The Oratory of Divine Love was an Italian Catholic ecclesiastical reform movement that originated in Genoa at the end of the 15th century. The notary, Ettore Vernazza, played a key role in its formation - along with three other Genoese citizens, Giovanni Battista Salvago, Nicolo Grimaldi, and Benedetto Lomellino, and with the advice and inspiration of Catherine of Genoa. Bernardino da Feltre had founded the Oratory of San Girolamo in the Italian city of Vicenza in 1494. In 1497 Vernazza established the Society of the Handkerchief, a grouping whose purpose was to gather alms for the poor, and which was to overtake Vicenza in significance. In 1499 he founded a hospital for incurables, the first of its kind in Italy. It was approved by the Genoese Senate on 27 November 1500, and privileged by Popes Julius II and Leo X.