ALESSANDRI (or D'ALESSANDRO), ANTONIO. – Ascetical writer of the Friars Minor Conventual, born in Pescopagano (Lucania) around 1625, died in Naples in 1662. A student at the College of S. Bonaventura in Rome, professor of theology and regent at the Order’s principal houses of study, he later became provincial of Naples (1667). Esteemed for his learning, he was consultor to the Holy Office in Naples. Nominated by Innocent XI as bishop of Tricarico in 1662, he was not consecrated because of the death that overtook him. He left two particularly highly regarded spiritual works: Breve modo di fare l'Oratione mentale (Naples 1630); and, posthumously, Modo per giungere alla perfezione della vita spirituale (there 1674).
BIBL.: N. Toppi, Biblioteca Neapolitana, Naples 1678; G. Franchini, Bibliografia di scrittori min. conc., Modena 1603, p. 59 ff.; J. H. Sbaralea, Suppl. ad Scriptores Ord. Min., III, 2nd ed., Rome 1936, p. 179. Lorenzo di Fonzo