PAGNI, ANTONIO, venerable. - A priest distinguished for piety and zeal, b. at Pescia (Lucca) on 21 Dec. 1556, d. there on 26 Jan. 1624.
He first practised as a legal procurator, then embraced the ecclesiastical state. He was parish priest of the hamlet of Pietrabuona, then a canon of the Propositura of his native town. Under the direction of the Lucchese St. Giovanni Leonardi, founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, and Ven. G. B. Cioni, companion of the Saint, and together with the pious priest Paolo Ricordati, likewise formerly a legal procurator, he founded at Pescia a Congregation of “Reformed Priests,” known as that of the Most Holy Annunciation, after the church—built by him—in which it was established. This institution, after lengthy negotiations to unite with that of Leonardi, affiliated itself with the Barnabites, among whom P. ended his days, almost seventy years old and as a novice. The proceedings for his beatification, begun in 1627, were resumed in 1935 through the care of the Barnabites.