The Barnabites (), officially named as the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul (), are a religious order of clerics regular founded in 1530 in the Catholic Church. They are associated with the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul and the members of the Barnabite lay movement.

Establishment of the Order

Second in seniority of the orders of regular clerics (the Theatines being first), the Barnabites were founded in Milan, by Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Barthélemy Ferrari, and Jacopo Antonio Morigia.

It was approved by Pope Clement VII in the brief Vota per quae vos on 18 February 1533. After the death of Zaccaria in 1539, the congregation was favoured and protected by Archbishop Charles Borromeo of Milan and later by Francis de Sales because of their successful missionary work in Upper Italy. Charles Borromeo presided, in 1579, as Cardinal Protector, over the commission which wrote the Constitutions of the Order. The General Chapters of the Order were regularly held at Milan until the reign of Pope Alexander VII (1655–67), who ordered them to convene in Rome.

The members of the Order make, in addition to the three standard religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a fourth vow never to strive for any office or position of dignity, or to accept such otherwise than under a command of the Holy See.

Saints, blesseds, and other holy people

Saints

  • Antonio Maria Zaccaria (c. 1502 – 5 July 1539), founder of the Order, canonized on 27 May 1897
  • Alessandro Sauli (15 February 1534 – 11 October 1592), "Apostle of Corsica", canonized on 11 December 1904
  • Francesco Saverio Maria Bianchi (2 December 1743 – 31 January 1815), "Apostle of Naples", canonized on 21 October 1951

Venerables

  • Giovanni Francesco (Carlo Maria) Bascapè (25 October 1550 - 6 October 1615), Bishop of Novara, declared Venerable on 19 December 2005
  • Antonio (Bartolomeo Maria) Canale (10 December 1605 - 27 January 1681), priest, declared Venerable on 26 July 1948
  • Karl Halfdan Schilling (9 June 1835 - 2 January 1907), the only post-Reformation Norwegian to be officially considered for sainthood, declared Venerable on 19 September 1968
  • Luigi Maria Raineri (19 November 1895 - 24 November 1918), cleric, declared Venerable on 7 November 2018
  • Serafino Maria Ghidini (10 January 1902 - 13 January 1924), cleric, declared Venerable on 2 July 1994
  • Vittorio Maria de Marino (7 June 1863 – 16 July 1929), physician and priest, declared Venerable on 21 December 1992
  • Cesare Maria Barzaghi (28 March 1863 - 4 May 1941), priest, declared Venerable on 6 July 1993

Servants of God

  • Antonio Maria Pagni (21 December 1556 - 26 January 1624), priest
  • Raimondo Maria Recrosio (1 October 1657 - 1 May 1732), Bishop of Nice
  • Francesco Maria Castelli (19 March 1752 - 18 September 1771), cleric
  • Fortunato Maria Redolfi (8 November 1777 - 8 April 1850), priest
  • Giacobbe Maria Priscolo (1 June 1761 - 17 June 1853), priest
  • Eliseu Maria Coroli (9 February 1900 - 29 July 1982), Bishop of Guamá and founder of the Missionaries of Saint Therese, declared as Servant of God on 20 May 1996

Prominent Barnabites

Vincenzo Sangermano was a Barnabite who was a missionary in Burma and wrote several books about the Burmese people.

Barnabites engaged in a wide range of teaching, scholarship, and technological practice during the early modern era. Many Barnabites became great scholars and scientists, including the astronomers Redento Baranzano and Paolo Frisi, the naturalist Ermenegildo Pini and the meteorologist Francesco Denza.

Several members of the Order became cardinals. The first was Giacomo Antonio Morigia, Archbishop of Florence (1683–1699), one of the founders of the Barnabites, who was raised to the cardinalate on 12 December 1695 by Pope Innocent XII, though his appointment was kept secret (in pectore reservatus) until 19 December 1698. Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil, a Consultor of the Roman Inquisition, and former preceptor (supervising teacher), from 1758, of the Prince of Piedmont, afterwards King Charles Emmanuel IV, and then, in 1768, of Charles Emmanuel's sons, was named a cardinal in secret (in pectore) on 23 June 1777, and announced publicly on 15 December 1777. Luigi Bilio (1826–1884), a Consultor of the Congregation of the Inquisition and collaborator in the production of the Syllabus of Errors (1864), was appointed a cardinal on 25 June 1866 by Pope Pius IX, and named Secretary of the Congregation of the Inquisition by Pope Leo XIII in 1883. Others were: Francesco Fontana, appointed in 1816 by Pope Pius VII; Luigi Lambruschini, appointed in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI; Antonio Cadolini, appointed in 1843 by Gregory XVI; and Giuseppe Maria Graniello, appointed in 1893 by Pope Leo XIII.

John Bellarini (1552–1630), who was the Visitor of the Order, and twice held the office of Assistant Superior General, was also a theologian who wrote a number of works including an influential commentary on the Council of Trent.

References

  • - Paroquia São Rafael - São Paulo - Brazil