Cajetan, Gaetano
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Cajetan, Gaetano: (aka Giacomo/Jacopo de Vio, Tommaso de Vio Gaetano). (b. Gaeta, Feb. 20, 1469; d. Rome, Aug. 9, 1534). Ecclesiastic, scholar and opponent of the Reformation. Having entered the Dominican Order in 1485, he became a professor of theology and philosophy at Brecia and Pavia. In 1508 or 1509, he became General of the Dominican Order. He was raised to the rank of cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1517, and, in the following year, was sent as a Papal Legate to unsuccessfully attempt to convince Martin Luther to recant at Augsburg. In 1519, he became bishop of Gaeta and, in 1523, served as Papal Legate to Hungary. In 1530 he was summoned to Rome to serve as counselor to Pope Clement VII. He wrote on behalf of that pope, the decision to refuse granting a divorce to King Henry VIII of England from Catherine of Aragon. His works (Opera Omnia. publ. 1639) included a translation of the Bible, and commentaries on Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas.