Girolamo Miani (also known as Emiliani) was born in Venice in 1486 and pursued a military career from a young age. After escaping captivity and experiencing a conversion from a dissolute youth, he embraced a life of penance under the guidance of Giampietro Carafa, the future Pope Paul IV.
He placed his gifts as a capable organizer at the service of the poor, the sick, abandoned youth, and women who had been converted. In Somasca, near Bergamo, he founded the Company of the Servants of the Poor, a community of clerics regular.
His contemporaries described him as active, intelligent, deeply trusting in God, and always joyful. He died in Somasca on February 8, 1537. Canonized in 1767, his feast was first celebrated on July 20. The current calendar now honors him on the day of his death.
