BEATO ANTONIO DELLA TORRE. - A physician of great renown and outstanding holiness, born in Milan in 1424, he earned his doctorate at the University of Padua. He was guided by the conviction that one could not heal the body without first healing the soul.
Neglecting the high reputation he had achieved as a physician, he donned the Augustinian habit; upon becoming prior of the house, he humbly sought to escape the growing esteem and obtained repeated transfers of residence from his superiors (Foligno, S. Giacomo di Galizia). Having moved to L'Aquila in 1470, during a violent outbreak of plague, though already lame from a severe infirmity that had left one leg shorter than the other, tirelessly, with skill in treatment, charity in settling grave disputes among citizens, and zeal in administering the Sacraments, he demonstrated the heights to which his intellectual and moral character had risen. He continued the practice of medicine until his death, which occurred in L'Aquila on 24 July 1494. Tradition ascribes to him numerous miracles both in life and after death. His feast is recorded in the diocesan Propers of L'Aquila (24 July) and Foligno (27 July), and in that of the Hermits of St Augustine (24 July).