sb. and a. [f. It. Somaschi, pl. of Somasco (cf. next), f. Somasca, a place lying north-west from Bergamo in Italy.] a. sb. A member of a religious order, chiefly engaged in charitable instruction, founded at Somasca by Gerolamo Emiliani about 1530. b. adj. Of or pertaining to this order.
1882–3. Schaff, Encycl. Rel. Knowl., III. 2214. The order of the Somaschians … in the Roman-Catholic Church.
