Biography
Gherardino Sostegni
About Gherardino Sostegni
Gherardino Sostegni is a name traditionally assigned to one of the seven men who founded the Order of the Servants of Mary in thirteenth-century Florence. The Holy See describes the founding circle as men engaged in trade and voluntary service who drew together around devotion to Mary. Their religious life developed at Monte Senario, outside the city. The order remembers the beginning as a shared vocation rather than the work of a single founder.
The individual name needs caution. A historical study published by the Servite order says that most names assigned to the seven at their 1888 canonization lack historical value; only Buonfiglio and Alessio are exceptions. Gherardino therefore should not be given an invented childhood, office, itinerary, or death date. What can be said firmly is that the Church honours the seven as a group, and their collective memorial is kept on 17 February.
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