SAINT ANTONIN
Archevêque de Florence
(1389-1459)
Saint Antonin naquit à Florence. A quinze ans il alla s'offrir aux Dominicains de Fiesole. Le supérieur, voyant cet enfant si délicat, craignit qu'il ne pût s'astreindre aux austérités de la règle:
"Qu'étudiez-vous? dit-il à Antonin.
-- Le Droit canonique.
-- Eh bien! ajouta le religieux pour le décourager, quand vous saurez le Droit par coeur, nous vous recevrons."
Un an après, Antonin revenait, possédant toute la science demandée. C'était un signe clair de l'appel divin, et les religieux n'eurent pas à se repentir de l'avoir admis, car il devint bientôt de tous le plus humble, le plus obéissant, le plus mortifié, le plus régulier.
L'onction sacerdotale l'éleva plus haut encore, et toutes les fois qu'il offrait le saint Sacrifice, on le voyait baigné des larmes de l'amour divin. Tour à tour prieur en huit couvents, il en renouvela la ferveur et la discipline. Quand il apprit, au retour de la visite d'un de ses monastères, sa nomination à l'archevêché de Florence, fuir et s'ensevelir dans la solitude fut sa première pensée; mais on le mit dans l'impossibilité de réaliser son projet. Il entra dans sa cathédrale pieds nus; sa tristesse faisait contraste avec la joie de son peuple.
Saint Antonin sut concilier les obligations de l'épiscopat avec l'austérité monastique. Sa maison ressemblait plus à un couvent qu'à un palais, et dame Pauvreté y tenait seule lieu de train et d'équipage. Il n'avait point de buffets ni de tapis, ni de vaisselle d'argent, ni de chevaux, ni de carrosses; il accepta dans sa vieillesse un mulet, dont il ne se servait que par besoin. Jamais il ne refusait à un pauvre qui lui tendait la main; s'il se trouvait sans argent, il vendait ses pauvres meubles pour subvenir à leurs besoins; il alla même jusqu'à se dépouiller pour couvrir des misérables.
Homme de prière, il le fut au point qu'il semblait être toujours en retraite; mais il était aussi homme des saintes études; il passait les nuits au travail, et c'est à cette privation de sommeil que nous devons ses précieux ouvrages.
Sa grande fermeté, jointe à son immense charité, opéra à Florence un bien incalculable. Un jour que l'autorité civile menaçait de le chasser, à cause d'une mesure pleine de vigueur qu'il avait prise, il dit: "Chassez-moi, je trouverai toujours un asile!" Et il montrait une clef de couvent pendant à sa ceinture. Il mourut à soixante-dix ans. Son nom reste dans l'Église comme le nom d'un des plus savants canonistes qui l'aient illustrée.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_antonin.html
Frère prêcheur, archevêque de
Florence (✝ 1459)
L'Église universelle fait mémoire de lui en ce jour et rappelle que c'est lui qui dirigea les travaux du Bienheureux Fra Angelico qui, par ses fresques, ornait de prière méditative les cellules de ses frères au couvent Saint Marc de Florence, leur faisant ainsi partager sa vie spirituelle.
À Florence en Toscane, l'an 1459, saint Antonin, évêque. Après avoir travaillé à la réforme de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs, il se dévoua à sa charge pastorale avec vigilance et se distingua par sa sainteté, l'ordre et l'utilité de sa Somme de théologie morale.
Saint Antonin de Florence
(1389-1459)
Saint Antonin, ainsi appelé au lieu d'Antoine, parce qu'il était de petite taille, naquit à Florence en 1389 dans la famille des Pierozzi.
A l'âge de dix ans, il ne manquait pas d'aller tous les jours dans une église de St-Michel pour y faire ses prières au pied du Crucifix et à l'autel de la Sainte Vierge. Ce fut là que, quelques années après, il conçut le dessein de se faire religieux de l'Ordre des Frères Prècheurs. Il y entra à l'âge de 16 ans.
Il fut supérieur des couvents de Fiesole, Cortone, Florence, Sienne, Pistoia, Naples, Rome avant d'être nommé, contre son gré, archevêque de Florence. On l'appela «le prélat du peuple» et «le protecteur des pauvres».
Il est, entre autre, l'auteur d'une importante somme théologique.
Saint Antonin appliquait à la dévotion envers la Sainte Vierge, ce que Salomon a dit de la Sagesse : « Toutes sortes de bien me sont venus avec elle et j'ai reçu par ses mains des honneurs et des grâces sans fin.»
SOURCE : http://www.mariedenazareth.com/3950.0.html?&L=0
Entré à seize ans dans l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs de saint Dominique et devenu archevêque de Florence, saint Antonin excella dans sa charge pastorale par l’austérité de sa vie, sa charité et son zèle sacerdotal.
Sa prudence lui valut le titre d’Antonin des Conseils. Il mourut plein de mérites en 1459.
Saint Antonin naquit à Florence en 1389, Clément VII étant pape, Wenceslas empereur et Charles VI roi de France.
C’est à la protection de la très Sainte Vierge qu’il dut de conserver intacte, au milieu de la corruption du monde, l’innocence de son baptême. À quinze ans, il alla s’offrir aux Dominicains de Fiésole. Le supérieur, voyant cet enfant si délicat, craignit qu’il ne pût s’astreindre aux austérités de la règle :
« — Qu’étudiez-vous ? dit-il à Antonin.
« — Le Droit canonique.
« — Eh bien ! ajouta le religieux pour le décourager, quand vous saurez le Droit par cœur, nous vous recevrons. »
Un an après, Antonin revenait, possédant toute la science demandée. C’était un signe clair de l’appel divin, et les religieux n’eurent pas à se repentir de l’avoir admis, car il devint bientôt de tous le plus humble, le plus obéissant, le plus mortifié, le plus régulier. L’onction sacerdotale l’éleva plus haut encore, et toutes les fois qu’il offrait le saint Sacrifice de la Messe, on le voyait baigné des larmes de l’amour divin.
Dominicain, prédicateur, saint Antonin fut tour à tour prieur en huit couvents ; il en renouvela la ferveur et la discipline. Quel coup pour lui, quand il apprit, au retour de la visite d’un de ses monastères, sa nomination à l’archevêché de Florence. Fuir et s’ensevelir dans la solitude fut sa première pensée ; mais on le mit dans l’impossibilité de réaliser son projet. Il entra dans sa cathédrale pieds nus ; sa tristesse faisait contraste avec la joie de son peuple.
Saint Antonin sut concilier les obligations de l’épiscopat avec l’austérité monastique. Sa maison ressemblait plus à un couvent qu’à un palais, et dame Pauvreté y tenait seule lieu de train et d’équipage. Il n’avait point de buffets ni de tapis, ni de vaisselle d’argent, ni de chevaux, ni de carrosses ; il accepta dans sa vieillesse un mulet, dont il ne se servait que par besoin. Jamais il ne refusait à un pauvre qui lui tendait la main ; s’il se trouvait sans argent, il vendait ses pauvres meubles pour subvenir à leurs besoins ; il alla même jusqu’à se dépouiller pour couvrir des misérables.
On ne connaîtrait qu’un seul côté de sa vie, si on ne voyait en lui que l’homme d’oraison. Homme de prière, il le fut, en effet, au point qu’on eût dit qu’il était toujours en retraite ; mais il était aussi homme des saintes études, et son nom reste dans l’Église comme le nom de l’un des plus savants canonistes qui l’aient illustrée ; il passait les nuits au travail, et c’est à cette privation de sommeil que nous devons ses précieux ouvrages. Aussi saint Antonin était-il le conseiller des papes, au point qu’on l’avait surnommé Antonin des conseils.
Sa grande fermeté, jointe à son immense charité, opéra à Florence un bien incalculable. Un jour que l’autorité civile menaçait de le chasser de la ville, à cause d’une mesure pleine de vigueur qu’il avait prise, il dit : « Chassez-moi, je trouverai toujours un asile ! » Et il montrait une clef de couvent pendante à sa ceinture. Il mourut le 2 mai à l’âge de soixante-dix ans. C’était l’an 1459, Pie II étant pape, Frédéric III empereur et Charles VII roi de France.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Saint-Antonin-eveque-de-Florence-contemporain-de-Fra-Angelico-religieux-dominicain-fete-le-10-mai-No_237.htm
Saint Antonin de Florence et saint Vincent Ferrier
Saint Antonin de Florence
Frère prêcheur, archevêque de Florence (✝ 1459)
Dominicain italien qui remplit les diverses charges de son Ordre avant d'être nommé archevêque de Florence. Il a laissé de nombreux ouvrages de théologie morale, de droit canonique et d'histoire. (dominicain que nous fêtons aussi selon le calendrier de l'Ordre auquel il appartenait)
L'Église universelle fait mémoire de lui en ce jour et rappelle que c'est lui qui dirigea les travaux du Bienheureux Fra Angelico qui, par ses fresques, ornait de prière méditative les cellules de ses frères au couvent Saint Marc de Florence, leur faisant ainsi partager sa vie spirituelle.
À Florence en Toscane, l’an 1459, saint Antonin, évêque. Après avoir travaillé à la réforme de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, il se dévoua à sa charge pastorale avec vigilance et se distingua par sa sainteté, l’ordre et l’utilité de sa Somme de théologie morale.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1099/Saint-Antonin-de-Florence.html
Timbre-poste émis par le Vatican en 1959 pour le 5e centenaire de la naissance au Ciel de saint Antonin
Comme Antoine, Antonin est un nom d'origine latine qui signifie "inestimable".
Entré tout jeune dans l'Ordre de saint Dominique, Antonin se trouve engagé dans le puissant mouvement de réforme de Jean Dominici parmi les frères prêcheurs. Il avait eu comme compagnon de formation Jean de Fiesole, qui deviendra le peintre Fra Angelico. Frère Antonin est prieur du couvent saint Marc de Florence quand l'artiste mystique y réalise ses "divines fresques". Sa sagesse et son zèle pastoral le feront choisir comme évêque de Florence.
Celui qu'on appellera "l'Antonin des conseils" pour ses dons de discernement sera un évêque exemplaire par sa charité jusqu'au dépouillement, réformateur à la fois tenace et discret, prédicateur et catéchète infatigable. Son oeuvre majeure est sa "Somme théologique" destinée à la formation et au service des confesseurs et des prédicateurs. Saint Antonin est l'un des éminents théologiens moralistes de son temps. Il portait le souci des problèmes économiques et politiques de sa cité de Florence, livrée au pouvoir des Médicis. Il termine son combat de fidélité au Christ en 1459.
Rédacteur : Frère Bernard Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Saints/Antonin-de-Florence
St Antonin, évêque et confesseur
Déposition à Florence le 2 mai 1459. Archevêque en 1446. Canonisé en 1525. Fête en 1707.
Leçons des Matines avant 1960
Quatrième leçon. Antonin, né à Florence de parents honnêtes, donna dès. son enfance des indices remarquables de sa sainteté future. Entré dans l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs à l’âge de seize ans, il commença dès lors à briller de l’éclat des plus hautes vertus. Il déclara une guerre perpétuelle à l’oisiveté : après un court sommeil, il était le premier à l’Office des Matines ; l’Office terminé, il employait le reste de la nuit à la prière ou à la lecture et à la composition de ses ouvrages ; et si quelquefois un sommeil importun venait surprendre ses membres fatigués, il appuyait un moment sa tête contre le mur, puis s’arrachant à l’assoupissement, il reprenait ses saintes veilles avec plus d’ardeur.
Cinquième leçon. Très sévère observateur de la discipline régulière, il ne mangea jamais de chair, si ce n’est lorsqu’il fut gravement malade. Il couchait sur la terre ou sur des planches nues ; il portait constamment le cilice, et souvent il y ajoutait une ceinture de fer sur sa chair ; il garda toujours la chasteté la plus entière. Sa prudence parut tellement dans les conseils qu’il donnait, que tous lui décernaient avec éloge le nom d’Antonin des conseils. L’humilité brilla en lui d’un tel éclat que, remplissant les charges de supérieur local et même de provincial, il se livrait avec empressement aux plus bas emplois du monastère. Promu à l’archevêché de Florence par Eugène IV, il donna, mais non sans regret, son acquiescement, dans la crainte des peines spirituelles dont le Pontife le menaçait s’il n’acceptait l’Épiscopat.
Sixième leçon. Il est difficile de dire à quel point il excella dans la charge pastorale par sa prudence, sa piété, sa chanté, sa mansuétude et son zèle sacerdotal Chose admirable, la puissance de son intelligence fut telle qu’il apprit à fond presque toutes les sciences sans 1e secours d’aucun maître. Enfin après beaucoup de travaux après avoir publié un grand nombre d’écrits remarquables par la doctrine qu’ils renferment, ayant reçu les sacrements d’Eucharistie et d’Extrême-onction, et embrassé l’image du crucifix, il vit venir sa mort avec joie, le six des nones de mai, l’an mil quatre cent cinquante-neuf. Illustre par ses miracles pendant sa vie et après a mort, Antonin fut inscrit au nombre des Saints par Adrien VI, l’an du Seigneur mil cinq cent vingt-trois.
L’ordre des Frères-Prêcheurs, qui a déjà présenté à Jésus triomphant Pierre le Martyr et la céleste Catherine, lui envoie aujourd’hui l’un des nombreux Pontifes qu’il a nourris et préparés dans son sein. Au XVe siècle, époque où la sainteté était rare sur la terre, Antonin fit revivre en sa personne toutes les vertus qui avaient brillé dans les plus grands évêques de l’antiquité. Son zèle apostolique, les œuvres de sa charité, l’austérité de sa vie, sont la gloire de l’Église de Florence qui fut confiée à ses soins. L’état politique de cette ville ne lui fut pas moins redevable pour sa grandeur et pour sa prospérité ; et Côme de Médicis, qui honorait son archevêque comme un père, confessa plus d’une fois que les mérites et les services d’Antonin étaient le plus ferme appui de Florence. Lé saint prélat ne s’illustra pas moins par sa doctrine que par ses œuvres. On le vit tour à tour défendre la papauté attaquée dans le concile de Bâle par des prélats séditieux, et soutenir le dogme catholique dans le concile œcuménique de Florence contre les fauteurs du schisme grec. Admirons la fécondité de l’Église, qui n’a cessé de produire, selon les temps, des docteurs pour toutes les vérités, des adversaires contre toutes les erreurs.
Nous rendons gloire à Jésus ressuscité pour les dons sublimes qu’il vous avait départis, ô Antonin ! En vous confiant une portion de son troupeau, il avait doué votre âme des qualités qui font les pasteurs selon son cœur. Comme il savait qu’il pouvait compter sur votre amour, il commit ses agneaux à votre garde. Dans un siècle qui par ses désordres faisait déjà présager les scandales du siècle suivant, vous avez brillé de la plus pure lumière sur le chandelier de la sainte Église. Florence chérit encore votre mémoire ; dans ses murs, vous fûtes l’homme de Dieu et le père de la patrie. Aidez-la encore aujourd’hui du haut du ciel. Les prédicants de l’hérésie ne sont plus seulement à ses portes ; ils ont pénétré dans son enceinte. Veillez, ô saint Pontife, sur le champ que vos mains ont semé, et ne permettez pas que l’ivraie y prenne racine. Défenseur du Siège Apostolique, suscitez dans la malheureuse Italie des émules de votre zèle et de votre doctrine. Dans votre auguste basilique, sous son imposante coupole, vos yeux virent la réunion de l’Église byzantine à l’Église mère et maîtresse ; votre science et votre charité avaient eu leur part dans cette solennelle réconciliation qui devait, hélas ! durer si peu. Priez, ô Antonin, pour les fils de ceux qui furent infidèles à la promesse scellée sur l’autel même où vos mains ont tant de fois offert le divin Sacrifice de l’unité et de la paix.
Disciple du grand Dominique, héritier de son zèle ardent, soutenez le saint Ordre qu’il a fondé, et dont vous êtes l’une des principales gloires. Montrez que vous l’aimez toujours ; multipliez ses rejetons, et faites-les fleurir et fructifier comme aux jours anciens. Saint Pontife, souvenez-vous aussi du peuple chrétien qui vous implore en ces jours. Chaque année votre bouche éloquente annonçait la Pâque aux fidèles de Florence, et les conviait à prendre part à la résurrection de notre divin chef. La même Pâque, la Pâque immortelle, a de nouveau lui sur nous. Nous Pavons célébrée, nous la célébrons encore ; obtenez que ses fruits soient durables en nous ; que Jésus ressuscité, qui nous a donné la vie, la conserve dans nos âmes par sa grâce jusqu’à l’éternité.
Le plus bel éloge de cet évêque de Florence (+ 1453) gloire éclatante de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, fut prononcé par les ambassadeurs de sa ville le jour où, reçus en audience par Eugène IV, ils lui demandèrent diverses faveurs pour quelques personnes auxquelles ils s’intéressaient. Le Pontife ajouta alors : « Et n’avez-vous pas quelque recommandation à faire pour votre archevêque ? » — « Très Saint-Père, répondirent les messagers, l’archevêque se recommande de lui-même. » Tant s’imposait la sainteté de cet homme qui, dans la ville joyeuse et insouciante de Florence, à l’époque où la fausse renaissance ouvrait déjà la voie au paganisme classique, offrait l’exemple d’un zèle pastoral ardent, joint à l’amour de l’étude et des vertus claustrales les plus austères.
La messe est celle du Commun : Statuit, sauf la première collecte qui est propre.
Pour la conversion des âmes égarées.
Saint Antonin. — Jour de mort : 2 mai 1459. — Tombeau : à Florence, dans l’église Saint-Marc. Image : on le représente en évêque avec une balance à la main. Vie : Le saint naquit en 1389 ; il entra, à 16 ans, dans l’Ordre des Dominicains et y mena une vie de pénitence austère : « Il déclara une guerre éternelle à la paresse ; après un bref somme, il était le premier à Matines. Après la récitation des Matines, il passait le reste de la nuit dans la prière ou la lecture spirituelle et la composition d’ouvrages. Quand, en raison de son surmenage, il ne pouvait vaincre le sommeil, il s’appuyait quelques instants à la muraille et reprenait son travail avec une nouvelle ardeur. Il observait la règle de son Ordre avec la plus grande conscience. Jamais, sauf en cas de maladie grave, il ne mangea de viande. Sa couche était le sol ou bien quelques planches. Il porta continuellement un dur cilice. Souvent, il porta une ceinture de fer appliquée directement sur le corps. Il garda sans souillure sa pureté virginale pendant toute sa vie (Bréviaire). Il devint plus tard archevêque de Florence (1446-1459). En véritable Dominicain, il prêchait avec un succès merveilleux. C’était un directeur d’âmes expérimenté. On le surnommait « Antonin le conseiller ». Devenu évêque, il continua de vivre comme un pauvre moine, humble, simple, accessible à tous, impartial pour tous, franc et ferme contre les vices des grands. La messe est du commun des confesseurs (Statuit).
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/10-05-St-Antonin-eveque-et
ANTONIN DE FLORENCE
(Florence 1389 - 1459)
*Le prélat du peuple. Sa sainteté et son amour du peuple en firent une force pour Florence, berceau de l'humanisme et de la Renaissance.
Fils du notaire Nicolo Pierozzi, Antonin se fit, à l'âge de seize ans, dominicain sous la direction de Giovanni Dominici, prieur de Santa Maria Novella de Florence. Durant son noviciat à Cortone, il eut pour condisciple Fra Angelico. Puis il partit pour la nouvelle fondation de Fiesole, où il impressionna tant ses maîtres qu'il fut rapidement nommé prieur de Cortone puis de Fiesole. Ensuite il dirigea la maison dominicaine de Naples et la Minerve de Rome en 1430 avant d'être élu supérieur de toute la province. À son retour a Florence en 1436, Antonin fonda le monastère San Marco, avec le soutien financier de Côme de Médicis. L'édifice est célèbre en raison des fresques que Fra Angelico peignit dans chaque cellule on remarque particulièrement celle de la scène de l'Annonciation de l'escalier principal. Le monastère devint un centre pour l'humanisme et les sciences de la Renaissance.
*Sa vie à Florence.
Antonin eut un rôle déterminant au concile général de Florence de 1438-1445, et le pape Eugène IV le nomma archevêque de Florence en 1446. Il vécut dans une pauvreté exemplaire, traversant à pied son diocèse pour prêcher, utilisant toute son autorité pour combattre l'usure, la magie, les jeux d'argent, et donnant l'aumône aux nécessiteux. Il fonda la fraternité Saint-Martin pour ceux qui avaient honte de mendier. Il était présent lorsque frappaient des fléaux naturels tels que la peste et les tremblements de terre, rencontrant les victimes et encourageant son clergé à faire de même. Côme de Médicis avoua publiquement que le salut de Florence, au cours de ces années terribles, était dû en grande partie à son archevêque, faiseur de miracles. Antonin se pencha aussi sur les problèmes de son temps : en cette période de développement économique, le commerce et ses rapports avec la doctrine chrétienne étaient d'actualité à Florence. Il se préoccupa aussi beaucoup des devoirs de l'État. Durant ses dernières années, Antonin, ambassadeur de Florence, fut aussi choisi par le pape Pie Il pour l'aider à réformer la cour papale Rome avait vite reconnu dans sa sainteté et son intégrité personnelle une habileté bien utile au monde changeant de la Renaissance. Le pape Nicolas V lui demanda souvent conseil sur toutes sortes de sujets ecclésiastiques et politiques. Parmi ses oeuvres, le plus célèbre est sa Summa de théologie morale. Il fut canonisé par le pape réformateur Adrien VI en 1523. Son emblème est une balance avec laquelle il pèse marchandises et parole de Dieu.
Fête: 10 mai
SOURCE : http://casimir.kuczaj.free.fr/Francais/Les%20Saints/antonin_florence.htm
St. Antoninus
Archbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his baptismal nameAntoninus (Anthony), which is found in his autographs, in some manuscripts, in printed editions of his works, and in the Bull of canonization, but which has been finally rejected for the diminutive form given him by his affectionate fellow-citizens. His parents, Niccolò and Thomasina Pierozzi, were in high standing, Niccolò being a notary of the Florentine Republic. At the age of fifteen (1404) Antoninus applied to Bl. John Dominic, the great Italian religious reformer of the period, then at the Convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, for admission to the Dominican Order. It was not until a year later that he was accepted, and he was the first to receive the habit for the Convent of Fiesole about to be constructed by Bl. John Dominic. With Fra Angelicoand Fra Bartolommeo, the one to become famous as a painter, the other as a miniaturist, he was sent toCortona to make his novitiate under Bl. Lawrence of Ripafratta. Upon the completion of his year in thenovitiate, he returned to Fiesole, where he remained until 1409, when with his brethren, all faithful adherents of Pope Gregory XII, he was constrained by the Florentines, who had refused obedience, to take shelter in theConvent of Foligno. A few years later he began his career as a zealous promoter of the reforms inaugurated by Bl. John Dominic. In 1414 he was vicar of the convent of Foligno, then in turn sub-prior and prior of theconvent of Cortona, and later prior of the convents of Rome (Minerva), Naples (Saint Peter Martyr), Gaeta,Sienna, and Fiesole (several times). From 1433 to 1446 he was vicar of the Tuscan Congregation formed by Bl.John Dominic of convents embracing a more rigorous discipline. During this period he established (1436) the famous convent of St. Mark in Florence, where he formed a remarkable community from the brethren of theconvent of Fiesole. It was at this time also that he built with the munificent aid of Cosimo de' Medici, the adjoining church, at the consecration of which Pope Eugene IV assisted (Epiphany, 1441). As a theologian he took part in the Council of Florence (1439) and gave hospitality in St. Mark's to the Dominican theologianscalled to the council by Eugene IV.
Sources
Unedited chronicles of the convents of St. Mark, Florence and St. Dominic, Fiesole: Quétif and Echard, SS. Ord. Praed.; Touron, Histoire des hommes illustres de l'ordre de S. Dominique; Maccarani, Vita di S. Antonino (Florence, 1708); Bartoli, Istoria dell' arcivescovo S. Antonino e de suoi più illustri discepoli (Florence, 1782); Moro, Di S. Antonino in relazione alla riforma cattolica nel sec. XV (Florence, 1899); Schaube, Die Quellen der Weltchronik des heiligen Antoninus (Hirschberg, 1880).
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01585b.htm
Antonino, Saint
(Antonio Pierozzi, 1389-1459)
Son of a Florentine notary, he was attracted to join the Dominican order in 1405 by the preaching of the anti-humanist friar Giovanni Dominici; and he remained suspicious of humanistic culture even though he became close to one of the humanists' great patrons, Cosimo de'Medici. He gained a reputation for piety, learning, and administrative ability and became prior of San Marco in 1436. In 1446 Pope Eugenius IV appointed him archbishop of Florence. Unlike many bishops of his time, he was no absentee but became an energetic pastor to the citizens, struggling to reform the morals and deepen the piety of a rich and worldly society.
As archbishop of one of the world's most active centers of capitalism, Antonino had to deal with the discord between the ordinary practices of the business world (such as charging interest on loans) and the laws of the medieval church, which regarded business activities, like all aspects of life, as subject to its moral and legal control. His numerous writings, such as his Summa moralia/A Compendium of Morality, are scholastic and traditional in manner and content. Antonino approved certain types of credit transactions but denounced many of the subterfuges by which businessmen tried to conceal their morally and legally questionable practice of charging interest. He was widely revered in his own lifetime as a holy and principled pastor and was canonized in 1523.
SOURCE : http://renaissance.academic.ru/27/Antonino,_Saint
Voir aussi : http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rvart_0035-1326_1990_num_90_1_347867
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_antonin.html
Saint Antonin de Florence
Frère prêcheur, archevêque de
Florence (✝ 1459)
Dominicain italien qui remplit les
diverses charges de son Ordre avant d'être nommé archevêque de Florence. Il a
laissé de nombreux ouvrages de théologie morale, de droit canonique et
d'histoire. (dominicain que nous fêtons aussi selon le calendrier de l'Ordre
auquel il appartenait)
L'Église universelle fait mémoire de lui en ce jour et rappelle que c'est lui qui dirigea les travaux du Bienheureux Fra Angelico qui, par ses fresques, ornait de prière méditative les cellules de ses frères au couvent Saint Marc de Florence, leur faisant ainsi partager sa vie spirituelle.
À Florence en Toscane, l'an 1459, saint Antonin, évêque. Après avoir travaillé à la réforme de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs, il se dévoua à sa charge pastorale avec vigilance et se distingua par sa sainteté, l'ordre et l'utilité de sa Somme de théologie morale.
Martyrologe romain
Reliquaire de la
chapelle Salviati de l'église du couvent San Marco à Florence
Saint Antonin de Florence
(1389-1459)
Saint Antonin, ainsi appelé au lieu d'Antoine, parce qu'il était de petite taille, naquit à Florence en 1389 dans la famille des Pierozzi.
A l'âge de dix ans, il ne manquait pas d'aller tous les jours dans une église de St-Michel pour y faire ses prières au pied du Crucifix et à l'autel de la Sainte Vierge. Ce fut là que, quelques années après, il conçut le dessein de se faire religieux de l'Ordre des Frères Prècheurs. Il y entra à l'âge de 16 ans.
Il fut supérieur des couvents de Fiesole, Cortone, Florence, Sienne, Pistoia, Naples, Rome avant d'être nommé, contre son gré, archevêque de Florence. On l'appela «le prélat du peuple» et «le protecteur des pauvres».
Il est, entre autre, l'auteur d'une importante somme théologique.
Saint Antonin appliquait à la dévotion envers la Sainte Vierge, ce que Salomon a dit de la Sagesse : « Toutes sortes de bien me sont venus avec elle et j'ai reçu par ses mains des honneurs et des grâces sans fin.»
SOURCE : http://www.mariedenazareth.com/3950.0.html?&L=0
Giovanni
Dupré (1817-1882), Statue de Saint Antonin
de Florence sur le piazzale des Offices à Florence
Entré à seize ans dans l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs de saint Dominique et devenu archevêque de Florence, saint Antonin excella dans sa charge pastorale par l’austérité de sa vie, sa charité et son zèle sacerdotal.
Sa prudence lui valut le titre d’Antonin des Conseils. Il mourut plein de mérites en 1459.
Saint Antonin naquit à Florence en 1389, Clément VII étant pape, Wenceslas empereur et Charles VI roi de France.
C’est à la protection de la très Sainte Vierge qu’il dut de conserver intacte, au milieu de la corruption du monde, l’innocence de son baptême. À quinze ans, il alla s’offrir aux Dominicains de Fiésole. Le supérieur, voyant cet enfant si délicat, craignit qu’il ne pût s’astreindre aux austérités de la règle :
« — Qu’étudiez-vous ? dit-il à Antonin.
« — Le Droit canonique.
« — Eh bien ! ajouta le religieux pour le décourager, quand vous saurez le Droit par cœur, nous vous recevrons. »
Un an après, Antonin revenait, possédant toute la science demandée. C’était un signe clair de l’appel divin, et les religieux n’eurent pas à se repentir de l’avoir admis, car il devint bientôt de tous le plus humble, le plus obéissant, le plus mortifié, le plus régulier. L’onction sacerdotale l’éleva plus haut encore, et toutes les fois qu’il offrait le saint Sacrifice de la Messe, on le voyait baigné des larmes de l’amour divin.
Dominicain, prédicateur, saint Antonin fut tour à tour prieur en huit couvents ; il en renouvela la ferveur et la discipline. Quel coup pour lui, quand il apprit, au retour de la visite d’un de ses monastères, sa nomination à l’archevêché de Florence. Fuir et s’ensevelir dans la solitude fut sa première pensée ; mais on le mit dans l’impossibilité de réaliser son projet. Il entra dans sa cathédrale pieds nus ; sa tristesse faisait contraste avec la joie de son peuple.
Saint Antonin sut concilier les obligations de l’épiscopat avec l’austérité monastique. Sa maison ressemblait plus à un couvent qu’à un palais, et dame Pauvreté y tenait seule lieu de train et d’équipage. Il n’avait point de buffets ni de tapis, ni de vaisselle d’argent, ni de chevaux, ni de carrosses ; il accepta dans sa vieillesse un mulet, dont il ne se servait que par besoin. Jamais il ne refusait à un pauvre qui lui tendait la main ; s’il se trouvait sans argent, il vendait ses pauvres meubles pour subvenir à leurs besoins ; il alla même jusqu’à se dépouiller pour couvrir des misérables.
On ne connaîtrait qu’un seul côté de sa vie, si on ne voyait en lui que l’homme d’oraison. Homme de prière, il le fut, en effet, au point qu’on eût dit qu’il était toujours en retraite ; mais il était aussi homme des saintes études, et son nom reste dans l’Église comme le nom de l’un des plus savants canonistes qui l’aient illustrée ; il passait les nuits au travail, et c’est à cette privation de sommeil que nous devons ses précieux ouvrages. Aussi saint Antonin était-il le conseiller des papes, au point qu’on l’avait surnommé Antonin des conseils.
Sa grande fermeté, jointe à son immense charité, opéra à Florence un bien incalculable. Un jour que l’autorité civile menaçait de le chasser de la ville, à cause d’une mesure pleine de vigueur qu’il avait prise, il dit : « Chassez-moi, je trouverai toujours un asile ! » Et il montrait une clef de couvent pendante à sa ceinture. Il mourut le 2 mai à l’âge de soixante-dix ans. C’était l’an 1459, Pie II étant pape, Frédéric III empereur et Charles VII roi de France.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Saint-Antonin-eveque-de-Florence-contemporain-de-Fra-Angelico-religieux-dominicain-fete-le-10-mai-No_237.htm
Saint Antonin de Florence et saint Vincent Ferrier
Saint Antonin de Florence
Frère prêcheur, archevêque de Florence (✝ 1459)
Dominicain italien qui remplit les diverses charges de son Ordre avant d'être nommé archevêque de Florence. Il a laissé de nombreux ouvrages de théologie morale, de droit canonique et d'histoire. (dominicain que nous fêtons aussi selon le calendrier de l'Ordre auquel il appartenait)
L'Église universelle fait mémoire de lui en ce jour et rappelle que c'est lui qui dirigea les travaux du Bienheureux Fra Angelico qui, par ses fresques, ornait de prière méditative les cellules de ses frères au couvent Saint Marc de Florence, leur faisant ainsi partager sa vie spirituelle.
À Florence en Toscane, l’an 1459, saint Antonin, évêque. Après avoir travaillé à la réforme de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, il se dévoua à sa charge pastorale avec vigilance et se distingua par sa sainteté, l’ordre et l’utilité de sa Somme de théologie morale.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1099/Saint-Antonin-de-Florence.html
Timbre-poste émis par le Vatican en 1959 pour le 5e centenaire de la naissance au Ciel de saint Antonin
Comme Antoine, Antonin est un nom d'origine latine qui signifie "inestimable".
Entré tout jeune dans l'Ordre de saint Dominique, Antonin se trouve engagé dans le puissant mouvement de réforme de Jean Dominici parmi les frères prêcheurs. Il avait eu comme compagnon de formation Jean de Fiesole, qui deviendra le peintre Fra Angelico. Frère Antonin est prieur du couvent saint Marc de Florence quand l'artiste mystique y réalise ses "divines fresques". Sa sagesse et son zèle pastoral le feront choisir comme évêque de Florence.
Celui qu'on appellera "l'Antonin des conseils" pour ses dons de discernement sera un évêque exemplaire par sa charité jusqu'au dépouillement, réformateur à la fois tenace et discret, prédicateur et catéchète infatigable. Son oeuvre majeure est sa "Somme théologique" destinée à la formation et au service des confesseurs et des prédicateurs. Saint Antonin est l'un des éminents théologiens moralistes de son temps. Il portait le souci des problèmes économiques et politiques de sa cité de Florence, livrée au pouvoir des Médicis. Il termine son combat de fidélité au Christ en 1459.
Rédacteur : Frère Bernard Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Saints/Antonin-de-Florence
Saint Antonin de Florence. Confessionale, vers 1488-1490
St Antonin, évêque et confesseur
Déposition à Florence le 2 mai 1459. Archevêque en 1446. Canonisé en 1525. Fête en 1707.
Leçons des Matines avant 1960
Quatrième leçon. Antonin, né à Florence de parents honnêtes, donna dès. son enfance des indices remarquables de sa sainteté future. Entré dans l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs à l’âge de seize ans, il commença dès lors à briller de l’éclat des plus hautes vertus. Il déclara une guerre perpétuelle à l’oisiveté : après un court sommeil, il était le premier à l’Office des Matines ; l’Office terminé, il employait le reste de la nuit à la prière ou à la lecture et à la composition de ses ouvrages ; et si quelquefois un sommeil importun venait surprendre ses membres fatigués, il appuyait un moment sa tête contre le mur, puis s’arrachant à l’assoupissement, il reprenait ses saintes veilles avec plus d’ardeur.
Cinquième leçon. Très sévère observateur de la discipline régulière, il ne mangea jamais de chair, si ce n’est lorsqu’il fut gravement malade. Il couchait sur la terre ou sur des planches nues ; il portait constamment le cilice, et souvent il y ajoutait une ceinture de fer sur sa chair ; il garda toujours la chasteté la plus entière. Sa prudence parut tellement dans les conseils qu’il donnait, que tous lui décernaient avec éloge le nom d’Antonin des conseils. L’humilité brilla en lui d’un tel éclat que, remplissant les charges de supérieur local et même de provincial, il se livrait avec empressement aux plus bas emplois du monastère. Promu à l’archevêché de Florence par Eugène IV, il donna, mais non sans regret, son acquiescement, dans la crainte des peines spirituelles dont le Pontife le menaçait s’il n’acceptait l’Épiscopat.
Sixième leçon. Il est difficile de dire à quel point il excella dans la charge pastorale par sa prudence, sa piété, sa chanté, sa mansuétude et son zèle sacerdotal Chose admirable, la puissance de son intelligence fut telle qu’il apprit à fond presque toutes les sciences sans 1e secours d’aucun maître. Enfin après beaucoup de travaux après avoir publié un grand nombre d’écrits remarquables par la doctrine qu’ils renferment, ayant reçu les sacrements d’Eucharistie et d’Extrême-onction, et embrassé l’image du crucifix, il vit venir sa mort avec joie, le six des nones de mai, l’an mil quatre cent cinquante-neuf. Illustre par ses miracles pendant sa vie et après a mort, Antonin fut inscrit au nombre des Saints par Adrien VI, l’an du Seigneur mil cinq cent vingt-trois.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
L’ordre des Frères-Prêcheurs, qui a déjà présenté à Jésus triomphant Pierre le Martyr et la céleste Catherine, lui envoie aujourd’hui l’un des nombreux Pontifes qu’il a nourris et préparés dans son sein. Au XVe siècle, époque où la sainteté était rare sur la terre, Antonin fit revivre en sa personne toutes les vertus qui avaient brillé dans les plus grands évêques de l’antiquité. Son zèle apostolique, les œuvres de sa charité, l’austérité de sa vie, sont la gloire de l’Église de Florence qui fut confiée à ses soins. L’état politique de cette ville ne lui fut pas moins redevable pour sa grandeur et pour sa prospérité ; et Côme de Médicis, qui honorait son archevêque comme un père, confessa plus d’une fois que les mérites et les services d’Antonin étaient le plus ferme appui de Florence. Lé saint prélat ne s’illustra pas moins par sa doctrine que par ses œuvres. On le vit tour à tour défendre la papauté attaquée dans le concile de Bâle par des prélats séditieux, et soutenir le dogme catholique dans le concile œcuménique de Florence contre les fauteurs du schisme grec. Admirons la fécondité de l’Église, qui n’a cessé de produire, selon les temps, des docteurs pour toutes les vérités, des adversaires contre toutes les erreurs.
Nous rendons gloire à Jésus ressuscité pour les dons sublimes qu’il vous avait départis, ô Antonin ! En vous confiant une portion de son troupeau, il avait doué votre âme des qualités qui font les pasteurs selon son cœur. Comme il savait qu’il pouvait compter sur votre amour, il commit ses agneaux à votre garde. Dans un siècle qui par ses désordres faisait déjà présager les scandales du siècle suivant, vous avez brillé de la plus pure lumière sur le chandelier de la sainte Église. Florence chérit encore votre mémoire ; dans ses murs, vous fûtes l’homme de Dieu et le père de la patrie. Aidez-la encore aujourd’hui du haut du ciel. Les prédicants de l’hérésie ne sont plus seulement à ses portes ; ils ont pénétré dans son enceinte. Veillez, ô saint Pontife, sur le champ que vos mains ont semé, et ne permettez pas que l’ivraie y prenne racine. Défenseur du Siège Apostolique, suscitez dans la malheureuse Italie des émules de votre zèle et de votre doctrine. Dans votre auguste basilique, sous son imposante coupole, vos yeux virent la réunion de l’Église byzantine à l’Église mère et maîtresse ; votre science et votre charité avaient eu leur part dans cette solennelle réconciliation qui devait, hélas ! durer si peu. Priez, ô Antonin, pour les fils de ceux qui furent infidèles à la promesse scellée sur l’autel même où vos mains ont tant de fois offert le divin Sacrifice de l’unité et de la paix.
Disciple du grand Dominique, héritier de son zèle ardent, soutenez le saint Ordre qu’il a fondé, et dont vous êtes l’une des principales gloires. Montrez que vous l’aimez toujours ; multipliez ses rejetons, et faites-les fleurir et fructifier comme aux jours anciens. Saint Pontife, souvenez-vous aussi du peuple chrétien qui vous implore en ces jours. Chaque année votre bouche éloquente annonçait la Pâque aux fidèles de Florence, et les conviait à prendre part à la résurrection de notre divin chef. La même Pâque, la Pâque immortelle, a de nouveau lui sur nous. Nous Pavons célébrée, nous la célébrons encore ; obtenez que ses fruits soient durables en nous ; que Jésus ressuscité, qui nous a donné la vie, la conserve dans nos âmes par sa grâce jusqu’à l’éternité.
Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Le plus bel éloge de cet évêque de Florence (+ 1453) gloire éclatante de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, fut prononcé par les ambassadeurs de sa ville le jour où, reçus en audience par Eugène IV, ils lui demandèrent diverses faveurs pour quelques personnes auxquelles ils s’intéressaient. Le Pontife ajouta alors : « Et n’avez-vous pas quelque recommandation à faire pour votre archevêque ? » — « Très Saint-Père, répondirent les messagers, l’archevêque se recommande de lui-même. » Tant s’imposait la sainteté de cet homme qui, dans la ville joyeuse et insouciante de Florence, à l’époque où la fausse renaissance ouvrait déjà la voie au paganisme classique, offrait l’exemple d’un zèle pastoral ardent, joint à l’amour de l’étude et des vertus claustrales les plus austères.
La messe est celle du Commun : Statuit, sauf la première collecte qui est propre.
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique
Pour la conversion des âmes égarées.
Saint Antonin. — Jour de mort : 2 mai 1459. — Tombeau : à Florence, dans l’église Saint-Marc. Image : on le représente en évêque avec une balance à la main. Vie : Le saint naquit en 1389 ; il entra, à 16 ans, dans l’Ordre des Dominicains et y mena une vie de pénitence austère : « Il déclara une guerre éternelle à la paresse ; après un bref somme, il était le premier à Matines. Après la récitation des Matines, il passait le reste de la nuit dans la prière ou la lecture spirituelle et la composition d’ouvrages. Quand, en raison de son surmenage, il ne pouvait vaincre le sommeil, il s’appuyait quelques instants à la muraille et reprenait son travail avec une nouvelle ardeur. Il observait la règle de son Ordre avec la plus grande conscience. Jamais, sauf en cas de maladie grave, il ne mangea de viande. Sa couche était le sol ou bien quelques planches. Il porta continuellement un dur cilice. Souvent, il porta une ceinture de fer appliquée directement sur le corps. Il garda sans souillure sa pureté virginale pendant toute sa vie (Bréviaire). Il devint plus tard archevêque de Florence (1446-1459). En véritable Dominicain, il prêchait avec un succès merveilleux. C’était un directeur d’âmes expérimenté. On le surnommait « Antonin le conseiller ». Devenu évêque, il continua de vivre comme un pauvre moine, humble, simple, accessible à tous, impartial pour tous, franc et ferme contre les vices des grands. La messe est du commun des confesseurs (Statuit).
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/10-05-St-Antonin-eveque-et
Busto di
Sant'Antonino, Chiostro dello Scalzo
ANTONIN DE FLORENCE
(Florence 1389 - 1459)
*Le prélat du peuple. Sa sainteté et son amour du peuple en firent une force pour Florence, berceau de l'humanisme et de la Renaissance.
Fils du notaire Nicolo Pierozzi, Antonin se fit, à l'âge de seize ans, dominicain sous la direction de Giovanni Dominici, prieur de Santa Maria Novella de Florence. Durant son noviciat à Cortone, il eut pour condisciple Fra Angelico. Puis il partit pour la nouvelle fondation de Fiesole, où il impressionna tant ses maîtres qu'il fut rapidement nommé prieur de Cortone puis de Fiesole. Ensuite il dirigea la maison dominicaine de Naples et la Minerve de Rome en 1430 avant d'être élu supérieur de toute la province. À son retour a Florence en 1436, Antonin fonda le monastère San Marco, avec le soutien financier de Côme de Médicis. L'édifice est célèbre en raison des fresques que Fra Angelico peignit dans chaque cellule on remarque particulièrement celle de la scène de l'Annonciation de l'escalier principal. Le monastère devint un centre pour l'humanisme et les sciences de la Renaissance.
*Sa vie à Florence.
Antonin eut un rôle déterminant au concile général de Florence de 1438-1445, et le pape Eugène IV le nomma archevêque de Florence en 1446. Il vécut dans une pauvreté exemplaire, traversant à pied son diocèse pour prêcher, utilisant toute son autorité pour combattre l'usure, la magie, les jeux d'argent, et donnant l'aumône aux nécessiteux. Il fonda la fraternité Saint-Martin pour ceux qui avaient honte de mendier. Il était présent lorsque frappaient des fléaux naturels tels que la peste et les tremblements de terre, rencontrant les victimes et encourageant son clergé à faire de même. Côme de Médicis avoua publiquement que le salut de Florence, au cours de ces années terribles, était dû en grande partie à son archevêque, faiseur de miracles. Antonin se pencha aussi sur les problèmes de son temps : en cette période de développement économique, le commerce et ses rapports avec la doctrine chrétienne étaient d'actualité à Florence. Il se préoccupa aussi beaucoup des devoirs de l'État. Durant ses dernières années, Antonin, ambassadeur de Florence, fut aussi choisi par le pape Pie Il pour l'aider à réformer la cour papale Rome avait vite reconnu dans sa sainteté et son intégrité personnelle une habileté bien utile au monde changeant de la Renaissance. Le pape Nicolas V lui demanda souvent conseil sur toutes sortes de sujets ecclésiastiques et politiques. Parmi ses oeuvres, le plus célèbre est sa Summa de théologie morale. Il fut canonisé par le pape réformateur Adrien VI en 1523. Son emblème est une balance avec laquelle il pèse marchandises et parole de Dieu.
Fête: 10 mai
SOURCE : http://casimir.kuczaj.free.fr/Francais/Les%20Saints/antonin_florence.htm
Archbishop of Florence, b. at Florence, 1 March, 1389; d. 2 May, 1459; known also by his baptismal nameAntoninus (Anthony), which is found in his autographs, in some manuscripts, in printed editions of his works, and in the Bull of canonization, but which has been finally rejected for the diminutive form given him by his affectionate fellow-citizens. His parents, Niccolò and Thomasina Pierozzi, were in high standing, Niccolò being a notary of the Florentine Republic. At the age of fifteen (1404) Antoninus applied to Bl. John Dominic, the great Italian religious reformer of the period, then at the Convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, for admission to the Dominican Order. It was not until a year later that he was accepted, and he was the first to receive the habit for the Convent of Fiesole about to be constructed by Bl. John Dominic. With Fra Angelicoand Fra Bartolommeo, the one to become famous as a painter, the other as a miniaturist, he was sent toCortona to make his novitiate under Bl. Lawrence of Ripafratta. Upon the completion of his year in thenovitiate, he returned to Fiesole, where he remained until 1409, when with his brethren, all faithful adherents of Pope Gregory XII, he was constrained by the Florentines, who had refused obedience, to take shelter in theConvent of Foligno. A few years later he began his career as a zealous promoter of the reforms inaugurated by Bl. John Dominic. In 1414 he was vicar of the convent of Foligno, then in turn sub-prior and prior of theconvent of Cortona, and later prior of the convents of Rome (Minerva), Naples (Saint Peter Martyr), Gaeta,Sienna, and Fiesole (several times). From 1433 to 1446 he was vicar of the Tuscan Congregation formed by Bl.John Dominic of convents embracing a more rigorous discipline. During this period he established (1436) the famous convent of St. Mark in Florence, where he formed a remarkable community from the brethren of theconvent of Fiesole. It was at this time also that he built with the munificent aid of Cosimo de' Medici, the adjoining church, at the consecration of which Pope Eugene IV assisted (Epiphany, 1441). As a theologian he took part in the Council of Florence (1439) and gave hospitality in St. Mark's to the Dominican theologianscalled to the council by Eugene IV.
Despite
all the efforts of St. Antoninus
to escape ecclesiastical dignities, he was forced by Eugene
IV,
who had personal knowledge of his saintly character and administrative ability, to accept
the Archbishopric ofFlorence. He was consecrated in the convent of Fiesole, 13 march, 1446, and immediately
took possession of the see over which he ruled until his death. As he had laboured in the past for
the upbuilding of the religious life throughout his Order, so
he henceforth laboured for it in his diocese, devoting himself to the visitation ofparishes and religious communities, the remedy of abuses, the strengthening of discipline, the preaching of the Gospel, the amelioration of the condition of the poor, and the writing of
books for clergy and laity. These labours were interrupted
several times that he might act as ambassador for the Florentine Republic. Ill health
prevented him from taking part in an embassy to the emperor in 1451, but in
1455 and again in 1458 he was at the head of embassies sent by the government
to the Supreme Pontiff. He was called by Eugene
IV to assist him in his
dying hours. He was frequently consulted by Nicholas V on questions of Church and State, and was charged by Pius
II to undertake, with
several cardinals, the reform of the Roman Court. When his death occurred, 2 May,
1459, Pius II gave instructions for the funeral, and presided at it eight days later.
He was canonized by Adrian VI, 31 May, 1523.
The literary productions of St. Antoninus, while giving evidence
of the eminently practical turn of his mind,
show that he was a profound student of history and theology. His principal work is the
"Summa TheologicaMoralis,
partibus IV distincta", written shortly before his death, which marked a
new and very considerable development in moral theology. It also contains a fund of matter for the student of the history of the fifteenth century. Sowell
developed are its juridical elements that it has been published under the title
of Juris Pontificii et Caesarei Summa".
An attempt was lately made by Crohns (Die Summa theologica des Antonin von Florenz und die
Schätzung des Weibes im Hexenhammer, Helsingfors, 1903) to trace the
fundamentals principles of misogony, so manifest in the "Witchammer"
of the German Inquisitors, to this work of Antoninus. But Paulus(Die Verachtung der Frau beim
hl. Antonin, in Historisch-Politische Blätter, 1904, pp. 812-830) has shown
more clearly than several others, especially the Italian writers, that this hypothesis is
untenable, because based on a reading of only a part of the "Summa"
of Antoninus. Within fifty years
after the first appearance of the work (Venice, 1477), fifteen editions were
printed at Venice, Spires, Nuremberg, Strasburg, Lyons, and Basle. Other editions appeared in the
following century. In 1740 it was published at Verona in 4 folio volumes edited by P. Ballerini; and in 1841, at Florence by Mamachi and Remedelli, O.P.
Of
considerable importance are the manuals for confessors and penitents containing
abridgments, reproductions, and translations from the "Summa" and
frequently published in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under the name of St. Antoninus. An unsuccessful attempt
has been made to show that he was not the author of the Italian editions. At the most is should be
granted that he committed to others the task of editing one or two. The various
editions and titles of the manuals have caused confusion, and made it appear that there were more than four distinct
works. A careful distinction and classification is given by Mandonnet in the
"Dictionnaire de théologie catholique". Of value as throwing light upon
the home life of his time are his treatises on Christian life written for women of the Medici family and first published in the last century under the titles:--(1)
"Opera a ben vivere...Con altri ammaestramenti", ed. Father Palermo, one vol. (Florence, 1858) (2)
"Regola di vita cristiana", one vol. (Florence, 1866). His letters (Lettere)
were collected and edited, some for the first time by Tommaso Corsetto, O.P., and published in one
volume, at Florence, 1859.
Under
the title, "Chronicon partibus tribus distincta ab initio mundi ad
MCCCLX" (published also under the titles "Chronicorum opus" and
"Historiarum opus"), he wrote a general history of the world with the purpose of
presenting to his readers a view of the workings of divine
providence. While he did not give way to hisimagination or colour facts, he often fell into the error, so common among the
chroniclers of his period, of accepting much that should historical
criticism has since rejected as untrue or doubtful. But this can be said only of
those parts in which he treated of early history.
When writing of the events and politics of his own age he exercised a judgment that has been of the greatest value to
later historians. The history was published atVenice, 1474-79, in four volumes of his
"Opera Omnia" (Venice, 1480; Nuremberg, 1484; Basle, 1491; Lyons, 1517, 1527, 1585, 1586, 1587).
A work on preaching (De arte et vero modo praedicandi)
ran through four editions at the close of the fifteenth century. The volume of sermons (Opus quadragesimalium et de sanctissermonum, sive flos florum) is the work of another,
although published under the name of St.
Antoninus.
Unedited chronicles of the convents of St. Mark, Florence and St. Dominic, Fiesole: Quétif and Echard, SS. Ord. Praed.; Touron, Histoire des hommes illustres de l'ordre de S. Dominique; Maccarani, Vita di S. Antonino (Florence, 1708); Bartoli, Istoria dell' arcivescovo S. Antonino e de suoi più illustri discepoli (Florence, 1782); Moro, Di S. Antonino in relazione alla riforma cattolica nel sec. XV (Florence, 1899); Schaube, Die Quellen der Weltchronik des heiligen Antoninus (Hirschberg, 1880).
McMahon, Arthur. "St. Antoninus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 26 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01585b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Curt Bochanyin.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01585b.htm
Busto sull'altare dell'Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, Firenze
Antonino, Saint
(Antonio Pierozzi, 1389-1459)
Son of a Florentine notary, he was attracted to join the Dominican order in 1405 by the preaching of the anti-humanist friar Giovanni Dominici; and he remained suspicious of humanistic culture even though he became close to one of the humanists' great patrons, Cosimo de'Medici. He gained a reputation for piety, learning, and administrative ability and became prior of San Marco in 1436. In 1446 Pope Eugenius IV appointed him archbishop of Florence. Unlike many bishops of his time, he was no absentee but became an energetic pastor to the citizens, struggling to reform the morals and deepen the piety of a rich and worldly society.
As archbishop of one of the world's most active centers of capitalism, Antonino had to deal with the discord between the ordinary practices of the business world (such as charging interest on loans) and the laws of the medieval church, which regarded business activities, like all aspects of life, as subject to its moral and legal control. His numerous writings, such as his Summa moralia/A Compendium of Morality, are scholastic and traditional in manner and content. Antonino approved certain types of credit transactions but denounced many of the subterfuges by which businessmen tried to conceal their morally and legally questionable practice of charging interest. He was widely revered in his own lifetime as a holy and principled pastor and was canonized in 1523.
SOURCE : http://renaissance.academic.ru/27/Antonino,_Saint
Saint
Antoninus, B.C.O.P.
Feast Day: May 10th
Profile
The story of Antonino Pierozzi is that of a great
soul in a frail body, and of the triumph of virtue over vast and organized
wickedness. His father, Niccolo Pierozzi, had been a noted lawyer, notary to
the Republic of Florence. He and his wife Thomassina had their only child
baptized as Antonio, but because the saint was both small and gentle people
called him by the affectionate diminutive 'Antonino' all his life.
The world in which he lived was engrossed in the
Renaissance; it was a time of violent political upheaval, of plague, wars, and
injustice. The effects of the Great Schism of the West, over which Saint
Catherine had wept and prayed a generation before, were still tearing
Christendom apart when Antoninus was born--in the same year as Cosimo
de'Medici. The fortunes of Florence were largely to rest in the hands of these
two men.
There are only a few known details about the early
life of Antoninus, but they are revealing ones. He was a delicate and lovable
child. His stepmother, worried over his frailty, often gave him extra meat at
table. The little boy, determined to harden himself for the religious life,
would slip the meat under the table to the cats. Kids!
From the cradle his inclination was to piety. His
only pleasure was to read the lives of saints and other good books, converse
with pious persons, or employ himself in prayer. Accordingly, if he was not at
home or at school, he was always to be found at Saint Michael's Church before a
crucifix or in our Lady's chapel there. He had a passion for learning, but an
even greater ardor to perfect himself in the science of salvation. In prayer,
he begged nothing of God but His grace to avoid sin, and to do His holy will in
all things.
Antoninus hitched his wagon to the star of great
austerity and, at 14, discovered the answer to all his questions in the
preaching of Blessed John Dominici, who was then the prior of Santa Maria
Novella and later became cardinal-archbishop of Ragusa and papal legate.
Antoninus went to speak with the preacher and begged to be admitted to the
order.
At the time, Blessed John was reforming the Dominican
priories of the area according to the wishes of Blessed Raymond of Capua. John
planned to build a new and reformed house at Fiesole (near Florence), which he
hoped to start again with young and fervent subjects who would revivify the
order. It had declined under the plague and the effects of the schism. As yet,
he had no building in which to house the new recruits.
Even were the monastery completed, it was to be a
house of rigorous observance, and Antoninus looked far too small and frail for
such an austere community. John Dominici, not wishing to quench the wick of
youthful eagerness, had not the heart to explain all this. He told Antoninus to
go home and memorize the large and forbidding book called Decretum Gratiani,
supposing that its very bulk would discourage the lad.
Antoninus, however, was possessed of an iron will. He
went home and began to read the book straight through. By the end of the year,
he had finished the nearly impossible task set before him, and returned to
Blessed John to recite it as requested. There was now no further way to delay
his reception into the order, so he was received into the Dominican Order
"for the future priory of Fiesole" in 1405 by Blessed John.
Due to the unsettled state of the Church, the order,
and Italian politics, the training of the young aspirants was conducted at
several different locations, including Cortona, and, for a time, the regular
course of studies could not be pursued. Antoninus, nothing daunted, studied by
himself. He was happily associated during these years with several future
Dominican saints and beati, including Lawrence of Ripafratta, the novice
master; Constantius of Fabriano; Peter Capucci; and his great friend, the
artist, Fra Angelico.
Ordained and set to preaching, Antoninus soon won his
place in the hearts of the Florentines. Each time he said Mass, he was moved to
tears by the mercy of God, and his own devotion moved other hearts. He was
given consecutively several positions in the order. While still very young, he
was made prior of the Minerva in Rome (1430). He served the friars in various
priories in Italy (including Cortona, Fiesole (1418-28), Naples, Gaeta, Siena,
and Florence). As superior of the reformed Tuscan and Neapolitan congregations,
and also as prior provincial of the whole Roman province, Antoninus zealously
enforced the reforms initiated by John Dominici with a view to restoring the
primitive rule. Antoninus became a distinguished master of canon law and
assisted popes at their councils. There is evidence that at some point he
served as a judge on the Rota. Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to attend the
general Council of Florence (1439), and he assisted at all its sessions.
In 1436, he founded the famous priory of San Marco in
Florence with the financial aid of Cosimo de'Medici in buildings abandoned by
the Silvestrines. Under his guidance and encouragement, the San Marco's monastery
became the center of Christian art. He called upon his old companion, Saint Fra
Angelico, and on the miniaturist, Fra Benedetto (Angelico's natural brother),
to do the frescoes and the choir books which are still preserved there. He also
ensured that an outstanding library was collected.
Antoninus is still remembered today in the exquisite
'Cloister of Saint Antoninus' with its wide arches and beautiful ionic
capitals, designed in the saint's lifetime by Michelozzo for San Marco. In the
lunettes of the cloister Bernardino Poccetti and others painted scenes from
Antoninus's life. (When Giambologna restored and altered the church of San
Marco in 1588, he built for the saint's body a superb chapel.)
To his horror, Antoninus's wisdom and pastoral zeal
made him a natural choice by Pope Eugenius IV for archbishop of Florence in
1446. Although Tabor reports that the pope had first chosen Fra Angelico, whose
purity and wisdom had become known when he was painting in Rome. The artist
entreated the holy father to choose Fra Antoninus instead, who had done great
service by his unworldliness and gentle but irresistible power.
Antoninus's appointment as bishop was a genuine
heartbreak to a scholar who could never find enough time to study; in fact, he
had been in Naples for two years reforming the houses of the province when he
received word of the nomination and confirmation by the Florentines. For a time
he tried to escape accepting the dignity by hiding himself on the island of
Sardinia. That did not work. So he tried begging the holy father to excuse him
because of his weak physical constitution. The pope would accept no excuses; he
commanded Antoninus to proceed immediately to Fiesole under the pain of excommunication
for disobedience.
While he obeyed with trepidation, it was a blessing
for the people of Florence that he was consecrated bishop in March 1446; they
were not slow in demonstrating their appreciation of their good fortune. He was
the 'people's prelate' and the 'protector of the poor' for he discharged his
office with inflexible justice and overflowing charity. His love extended to
the rich, too. The next year, the dying Pope Eugenius summoned Antoninus to
Rome in order to receive the last sacraments from the holy bishop before dying
in his arms on February 23, 1447.
For the remainder of his life, Antoninus combined an
amazing amount of active work with constant prayer. He allowed himself very
little sleep. In addition to the church office, he recited daily the office of
our Lady, and the seven penitential psalms; the office of the dead twice a
week; and the whole psalter on every festival. His prayer life allowed him to
exhibit an exterior of serenity regardless of the situation. Francis Castillo,
his secretary, once said to him, bishops were to be pitied if they were to be
eternally besieged with hurry as he was. The saint made him this answer, which
the author of his vita wished to see written in letters of gold:
"To enjoy interior peace, we must always reserve in our hearts amidst all
affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where we are to keep retired within
ourselves, and where no business of the world can over enter."
Because of his reputation for wisdom and ability,
Antoninus was often called upon to help in public affairs, civil and
ecclesiastical. Pope Nicholas V sought his advice on matters of church and
state, forbade any appeal to be made to Rome from the archbishop's judgements,
and declared that Antonino in his lifetime was as worthy of canonization as the
dead Bernardino of Siena, whom he was about to raise to the altars. Pius II
nominated him to a commission charged with reforming the Roman court. The
Florentine government gave him important embassies on behalf of the republic
and would have sent him as their representative to the emperor if illness had
not prevented him from leaving Florence. Yet he also busied himself with the
beauty of the chant, and personally attended the Divine Office at his
cathedral.
A distinguished writer on international law and moral
theology, his best known work is Summa moralis, which is generally
thought to have laid the groundwork for modern moral theology. He was conscious
of the new problems presented by social and economic development, and taught
that the state had a duty to intervene in mercantile affairs for the common
good, and to give help to the unfortunate and needy. He was among the first
Christian moralists to teach that money invested in commerce and industry was
true capital; therefore, it was lawful and not usury to claim interest on it
(combine this information with the fact that he was a staunch opponent of
usury). All his many books were of a practical nature, including guidance for
confessors (Summa confessionis) and a chronicle of the history of the
world.
His first concern, however, was always for the people
of his diocese, to whom he set an example of simple living and inflexible
integrity. He preached regularly, made a yearly visitation of all the parishes
in the diocese on foot, put down gambling, opposed both usury and magic,
reformed abuses of all kinds, and served as the example of Christian charity.
Each day he held an audience for anyone who wished to speak with him. No one
appealed for his help, material or spiritual, in vain.
Antoninus was probably best known for his kindness to
the poor, and there were many in the rich city of Florence. He pulled up his
own flower garden and planted vegetables for the poor. He drove his housekeeper
to distraction by giving away even his own tableware, food, clothing, and
furniture. He never possessed any small precious objects, such as plates or
jewels. His stable generally housed one mule, which he often sold to relieve
some poor person. When that happened, some wealthy citizen would buy the animal
and offer it as a present to the charitable archbishop. He kept in personal
contact with the poor of the city, particularly with those who had fallen from
wealth and were ashamed to beg. For their care he founded a society called the
"Goodmen of Saint Martin of Tours," who went about quietly doing
much-needed charitable work--much in the fashion of our modern Society of Saint
Vincent de Paul. His particular establishment now provides for about 600
families.
His charity did not end with the poor, but also
extended to his enemies. A criminal, named Ciardi, who was called before the
bishop to answer accusations, attempted to assassinate the archbishop. The
saint narrowly escaped the thrust of his poniard, which pierced the back of his
chair. Yet Antoninus freely forgave the potential assassin and prayed for his
conversion. God answered his prayers so that he had the comfort of seeing
Ciardi become a sincere Franciscan penitent.
When the plague again came to Florence in 1448, it
was the saintly archbishop who took the lead in almsgiving and care of the
sick. Many Dominicans died of the plague as they went about their priestly
duties in the stricken city; sad but undaunted, Antoninus continued to go about
on foot among the people, giving both material and spiritual aid. During the
earthquakes of 1453-1455, he was similarly self-giving. The example of his own
charity led many rich persons to likewise provide for the afflicted.
Antoninus's was a role model in other ways, too. When
he learned that two blind beggars had amassed a fortune, he took the money from
them and distributed it to others in dire necessity. Was this an injustice? No,
he provided for all the needs of the two for the rest of their lives. The
bishop tried to hide his virtue from others and himself, until he would see
reflections of them in his flock. By accident he discovered one such flame that
he had sparked in a poor, obscure handicraftsman who continually practiced
penance. The man spent Sundays and holidays in the churches, secretly
distributed to the poor all he earned beyond that needed for subsistence, and
kept a poor leper in his home, joyfully serving the ungrateful beggar and
dressing his ulcers with his own hands. The leper, increasingly morose and imperious,
carried complaints against his benefactor to the archbishop, who, discovering
this hidden treasure of sanctity in the handicraftsman, secretly honored it,
while he punished the insolence of the leper.
Cosimo de'Medici, who did not always have compliments
for the Dominicans, admitted frankly, "Our city has experienced all sorts
of misfortunes: fire, earthquake, drought, plague, seditions, plots. I believe
it would today be nothing but a mass of ruins without the prayers of our holy
archbishop."
After 13 years as bishop, Antoninus died surrounded
by his religious brothers from San Marco and mourned by the whole city. His
whole life was mirrored in his last words, "to serve God is to
reign." Pope Pius II assisted at his funeral, when he was buried in San
Marco's church. Pius eulogized Antoninus as one who "conquered avarice and
pride, was outstandingly temperate in every way, was a brilliant theologian,
and popular preacher."
His hairshirt and other relics were the vehicle for
many miracles. It is significant that the canonization of Saint Antoninus was
decreed by the short-lived Pope Adrian VI (August 31, 1522, to September 14,
1523), whose ideas for church reform were radical and drastic. His body was
found uncorrupted in 1559, when it was translated with pomp and solemnity into
a chapel richly adorned by the two brothers Salviati (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Dominicans, Dorcy, Farmer, Husenbeth, Jarrett, Tabor, Walsh).
Born: March 1, 1389 at Florence, Italy
Died: May 2, 1459 at Florence, Italy
Canonized: May 1523 by Pope Adrian VI
Patronage: Fever
Representation: Antonius of Florence is
generally portrayed in art as a Dominican bishop with scales. He might be shown
(1) weighing false merchandise against the word of God; (2) as a Dominican with
a pallium; (3) as a young man giving alms; (4) drifting down a river in a boat;
or (5) holding a book in a bag (Roeder). The likeness of the archbishop was
recorded by contemporary artists, as in the bust at Santa Maria Novella and a
statue at the nearby Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Antonio del Pollaiuolo's
painting of him at the foot of the Cross survives at San Marco, as does a
series of scenes from his life in its cloister of San Antonino (Farmer) and a
portrait by Fra Bartolomeo (Tabor).
Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. Thou
art the praise of virgins, the glory of doctors, a prelate admired by all holy
prelates, O Blessed Antoninus: cast thy fatherly eyes on us who likewise sing
thy praises, alleluia.
V. Pray
for us Blessed Antoninus, alleluia
R. That
we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia
Lauds:
Ant.
Truly to be glorified is Saint Antoninus, who cured the infirm, who ruled the
elements, and who caused even inexorable death to tremble, alleluia
V. The
just man shall blossom like the lily, alleluia.
R. And
shall flourish forever before the Lord, alleluia.
Second Vespers:
Ant.
Leader in faith, teacher of piety, luminary of the world, glory of the
priesthood, by despising the flesh and clinging to God eternal, thou didst
fulfill thine own teaching: O Blessed Antoninus, who with the ascending Christ
didst also ascend the heavens, leave us not orphans in this land of exile,
alleluia.
V. Pray
for us, Blessed Antoninus, alleluia.
R. That
we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia.
Prayer:
Let us Pray: May we be assisted, O Lord,
by the merits of Thy Blessed Confessor and Bishop, Saint Antoninus, that, as
we confess Thee to have been wonderful in him, so we may glory in Thy
mercy towards us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saints%20May.html#Antoninus
Antoninus of Florence, OP B (RM)
Born in Florence, Italy, in 1389 (or 1384?); died there on May 2, 1459; canonized in 1523.
The story of Antonino Pierozzi is that of a great soul in a frail body, and of the triumph of virtue over vast and organized wickedness. His father, Niccolo Pierozzi, had been a noted lawyer, notary to the Republic of Florence. He and his wife Thomassina had their only child baptized as Antonio, but because the saint was both small and gentle people called him by the affectionate diminutive 'Antonino' all his life.
The world in which he lived was engrossed in the Renaissance; it was a time of violent political upheaval, of plague, wars, and injustice. The effects of the Great Schism of the West, over which Saint Catherine had wept and prayed a generation before, were still tearing Christendom apart when Antoninus was born--in the same year as Cosimo de'Medici. The fortunes of Florence were largely to rest in the hands of these two men.
There are only a few known details about the early life of Antoninus, but they are revealing ones. He was a delicate and lovable child. His stepmother, worried over his frailty, often gave him extra meat at table. The little boy, determined to harden himself for the religious life, would slip the meat under the table to the cats. Kids!
From the cradle his inclination was to piety. His only pleasure was to read the lives of saints and other good books, converse with pious persons, or employ himself in prayer. Accordingly, if he was not at home or at school, he was always to be found at Saint Michael's Church before a crucifix or in our Lady's chapel there. He had a passion for learning, but an even greater ardor to perfect himself in the science of salvation. In prayer, he begged nothing of God but His grace to avoid sin, and to do His holy will in all things.
Antoninus hitched his wagon to the star of great austerity and, at 14, discovered the answer to all his questions in the preaching of Blessed John Dominici, who was then the prior of Santa Maria Novella and later became cardinal-archbishop of Ragusa and papal legate. Antoninus went to speak with the preacher and begged to be admitted to the order.
At the time, Blessed John was reforming the Dominican priories of the area according to the wishes of Blessed Raymond of Capua. John planned to build a new and reformed house at Fiesole (near Florence), which he hoped to start again with young and fervent subjects who would revivify the order. It had declined under the plague and the effects of the schism. As yet, he had no building in which to house the new recruits.
Even were the monastery completed, it was to be a house of rigorous observance, and Antoninus looked far too small and frail for such an austere community. John Dominici, not wishing to quench the wick of youthful eagerness, had not the heart to explain all this. He told Antoninus to go home and memorize the large and forbidding book called Decretum Gratiani, supposing that its very bulk would discourage the lad.
Antoninus, however, was possessed of an iron will. He went home and began to read the book straight through. By the end of the year, he had finished the nearly impossible task set before him, and returned to Blessed John to recite it as requested. There was now no further way to delay his reception into the order, so he was received into the Dominican Order "for the future priory of Fiesole" in 1405 by Blessed John.
Due to the unsettled state of the Church, the order, and Italian politics, the training of the young aspirants was conducted at several different locations, including Cortona, and, for a time, the regular course of studies could not be pursued. Antoninus, nothing daunted, studied by himself. He was happily associated during these years with several future Dominican saints and beati, including Lawrence of Ripafratta, the novice master; Constantius of Fabriano; Peter Capucci; and his great friend, the artist, Fra Angelico.
Ordained and set to preaching, Antoninus soon won his place in the hearts of the Florentines. Each time he said Mass, he was moved to tears by the mercy of God, and his own devotion moved other hearts. He was given consecutively several positions in the order. While still very young, he was made prior of the Minerva in Rome (1430). He served the friars in various priories in Italy (including Cortona, Fiesole (1418-28), Naples, Gaeta, Siena, and Florence). As superior of the reformed Tuscan and Neapolitan congregations, and also as prior provincial of the whole Roman province, Antoninus zealously enforced the reforms initiated by John Dominici with a view to restoring the primitive rule. Antoninus became a distinguished master of canon law and assisted popes at their councils. There is evidence that at some point he served as a judge on the Rota. Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to attend the general Council of Florence (1439), and he assisted at all its sessions.
In 1436, he founded the famous priory of San Marco in Florence with the financial aid of Cosimo de'Medici in buildings abandoned by the Silvestrines. Under his guidance and encouragement, the San Marco's monastery became the center of Christian art. He called upon his old companion, Saint Fra Angelico, and on the miniaturist, Fra Benedetto (Angelico's natural brother), to do the frescoes and the choir books which are still preserved there. He also ensured that an outstanding library was collected.
Antoninus is still remembered today in the exquisite 'Cloister of Saint Antoninus' with its wide arches and beautiful ionic capitals, designed in the saint's lifetime by Michelozzo for San Marco. In the lunettes of the cloister Bernardino Poccetti and others painted scenes from Antoninus's life. (When Giambologna restored and altered the church of San Marco in 1588, he built for the saint's body a superb chapel.)
To his horror, Antoninus's wisdom and pastoral zeal made him a natural choice by Pope Eugenius IV for archbishop of Florence in 1446. Although Tabor reports that the pope had first chosen Fra Angelico, whose purity and wisdom had become known when he was painting in Rome. The artist entreated the holy father to choose Fra Antoninus instead, who had done great service by his unworldliness and gentle but irresistible power.
Antoninus's appointment as bishop was a genuine heartbreak to a scholar who could never find enough time to study; in fact, he had been in Naples for two years reforming the houses of the province when he received word of the nomination and confirmation by the Florentines. For a time he tried to escape accepting the dignity by hiding himself on the island of Sardinia. That did not work. So he tried begging the holy father to excuse him because of his weak physical constitution. The pope would accept no excuses; he commanded Antoninus to proceed immediately to Fiesole under the pain of excommunication for disobedience.
While he obeyed with trepidation, it was a blessing for the people of Florence that he was consecrated bishop in March 1446; they were not slow in demonstrating their appreciation of their good fortune. He was the 'people's prelate' and the 'protector of the poor' for he discharged his office with inflexible justice and overflowing charity. His love extended to the rich, too. The next year, the dying Pope Eugenius summoned Antoninus to Rome in order to receive the last sacraments from the holy bishop before dying in his arms on February 23, 1447.
For the remainder of his life, Antoninus combined an amazing amount of active work with constant prayer. He allowed himself very little sleep. In addition to the church office, he recited daily the office of our Lady, and the seven penitential psalms; the office of the dead twice a week; and the whole psalter on every festival. His prayer life allowed him to exhibit an exterior of serenity regardless of the situation. Francis Castillo, his secretary, once said to him, bishops were to be pitied if they were to be eternally besieged with hurry as he was. The saint made him this answer, which the author of his vita wished to see written in letters of gold: "To enjoy interior peace, we must always reserve in our hearts amidst all affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where we are to keep retired within ourselves, and where no business of the world can over enter."
Because of his reputation for wisdom and ability, Antoninus was often called upon to help in public affairs, civil and ecclesiastical. Pope Nicholas V sought his advice on matters of church and state, forbade any appeal to be made to Rome from the archbishop's judgements, and declared that Antonino in his lifetime was as worthy of canonization as the dead Bernardino of Siena, whom he was about to raise to the altars. Pius II nominated him to a commission charged with reforming the Roman court. The Florentine government gave him important embassies on behalf of the republic and would have sent him as their representative to the emperor if illness had not prevented him from leaving Florence. Yet he also busied himself with the beauty of the chant, and personally attended the Divine Office at his cathedral.
A distinguished writer on international law and moral theology, his best known work is Summa moralis, which is generally thought to have laid the groundwork for modern moral theology. He was conscious of the new problems presented by social and economic development, and taught that the state had a duty to intervene in mercantile affairs for the common good, and to give help to the unfortunate and needy. He was among the first Christian moralists to teach that money invested in commerce and industry was true capital; therefore, it was lawful and not usury to claim interest on it (combine this information with the fact that he was a staunch opponent of usury). All his many books were of a practical nature, including guidance for confessors (Summa confessionis) and a chronicle of the history of the world.
His first concern, however, was always for the people of his diocese, to whom he set an example of simple living and inflexible integrity. He preached regularly, made a yearly visitation of all the parishes in the diocese on foot, put down gambling, opposed both usury and magic, reformed abuses of all kinds, and served as the example of Christian charity. Each day he held an audience for anyone who wished to speak with him. No one appealed for his help, material or spiritual, in vain.
Antoninus was probably best known for his kindness to the poor, and there were many in the rich city of Florence. He pulled up his own flower garden and planted vegetables for the poor. He drove his housekeeper to distraction by giving away even his own tableware, food, clothing, and furniture. He never possessed any small precious objects, such as plates or jewels. His stable generally housed one mule, which he often sold to relieve some poor person. When that happened, some wealthy citizen would buy the animal and offer it as a present to the charitable archbishop. He kept in personal contact with the poor of the city, particularly with those who had fallen from wealth and were ashamed to beg. For their care he founded a society called the "Goodmen of Saint Martin of Tours," who went about quietly doing much-needed charitable work--much in the fashion of our modern Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. His particular establishment now provides for about 600 families.
His charity did not end with the poor, but also extended to his enemies. A criminal, named Ciardi, who was called before the bishop to answer accusations, attempted to assassinate the archbishop. The saint narrowly escaped the thrust of his poniard, which pierced the back of his chair. Yet Antoninus freely forgave the potential assassin and prayed for his conversion. God answered his prayers so that he had the comfort of seeing Ciardi become a sincere Franciscan penitent.
When the plague again came to Florence in 1448, it was the saintly archbishop who took the lead in almsgiving and care of the sick. Many Dominicans died of the plague as they went about their priestly duties in the stricken city; sad but undaunted, Antoninus continued to go about on foot among the people, giving both material and spiritual aid. During the earthquakes of 1453-1455, he was similarly self-giving. The example of his own charity led many rich persons to likewise provide for the afflicted.
Antoninus's was a role model in other ways, too. When he learned that two blind beggars had amassed a fortune, he took the money from them and distributed it to others in dire necessity. Was this an injustice? No, he provided for all the needs of the two for the rest of their lives. The bishop tried to hide his virtue from others and himself, until he would see reflections of them in his flock. By accident he discovered one such flame that he had sparked in a poor, obscure handicraftsman who continually practiced penance. The man spent Sundays and holidays in the churches, secretly distributed to the poor all he earned beyond that needed for subsistence, and kept a poor leper in his home, joyfully serving the ungrateful beggar and dressing his ulcers with his own hands. The leper, increasingly morose and imperious, carried complaints against his benefactor to the archbishop, who, discovering this hidden treasure of sanctity in the handicraftsman, secretly honored it, while he punished the insolence of the leper.
Cosimo de'Medici, who did not always have compliments for the Dominicans, admitted frankly, "Our city has experienced all sorts of misfortunes: fire, earthquake, drought, plague, seditions, plots. I believe it would today be nothing but a mass of ruins without the prayers of our holy archbishop."
After 13 years as bishop, Antoninus died surrounded by his religious brothers from San Marco and mourned by the whole city. His whole life was mirrored in his last words, "to serve God is to reign." Pope Pius II assisted at his funeral, when he was buried in San Marco's church. Pius eulogized Antoninus as one who "conquered avarice and pride, was outstandingly temperate in every way, was a brilliant theologian, and popular preacher."
His hairshirt and other relics were the vehicle for many miracles. It is significant that the canonization of Saint Antoninus was decreed by the short-lived Pope Adrian VI (August 31, 1522, to September 14, 1523), whose ideas for church reform were radical and drastic. His body was found uncorrupted in 1559, when it was translated with pomp and solemnity into a chapel richly adorned by the two brothers Salviati (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Dominicans, Dorcy, Farmer, Husenbeth, Jarrett, Tabor, Walsh).
Antoninus of Florence, OP B (RM)
Born in Florence, Italy, in 1389 (or 1384?); died there on May 2, 1459; canonized in 1523.
The story of Antonino Pierozzi is that of a great soul in a frail body, and of the triumph of virtue over vast and organized wickedness. His father, Niccolo Pierozzi, had been a noted lawyer, notary to the Republic of Florence. He and his wife Thomassina had their only child baptized as Antonio, but because the saint was both small and gentle people called him by the affectionate diminutive 'Antonino' all his life.
The world in which he lived was engrossed in the Renaissance; it was a time of violent political upheaval, of plague, wars, and injustice. The effects of the Great Schism of the West, over which Saint Catherine had wept and prayed a generation before, were still tearing Christendom apart when Antoninus was born--in the same year as Cosimo de'Medici. The fortunes of Florence were largely to rest in the hands of these two men.
There are only a few known details about the early life of Antoninus, but they are revealing ones. He was a delicate and lovable child. His stepmother, worried over his frailty, often gave him extra meat at table. The little boy, determined to harden himself for the religious life, would slip the meat under the table to the cats. Kids!
From the cradle his inclination was to piety. His only pleasure was to read the lives of saints and other good books, converse with pious persons, or employ himself in prayer. Accordingly, if he was not at home or at school, he was always to be found at Saint Michael's Church before a crucifix or in our Lady's chapel there. He had a passion for learning, but an even greater ardor to perfect himself in the science of salvation. In prayer, he begged nothing of God but His grace to avoid sin, and to do His holy will in all things.
Antoninus hitched his wagon to the star of great austerity and, at 14, discovered the answer to all his questions in the preaching of Blessed John Dominici, who was then the prior of Santa Maria Novella and later became cardinal-archbishop of Ragusa and papal legate. Antoninus went to speak with the preacher and begged to be admitted to the order.
At the time, Blessed John was reforming the Dominican priories of the area according to the wishes of Blessed Raymond of Capua. John planned to build a new and reformed house at Fiesole (near Florence), which he hoped to start again with young and fervent subjects who would revivify the order. It had declined under the plague and the effects of the schism. As yet, he had no building in which to house the new recruits.
Even were the monastery completed, it was to be a house of rigorous observance, and Antoninus looked far too small and frail for such an austere community. John Dominici, not wishing to quench the wick of youthful eagerness, had not the heart to explain all this. He told Antoninus to go home and memorize the large and forbidding book called Decretum Gratiani, supposing that its very bulk would discourage the lad.
Antoninus, however, was possessed of an iron will. He went home and began to read the book straight through. By the end of the year, he had finished the nearly impossible task set before him, and returned to Blessed John to recite it as requested. There was now no further way to delay his reception into the order, so he was received into the Dominican Order "for the future priory of Fiesole" in 1405 by Blessed John.
Due to the unsettled state of the Church, the order, and Italian politics, the training of the young aspirants was conducted at several different locations, including Cortona, and, for a time, the regular course of studies could not be pursued. Antoninus, nothing daunted, studied by himself. He was happily associated during these years with several future Dominican saints and beati, including Lawrence of Ripafratta, the novice master; Constantius of Fabriano; Peter Capucci; and his great friend, the artist, Fra Angelico.
Ordained and set to preaching, Antoninus soon won his place in the hearts of the Florentines. Each time he said Mass, he was moved to tears by the mercy of God, and his own devotion moved other hearts. He was given consecutively several positions in the order. While still very young, he was made prior of the Minerva in Rome (1430). He served the friars in various priories in Italy (including Cortona, Fiesole (1418-28), Naples, Gaeta, Siena, and Florence). As superior of the reformed Tuscan and Neapolitan congregations, and also as prior provincial of the whole Roman province, Antoninus zealously enforced the reforms initiated by John Dominici with a view to restoring the primitive rule. Antoninus became a distinguished master of canon law and assisted popes at their councils. There is evidence that at some point he served as a judge on the Rota. Pope Eugenius IV summoned him to attend the general Council of Florence (1439), and he assisted at all its sessions.
In 1436, he founded the famous priory of San Marco in Florence with the financial aid of Cosimo de'Medici in buildings abandoned by the Silvestrines. Under his guidance and encouragement, the San Marco's monastery became the center of Christian art. He called upon his old companion, Saint Fra Angelico, and on the miniaturist, Fra Benedetto (Angelico's natural brother), to do the frescoes and the choir books which are still preserved there. He also ensured that an outstanding library was collected.
Antoninus is still remembered today in the exquisite 'Cloister of Saint Antoninus' with its wide arches and beautiful ionic capitals, designed in the saint's lifetime by Michelozzo for San Marco. In the lunettes of the cloister Bernardino Poccetti and others painted scenes from Antoninus's life. (When Giambologna restored and altered the church of San Marco in 1588, he built for the saint's body a superb chapel.)
To his horror, Antoninus's wisdom and pastoral zeal made him a natural choice by Pope Eugenius IV for archbishop of Florence in 1446. Although Tabor reports that the pope had first chosen Fra Angelico, whose purity and wisdom had become known when he was painting in Rome. The artist entreated the holy father to choose Fra Antoninus instead, who had done great service by his unworldliness and gentle but irresistible power.
Antoninus's appointment as bishop was a genuine heartbreak to a scholar who could never find enough time to study; in fact, he had been in Naples for two years reforming the houses of the province when he received word of the nomination and confirmation by the Florentines. For a time he tried to escape accepting the dignity by hiding himself on the island of Sardinia. That did not work. So he tried begging the holy father to excuse him because of his weak physical constitution. The pope would accept no excuses; he commanded Antoninus to proceed immediately to Fiesole under the pain of excommunication for disobedience.
While he obeyed with trepidation, it was a blessing for the people of Florence that he was consecrated bishop in March 1446; they were not slow in demonstrating their appreciation of their good fortune. He was the 'people's prelate' and the 'protector of the poor' for he discharged his office with inflexible justice and overflowing charity. His love extended to the rich, too. The next year, the dying Pope Eugenius summoned Antoninus to Rome in order to receive the last sacraments from the holy bishop before dying in his arms on February 23, 1447.
For the remainder of his life, Antoninus combined an amazing amount of active work with constant prayer. He allowed himself very little sleep. In addition to the church office, he recited daily the office of our Lady, and the seven penitential psalms; the office of the dead twice a week; and the whole psalter on every festival. His prayer life allowed him to exhibit an exterior of serenity regardless of the situation. Francis Castillo, his secretary, once said to him, bishops were to be pitied if they were to be eternally besieged with hurry as he was. The saint made him this answer, which the author of his vita wished to see written in letters of gold: "To enjoy interior peace, we must always reserve in our hearts amidst all affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where we are to keep retired within ourselves, and where no business of the world can over enter."
Because of his reputation for wisdom and ability, Antoninus was often called upon to help in public affairs, civil and ecclesiastical. Pope Nicholas V sought his advice on matters of church and state, forbade any appeal to be made to Rome from the archbishop's judgements, and declared that Antonino in his lifetime was as worthy of canonization as the dead Bernardino of Siena, whom he was about to raise to the altars. Pius II nominated him to a commission charged with reforming the Roman court. The Florentine government gave him important embassies on behalf of the republic and would have sent him as their representative to the emperor if illness had not prevented him from leaving Florence. Yet he also busied himself with the beauty of the chant, and personally attended the Divine Office at his cathedral.
A distinguished writer on international law and moral theology, his best known work is Summa moralis, which is generally thought to have laid the groundwork for modern moral theology. He was conscious of the new problems presented by social and economic development, and taught that the state had a duty to intervene in mercantile affairs for the common good, and to give help to the unfortunate and needy. He was among the first Christian moralists to teach that money invested in commerce and industry was true capital; therefore, it was lawful and not usury to claim interest on it (combine this information with the fact that he was a staunch opponent of usury). All his many books were of a practical nature, including guidance for confessors (Summa confessionis) and a chronicle of the history of the world.
His first concern, however, was always for the people of his diocese, to whom he set an example of simple living and inflexible integrity. He preached regularly, made a yearly visitation of all the parishes in the diocese on foot, put down gambling, opposed both usury and magic, reformed abuses of all kinds, and served as the example of Christian charity. Each day he held an audience for anyone who wished to speak with him. No one appealed for his help, material or spiritual, in vain.
Antoninus was probably best known for his kindness to the poor, and there were many in the rich city of Florence. He pulled up his own flower garden and planted vegetables for the poor. He drove his housekeeper to distraction by giving away even his own tableware, food, clothing, and furniture. He never possessed any small precious objects, such as plates or jewels. His stable generally housed one mule, which he often sold to relieve some poor person. When that happened, some wealthy citizen would buy the animal and offer it as a present to the charitable archbishop. He kept in personal contact with the poor of the city, particularly with those who had fallen from wealth and were ashamed to beg. For their care he founded a society called the "Goodmen of Saint Martin of Tours," who went about quietly doing much-needed charitable work--much in the fashion of our modern Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. His particular establishment now provides for about 600 families.
His charity did not end with the poor, but also extended to his enemies. A criminal, named Ciardi, who was called before the bishop to answer accusations, attempted to assassinate the archbishop. The saint narrowly escaped the thrust of his poniard, which pierced the back of his chair. Yet Antoninus freely forgave the potential assassin and prayed for his conversion. God answered his prayers so that he had the comfort of seeing Ciardi become a sincere Franciscan penitent.
When the plague again came to Florence in 1448, it was the saintly archbishop who took the lead in almsgiving and care of the sick. Many Dominicans died of the plague as they went about their priestly duties in the stricken city; sad but undaunted, Antoninus continued to go about on foot among the people, giving both material and spiritual aid. During the earthquakes of 1453-1455, he was similarly self-giving. The example of his own charity led many rich persons to likewise provide for the afflicted.
Antoninus's was a role model in other ways, too. When he learned that two blind beggars had amassed a fortune, he took the money from them and distributed it to others in dire necessity. Was this an injustice? No, he provided for all the needs of the two for the rest of their lives. The bishop tried to hide his virtue from others and himself, until he would see reflections of them in his flock. By accident he discovered one such flame that he had sparked in a poor, obscure handicraftsman who continually practiced penance. The man spent Sundays and holidays in the churches, secretly distributed to the poor all he earned beyond that needed for subsistence, and kept a poor leper in his home, joyfully serving the ungrateful beggar and dressing his ulcers with his own hands. The leper, increasingly morose and imperious, carried complaints against his benefactor to the archbishop, who, discovering this hidden treasure of sanctity in the handicraftsman, secretly honored it, while he punished the insolence of the leper.
Cosimo de'Medici, who did not always have compliments for the Dominicans, admitted frankly, "Our city has experienced all sorts of misfortunes: fire, earthquake, drought, plague, seditions, plots. I believe it would today be nothing but a mass of ruins without the prayers of our holy archbishop."
After 13 years as bishop, Antoninus died surrounded by his religious brothers from San Marco and mourned by the whole city. His whole life was mirrored in his last words, "to serve God is to reign." Pope Pius II assisted at his funeral, when he was buried in San Marco's church. Pius eulogized Antoninus as one who "conquered avarice and pride, was outstandingly temperate in every way, was a brilliant theologian, and popular preacher."
His hairshirt and other relics were the vehicle for many miracles. It is significant that the canonization of Saint Antoninus was decreed by the short-lived Pope Adrian VI (August 31, 1522, to September 14, 1523), whose ideas for church reform were radical and drastic. His body was found uncorrupted in 1559, when it was translated with pomp and solemnity into a chapel richly adorned by the two brothers Salviati (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Dominicans, Dorcy, Farmer, Husenbeth, Jarrett, Tabor, Walsh).
Antonius
of Florence is generally portrayed in art as a Dominican bishop with scales. He
might be shown (1) weighing false merchandise against the word of God; (2) as a
Dominican with a pallium; (3) as a young man giving alms; (4) drifting down a
river in a boat; or (5) holding a book in a bag (Roeder). The likeness of the
archbishop was recorded by contemporary artists, as in the bust at Santa Maria
Novella and a statue at the nearby Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Antonio del
Pollaiuolo's painting of him at the foot of the Cross survives at San Marco, as
does a series of scenes from his life in its cloister of San Antonino (Farmer)
and a portrait by Fra Bartolomeo (Tabor).
St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, Confessor
From the bull of his canonization, his exact life
by Castiglioni, a contemporary priest, canon of Florence, and other writers of
that age, collected by F. Touron, t. 3, p. 319. See Papebroke, Act. Sanct. t.
1, Maij. p. 311. And the history of his chapel in the Dominicans’ church of St.
Mark at Florence, and of the translation of his body into the same in 1589,
printed at Florence in fol. 1728. Also S. Antonini Summa Theologica cum
annotationibus et vitâ auctoris per Fratres Ballerinos, Petrum et Hieronimum,
sacerdotes Veronenses, 4 vol. in folio, Veronæ, 1740.
A.D. 1459.
ST. ANTONINUS,
or LITTLE ANTONY, was born at Florence in 1389. His parents, named Nicholas
Pierozzi and Thomassina, were noble citizens of that place, and he was the only
fruit of their marriage. From the cradle he was modest, bashful, docile, and
had no inclination but to piety, being even then an enemy both to sloth and to
the amusements of children. It was his only pleasure to read the lives of
saints and other good books, to converse with pious persons, or employ himself
in prayer, to which he was much given from his infancy. Accordingly, if he was
not at home or at school, he was always to be found at St. Michael’s church
before a crucifix, or in our Lady’s chapel there. And whether he applied
himself to that holy exercise in his closet or the church, he always kneeled or
lay prostrate, with a perseverance that astonished every body. By the means of
a happy memory, a solid judgment, and quick penetration, assisted by an
assiduous application, he became an able master at an age when others scarcely
begin to understand the first elements of the sciences. But his passion for
learning was not equal to his ardour to perfect himself in the science of
salvation. In prayer, he begged nothing of God but his grace to avoid sin, and
to do his holy will in all things. F. Dominick, a learned and holy preacher of
the Order of St. Dominick afterwards made cardinal, archbishop of Ragusa, and
legate of the holy see, was then employed in building a convent at Fiesoli, two
miles from Florence. Antoninus was wonderfully delighted with the unction of
his sermons, and never went out of Florence, but to converse with that
apostolic man, to whom he applied at last for the Dominican habit. The father
judging him as yet too young, and his constitution too tender for so strict a
life of perpetual abstinence, frequent fasts, long watchings, and other
rigours, advised him to wait yet some years, and bid him first study the canon
law; adding, that when he should have learned Gratian’s decree by heart, his
request should be granted. So dry and difficult a task would have seemed to
another equivalent to an absolute refusal. However Antoninus set about it, and
joining prayer and severe mortifications with his studies, made an essay of the
life to which he aspired; and in less than a year presented himself again to
the prior of Fiesoli; and by answering his examination upon the whole decree of
Gratian, gave him a surprising proof of his capacity, memory, and fervour. The prior
hesitated no longer, but gave him the habit, he being then sixteen years of
age. The young novice was most exact in complying with every point of the rule,
and appeared the most humble, the most obedient, most mortified, and most
recollected of his brethren. Being advanced to the priesthood, he augmented his
exercise of piety; he was never seen at the altar but bathed in tears. Whether
sick or well, he lay always on the hard boards; and so perfectly had he
subjected the flesh to the spirit, that he seemed to feel no reluctance from
his senses in the service of God. He was chosen very young to govern the great
convent of the Minerva in Rome; and after that, was successively prior at
Naples, Cajeta, Cortona, Sienna, Fiesoli, and Florence: in all which places he
zealously enforced the practice of the rule of St. Dominick, and more by his
actions than words. Besides his domestic employments he preached often, and
with great fruit. The works which he published increased his reputation. He was
consulted from Rome, and from all quarters, especially in intricate cases of
the canon law. The learned cardinal de Lucca reckons him among the most
distinguished auditors or judges of the Rota, though we do not find at what
time he discharged that office. He was chosen vicar or general superior of a
numerous reformed congregation in his Order. He would not remit any thing in
his austerities or labours when exhausted by a decay, of which however he
recovered. Pope Eugenius IV. called him to the general council of Florence; and
he assisted in quality of divine at all its sessions, and at the disputations
with the Greeks. During his stay at Florence he was made prior of the convent
of St. Mark in that city, for which Cosmus of Medicis, called the father of his
country, was then building a sumptuous church, which Pope Eugenius IV.
consecrated. After having established in this house the true spirit of his
Order, he visited his convents in Tuscany and Naples.
While
employed in introducing the primitive discipline of his Order in the province
of Naples, the see of Florence became vacant by the death of its archbishop.
The intrigues of several candidates protracted the election of a successor. But
Pope Eugenius IV. no sooner named F. Antoninus to the Florentines, as possessed
of the qualities they had desired in their future bishop, namely, sanctity,
learning, and experience, and his being a native of their own city, than they
all acquiesced in his choice. Antoninus, who had then been two years absent
from Florence, employed in the visitation of his monasteries, was equally
surprised and afflicted that he should have been thought of for so eminent a
dignity. And that he might escape it, he set out with the design of concealing
himself in the isle of Sardinia; but being prevented in the execution, he was
obliged to go to Sienna, whence he wrote to the pope, conjuring his holiness
not to lay that formidable burden on his weak shoulders, alleging his being in
the decline of life, worn out with fatigues and sickness; enlarging also upon
his great unworthiness and want of capacity; and begging that he would not now
treat him as an enemy whom he had honoured with so many marks of friendship. He
could not close his letter without watering it with his tears. The pope,
however, was inflexible, and sent him an order to repair without delay to his
convent at Fiesoli. He wrote at the same time to the city of Florence, to
acquaint them that he had sent them an archbishop to their gates. The principal
persons of the clergy and nobility, with Cosmus of Medicis at their head, went
out to compliment him on that occasion; but found him so averse to the dignity,
that all their entreaties to take it upon him were to no purpose, till the
pope, being again applied to in the affair, sent him an order to obey, backing
it with a threat of excommunication if he persisted in opposing the will of
God. After many tears, Antoninus at last complied; he was consecrated and took
possession of his bishopric in March, 1446. His regulation of his household and
conduct was a true imitation of the primitive apostolic bishops. His table,
dress, and furniture showed a perfect spirit of poverty, modesty, and
simplicity. It was his usual saying, that all the riches of a successor of the
apostles ought to be his virtue. He practised all the observances of his rule
as far as compatible with his functions. His whole family consisted of six
persons, to whom he assigned such salaries as might hinder them from seeking
accidental perquisites, which are usually iniquitous or dangerous. He at first
appointed two grand vicars, but afterward, to avoid all occasions of variance,
kept only one; and remembering that a bishop is bound to personal service, did
almost every thing himself, but always with mature advice. As to his
temporalities, he relied entirely on a man of probity and capacity, to reserve
himself totally for his spiritual functions. He gave audience every day to all
that addressed themselves to him, but particularly declared himself the father
and protector of the poor. His purse and his granaries were in a manner totally
theirs; when these were exhausted, he gave them often part of his scanty
furniture and clothes. He never was possessed of any plate, or any other
precious moveables, and never kept either dogs or horses; one only mule served
all the necessities of his family, and this he often sold for the relief of
some poor person; on which occasion, some wealthy citizen would buy it, to
restore it again as a present to the charitable archbishop. He founded the
college of St. Martin, to assist persons of reduced circumstances, and ashamed
to make known their necessities, which establishment now provides for above six
hundred families. His mildness appeared not only in his patience in bearing the
insolence and importunities of the poor, but in his sweetness and benevolence
towards his enemies. One named Ciardi, whom he had cited before him to answer
certain criminal accusations, made an attempt on his life; and the saint
narrowly escaped the thrust of his poniard which pierced the back of his chair.
Yet he freely forgave the assassin, and praying for his conversion, had the
comfort to see him become a sincere penitent in the Order of St. Francis.
The saint wanted
not courage whenever the honour of God required it. He suppressed games of
hazard; reformed other abuses in all orders; preached almost every Sunday and
holiday, and visited his whole diocess every year, always on foot. His
character for wisdom and integrity was such, that he was consulted from all
parts, and by persons of the highest rank, both secular and ecclesiastical, and
his decisions gave so general a satisfaction, that they acquired him the name
of Antoninus the Counsellor. Yet this multiplicity of business was no
interruption of his attention to God. He allowed himself very little sleep.
Over and above the church office, he recited daily the office of our Lady, and
the seven penitential psalms; the office of the dead twice a week, and the
whole psalter on every festival. In the midst of his exterior affairs he always
preserved the same serenity of countenance, and the same peace of mind, and
seemed always recollected in God. Francis Castillo, his secretary, once said to
him, bishops were to be pitied if they were to be eternally besieged with hurry
as he was. The saint made him this answer, which the author of his life wished
to see written in letters of gold: “To enjoy interior peace, we must always
reserve in our hearts amidst all affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where we
are to keep retired within ourselves, and where no business of the world can
ever enter.” Pope Eugenius IV. falling sick, sent for Antoninus to Rome, made
his confession to him, received the viaticum and extreme-unction from his
hands, and expired in his arms on the 23rd of February, 1447. Nicholas IV.
succeeded him. St. Antoninus having received his benediction, hastened to
Florence, where a pestilence had begun to show itself, which raged the whole
year following. The holy archbishop exposed himself first, and employed his
clergy both secular and regular, especially those of his own order, in
assisting the infected; so that almost all the friars of St. Mark, St. Mary
Novella, and Fiesoli were swept away by the contagion, and new recruits were
sent from the province of Lombardy to inhabit those houses. The famine, as is
usual, followed this first scourge. The holy archbishop stripped himself of
almost everything; and by the influence of his words and example, many rich
persons were moved to do the like. He obtained from Rome, particularly from the
pope, great succours for the relief of the distressed. Indeed, the pope never
refused anything that he requested; and ordered that no appeals should be
received at Rome from any sentence passed by him. After the public calamity was
over, the saint continued his liberalities to the poor; but being informed that
two blind beggars had amassed, the one two hundred, and the other three hundred
ducats, he took the money from them, and distributed it among the real objects
of charity; charging himself, however, with the maintenance of those two for
the rest of their lives. Humility made him conceal his heroic practices of
penance and piety from others, and even from himself; for he saw nothing but
imperfections even in what others admired in him, and never heard anything
tending to his own commendation without confusion and indignation. He formed
many perfect imitators of his virtue. An accident discovered to him a hidden servant
of God. A poor handicraftsman lived in obscurity, in the continual practice of
penance, having no other object of his desires but heaven. He passed the
Sundays and holidays in the churches, and distributed all he gained by his
work, beyond his mean subsistence, among the poor, with the greatest privacy;
and kept a poor leper, serving him and dressing his ulcers with his own hands,
bearing the continual reproaches and complaints of the ungrateful beggar, not
only with patience, but also with joy. The leper became the more morose and
imperious, and carried complaints against his benefactor to the archbishop, who
discovering this hidden treasure of sanctity in the handicraftsman, secretly
honoured it, whilst he punished the insolence of the leper.
Florence was
shook by frequent earthquakes during three years, from 1453, and a large tract
of land was laid desolate by a violent storm. The saint maintained, lodged, and
set up again the most distressed, and rebuilt their houses. But he laboured
most assiduously to render these public calamities instrumental to the
reformation of his people’s manners. Cosmus of Medicis used to say, that he did
not question but the preservation of their republic under its great dangers,
was owing chiefly to the merits and prayers of its holy archbishop. Pope Pius
II. has left us, in the second book of his Commentaries, a most edifying
history of the eminent virtues of our saint, and the strongest testimonies of
his sanctity. The love of his flock made him decline a secular embassy to the
emperor Frederick III. God called him to the reward of his labours on the 2nd
of May, 1459, in the seventieth year of his age and the thirteenth of his
archiepiscopal dignity. He repeated on his death-bed these words, which he had
often in his mouth during health, “To serve God is to reign.” Pope Pius II.
being then at Florence, assisted at his funeral. His hair-shirt and other
relics were the instruments of many miracles. He was buried, according to his
desire, in the church of St. Mark, among his religious brethren, and was
canonized by Adrian VI. in 1523. His body was found entire in 1559, and
translated with the greatest pomp and solemnity, into a chapel prepared to
receive it in the same church of St. Mark, richly adorned by the two brothers
Salviati, 1 whose family looks upon it as their greatest honour
that this illustrious saint belonged to it. Nor is it easy to imagine anything
that could surpass the rich embellishments of this chapel, 2 particularly the shrine; nor the pomp and
magnificence of the procession and translation, at which a great number of
cardinals, bishops, and princes from several parts assisted, who all admired to
see the body perfectly free from corruption, one hundred and thirty years after
it had been buried.
The venerable
Achard, bishop of Avranches, in his excellent treatise On Self-denial, 3 reduces the means and practice of Christian
perfection to seven degrees of self-renunciation, by which he is disposed for
the reign of love in his soul. These degrees he otherwise calls seven deserts
of the soul. The first is the desert of penance. The second of solitude, at
least that of the heart. The third of mortification. The fourth of simplicity
of faith. The fifth of obedience. The sixth of the pure love of God. The
seventh of zeal for his honour in the salvation of our neighbour. For a man,
first, is to renounce sin by sincere repentance. Secondly, the world by
solitude. Thirdly, the flesh by the mortification of his senses. Fourthly,
though reason is man’s most noble excellency, yet this being obscured and often
blinded by the passions, easily becomes the seat of pride, and leads into the
most dangerous precipices and errors. Man is therefore bound to humble his
reason by keeping it in due subordination, and in a certain degree to renounce
it by simplicity of heart and sincere humility. And this is so far from being
against reason, that it is the sovereign use of reason. Fifthly, a man is
moreover obliged to renounce his own will by perfect obedience. Sixthly, he
must moreover renounce all that he is by the pure love of God, which ought to
have no bounds. Seventhly, none but one who has tasted the sweetness of
heavenly contemplation, knows how incomparable an advantage he renounces who
deprives himself of it. Yet zeal for our neighbour’s salvation, and tender
compassion for his spiritual miseries, move the saints sometimes to prefer
toils and sufferings to its pure delights and charms. By these rules we see by
what degrees or means pious pastors attain to the apostolic spirit of their
state, and how heroic their sacrifice is.
Note 1. St. Antoninus’s
principal work is, his Summ of Moral Divinity, divided into four parts, in
which all virtues and vices are explained; the former enforced by pathetic
motives and examples, and the latter painted in the most striking colours, to
inspire Christians with horror. His Chronicle, or tripartite historical Summ,
is an abridgment of history from the creation of the world to 1458, the year
before his death. He is faithful and candid; but in distant events liable to
mistakes. His little Summ is an instruction to confessors. We have also his
treatise on virtues and vices, and some few sermons. See Echard De Script. Ord.
Præd. t. 1, p. 818, and Peter and Jerom Ballerini of Verona, in the life of St.
Antoninus, in their new edition of his works. Mamachi gave an edition of his
Summ, with prolix notes, printed at Florence in 1741. [back]
Note 2. Descrizione della Capella di S. Antonino, or, The
Description of the Chapel of St. Antoninus, in the Dominicans’ church of St.
Mark, at Florence: also the History of the Translation of his Body into this
Chapel, printed in fol. in 1728, at Florence. [back]
Note 3. See this
treatise published by the Ven. F. Simon Gourdan, in the seventh tome of his MS.
Account of the Lives and Maxims of the eminent Men of St. Victor’s Monastery at
Paris, kept in the library of that house. Achard was a native of Normandy, and
of the prime nobility of that province. In his youth he studied in England, and
was the glory of the clergy of this kingdom. Returning into France, he entered
himself among the regular canons of St. Victor’s, under the blessed Gilduin,
the first abbot of that house, whom, upon his death in 1155, he succeeded in
that abbacy.
Achard was made bishop of Avranches in 1160, and was highly esteemed by Henry II. of England, though he constantly defended the cause of St. Thomas of Canterbury against that prince, from the beginning of his persecution in 1164 to his martyrdom in 1170. Achard died in the odour of sanctity in 1171. See F. Gourdan, ib. t. 7. [back]
Achard was made bishop of Avranches in 1160, and was highly esteemed by Henry II. of England, though he constantly defended the cause of St. Thomas of Canterbury against that prince, from the beginning of his persecution in 1164 to his martyrdom in 1170. Achard died in the odour of sanctity in 1171. See F. Gourdan, ib. t. 7. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/5/101.html
Autore: Franco Mariani
Le reliquie nella Cappella Salviati della chiesa di San Marco
Sant' Antonino Pierozzi (di
Firenze) Vescovo
Firenze, 1389 - 2 maggio 1459
Fu
domenicano a quindici anni e, divenuto sacerdote, fu priore a Cortona, a
Fiesole, a Roma, a Napoli, ricoprendo nel frattempo la carica di Vicario
generale dei Frati Riformati. Fondò la Societrà dei Buonomini di San Martino
per i poveri bisognosi. Divenne arcivescovo di Firenze prodigandosi durante la
peste. All’attività apostolica e agli incarichi di cui era gravato, unì un
intenso studio e la realizzazione di opere che ebbero carattere
giuridico-morale. Egli fu il primo a tentare una sintesi tra il diritto e la
teologia, raccogliendo quanto riteneva utile al ministero della predicazione,
della confessione e della direzione, per offrire una soluzione cristiana ai
molti problemi del suo tempo.
Etimologia: Antonino
(come Antonio) = nato prima, o che fa fronte ai suoi avversari, dal gre
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale, Portamonete
Martirologio
Romano: A Firenze, sant’Antonino, vescovo, che, dopo essersi adoperato per
la riforma dell’Ordine dei Predicatori, si impegnò in una vigile cura
pastorale, rifulgendo per santità, rigore e bontà di dottrina.
Antonino Pierozzi fu uno
dei più bei fiori e il più valido sostenitore della riforma dell’Ordine
promossa dal Beato Raimondo da Capua. Fu ricevuto nell’Ordine dal Beato
Giovanni Dominici nel convento di Santa Maria Novella, proseguendo la sua
preparazione a Cortona, dove ebbe come Maestro il Beato Lorenzo da Ripafratta,
del quale fu degno discepolo. Antonino a quattordici anni, a causa del suo
aspetto gracile, aveva destato qualche apprensione nel santo Priore, ma in quel
fragile corpo c’era un’anima gigante. La sua vita fu intessuta di penitenza e
di preghiera. Nello studio fu quello che si dice un “lavoratore”, e ne fanno
fede le numerose opere di sommo valore che scrisse. Da Cortona passo al
Convento di San Domenico a Fiesole, alle porte di Firenze. Venne ordinato
sacerdote nel 1413, divenendo Vicario a Foligno. Dette vita al glorioso
Convento di S. Marco e fu Priore a Fiesole, Siena, Cortona, Roma, S. Maria
sopra Minerva a Roma, Napoli, portando ovunque quella fiamma di zelo che in
lui, fu dolce e forte a un tempo. Papa Eugenio IV, nel 1446, lo nomino
Arcivescovo di Firenze e per indurlo ad accettare gli dovette minacciare
gravissime censure. Come era stato modello di religioso e di superiore, così fu
specchio di Pastore. Indisse guerra inesorabile a tutti i vizi e a tutte le
ingiustizie. Fu il Padre dei poveri e degli sventurati. Anche da Arcivescovo
osservò le austere regole dell’Ordine, fino alla fine dei suoi giorni. Sul
letto dell’agonia poté esclamare: “Servire Dio è regnare!”, e spirò fragrante
di verginità e ricco di opere sante. Per la sua consumata prudenza fu chiamato
Antonino dei Consigli. Morì il 2 maggio 1459. E’ stato proclamato Santo da Papa
Adriano VI il 31 maggio 1523. E’ il Santo Titolare, assieme al Vescovo San
Zanobi, dell’Arcidiocesi di Firenze. Dal 1589 il suo corpo, incorrotto, si
venera nella Basilica Domenicana di San Marco a Firenze. Il Beato e Arcivescovo
Domenicano, Mons. Pio Alberto Del Corona, durante l’ultima ricognizione del
corpo, ha scambiato il suo pastorale con quello misero di legno, che il Santo
aveva con se nell’urna. Tale Pastorale dal febbraio 2001 si trova esposto
permanentemente nella cripta del monastero delle Suore Domenicane dello Spirito
Santo a Firenze, in Via Bolognese, dove si trova, dal 1925 il corpo del Beato,
di cui dal 1942 è aperto il processo di canonizzazione.
L'Ordine Domenicano lo ricorda il 10 maggio.
L'Ordine Domenicano lo ricorda il 10 maggio.
Autore: Franco Mariani
Voir aussi : http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rvart_0035-1326_1990_num_90_1_347867
