Page:The Life Of Saint Gaetan Founder Of The Order Of Theatins.pdf/9

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PREFACE.

The name of Lady Herbert, so well known to Catholic readers, is in itself sufficient recommendation to this new publication which she presents to them in an English form.

Like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Philip Neri, and St. Charles Borromeo, St. Cajetan was raised up by God to oppose the evils brought on Christendom by the heresy of Luther. Born in 1480—three years before the apostate monk—St. Cajetan, by his holiness of life and apostolic preaching, prevented the spread of heresy and healed the corruption of morals. The only end our saint had in view was the greater glory of God, his zeal to promote which is shown in the adornment of the house of God and the exact observance of the ceremonial of the Church, by which means he raised the minds of the people to a due respect for God's majesty, excited by the splendour of His worship.