Theatine

[ thee-uh-tin, -tahyn, -teen ]

noun

1. a member of a congregation of regular clerics, founded in Italy in 1524 to combat Protestantism and promote higher morality among Roman Catholics.
2. a member of a congregation of nuns, founded in Italy in 1583 under the direction of the Theatine fathers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Theatine¹

First recorded in 1590–1600, Theatine is from the New Latin word Theatēnus of Chieti, Italy, where one of the founders held the archbishopric

Example Sentences

In 1694, a Theatine monk, one P�re Caffaro by name, published, under the cloak of anonymity, a very able letter, entitled Lettre d'un Th�ologien, wherein he asserted that "the theatre, as it then existed in France, contained only lessons of virtue, humanity, and morality, and nothing to which the most chaste ear could not give its attention."

From Project Gutenberg

This letter made a great stir, and brought Bossuet—then regarded as the mouthpiece of the Gallican Church—into the field to crush the imprudent Theatine.

From Project Gutenberg

Founding of Theatine Order, § 149, 7.

From Project Gutenberg

During all his subsequent brilliant scientific career his special friendship with the Pope continued, and with all his many memberships in scientific bodies he remained a member also of the Theatine religious order which he had entered at a very early age.

From Project Gutenberg

The only effort at proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely end in the death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its originator.

From Project Gutenberg