ANTONIANO, SILVIO. — Cardinal, humanist, pedagogue, born at Castello (diocese of Penne) on 31 Dec. 1540, died on 16 Aug. 1603 at Rome. Of humble origins, he had from childhood shown exceptional gifts of intellect and academic ability. He found support and patronage, enabling him to pursue legal studies at Ferrara, where he earned his doctorate. Even at sixteen, the Duke Ercole appointed him to teach rhetoric and humanities in the city’s gymnasium.
Called by Pope Pius IV to Rome to teach literature, he was then sent to Milan through the benevolence of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, and later accompanied Cardinal Morone, the papal legate, to Germany. Returning to Rome, he completed his theological studies under the direction of St Philip Neri and was ordained priest. He then held high office in the Vatican and on 3 March 1599 received the red hat.
A representative of late Humanism, formed in the Ciceronian style, he was a prolific writer of Latin verse and orations. A linguistic purist, he harshly criticised Tasso’s *Gerusalemme liberata*, advocating a purified form that might even be read by nuns. The work that, centuries later, still brings him renown is his valuable three-book treatise on pedagogy, *De Christiana puerorum educatione*, translated into Italian (*Dell’educazione cristiana dei figliuoli*). It offers an orderly exposition of the fundamental principles that inspired the Counter-Reformation in education. St Charles Borromeo, seeking to counter Protestant reform and place popular and higher education on the new educational path outlined by the Council of Trent, urged the author to write this work. In it, grounded in theological truth, he provided parents and teachers with a sure guide for the education of children.
The book was published at Verona in 1583 and, thanks to its great success, was reprinted repeatedly until 1852, and once again in 1928, edited by L. Pogliani. While the author was writing his treatise, the Jesuits were organising their *Ratio studiorum*. Like Calasanzio, founder of the Piarists, Antoniano directed his treatise especially to the education of the common classes. Though the influence of Plutarch, Quintilian, Cicero and other Latin writers is evident in his humanist outlook and pedagogical thought, the treatise particularly reflects the moral decrees of the Council of Trent. Yet it also contains anticipations of new theories later developed in modern pedagogy: on natural inclinations and reactions, physical hardening, the direct method in language teaching, the law of graded instruction, and so forth.
In his educational plan, Latin was preferred to the vernacular, and the sole end of all education was held to be “to rear children in Christian fashion according to the holy fear of God and the norms of His holy law.” Thus an entire book, the second, treats of the educative efficacy of prayer and the Sacraments. The final book is instead devoted to the civic aspects of education, with an anticipation of the modern needs of the new age. For its direction in elementary education and instruction, Antoniano’s work exercised influence on the Port-Royalists and on St John Baptist de la Salle.