MENGONI, TEOFILO (TEOFILO 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), Fiesole, and Sargiano (Arezzo). His principal achievement was the establishment of the Antonian shrine at Montepaolo (Dovadola, province of Forlì), where s. Antonio di Padova had led an eremitical life, and 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 became Studi francescani (v.). In his preaching and writings he employed an elegant and personal, though somewhat fanciful, style. Among his principal works should be mentioned: Un apostolo fiorentino nell'alto Egitto (Florence 1895); S. Ippolito (Prato 1902); the Italian version of the life of s. Antonio known as the Legenda Rigaldina (Quaracchi 1902). In minor writings and articles he often signed himself “Teofilo l'eremita.”