On 24 June 1524, Pope Clement VII approved the establishment of the Theatine Order in his Brief Exponi Nobis.

The Theatines were founded by Saint Cajetan, Paolo Consiglieri, Bonifacio da Colle, and Giovanni Pietro Carafa and named after the Italian city Chieti/Theate where Carafa was Bishop. The order was consecrated to the Cross and Saint Cajetan and the other Theatines will make their profession before the pope on September 14th – the Feast of the Holy Cross.

The main charism of the Theatines was to encourage both clergy and laity in the practice of virtue. One of the reasons for the establishment of the Theatines was in response to the attacks of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

The Theatines accomplished much good work with their oratories and missions and include in their number one pope – Paul IV. However, the mid-late 19th century suppression of religious orders struck the Theatines particularly harshly. The Theatines vow of poverty prohibited them from owning any property and so was left with very little when their order was disolved many parts of Europe.

There are also Theatine Sisters and it was through Venerable Ursula Benincasa, who founded the Order of Theatine Nuns, that the devotion of the Blue Scapular of the Immaculate Conception was established.

On 22 June 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Roman Inquisition.

In 1616, the Roman Inquisition had acted against Galileo for these reasons : holding the doctrine that the sun is at the center of the universe and immovable and that the earth moves; teaching and writing about this belief to others; for publishing a book presenting this doctrine and for expressing a doctrine which was contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture.

He was ordered to abandon this doctrine and to no longer teach it. All books which presented this doctrine were to be prohibited. Galileo agreed with the Inquisition’s decisions and did not discuss these ideas for sixteen years.

But in 1632, he published a book, “Dialogue of Galileo Galilei on the Great World System,” which the Inquisition deemed violated Galileo’s earlier promise. Therefore, the Inquisition ordered that Galileo was to formally reject the doctrine that the sun was immovable and the center of the universe and that the earth moved, the offending book was to be prohibited, he was placed under house imprisonment, and each week for three years was to repeat the seven penitential Psalms.

On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the condemnation of Galileo.

The text of the condemnation of Galileo

On 16 June 1846, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferreti, the Archbishop of Imola, was elected to the papacy on the fourth ballot. Upon his election he took the name of Pius IX.

Austrian Emperor Ferdinand had sent the Cardinal Karl Kajetan Gaisruck, the Archbishop of Milan [which at that time was part of the Austrian Empire] to veto the election of Ferretti because he was perceived to be too liberal.* However, by the time Gaisruck arrived at the conclave, Ferretti had already been publicly proclaimed to be the new pope.

Pius IX was crowned as pope on 21 June 1846 and would be the longest reigning pope since St. Peter. He served as pope for almost 32 years.

Although he had been chosen for the papacy with the reputation for liberalism, after the Revolutions of 1848 and his forced flight from Rome Pius IX would become a strong supporter of conservatism.

More on the Conclave of 1846

*There were several times at which a European ruler would try to veto the election of a particular candidate which they did not favor. While the cardinals at a papal conclave never officially recognized the rite of a secular ruler to veto a particular papal election, usually a vetoed candidate would not be chosen by the conclave. See Jus exlusivae