs from the Crucifixion to St. Cajetan. Jesus is above him and the Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove flies toward the Madonna. More on this icon

Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene (6 October 1480 – 7 August 1547), known as Saint Cajetan, was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is 7 August.

Cajetan was born in October 1480, the son of Gaspar, lord of Thiene, and Mary Porta, persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of Vicenza, in Veneto Region.

His father died when he was two years of age. Quiet and retiring by nature, he was predisposed to piety by his mother. Cajetan studied law in Padua, receiving his degree as doctor utriusque juris (i.e., in civil and canon law) at age 24. In 1506 he worked as a diplomat for Pope Julius II, with whom he helped reconcile the Republic of Venice. But he was not ordained a priest until the year 1516.

With the death of Pope Julius II in 1513, Cajetan withdrew from the papal court. Recalled to Vicenza by the death of his mother, he founded in 1522 a hospital for incurables there. By 1523 he had established a hospital in Venice, as well. His interests were as much or more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind, and he joined a confraternity in Rome called the "Oratory of Divine Love". He intended to form a group that would combine the spirit of monasticism with the exercises of the active ministry.

In 1533 he founded a house in Naples. The year 1540 found him in Venice again and from there he extended his work to Verona. He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to usurers. It later became the Banco di Napoli.

Cajetan died in Naples on 7 August 1547. His remains are in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples; outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue. More on Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene

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