TANNOIA, ANTONIO. — Disciple and first biographer of s. Alfonso de Liguori, b. at Corato (Bari)
on 27 Sept. 1727, d. at Deliceto (Foggia) on 12 March 1808.
He followed s. Alfonso and professed in his Congregation in 1747. Rector and consultor general, he distinguished himself as master of novices, for whom he composed exercises of piety still in use, and as a diligent and accurate historian.
His Memorie istorico-critiche della vita, miracoli e traslazione del b. Benvenuto da Gubbio (2 vols., Naples 1780); Vita del canonico G. Della Monica (there 1787); and Vita del servo di Dio Fr. Gerardo Maiella (there 1804) retain their value. Of capital importance are the three volumes of the Vita ed Istituto del ven. Alfonso de Liguori (there 1798–1803), completed by Fr. C. Berruti with the addition of Book V, composed largely from material prepared by T. himself (there 1857), and subsequently altered by A. Chiletti in the Turin edition of 1869. He also published a voluminous work on Le api e loro utile e della maniera di ben governarle (there 1798–1801), for which he was appointed a member of the Accademia Georgofila of Florence and received praise from the Istituto nazionale of Bologna. Unpublished manuscripts by him, illustrating the origins of the Institute and its first members, remain in the General Archives of the Redemptorists.