Somascan Fathers

The Order of Clerics Regular of Somasca, commonly called Somascan, was founded by Girolamo Emiliani (1486-1537). Member of the Venetian nobility, Emiliani fought for the Republic of San Marco before devoting his life to the service of the poor: in 1528 he opened a hospice for orphans at the Venetian church of San Basilio and began to devote himself to the sick at the Hospital for the incurable. Around Emiliani it was rapidly forming a community, initially called Society of the servants of the poor, whose objective was the care for orphans and prostitutes. After the first approval by the papal nuncio Girolamo Aleandro (1535), Pope Paul III officially approved the Company in 1540, while Pius V elevated it to Regular Order in 1568. Clerics Regular of Somasca (named after the town of Lombardy which became the center of the work of the Order) established themselves as one of the most important Religious Orders in the context of the Counter-Reformation, whose aim was not only the assistance to poor and needy, but also the instruction and the Christian education of young people. From the second half of the eighteenth century, the Somascan knew a strong period of crisis, which culminated with the deletions desired before by Emperor Joseph II and then by Napoleon Bonaparte.