ANTONINO, archbishop of FLORENCE, saint. — A Dominican, of the Pierozzi family, b. in Florence in March 1389, d. at Montughi, near the same city, on 2 Apr. 1459. His family environment inspired the frail boy with a love of piety and study, especially of law. Under the influence of Blessed Giovanni Dominici, he donned the Dominican habit in 1405 and completed his novitiate at Cortona. From 1406 to 1409 he lived in the reformed convent at Fiesole, founded by Dominici. During the Pisan schism, the Observants of Fiesole, faithful to Gregory XII, were obliged to take refuge in various parts of Umbria, especially at Foligno. After seven years of study — A., like Dominici, was self-taught — he was ordained a priest at Cortona in 1413 and appointed vicar at Foligno in 1414. While facilitating the return of his confrères to Fiesole in 1418, he was appointed prior at Cortona until 1421, and thereafter assumed the priorates at Fiesole in 1421, Naples (S. Pietro Martire) in 1424, and Rome (Minerva) in 1430.
If he composed his first work, Omnis mortalium cura, at Naples, it was in Rome that he became known to Eugene IV, elected in the Conclave of Minerva, and was appointed auditor of the Rota. Among other things, he then worked to establish 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, which passed from the Silvestrines to the Dominicans in 1436. Cosimo de’ Medici, assisted by Michelozzo, rebuilt and enlarged the convent and church. S. Marco was endowed with two special treasures: the paintings of Beato Angelico and the library, which originated from a bequest by the humanist Niccolò Niccoli and subsidies from the Medici. To his various spiritual and governmental responsibilities A. added the priorship of S. Marco in 1439. At that time he began work on his major works, the Summa and the Chronicles. Though not an official theologian, he was at least a witness to the Council of Florence on union. Moved by charity and a sense of social responsibility, in 1442 he established the buonomini of S. Martino to assist the indigent and afflicted.
Eugene IV made him archbishop of Florence, successor to Bartolomeo Zabarella (1445). This appointment was a surprise for the Medici city and a burden for A., but a blessing for the Church and for souls. Unable to evade, as he would nevertheless have wished,
the papal order, A. received episcopal consecration on 12 March 1446 at S. Domenico of Fiesole, taking possession of the Florentine diocese the following day. Unconcerned with philosophical and humanistic movements, he became shepherd of his flock, fulfilling his obligations with the utmost diligence. He reorganized the diocese, held the Synod of 1451 as metropolitan, carried out pastoral visitations, administered the divine word and the sacraments, was zealous for the improvement of morals, devoted himself to the formation of the clergy, to spiritual direction, and to promoting confraternities, and multiplied his charitable works, particularly for those infected by the plague. Sent by the Florentines on diplomatic missions to Nicholas V, Callistus III, and Pius II, he received from the Roman Curia special assignments throughout Tuscany, such as the apostolic commission against usurers and the promotion of the crusade proclaimed by Callistus III. With extreme prudence he supported the city party opposed to Medici rule, and in 1458 he rose as a firm defender of Florentine liberty and constitution.
Highly versed in questions of law, endowed with outstanding prudence and sound judgment, and inclined toward moderate solutions, he benefited all who sought his advice (Antoninus consiliorum). He left letters, spiritual treatises, chronicles, and works of practical theology of great usefulness, which enjoyed extremely wide circulation.
His theological writings, popular in character but full of discernment, assign their author an honorable place among the foremost Catholic moralists.
His remains were transported from the archiepiscopal villa at Montughi and buried at S. Marco, where they are still venerated. Adrian VI canonized him on 31 May 1522, but the relevant bull was issued by Clement VII on 26 Nov. of the following year. Feast day: 10 May.
WRITINGS AND DOCTRINE. – I. The minor works. – Under the name Confessionale three types of booklets are included: 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 women’s luxury, written before 1437, was incorporated into the Somma, part II. The De excommunicationibus (Venice 1474) was incorporated into the Somma, part III. The Responsiones Antonini ad LXIX quaesita F. Dominici de Catholonia, a juridical consultation dating from around 1440, were added to various editions of the Confessionale. The Triologus de duobus discipulis euntibus in Emaus is a
dialogue-based explanation of the messianic prophecies (Florence 1480, etc.).
In the National Library of Florence (Magliabechiana, Conv. soppr. A. 8, 1750: the Lenten sermon collection Convertimini) and in the Riccardiana (Cod. 308), plans and drafts of the Saint’s sermons are found. A collection of 24 letters on various spiritual subjects was published in Florence in 1859. The Opera a ben vivere, dedicated to Dianora Tornabuoni and her sister Lucrezia, mother of Lorenzo il Magnifico, 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 Introduzione alla vita devota of s. Francesco di Sales.
II. The major works. – The Summa moralis and the Chronicae (also Summa historialis), according to the author’s intentions, were to constitute a work in two sections: the moral section and the historically illustrative section. But it soon became customary to distinguish these parts as two separate works. The Summa moralis is the Saint’s principal work, through which he exerted a great influence up to 1600. “Important from the theological-moral and ethical-economic point of view, it pursues a practical rather than a theoretical end, and consequently he did not arrange it as a scientific system; nevertheless, in its unpretentious form it gathers a vast store of theological knowledge” (M. Grabmann, Storia della Teologia cattolica, Milan 1939, p. 138). The 20 complete editions range from 1477 (Nuremberg and Venice) 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 and divided into three parts, 24 titles, and many paragraphs, contain, like similar medieval works, compilations concerning persons, events, and facts drawn from Sacred Scripture and other sources. The closer he comes to his own time, the more confident and important the author becomes. Seventeen editions are recorded from 1484 (Nuremberg) to 1587 (Lyons), a fact attesting to the work’s success.