The Order of Clerics Regular, is a clerical Institute of Religious Consecrated Life, which came to light on 14 September 1524. That day Gian Pietro Caraffa (later Pope Paul IV), Gaetano de Thiene (Cajetan), Bonifacio de’Colli and Pablo Consiglieri, four men of faith, committed to the desire to reform the Church “in the head and in the members”, they make their religious profession before the Pontifical Delegate for this purpose, Giovanni Bauttista Bonciani, the Bishop of Caserta.
That act encompasses a process begun some time earlier when the priest and jurist consult Gaetano Di Thiene settled again in Rome (1523) and continued to act in the Oratory of Divine Love. In this environment, he made a deep friendship with another member of this oratory, Gian Pietro Caraffa, Bishop of Chieti – a city that in Latin is called Theate and which gives the name to our order “Theatine”), Archbishop of Brindisi, as well as examiner of the Roman clergy by Pope Clement VII.
The two clerics drew up plans for the renewal of ecclesiastical life, having clerical discipline as a reference axis. The idea-force was the formation of an established group of priests, albeit a minority, who could be a figure and a model for the life of clergymen. This is the principle that governs our religious charisma.
