MENGONI, Theophilus (Theophilus da Soci). - Preacher and writer of the Order of Friars Minor, b. at Soci (Arezzo) on 12 July 1864, d. at Fiesole on 31 May 1949. He entered the Order in 1880 and was ordained a priest in 1888.

In Rome he was private secretary to the servant of God Fr. Bernardino da Portogruaro and to Fr. Agostino da Montefeltro during the preaching at S. Carlo al Corso. He educated Franciscan youth at Figline Valdarno (Florence), at Fiesole and at Sargiano (Arezzo). His principal work is the erection of the Antonian sanctuary of Montepaolo (Dovadola, province of Forlì), where St. Anthony of Padua led a hermit's life, which has now become a destination for pilgrimages.

With the collaboration of Giuseppe Toniolo, at Rocca S. Casciano (Forlì) he founded in 1903 the periodical La Verna, which in 1914 was transformed into Studi francescani (v.). In his oratory and in his writings he used an elegant and personal style, though somewhat fanciful. Among his major works are to be remembered: Un apostolo fiorentino nell'alto Egitto (Florence 1895); S. Ippolito (Prato 1902); the Italian version of the life of St. Anthony known as the Legenda Rigaldina (Quaracchi 1902). In his minor writings and in his articles he often signed himself "Teofilo l'eremita."

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: G. Fiori, Il collegio serafico della provincia delle S.me Stimmate in Toscana, Florence 1929, pp. 238, 270; C. Peruzzi, Dove fiorisce il deserto: Montepaolo 1921-42, Bologna 1942 (preface by T. M.); I. Buratti, P. Agostino da Montefeltro, Florence 1949, p. 34 and passim; for the obituary cf. Studi francescani, 3rd series, 21 (1949), p. 1; Acta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, 69 (1950), p. 146.

Gaudenzio Melani

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Mengoni, Theophilus (Theophilus da Soci)

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