ANTONINO da RESCHIO. - Missionary, b. 28 Oct. 1832 at S. Martino di Fisciano near Perugia, d. at Foligno on 19 July 1907. He took the Capuchin habit in 1847 and was ordained priest in 1855. Because of poor health he was unable to go on missions among the infidels, and had to content himself with preaching among the populations of Umbria. He collaborated with Card. Pecci (later Leone XIII) in the social apostolate. In May 1878 he departed for Brazil; in 1882 he returned to his homeland because of illness, but at the end of the same year he was assigned to Chile. There he had organized an agricultural school when, in 1884, he was recalled to Rome for the general secretariat of the missions. He visited the missions of the Near East and North Africa. Having left office in 1896, he devoted himself to the apostolate of word and pen, leaving some twenty books on social, religious, missionary questions, etc.
Of interest for the missions are: Memoria sobre a Catechese dos Iudios, Maranhao 1882; Monita pro educatione juvenum Capuccinorum, praecipue illorum qui ad Missiones aspirent, Roma 1886; Missionum Ordinis FF. Min. Capuccinorum descriptio, Roma 1890; L'Arancania. Memorie inedite, Roma 1890.
Unpublished remained: La vita del genere umano raccontata da un Missionario ai selvaggi d'America. Prima parte (1883).
ANTONINO PIO (Imp. Caesar Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Aug. Pius),
ROMAN EMPEROR. - Born in the year 86 A.D. in Lanuvium, he followed the entire cursus honorum until he ascended to the imperial throne in 138. He was mild, upright, wise, and industrious; he was surnamed Pius for having defended the memory of Hadrian. He maintained good relations with the Senate and was generous toward the people. He loved peace and order and had many public works constructed. He was deeply attached to the traditional religion but showed tolerance toward other cults as well, particularly mitigating the anti-Judaic rigors of his predecessor. He was compared to the mythical legislator of the Roman religion, Numa Pompilius.
During his reign, Christian martyrs were not lacking, the most notable of whom is the bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, put to death by the will of the people, as evidenced by the letter—certainly authentic—written by that Church with moving descriptive vividness. On the other hand, a document reported by Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, 13) concerning A. is highly unlikely to be authentic: namely, a letter to the assembly of the province of Asia in which the emperor, following the example of his predecessors, would recommend tolerance toward Christians. The phrases it contains are too favorable toward the new religion, and moreover, the body to which the letter is addressed had no competence in such matters. Nevertheless, the act remains a significant indicator of the attitude of Christian communities toward emperors who demonstrated understanding and a sense of justice. A. died on March 7, 161, and was soon deified.