Gaetano Errico was born on 19 October 1791 in Secondigliano in Naples as the second of nine children to Pasquale Errico and Maria Marseglia. His father managed a small pasta warehouse and his mother worked at the loom weaving plush. He founded the religious order the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
His mother once took him as a child to the Redemptorists to be blessed and the priest did this after having looked at the child, telling his mother: "This child will be a priest, a great preacher, he will be a saint and he will do good work in Secondigliano".
He received his ordination to the priesthood in the Naples Cathedral in the Santa Restituta chapel on 23 September 1815 from Cardinal Luigi Ruffo Scilla.
In 1818 he had a vision in which Saint Alfonso Maria de' Liguori came to him and told him that God wanted him to build a new church and to found a new religious congregation. Errico set himself on doing this and had strong support from the people after having announced it at Pentecost in 1826.
In 1833 came the first members of what would become Errico's religious order known as the Missionari dei Sacri Cuori di Gesù e Maria. This small group received diocesan support on 14 March 1836 while the Rome-based Sacred Consistorial Congregation also provided approval on 30 June 1838. The order later received full papal approval on 7 August 1946 from the new Pope Pius IX after he and Errico met sometime prior to this. He served as the order's first Superior General.
Errico died in his hometown on 29 October 1860 at 10:00 am due to a visceral fever. On 12 October 2008 he was proclaimed to be a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Narcissus
2. Saint Anne
3. Saint Bond
4. Saint Eusebia
5. Saint Hyacinth
- catholic.org