BALDINUCCI, ANTONIO, blessed. — Jesuit, b. in Florence on 19 July 1665, FILIPPI (v.), a man of letters and art historian; d. at Pofi on 7 November 1717. A pupil of the Jesuits, lively in intellect and possessing an intense spiritual life, he entered their order in 1680 in response to a highly singular vocation. His frail health, just as it troubled him during his period of studies, also prevented him from departing for the missions among the pagans, which he had ardently requested. Instead, he was assigned to preaching, especially in popular missions, for which he felt himself better suited.
During the period from 1695 until his death, he was able to evangelize, with Frascati and Viterbo as centers, thirty dioceses through 448 missions, achieving spectacular successes. He followed the method of Fr. Paolo Segneri the Younger (d. 1713), relying on three cardinal means: penitential processions, Marian Congregations, and spiritual exercises for priests. He added devotion to Our Lady “Refuge of Sinners,” having a painting of her made, which he always carried with him and to which he attributed the entire success of his work. The painting, officially crowned by decision of the Chapter of St. Peter’s in 1717, is still venerated in a chapel of the Gesù in Frascati. The remains of B. rest in the church of the C.d.G. in Florence (C. Beccari, I resti mortali del b. B., in Anal. Ballandiana, 41 [1923], pp. 149–54). He was beatified by Leo XIII in 1893. Feast day: 7 November.
A group of 126 letters by B. was published by Fr. L. Rosa, Lettere inedite del b. A.B., Prato 1899; others have remained unpublished, as have the diaries of his missions and several volumes of sermons.