The Roman Catholic Church celebrates Monday, Feb. 8, the Feast of Saint Jerome (San Geronimo or Gerolamo) Emiliani, the revered patron saint of orphans and abandoned children.

Special masses in his honor will be offered at the Saint Jerome Emiliani and Sta Susana Parish in Muntinlupa City. The fourth novena mass (Feb. 4 to 12) will be celebrated at 6 p.m.
The parish fiesta will be marked on Sunday, Feb. 13 with a solemn high mass at 5 p.m. It will be live streamed through the parish Facebook page.
Commemorative masses in honor of the revered Italian saint will also be held in Dinalupihan, Bataan.
Born in the year 1481 in Venice, Italy, St. Jerome dedicated his whole life in the service of the poor, the sick, and abandoned children. Ordained priest in 1518, he founded in 1532 the Congregation of Clerks Regular of Somascha (Somaschan Fathers), a charitable congregation of clerics whose main apostolate was the care of orphans, education of the youth, and the formation of young priests.
He died in 1537 and was canonized by Pope Clement XIII in 1767. In 1928, Pope Pius XI declared St. Jerome as the patron saint of orphans and abandoned children.