ANTONINUS, Archbishop of Florence, Saint. - Dominican, of the Pierozzi family, b. in Florence in March 1389, d. at Montughi, near that same city, on 2 April 1459. The family environment inspired in the frail boy a love of piety and of study, especially of law. Under the influence of Blessed Giovanni Dominici, he took the Dominican habit in 1405, spending his novitiate at Cortona. From 1406 to 1409 he lived in the reformed convent at Fiesole, erected by Dominici. During the Pisan schism, the Observants of Fiesole, faithful to Gregory XII, had to take refuge in various parts of Umbria, chiefly at Foligno. After 7 years of study - A. was, like Dominici, self-taught - he was ordained priest at Cortona in 1413 and appointed vicar at Foligno in 1414. While he was making possible the return of his brethren to Fiesole in 1418, he was held as prior at Cortona until 1421, and then assumed the priorates at Fiesole in 1421, Naples (S. Pietro Martire) in 1424, and Rome (Minerva) in 1430.
If at Naples he composed his first work Omnis mortalium cura, at Rome he became known to Eugene IV, elected in the Conclave of the Minerva, and was appointed auditor of the Rota. He then worked, among other things, to fix the fees of procurators and notaries. From 1435 to 1444, as vicar general of the Observants of central and southern Italy, he provided for regular reform. He also became the founder of the celebrated convent of S. Marco, transferred in 1436 from the Silvestrines to the Dominicans. Cosimo de' Medici, assisted by Michelozzo, rebuilt and enlarged the convent and the church. S. Marco was endowed with two special treasures: the paintings of Blessed Angelico and the library, which originated from a bequest of the humanist Niccolò Niccoli and from subsidies of the Medici. To his various spiritual and governmental duties A. in 1439 added the priorate of S. Marco. He then set his hand to his major works, the Somma and the Cronache. If not an official theologian, he was at least a witness of the unionist Council of Florence. Moved by charity and a social sense, he instituted in 1442 the buonomini of S. Martino for assistance to the needy and afflicted.
Eugene IV wanted him as archbishop of Florence, successor of Bartolomeo Zabarella (1445). This appointment was a surprise for the Medicean city and a burden for A., but a blessing for the Church and for souls. Unable to withdraw, as he would also have wished, from the pontifical command, A. received episcopal consecration on 12 March 1446 at S. Domenico of Fiesole, taking possession of the Florentine diocese the following day. Disregarding the philosophical and humanistic movements, he made himself pastor of his flock, fulfilling his obligations with the utmost diligence. He reorganized the diocese, held as metropolitan the Synod of 1451, carried out pastoral visits, administered the divine word and the sacraments, was zealous for the improvement of morals, exerted himself in care for the formation of the clergy, in spiritual direction and in promoting confraternities, and multiplied himself in works of charity, particularly for those infected by plague. Sent by the Florentines on diplomatic missions to Nicholas V, Callistus III and Pius II, he received from the Roman Curia particular commissions for all Tuscany, such as the apostolic commissariat against usurers and the promotion of the crusade, proclaimed by Callistus III. With extreme prudence he supported the citizen party opposing the Medicean principate, and in 1458 he rose as a firm defender of Florentine liberty and constitution.
Most versed in questions of law, endowed with exceptional prudence and sure judgment, inclined to moderate solutions, he was of help to all who resorted to his counsels (Antoninus consiliorum). He left letters, spiritual treatises, chronicles and works of practical theology of great usefulness, which had a very wide diffusion.
His theological writings, popular in character but full of discernment, assign to the author an honorable place among the foremost Catholic moralists.
His body was transported from the archiepiscopal villa of Montughi and buried at S. Marco, where it is still venerated. Adrian VI canonized him on 31 May 1522, but the relevant bull was dispatched by Clement VII on 26 Nov. of the following year. Feast on 10 May.
WRITINGS AND DOCTRINE
I. The minor works
Under the name Confessionale three types of opuscule are comprised: a) the Defecerunt, in Latin (Florence 1473, etc.), Italian and Spanish; b) the Curam illius habe, a manual for confessors (Bologna 1472, etc.); c) the Omnis mortalium cura, also called Specchio di coscienza, intended for the faithful (Florence 1475, etc.). The De ornatus mulierum, on the luxury of women, written before 1437, was inserted into the Somma, part II. The De excommunicationibus (Venice 1474) was inserted into the Somma, part III. The Responsiones Antonini ad LXIX quaesita F. Dominici de Catholonia, a legal consultation of about 1440, are added in various editions of the Confessionale. The Triologus de duobus discipulis euntibus in Emaus is a dialogued explanation of the messianic prophecies (Florence 1480, etc.).
In the National Library of Florence (Magliabechiana, Conv. soppr. A. 8, 1750: the Lenten sermons Convertimini) and in the Riccardiana (Cod. 308) there are found plans and drafts of the Saint's sermons. A collection of 24 letters on various spiritual subjects came out in Florence in 1859. The Opera a ben vivere, dedicated to Dianora Tornabuoni and to her sister Lucrezia, mother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, sets forth spiritual questions (ed. by C. Angelini, 1926; French version by Thiérad-Baudrillart, Une règle de vie du XVᵉ siècle, Paris 1921) and foreshadows the Introduction to the Devout Life of St. Francis de Sales.
II. The major works
The Summa moralis and the Chronicae (also Summa historialis), in the author's intentions, were to constitute a work in two sections: the moral one and the historical-illustrative one. But early on the custom arose of distinguishing these parts into two separate works. The Summa moralis is the capital work of the Saint, through which he exercised a great influence until 1600. « Important from the theological-moral and ethical-economic aspect, it pursues a more practical than theoretical aim, and consequently he did not arrange it as a scientific system; nevertheless in its form, free of pretensions, it gathers a great abundance of theological knowledge » (M. Grabmann, Storia della Teologia cattolica, Milan 1939, p. 138). The 20 complete editions run from 1477 (Nuremberg and Venice) up to 1740 (edited by P. Ballerini, Florence); the last of the 10 incomplete editions is due to D. Remedelli and T. Mamachi (Florence 1741). The Chronicae, composed between 1440 and 1459, distributed in three parts, 24 titles and many paragraphs, contain, like similar medieval works, compilations on persons, events and facts taken from the Holy Scriptures and other sources. The closer he comes to his own time, the more sure and important the author becomes. Seventeen editions are recorded from 1484 (Nuremberg) up to 1587 (Lyons), a fact that attests the fortune of the work.
Bibliography8 works
Angelo Walz