Giovanni Dupré (1817-1882), Statue de
Saint Antonin de Florence sur le piazzale des Offices à Florence
Statua di sant'Antonino Pierozzi nella serie dei fiorentini illustri nel piazzale degli Uffizi (l'unica di un uomo di chiesa)
Giovanni Dupré (1817-1882), Statue de
Saint Antonin de Florence sur le piazzale des Offices à Florence
Statua
di sant'Antonino Pierozzi nella serie dei fiorentini illustri nel piazzale
degli Uffizi (l'unica di un uomo di chiesa)
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 : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1099/Saint-Antonin-de-Florence.html
Grabado representando a de San Antonino de Florencia predicando en Summa Confessionalis Do. Antonini Archiepiscopi Floren. (1936)
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
Kolophon der Inkunabel GW 2087: Antoninus von Florenz: Confessionale. Rom, Georg Lauer, Februar 1472
Saint Antonin de Florence. Confessionale, vers 1488-1490
Confessionale. - [Firenze] : [Tipografo del Vergilius], [circa 1488-1490]. - 84 c. ; a-h⁸, I-K⁸, l4 ; 4º. - Si tratta del Confessionale "Omnis mortalium cura". - GW attribuisce la stampa al Tipografo del Benignus. - Proctor attribuisce la stampa a Bartolomeo de' Libri. - Mancano le cc. a1, b1, d3. Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura
Saint Antonin de Florence
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
(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
.jpg)
Saint Antonin de 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
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
Ambito fiorentino, Busto di sant'Antonino Pierozzi (seconda metà
del XV
secolo - prima metà del XVI secolo),
terracotta; Firenze, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San
Martino,
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.
Giovanni Martino Spanzotti, The alms of Sant'Antonio Pierozzi, 1523, Fresco, Church of San Domenico, Torino,
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.
Busto
di San Antonino Pierozzi, Via sant'antonino 27, casa con nicchie, Firenze
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.
Sant'Antonino
Pierozzi che abbraccia il crocifisso, XVI secolo, Chiesa Santa Caterina,
interno, Livorno
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
Also
known as
Antonius Pierozzi
Antonino…
Antoninus…
People’s Prelate
Protector of the Poor
10 May (old Dominican calendar)
Profile
When he first tried to
join the Dominicans he
was refused due to his poor
health. When he persisted, the prior told
him he could only enter if he could recite the whole of canon
law from memory; a year later, in 1405,
after spending his time in study,
he recited it and was admitted. As a novice, he studied under Blessed Lorenzo
of Ripafratta. Priest.
Worked for the reforms of Blessed John
Dominic. Vicar of the convent of Foligno, Italy in 1414. Prior.
Member of the Council
of Florence which sought to end the schism between
the churches of the east and west. Vicar-General of the Dominicans. Archbishop of Florence, Italy in 1446. Diplomat. Theologian. Healer. Wrote a
biography of Blessed John
Dominic, a history of the world, and a reference work on moral theology.
Born
1 March 1389 at Florence, Italy
–
in Italy
Florence, archdiocese of
Florence,
city of
Dominican bishop with
a set of scales
Dominican with
a book and
the pallium
man drifting down river in
a boat
pair of scales in
which he weighs false merchandise against God‘s
word
wearing bishop‘s mitre,
holding the cross,
and giving the sign of blessing in absolution
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
and Their Symbols, by E A Greene
Saints
in Art, by Margaret E Tabor
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
Saint Antonino and
Medieval Economics, by Father Bede
Jarrett
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
Saint
Charles Borromeo Church, Picayune, Mississippi
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Antonius of
Florence“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 May 2024. Web. 25 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonius-of-florence/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonius-of-florence/
Bust outside the family home of St. Antoninus, Torre dei Pierozzi, Florence, Italy
Book of Saints –
Antoninus – 10 May
Article
(Saint) Bishop (May
10) (15th
century) A Florentine, born A.D. 1389,
who, embracing the Religious life in the Dominican Order, and successively
governed many convents, until he was raised to the Archbishopric of Florence
(A.D. 1446). He died three years later, and was buried in the church of his
Order in Florence. His learning and intellectual grasp, conspicuous in his many
erudite works on Divinity and Canon Law, together with his Apostolic virtues,
gained for him the respect and esteem of his contemporaries. He enjoyed the
confidence of the Popes of his time. Pope Eugene IV, when dying, sent for him
to administer to him the last Rites, and Pius II was present in Florence at the
Saint’s funeral.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Antoninus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 23
July 2012.
Web. 26 April 2025.
<http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-antoninus-10-may/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-antoninus-10-may/
Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina (1459-), San Vicente Ferrer y San Antonino de Florencia, Museu de Belles Arts de València
New
Catholic Dictionary – Saint Antoninus
Article
(1389–1459)
Confessor, Archbishop of
Florence, born Florence; died there.
In 1405 he
entered the Dominican Order and was a zealous promoter of the
reforms of Blessed John Dominic. He was made vicar of the convent of
Foligno, 1414,
and governed several other convents until
in 1446 he
was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Florence. Among his writings are a
valuable work on moral theology and a history of the world. He was among the
first to attempt to adapt economic traditions to modern developments. Emblems: scales, lily. Canonized, 1523. Feast,
Roman Calendar, 10
May.
MLA
Citation
“Saint Antoninus”. People of the Faith. CatholicSaints.Info. 11
December 2010.
Web. 26 April 2025.
<http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-antoninus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-antoninus/
Saint Antoninus. Woodcut.
Saints and
Saintly Dominicans – 10 May
Saint Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, Confessor, O.P.
Saint Antoninus was at
first refused the habit of the Order on account of his delicate health, but at
last he obtained it by his entreaties and he showed during his whole life what
can be done by a vigorous soul in a fragile body. After having caused regular
observance to flourish anew in the celebrated congregation of Saint Mark,
founded by Savonarola, he was obliged in obedience to the Pope to accept the
Archbishopric of Florence, where he maintained the noble princess of an
Altranasuis or an Ambrose against the encroachments of the magistrates. He was
a great lover of poverty and used to go and study by the sanctuary lamp in
order to economize for the benefit of the poor. His episcopal palace received
the beautiful name of the “Hostel of the poor.” His prudence and penetration
into the practical difficulties of the Christian life gained for him the
surname of “Antoninus the Counsellor.” His love for the religious life was so
great that he kept in his pocket the key of the cell which he had formerly
occupied in his monastery, in token of affection and hope of returning thither.
He generously assisted with alms some poor needle women on whose house he had
seen angels, but one day he saw there a demon, for better circumstances had led
these young women into idleness and love of dress. The canonical process for
declaring him a doctor of the Church has already begun (1459).
Prayer
My God give me the spirit
of counsel in my work.
Practice
Meditate on the words of
Saint Antoninus at the hour of death. “To serve God is to reign.”
– taken from the
book Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-saintly-dominicans-10-may/
Sala
coi ritratti dei vescovi fiorentini, Antonino Pierozzi e Orlando Bonarli, Palazzo
arcivescovile, Firenze
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Antoninus, Bishop
Article
Antoninus, or Little
Antony, as he was called from his small stature, was born at Florence in 1389.
After a childhood of singular holiness, he begged to be admitted into the
Dominican house at Fiesole; but the Superior, to test his sincerity and
perseverance, told him he must first learn by heart the book of the Decretals,
containing several hundred pages. This apparently impossible task was
accomplished within twelve months; and Antoninus received the coveted habit in
his sixteenth year. While still very young, he filled several important posts
of his Order, and was consulted on questions of difficulty by the most learned
men of his day; being known, for his wonderful prudence, as “the Counsellor.”
He wrote several works on theology and history, and sat as Papal Theologian at
the Council of Florence. In 1446, he was compelled to accept the archbishopric
of that city; and in this dignity earned for himself the title of “the Father
of the Poor,” for all he had was at their disposal. Saint Antoninus never
refused an alms which was asked in the name of God. When he had no money, he
gave his clothes, shoes, or furniture. One day, being sent by the Florentines
to the Pope, as he approached Rome a beggar came up to him almost naked, and
asked him for an alms for Christ’s sake. Outdoing Saint Martin, Antoninus gave
him his whole cloak. When he entered the city, another was given him; by whom
he knew not. His household consisted of only six persons; his palace contained
no plate or costly furniture, and was often nearly destitute of the necessaries
of life. His one mule was frequently sold for the relief of the poor, when it
would be bought back for him by some wealthy citizen. He died embracing the
crucifix, May 2d, 1459, often repeating the words, ” To serve God is to reign.”
Reflection – “Alms-deeds,”
says Saint Augustine, “comprise every kind of service rendered to our neighbor
who needs such assistance. He who supports a lame man bestows an alms on him
with his feet; he who guides a blind man does him a charity with his eyes; he
who carries an invalid or an old man upon his shoulders imparts to him an alms
of his strength. Hence none are so poor but they may bestow an alms on the
wealthiest man in the world.”
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Antoninus, Bishop”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
29 March 2014. Web. 26 April 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-antoninus-bishop/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-antoninus-bishop/
Busto
di Antonino Pierozzi, Museo
nazionale di San Marco - Lapidarium - Sculptures
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 to Cortona to make his novitiate under
Bl. Lawrence of Ripafratta. Upon the completion of his year in
the novitiate,
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
the convent 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 the convent 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 theologians called
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 of
Florence. 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 of parishes 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 his imagination 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 at Venice,
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.
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).
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.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01585b.htm
Piazza
San Martino, Oratorio dei Buonomini di San Martino, busto di Antonino Pierozzi
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).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0510.shtml
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
Le reliquie nella Cappella Salviati della chiesa di San Marco
Reliquaire
de la chapelle Salviati de l'église du couvent San Marco à Florence
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-relic-of-st-antoninus-florence-italy
Le reliquie nella Cappella Salviati della chiesa di San Marco
Reliquaire
de la chapelle Salviati de l'église du couvent San Marco à Florence
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]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/5/101.html
May 10: St. Antonius, B.,
C., O.P., II Class
Today, in the 1962
Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of the beloved archbishop of
Florence, St. Antonius, bishop, confessor, of the Order of Preachers. The
feast is II Class and the semi-festive office is prayed according to the
rubrics. At Lauds and Vespers, a commemoration is made of SS. Gordian and
Epimachus, martyrs.
From the Martyrology:
At
Florence, St. Antoninus, archbishop of the same city and a member of the Order
of Preachers. On account of the excellence of his doctrine and his holiness, he
was compelled to become bishop, although he was unwilling. He was illustrious
for his mercy and his piety. He likewise excelled to a remarkable degree in
sacerdotal zeal. He was so celebrated for his prudence and good counsel, that
he was justly called "Antoninus the Counsellor." Famous for his
virtues and his miracles, he departed for Heaven in the seventieth year of his
life, on May 2. He lies buried in the Church of San Marco where he is held in
high veneration by the people.
From “Short Lives of the
Dominican Saints” (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901)
Saint Antoninus was born
at Florence in A.D. 1390. His father, Nicholas Pierozzi, followed the
legal profession and filled several important offices in the city. The
child received at the font the name of Anthony, but his smallness of stature
and extreme gentleness of disposition caused him to be always known by the
graceful Italian diminutive of Antonino (little Anthony). His childhood
was one of remarkable holiness and almost continual prayer, and he assiduously
attended the sermons of the celebrated Friar Preacher, Blessed John Dominici.
This holy man was superintending the erection of a new Convent at Fiesole, in
the neighborhood of Florence, and Antoninus implored admission into the
Community. Alarmed at the extreme delicacy of his appearance, Blessed John was
afraid to accede to his desires and sought some plausible excuse for a refusal.
He told him, therefore, that it was necessary first for him to make further
progress in his studies, but promised to admit him when he should have learnt
by heart the Book of Decretals. This seemingly impossible condition in no
way damped the ardent spirit of the young postulant. Within a year he had
accomplished the task, and, coming to Blessed John, claimed the fulfilment of
his promise. It was not refused; and on the Feast of St. Dominic, A.D. 1504,
the holy youth was clothed in the habit of the Friars Preachers. He was sent to
Cortona to make his noviceship under Blessed Lawrence of Ripafratta, and had
there as his companions Blessed Peter Capucci and Fra Angelico of Fiesole. In
such an atmosphere of sanctity, Antoninus made rapid progress in perfection.
The first miracle
recorded of him is typical of the affectionate simplicity of his character. To
comfort a little girl who was weeping bitterly over a broken pitcher, he
collected the shattered fragments, made the sign of the cross over them, and
restored the vessel to her whole and uninjured. During the greater part of his
life the Saint filled the office of Prior in one or other of the most important
Convents of the Order, and was himself the founder of the celebrated Convent of
Saint Mark at Florence. He was an indefatigable student and wrote a Summa of
Moral Theology, works on Canon Law, treatises for Confessors and Parish
Priests, and a Chronicle of the History of the World. Saint Antoninus possessed
in an eminent degree the gift of counsel; cases of conscience and questions on
Canon Law were continually submitted to him for solution, and such was his
power of restoring peace to troubled souls, that he was popularly called
"the Angel of Counsels." He assisted in the capacity of theologian at
the General Council of Florence, A.D. 1439, where he had the consolation of
witnessing the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. He organized a vast
system of charity, which is still in existence in our own day, for the relief
of the bashful poor of Florence, and greatly contributed to the development of
Confraternities of Christian Doctrine for the instruction of the young.
In the year 1446 he was
raised to the archiepiscopal throne of Florence, a dignity which he only
accepted when compelled to do so under penalty of excommunication. As
Archbishop he made no change in the poverty and simplicity of his life. His
entire household consisted of six persons; his purse and his time were equally
the property of his flock. In his government he united a singular sweetness and
gentleness with the firmness and intrepidity which were called for by the
abuses of the times. It was remarked how, amidst the multiplicity of cares
which his extensive and vigorous administration entailed upon him, his
countenance never lost its expression of calm serenity. Preeminently a man of
prayer, never did he suffer the turmoil of business to disturb the inner
sanctuary of his soul. When Florence was desolated by the plague and
subsequently by famine and terrible earthquakes, Saint Antoninus showed himself
indeed the father of his people. Night and day he might be seen traversing the
city, followed by a few devoted friends and by an ass laden with provisions and
remedies.
His miracles were very
numerous and bear a striking testimony to the simple and unostentatious life of
the great prelate, much of whose time was spent amongst the poorest of his
flock. At one time we find him mending the mill of a poor man, ruined by a
flood; at another, his blessing melts the iron which has hardened in the
furnace of some obstinate sinners, whose hearts melt also into repentance at
the forbearance of the Archbishop.
Saint Antoninus is
commonly represented in Christian art holding in his hand a pair of scales.
This is in allusion to the following miraculous circumstance. An inhabitant of
Florence once brought him as a New Year's gift a beautiful basket of fruit, in
the secret hope of receiving a rich reward. When, instead of the expected
donation, the Saint dismissed him with merely the words, "May God reward
you," he went off in a very discontented frame of mind. On learning this,
the Archbishop summoned him once more into his presence, and, calling for scales,
placed the basket of fruit in one side of the balance and the written words
"May God reward you !" in the other. The slip of paper was found to
far outweigh the fruits, and the donor retired covered with confusion.
Nicholas V., who
canonized Saint Bernardine of Siena, remarked that Antoninus living deserved
canonization as much as Bernardine dead; and the same Pope forbade any appeals
or complaints to be received in Rome against sentences passed by the saintly
Archbishop of Florence.
The deathbed of Saint
Antoninus was a holy and happy scene. "To serve God is to reign,"
were the words ever
on his lips, together with that salutation of the glorious Virgin which had
ever been among his favorite ejaculations: "O holy and immaculate
Virginity, with what praises to extol thee I know not." He expired
on May 2, A.D. 1459, surrounded by the Friars of the Convent of Saint Mark, in
whose midst he desired to be interred. A very remarkable testimony of honor was
paid to him by the reigning Pontiff, Pius II., who commanded that his funeral
should be celebrated with extraordinary splendor, and granted an indulgence to
all who should kiss the hands or feet of the deceased Archbishop during the
eight days that the body remained exposed before burial. The Bull of
Saint Antoninus's canonization was drawn up by Adrian IV., A.D. 1523, but not
published until the reign of his successor, Clement VII.
Prayer
May we be helped, Lord,
by the merits of your holy confessor and bishop, Antonius, that as we make
known your wonders in him, we may also rejoice at your mercies to us.
Through our Lord...
SOURCE : https://breviariumsop.blogspot.com/2018/05/may-10-st-antonius-b-c-op-ii-class.html
.jpg)
Signa, Sant'Antonino Pierozzi pesa su una bilancia dei frutti ricevuti in dono e i meriti resi a dio, xvii secolo, Chiesa Sant'Angelo a Lecore, Sant'Angelo a Lecore, nel comune di Signa, in provincia di Firenze.
Saints and
Their Symbols – Saint Antonino
A.D. 1461, May
10, was born in Florence of noble parents, and early showed a pious,
thoughtful disposition. In his childhood he would spend hours in prayer before
a crucifix, still kept in the Church of Or Saint Michele. He was very anxious
to enter the Dominican convent at Fiesole, and, after putting him to some
severe tests, the Prior consented. Here he soon became noted for his talents,
as well as for his devotion and humility, and here also he became acquainted
with Fra Angelico, then a brother in the convent. When, some time later, the
Pope offered the archbishopric of Florence to Fra Angelico, he declined it,
feeling himself unequal to the task, but begged that it might be given to
Antonino instead. The Pope granted his prayer, and Antonino fully justified his
friend’s confidence, for he filled his high office with the greatest wisdom and
prudence, and devoted his whole life to good works. He was particularly careful
of the poor, depriving himself of all but bare necessaries for their sake; and
some of the charitable institutions he organized exist to this day. He died at
the age of seventy, to the great grief of all his people, and was buried in the
convent of Saint Mark.
MLA
Citation
E A Greene. “Saint
Antonino”. Saints and Their Symbols, 1909. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 August 2013. Web. 26 April 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-their-symbols-saint-antonino/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-their-symbols-saint-antonino/
_-_2022-08-31_-_1.jpg)
Francesco Morandini (1544–1597), predella:
Antonio Marini di Prato (1788–1861), Saint
Antonino Altarpiece, 425 x 120, Santa Maria del Fiore, / Florence Cathedral, The Saint is depicted
sitting on his cathedra in episcopal robes blessing the people. Behind him are
two sculptures with feminine allegories of the Faith (?) and Justice. From
above descend two angels with a cross and a scroll.
The
predella depicts the Saint who founds the Buonomini di San Martino Brotherhood,
in the tympanum is a tondo with Madonna and Child, both by Antonio Marini.
The neo-Gothic frame imitates the fourteenth-century ones of other altarpieces kept in the Cathedral, and was created to place the canvas by Poppi as a pendant to the panel by Giovanni del Biondo, which depicts another patron saint bishop of the Diocese of Florence, Zenobius, and which is placed on the specular pillar to that of this tabernacle.
Saints in
Art – Saint Antoninus of Florence
Article
Born about 1384.
At the age of fifteen he presented himself for admission at the Dominican Convent at Fiesole,
but he looked so small that the Prior told
him to go away, and learn the Libro del Decreto by heart, and then to
come again. To his surprise, Antoninus, who had indomitable perseverance,
returned next year, and repeated the whole book. He was admitted, and after
studying for a year at Cortona returned
to Fiesole.
Among his companions his great friend was Fra Giovanni, afterwards known as “II
Beato,” or “Angelico,” the celebrated artist of Florence.
When Fra Angelico was painting in Rome for the Pope he
won great favour by his purity and wisdom, and on the death of
the Archbishop of Florence he
was offered the dignity. But he entreated the Pope to choose rather Fra
Antoninus, who had done great service by his unworldliness and gentle but
irresistible power. The Pope willingly
did so, and Antoninus became the model of a wise prelate, greatly beloved by
the people of Florence. He died thirteen years later, in 1459.
He is represented as
an archbishop,
and wears the Dominican habit.
His portrait, by Fra Bartolomeo, is in San Marco, Florence.
MLA
Citation
Margaret E Tabor. “Saint
Antoninus of Florence”. The Saints in Art, with
Their Attributes and Symbols, 1913. CatholicSaints.Info.
7 April 2019. Web. 26 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-in-art-saint-antoninus-of-florence/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-in-art-saint-antoninus-of-florence/
Tabernacolo
di Sant'Antonino Pierozzi, 1855, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, Firenze
Saint Antoninus Pierozzi
of Florence
10 MAY 2010. Today we
celebrate the memorial of Saint Antoninus Pierozzi of Florence, a Dominican
friar and Archbishop of Florence.
Born on 1 March 1389, in Florence. The child was given the name of Anthony, but
he was of a small stature and a gentle nature, so he was always known by the
graceful Italian diminutive "Antonino ("Little Anthony"). Little
Anothony's childhood was marked with great devotion and prayer. His father was
a lawyer in Florence who also held several important positions in local
institutions, and Antonino frequently attended the preaching of Blessed John
Dominici, a celebrated friar and preacher of his time.
So great was Antonino's love for Christ that he approached Blessed John
Dominici as a teenager and asked to be admitted to a new convent at Fiesole
that was being erected. Because of the child's youth and small size, Blessed
John instructed Antonino that he could not be admitted to the convent until he
furthered his studies, and made him the promise that Antonino would be admitted
if he memorized the Book of Decretals.
This enormous task was undertaken by the young Antonino with great devotion,
and a year later he returned to Blessed John having completed the task. On the
Feast of Saint Dominic, A.D. 1504, Antonino was clothed with the Dominican
habit.
In the Order, Antonino grew quickly in holiness and knowledge and relatively
soon assumed the position of prior--a position that he held in a number of
Dominican houses in the region, including founding the Convent of San Marco,
Florence. Much of Antoninus' work in the houses that he served was focused on
renewal and reform of the Dominican life.
Friar Antoninus had a great reputation for theological learning and served as
the Papal theologian for the Council of Florence in A.D. 1439. He was also a
prolific writer, authoring texts on moral theology, canon law, a guide for
confessors, and a chronicle of the history of the world. Antoninus was also
widely known and sought-out for his gift of counsel, earning the popular
title--"the Angel of Counsels."
Under threat of excommunication if he refused, Friar Antoninus was elevated to
the archepiscopacy of Florence in A.D. 1446. It is recorded that Archbishop
Antoninus kept the simple and austere lifestyle that he had prior to his
service as archbishop. Quickly, as archbishop, he won the esteem and love of
his people and remained, fundamentally, a man of prayer. When the plague and,
later, earthquakes struck his flock, he was seen night and day delivering
provisions and assistance to his flock with a donkey laden with supplies and a
small group of assistants. His time was often spent among the poorest of his
flock and many miracles were attributed to him.
In art, Saint Antoninus is often seen holding a set of scales. This is because
of a miracle that tradition attributes to the Saint. An inhabitant of Florence
once brought the archbishop a beautiful new year's fruit basket in the secret
hopes of receiving a great reward. However, Saint Antoninus simply thanked the
donor and sent him away with the words: "May God reward you." Because
he received no reward, the man went off discontented. When Saint Antoninus
later learned of the man's discontentment, he called for him to come before him
again. When the donor did, Saint Antoninus had the fruit basket placed on one
side of a set of scales and a slip of paper on the other side bearing the
words: "May God reward you!" When this was done, the scales
registered that the slip of paper far outweighed the fruit basket.
Saint Anotninus was even declared to be of saintly virtue during his lifetime.
When Pope Nicholas V canonized Saint Bernandine of Siena, he is reported to
have remarked that Archbishop Antoninus was as much deserving of canonization
alive as the dead Bernadine.
Saint Antoninus died on 2 May 1459, and his funeral was celebrated by Pope Pius
II, himself, who also granted special indulgences to the faithful for their
veneration of Antoninus. The bull of Saint Antoninus' canonization is reported
to have been completed during the pontificate of Adrian IV in A.D. 1523, but
was not published until the pontificate of his successor, Clement VII.
SOURCE : https://acta-sanctorum.blogspot.com/2010/05/saint-antoninus-pierozzi-of-florence.html
_-_relics_of_16_Dominican_saints.jpg)
Relics
of 16 Dominican saints, Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Columbus, Ohio
How St Antoninus Stood up
to State Capture!
by Fr Joseph Falkiner OP ·
Published July 2, 2017 · Updated August 6, 2022
Fr Joe Falkiner OP –
More than 1000 economists, investment bankers, top politicians and business
leaders of multinational corporations took part in the recent meeting of the
World Economic Forum for Africa in Durban.
It is doubtful that
anyone present raised the moral issues underlying the economic development of
Africa. Those from South Africa have in the past paid little attention to the
ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor. In this respect, we are one of
the worst countries in the world.
This is where we need to
follow the example of St Antoninus.
He was a Dominican, a
moral theologian, and a man totally dedicated to God and to the people of
Florence, the city he served as archbishop from 1446-59.
Florence in those days
was a city state, almost a country on its own. Highly industrialised, it was
also the financial and banking powerhouse of southern Europe.
It was ruled by the
powerful Medici family. Through their initial success in getting control of the
textile industry, they then gained both commercial and political control of the
whole city, as well as its artistic and humanistic culture.
This family dynasty
lasted nearly three centuries. It was a remarkable example of “state capture”
by a single family.
The Father of Christian
Social Ethics (apart from Jesus)
But behind this
prosperous and profitable scene was also tremendous poverty. Archbishop
Antoninus devoted much of his time to alleviating the suffering of Florence’s
poor. Not only that, he also wrote a five-volume work of moral theology,
directed towards the ruling business men of the city.
In his sermons and
writings he showed the elites their moral responsibility in such a situation.
They were to use their resources to meet not only their own needs, but also the
needs of others. Profits should not be in excess of the moderate needs of those
in charge. He vigorously opposed the pursuit of luxuries.
You might have thought
that this turned these leaders off, but Antoninus promoted these ideas with
such wisdom that he retained their friendship, and some actually supported him.
Yet he was merciless with those who merely gave “specious excuses”.
All that he taught, he
put into practice in his own life. He had a habit of meeting the poor where
they were, mainly in the working-class districts — and they loved him.
For transport he had a
mule. Once when he met a really destitute family he gave them the mule and went
home on foot. A well-to-do person kindly presented him with another mule, but
he gave that one away as well. He then remarked that it is easier to meet the
poor and chat to them when you are on foot.
He was also known to take
off his coat and present it to a beggar who was cold. At the same time he
reformed the lives of his Dominican brethren.
Antoninus was canonised a
saint in 1523, some 63 years after his death at 70.
He is generally
considered to be a father of Christian social ethics.
Now to apply all this to
South Africa. Till now, only a little has been said by the Church in South
Africa about our own situation of rich and poor.
True, it was the
Dominican provincial who initiated the enquiry into “state capture”, and many
people of all religions and denominations are actively engaged in charitable
work, and the bishops have released statements.
But where is the moral
judgment? Where is the economic system being condemned? Where was our voice at
the Economic Forum for Africa?
St Antoninus set us an
example. Pray to God that we may follow it.
SOURCE : https://www.scross.co.za/2017/07/saint-stood-state-capture/
Scuola
fiorentina, Miracolo del pesce di Sant'Antonino Pierozzi, circa 1590, San
Giuseppe al Galluzzo, 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
Busto di Sant'Antonino, terracotta policroma; Firenze, Chiostro dello Scalzo
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.
Autore: Franco Mariani
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/32200
Antonio Granata, Sant'Antonino da Firenze, XVIII secolo, San Domenico
(Cosenza) - Chapel of the Crucifix
ANTONINO Pierozzi, santo
di Arnaldo D'Addario
Dizionario Biografico
degli Italiani - Volume 3 (1961)
Figlio di ser Niccolò e
della seconda moglie di lui Tommasa di Cenni di Nuccio, nacque a Firenze, nel
1389. Il Morçay (S. Antonin..., Paris 1914, p. 13, n. 1) assegna
criticamente la data di nascita a un giorno tra il 25 marzo e il 1 apr. 1389.
Al fonte battesimale gli fu imposto il nome di Antonio, poi mutato dall'uso in
quello di Antonino; a sei anni orfano di madre rimase affidato alla educazione
severa del padre, notaio fin dal 1362, Più volte consigliere e proconsolo della
sua arte (nel 1388, 1396, 1408), onesto e religioso, anche se preoccupato della
sua professione e meticolosamente curante dei propri interessi economici.
Fino dai primi anni, A.
mostrò un carattere riservato, e, per l'età, inconsuetamente grave ed austero,
come apparve, forse, anche agli amici d'infanzia, dai quali ne ebbe notizia, in
seguito, il suo più informato biografo, Francesco da Castiglione.
Frequentò - forse - la
scuola di S. Trinità, di cui fu discepolo anche Paolo Toscanelli. La frequenza
della chiesa di S. Maria Novella gli offrì l'occasione dei primi colloqui con
Giovanni Dominici, il discepolo di s. Caterina da Siena, tenace assertore di
una profonda riforma della Chiesa e dell'Ordine domenicano. Il giovane gli si
presentò, nel 1404, e chiese di entrare nell'ordine.
Il Poccetti, seguendo i
primi biografi, rappresentò la scena in uno degli affreschi dipinti nel primo
chiostro di S. Marco, ma sbagliò nel porvi come sfondo il convento di Fiesole
in costruzione; esso venne edificato solo nell'anno 1406.
Il Dominici, quantunque
colpito dallo zelo di A., gli consigliò di tornare di lì a un anno. La conferma
della vocazione avvenne tra il gennaio e il febbraio 1405 (secondo la
ricostruzione della cronologia antoniniana fatta criticamente dal Morgay); al
più tardi il 12 febbraio di quell'anno, A. entrò a far parte, come novizio, del
convento di Cortona, nel quale si osservava la regola nella sua primitiva purezza;
vi passò l'anno di noviziato e vi conobbe il beato Pietro Cappucci, altra
figura di zelante frate riformato. Il noviziato ebbe termine prima del 12
febbr. 1406, ma egli restò a Cortona fino al 17 maggio, e alla Pentecoste del
1406 partì con tre compagni per il convento di Fiesole che era stato fondato
dal Dominici da poco tempo, con l'appoggio del vescovo Altoviti, al fine di
raccogliere in un sol luogo quanti avessero inteso dedicarsi a una perfetta
osservanza della Regola domenicana. Avanti di poterne occupare le celle (29
sett. 1406), A. e i compagni dovettero abitare per qualche tempo nel vecchio
romitaggio di S. Girolamo e, successivamente, nell'infermeria che era stata
costruita subito dopo la cappella. Questi primi mesi di una vita di stretta osservanza
furono allietati dai frequenti incontri col Dominici, fino a quando (febbr.
1407) quest'ultimo fu chiamato da Gregorio XII a Roma.
In questi annì A. seguì
anche gli studi preparatori alla consacrazione sacerdotale. Ben presto, però,
la comunità fiesolana sentì il contraccolpo degli avvenimenti del grande
scisma. Avvenuta a Pisa l'elezione di Alessandro V, i figli spirituali del
Dominici non vollero distaccarsi da Gregorio XII e lasciarono Fiesole per il
convento di Foligno (luglio 1409). Nella nuova residenza A. rimase fino
all'aprile del 1414 (è citato in numerosi atti notarili folignati di questo
periodo), con un breve intervallo nei primi mesi del 1413, quando è segnalata
da un altro documento la sua presenza in Cortona, forse per ricevervi il sacerdozio,
essendone quello appunto il tempo.
Il graduale attenuarsi
dei contrasti col generale dell'Ordine, fautore di Alessandro V, il mutamento
della situazione generale con la convocazione del concilio di Costanza e,
infine, lo scoppio di una pestilenza che ridusse a tre soli i frati di Foligno (A.
fu fatto vicario; altro indizio dell'avvenuta ordinazione sacerdotale),
costituirono le premesse necessarie per un ritorno di questi ultimi (autunno
1414) nel convento di Cortona, da poco (1411) passato, con la città, sotto il
dominio fiorentino, e, quindi, sotto l'obbedienza di Giovanni XXIII. Gli
osservanti domenicani, tra i quali era venuto a trovarsi nuovamente fra' Pietro
Cappucci, poterono, tuttavia, continuare indisturbati la propria vita di
rigoroso ascetismo e mantenere frequenti rapporti con Gregorio XII e col
Dominici.
Finalmente, la
composizione dello scisma permise alla comunità profuga di prepararsi a far
ritorno nel convento di Fiesole (13 luglio 1418). Non vi tornò A., che, dal
1418 al gennaio 1421, è ricordato da molti documenti notarili come priore del
convento di Cortona dal quale poté passare a Fiesole solo nel 1421, ancora come
priore, restandovi fino al 1424. Un campo sempre più vasto si aprì
all'esercizio del suo zelo a vantaggio di una riforma dell'Ordine, quando -
sulle orme di quanto era stato deciso, nel 1417, nel capitolo di Strasburgo -
il capitolo di Metz (1421) deliberò di rendere obbligatorio per ciascuna
provincia monastica l'esperimento già positivamente riuscito in Toscana con
l'istituzione di un convento riservato ai frati osservanti, e decise di creare
nell'Ordine la carica di Vicario generale dell'Osservanza; fra' Tommaso del
Regno, chiamato a ricoprirla, chiese ad A. di aiutarlo come ispettore. In tale
qualità egli si recò nel 1424 a Napoli, per dirigere la comunità di S. Pier
Martire. Nei sei anni di permanenza in quel convento, A. vi restaurò la vita
regolare e svolse fra i fedeli una intensa opera di direzione spirituale.
Nel 1430 egli divenne
priore del convento romano della Minerva, ove aveva vissuto s. Caterina da Siena.
A. ordinò che, ne fossero riesumate le spoglie, ne raccolse le ossa in un'urna
di marmo, che fece collocare presso la cappella del Rosario, nella chiesa del
convento. Alla Minerva certamente si trovava quando vi ebbe luogo il conclave
da cui uscì eletto Eugenio IV; in questo periodo fu impiegato come auditore
generale della Rota. Era impegnato in questa molteplice opera, quando, con
lettera del 28 maggio 1437, il generale dell'Ordine, fra' Bartolomeo Texier, lo
nomino vicario dell'Osservanza per tutta l'Italia, carica che egli esercitò
fino alla nomina ad arcivescovo di Firenze.
In questi anni la
biografia di A. è legata alla vicenda delle origini dei nuovo convento di S.
Marco e alla fondazione di una comunità osservante in Firenze. Nel 1435, col
favore di Cosimo e di Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici, fu finalmente possibile
ottenere da Eugenio IV la cessione ai domenicani del vecchio convento dei
Silvestrini (chiesta, invano, fino dal 1418), Posto in fondo alla Via Larga
(bolla del 21 genn. 1436); i frati, che già da Fiesole erano venuti
provvisoriamente (1435) nel convento di S. Giorgio in Oltrarno, si trasferirono
(1436) nella nuova sede. A. dopo un breve soggiomo fuori Firenze, vi rientrò
nel 1437 e prese il governo del convento, dapprima col suo personale
ascendente, quindi (1439) con l'ufficio di priore, succedendo in tale carica a
fra' Cipriano e conservandola fino al 1444. Egli fu assorbito dalla vigilanza
sui lavori intrapresi da Michelozzo e finanziati da Cosimo il Vecchio per
rinnovare il convento e la chiesa di S. Marco, e si preoccupò soprattutto di
conservare l'originario spirito di povertà dei frati.
Incoraggiò l'Angelico a
dipingere gli affreschi rappresentanti la vita di Cristo; accettò la donazione
(1443) della biblioteca già appartenente a Niccolò Niccoli, regalata da Cosimo
il Vecchio al convento e collocata nella sala costruita da Michelozzo; permise
anche a fra' Giuliano Lapaccini di sovrintendere alla cura dei manoscritti,
mentre fra' Benedetto, per suo incarico, si dedicò a miniare i messali, i
corali e gli antifonari della chiesa, la cui edificazione era intanto giunta
presto a compimento per mezzo dell'aiuto finanziario del Medici.
Nello stesso tempo, A.
ottenne da Eugenio IV (giugno 1442) la bolla che erigeva in parrocchia la
chiesa di S. Marco e impegnava i frati alla predicazione. Il periodo del
priorato fiorentino coincise anche con i lavori del concilio di Firenze. A. non
ne fece parte ufficialmente, né, sembra, vi ebbe la funzione di teologo
consultore; ma, certamente, fece del convento di S. Marco un accogliente centro
di dibattiti preliminari alle discussioni conciliari. Continuò, intanto, nella
direzione spirituale delle anime, tra le quali ebbe più vicine la vedova di
Baldaccio di Anghiari, Annalena di Galeotto Malatesta, e la cognata di Cosimo
il Vecchio, Ginevra de' Cavalcanti, moglie di Lorenzo di Giovanni de' Medici.
Per ordine di Eugenio IV esercitò anche la vigilanza su alcune Compagnie di
laici (della Purificazione, di S. Raffaele, di S. Giovanni evangelista, di S.
Nicola del Ceppo), e altre quattro ne fondò, per favorire la devozione dei
fedeli. Entro il giugno 1444 aveva già ceduto il priorato a fra' Giuliano
Lapaccini, e tornò a dedicarsi agli impegni di vicario dell'Osservanza. Non
trascurò, tuttavia, del tutto le necessità delle due comunità di Fiesole e di
S. Marco, ottenendo da Eugenio IV la bolla (29 sett. 1445) che ne separò gli
interessi materiali. La ripresa delle peregrinazioni come vicario
dell'Osservanza, fu ancora una volta, e definitivamente, interrotta dalla sua
nomina ad arcivescovo di Firenze.
Morto, nel 1445,
Bartolomeo Zabarella, Eugenio IV, incerto nella scelta tra i candidati
propostigli dalla signoria, dai canonici di S. Maria del Fiore e da influenti
cittadini, sembrò in un primo tempo favorevole a inviare a Firenze un proprio
familiare, Francesco di Padova; ma si lasciò indurre (come narrano i biografi
Francesco da Castiglione e Jacopo Lapini, e convengono il Milanesi, Opere
di G. Vasari, Firenze 1878, II, pp. 516-517, e il Della Torre, Storia
dell'Accademia Platonica di Firenze, Firenze 1902, p. 254, n. 3) a scegliere A.
- che del resto ben conosceva fin dai tempi del Concilio di Firenze - dalla
appassionata presentazione che della spiritualità di lui gli fece l'Angelico,
in quei giorni impegnato a dipingere la cappella del SS. Sacramento. La bolla
di nomina (9 genn. 1446) raggiunse il frate mentre era in viaggio verso Napoli.
L'umiltà lo spinse in un primo tempo alla fuga in Sardegna, per non essere
costretto ad accettare; ma il nipote Pietro lo indusse a ritornare a Siena per
considerare meglio la cosa; un ordine di Eugenio IV lo fece dirigere
direttamente verso Fiesole, ove stette ancora in dubbio per tutto febbraio,
nonostante le esortazioni del cardinale Domenico Capranica; finalmente (1 marzo
1446) accettò. Fu consacrato nella chiesa del convento il 12 marzo dai vescovi
Federighi e Medici; il 13 ebbero luogo le solenni cerimonie tradizionali per la
presa di possesso della diocesi.
L'arcidiocesi di Firenze
offrì ad A. un ambiente più vasto per lo svolgimento della medesima azione di
riforma. Le vicissitudini dello scisma avevano favorito il rilassamento dei
costumi nel clero e nel laicato, provocando anche gravi danni economici. A. ridiede
regolarità alla gestione dei beni della mensa arcivescovile, vendendo o
permutando i possedimenti (1447, 1450, 1452), e accrescendone (1456) la
consistenza; analoghi provvedimenti prese a vantaggio delle parrocchie
impoverite. Oltre al clero secolare della sua diocesi, egli sorvegliò
assiduamente i grandi monasteri maschili (come Vallombrosa) e, in virtù dei
poteri di metropolitano, anche le diocesi di Pistoia e di Fiesole (è
importantissimo il rapporto sulle condizioni della Chiesa pistoiese, compilato
dopo la visita pastorale effettuata nel 1451). Nei confronti dei chierici e dei
laici colpevoli non esitò a chiedere l'aiuto del braccio secolare; intervenne
anche di persona, non arretrando di fronte alla pena di morte, come nel caso (6
maggio 1450) del medico Giovanni Cani, convinto reo di eresia e di magia. Per
venire incontro alle miserie del suo popolo, tuttavia, si decise a sospendere,
nel 1456, la percezione della decima speciale per la crociata, pur sapendo che
quel tributo stava molto a cuore al papa Callisto III.
Tra i più gravi doveri
egli sentì quello di curare la difesa della immunità del clero; dalla signoria
fiorentina ottenne la liberazione del tesoriere di Eugenio IV Francesco di
Padova (20 agosto) arrestato nel 1446 nella casa di campagna dell'arcivescovo
per rappresaglia contro il papa.
All'inizio del 1447 A.
era ancora una volta a Roma, nei giorni in cui (11 gennaio e 7 febbraio) i
tedeschi chiesero perdono a Eugenio IV e, con il cosiddetto "concordato
dei principi", abbandonarono la causa di Felice V. Il papa morì (23
febbraio) con l'assistenza spirituale di A., che fu presente anche ai lavori
del conclave dal quale fu eletto (6 marzo) Niccolò V e in cui egli stesso ebbe
voti, quantunque non facesse parte del Sacro Collegio. Il nuovo papa lo
trattenne a Roma per averne consiglio; Vespasiano da Bisticci dice che gli
offrì anche la berretta cardinalizia.
Ma A. accettò, invece,
l'incarico (22 marzo) delicato di inquisitore sugli abusi commessi dai
percettori di una decima straordinaria sul clero fiorentino concessa da Eugenio
IV a favore della Repubblica; punì i responsabili pur senza aggravare lo
scandalo con provvedimenti inopportuni e impulsivi. La Repubblica lo rispettò
sempre, favorita in questo atteggiamento anche dalla particolare propensione
dei Medici - e di Cosimo in particolare - verso di lui; lo elesse (19 apr.
1455) infatti, a capo della ambasceria gratulatoria inviata (16 maggio-14
giugno 1455) al nuovo papa Callisto III, che costituì un successo personale del
presule. Tuttavia, la freddezza dei Fiorentini nei riguardi dell'idea di una
crociata disgustò il papa, il quale - se mai gli fu riproposta la concessione
del cappello cardinalizio ad A. - certo non volle largheggiare in
manifestazioni di benevolenza verso il presule di una città che era a lui
ostile.
L'aspetto più
caratteristico - sul piano politico - del presulato di A. è, però, quello
costituito dai suoi rapporti con la consorteria politica medicea e con Cosimo
il Vecchio in particolare. Il Medici, per quanto avesse favorito col suo
mecenatismo il convento prediletto di A., non riuscì a conquistarsi l'adesione
politica del frate e poi del vescovo. A., d'altra parte, se accettò l'amicizia
del Medici, non fece nulla che dichiaratamente ne assecondasse l'ascesa al
potere. Già nel febbraio 1442, chiamando a raccolta i dodici ben noti cittadini
fiorentini con cui diede vita all'attività caritativa dei Provveditori de'
Poveri vergognosi (che tutt'ora, col nome di Buonuomini di S. Martino,
continuano la loro opera di beneficenza, seguendo puntualmente la regola
dettata dal fondatore), egli aveva inteso rivolgere l'attenzione dei Fiorentini
proprio verso i bisogni di quanti, già appartenenti al ceto dirigente, erano
stati privati delle loro fortune in conseguenza della lotta politica.
Ma la questione che
provocò il raffreddamento dei rapporti tra A. e la consorteria dirigente
medicea - se non addirittura tra lui e Cosimo il Vecchio - fu quella del voto
palese o segreto negli scrutini. Per la prima volta, nel 1449, era stato
proposto nei consigli che gli "imborsatori", nel predisporre i nomi
degli inclusi al sorteggio per le cariche pubbliche di maggior rilievo politico
(Signori, Collegi, ecc.) votassero palesemente. A. intervenne, allora, con
discrezione, come si desume dalla lettura degli atti ufficiali; la sua
opposizione, però, non era dovuta a scelta politica vera e propria, ma
piuttosto a radicate considerazioni di ordine morale, quelle stesse che egli
avrebbe espresso nella Summa moralis (III, tit. IV, Cap. IV), a proposito del peccato
mortale commesso da chi viola il giuramento di fedeltà agli Statuti del proprio
Comune. Quando, perciò (21 luglio 1458), il gonfaloniere Luca Pitti rinnovò la
proposta liberticida del voto palese, l'arcivescovo non esitò a scrivere di suo
pugno e a fare esporre alla porta delle chiese principali una lettera (26
luglio 1458) in cui, richiamando i cittadini all'osservanza degli Statuti così
come erano stati giurati, condannava di fatto la rivoluzione politica che si
voleva operare. Né disarmò dinanzi alle minacce e alle scoperte prese di
posizione dei medicei (28 luglio); solo mediante l'espediente costituzionale
liberticida della convocazione di un "Parlamento" (11 agosto) la
fazione medicea riuscì a superare la crisi provocata dalla presa di posizione del
presule. Il govemo, tuttavia, non manifestò risentimento contro A.; lo
incaricò, anzi, di presiedere (28 ag. 1458) la delegazione inviata a Roma per
fare omaggio al nuovo papa Pio II (19 agosto); il 10 ottobre l'arcivescovo
parlò lungamente - quantunque fosse già sofferente - al pontefice dei suoi
doveri di capo della cristianità in ordine alla crociata e alla riforma della
Chiesa. Amicissimo del papa (che ne lasciò un ritratto elogiativo nei Commentaria),
fu chiamato a far parte (secondo Francesco da Castiglione) della commissione
incaricatadi attuare il progetto di riforma della Chiesa preparato dal
cardinale di Cusa. Tuttavia, Pio II, preso dalle cure della crociata, lasciò
cadere tale programma di riforma; il 25 apr. 1459 il pontefice era già a Firenze,
occupato nelle trattative politiche; A., ritornato in sede, era gravemente
ammalato, nella casa di campagna di S. Antonio del Vescovo presso Montughi
(distrutta in occasione dell'assedio del 1529). Morì il 2 maggio 1459; aveva
fatto testamento il 30 aprile, lasciando solo duecento scudi ai nipoti Pietro e
Giovanni dell'Ossa e per di più con l'obbligo di darne parte ai poveri appena
possibile.
Ai funerali, che Pio II e
la signoria vollero sontuosi e a spese pubbliche, il più significativo omaggio
fu reso alla salma dai poveri che accorsero a migliaia per salutarlo e pregare.
Il 10 maggio fu sepolto in S. Marco. Adriano VI (31 maggio 1523) lo proclamò
santo, ed esortò i Fiorentini a erigergli un sepolcro degno di lui. Ma solo nel
1589, a spese di Averardo e di Antonio Salviati, il Giambologna eresse in S.
Marco la cappella che ne accolse il corpo, ivi traslato il 9 maggio 1589 con
una solenne processione. Nel 1838, l'arcivescovo Minucci e il padre generale
dei domenicani, Giacinto Cipolletti, sollecitarono dalla S. Sede la
proclamazione di A. a dottore della Chiesa; desiderio che allora non ebbe
accoglimento, ma venne attuato nel 1960 da papa Giovanni XXIII, in occasione
delle onoranze centenarie tributate da Firenze a s. A., dichiarato compatrono,
con S. Zanobi, dell'arcidiocesi. Al Verrocchio è costantemente attribuito dalla
tradizione il busto che del santo raffigura i tratti ascetici, in concordanza
con la maschera mortuaria oggi conservata in S. Marco; il Dupré ne scolpì la
statua che nel 1859 fu collocata sotto gli Uffizi, in occasione del quarto
centenario della morte. L'Angelico lo aveva ritratto negli affreschi della
cappella del SS. Sacramento in Vaticano, che fu distrutta da papa Paolo III.
Opere e dottrina: Un
disegno, sia pure rimasto soltanto abbozzato, è possibile distinguere nella
produzione di A., per quanto concerne le due opere maggiori, la Summa
Theologiae e il Chronicon: esse dovevano essere le parti principali di una
trattazione complessiva che avrebbe dovuto esporre la teoria morale e l'illustrazione
storica del vivere umano, nella prospettiva cristiana. L'ampiezza che,
singolarmente, presero e l'uso separato che di esse si fece, facilitò la
distinzione con la quale vennero diffuse e conosciute.
La Summa theologiae o,
come venne anche significativamente chiamata, Summa moralis, fu scritta tra il
1440 e il 1459. A differenza da quella di s. Tommaso, cui per altro, e per
l'importanza e per la diffusione grandissima che ebbe, si riconnette, è più
testimonianza di uno sforzo analitico-sistematico in campo etico, che non
costruzione coscientemente originale che si contrapponga in una sua posizione
di autonomia di fronte all'opera dell'Aquinate, verso la quale è comunque
largamente debitrice. La Summa, infatti, nella scia di quella che doveva essere
una tradizione dei domenicani fiorentini, è anzitutto opera destinata
all'istruzione dei confessori e dei predicatori, coloro che erano a più diretto
contatto con i vivi problemi del mondo laico fiorentino, e non solo fiorentino.
Questa considerazione, che nasce anche dalla semplice visione della
disposizione interna della materia, è per altro essenziale a comprendere lo
spirito dell'opera: "Aviditate tamen et suavitate tractus veritatis,
precipue moralis sapientiae ex his quae mihi occurrerunt legenda pauca
recollegi mihi grata... Quae autem iudicavi apta ad materias predicationum et
audientiam ad confessionem et consolationem in foro animarum accepi a
doctoribus pluribus in theologia vel jurisperitis" (Summa Theologiae, I
pars, prologus in I partem).
Le auctoritates
esplicitamente ricordate sono numerose, e possono dare un'idea abbastanza
precisa sia degli orientamenti, sia, soprattutto, del metodo compilatorio della
Summa: Agostino, Ambrogio, Gerolamo, Gregorio, Crisogono, Basilio, Isidoro,
Anselmo d'Aosta, Bernardo di Chiaravalle; Platone, Aristotele, Cicerone,
Seneca; tra i "moderni", s. Tommaso "quem omnibus prepono in
suis dictis", Alberto Magno, Pietro della Palude, Innocenzo V, Vincenzo di
Beauvais, Bonaventura, Alessandro di Hales, Niccolò da Lyra, Bartolomeo da
Brescia, Raimondo di Pelliort, Pietro d'Ancarano, Lorenzo Ridolfi (quest'ultimo
per la parte, importante più d'ogni altra, relativa alle questioni di etica
economica). In questo quadro di interessi e di cultura teologico-canonistica,
si dispone l'ampia materia della Summa, che il Mandonnet poté definire:
"le premier ouvrage qui ait embrassé l'étude de la théologie morale sur un
plan aussi étendu" (cfr. Dict. de Théol. Cath., I, 2, col.
1451). Alla linea Creatore (= Dio) - creatura (= uomo) - Redenzione (= Chiesa),
che è presente nella Summa tomistica, fa riscontro una disposizione
dei testi scelti a illustrare l'etica cristiana, di netta tendenza
antropocentrica. Così illustrata la teoria psicologica tomistico-aristotelica,
con ampio e caratteristico ricorso all'esegesi biblica, e considerati i vari
tipi di peccato, il discorso di A. si attarda nell'esposizione dei fondamenti
morali del vivere cristiano, in tutta la prima parte, comprendente venti
titoli, trattati in novantadue capitoli: de lege in comuni; de lege
aeterna; de lege naturali; de lege mosayca; de lege evangelica; de
lege quae dicitur consuetudo; de lege canonica; de lege civili; de
privilegiis in communi, ecc. E in quest'insistenza - che si traduce poi in uno
squilibrio dell'intera trattazione - sugli aspetti giuridici in cui si può
concretare l'etica cristiana, è agevole cogliere un atteggiamento
sostanzialmente diverso da quello di Tommaso, che si mantiene, nella
trattazione morale, fisso allo schema delle virtù teologali e cardinali e ad
un'esegesi sobria e stringata. La seconda parte della Summa antoniniana,
in dodici titoli, analizza i peccati capitali, i voti e le restituzioni: ed è
indubbiamente la più interessante storicamente per l'abbondanza della casistica
menzionata, che fornisce un'adeguata idea del costume quattrocentesco.
Testimone del suo tempo,
pur nello specchio riflesso della meditazione morale - non mai, però, in
un'atmosfera di intellettualistico distacco - A. offre, allo studioso dei
problemi di etica economica, insieme con Bernardino da Siena, un quadro
analitico della casistica elaborata da canonisti e da teologi - ma più i primi
che i secondi sono presenti nella Summa, a questo proposito - in relazione alle
varie attività economiche che la società fiorentina vedeva pullulare in sé
stessa.
Rispetto alla
tradizionale e copiosissima letteratura scolastica sull'argomento, la posizione
di A. non presenta, anche in questo punto, aspetti di particolare originalità,
sia per visioni sintetiche di tutti i problemi di etica economica - la reductio
ad unum della casistica antiusuraria non fu mai raggiunta nella trattatistica
medievale - sia per particolari inasprimenti o addolcimenti, a seconda dei
casi, delle proibizioni previste per singole attività che "sapessero di
usura". Collegata l'usura al peccato di avarizia - e anche questo è tratto
tradizionale - e condannatala in linea di principio, A. indugia a esaminare le
singole pratiche che, nell'evolversi quotidiano degli affari, nascondevano
forme di guadagno e intenzioni speculative che la morale medievale avvicinava
all'usura; la vendita a termine, le vendite di census, i tassi di interessi dei
monti di pietà e dei monti di Stato, i contratti di soccida, i depositi
bancari, i vari tipi di cambio, manuale, per litteras, siccum. La dipendenza da
s. Tommaso è, anche per questa parte, rilevante e a volte come nel caso della
vendita a termine, la discussione delle obiezioni e delle risposte, parte
proprio dall'esposizione - riportata integralmente - del pensiero
dell'Aquinate. Si fa' tuttavia, strada, sia pure con timidezza e con le riserve
dettate da una coscienza morale che tollera, senza volere ancora apertamente
ammettere (frequentemente A., dopo aver esposto il parere contrastante di
teologi e di canonisti, intorno a una "quaestio", preferisce
consigliare come più sicuro atteggiamento l'astensione da una pratica) la
pressione irrefrenabile della vita economica; si fa strada, in tutto questo,
l'idea del particolare valore che ha il denaro dell'uomo di affari, per il quale
è sempre valido il principio del lucrum cessans: come anche da parte di
Bernardino, si riconosce il valore del capitale in quanto denaro destinato a
investimento per attività mercantile (cfr. Summa theologiae, II, Art. I,
cap. VII ed. Venetiis 1582, p. 302 A.).
L'acquisto di un debito
aggravato a prezzo basso è altresì ammesso, come invece non lo è, in
opposizione al parere di Lorenzo Ridolfi, quello del census. Ma forse i tratti
più caratteristici della sistemazione antoniniana in materia sono dati dai
pareri circa i cambi e, più ancora, circa i depositi bancari. Ammesso il gioco
della fluttuazione in due piazze diverse nel cambio per litteras, perché non
esclude una possibilità negativa per l'operatore - anche se ovviamente assai
improbabile - A. si oppone energicamente al cambium siccum, che egli, come del
resto la maggioranza dei moralisti, assimilava senz'altro al mutuo usurario; e
si oppone altresì con forza - a differenza di alcuni contemporanei -
all'interesse maturato per un deposito bancario. Segno, a un tempo, di
un'estrema resistenza del principio aristotelico della fondamentale sterilità
del denaro in quanto tale (non v'era alcuna trasformazione, come invece
nell'investimento mercantile, nel mero deposito bancario del denaro) e di una
tendenza a confluire verso il sicuro investimento bancario del capitale liquido
della società del tempo.
Non prive di un certo
interesse e di originalità, per quello che di veramente originale può esservi
nell'opera di s. A., la terza e la quarta parte, rispettivamente in trentadue e
sedici titoli, trattanti della Chiesa, dei sacramenti, degli stati di vita dei
cristiani e delle virtù cardinali, della grazia e doni dello Spirito santo;
circa la terza parte va notato che l'esame degli stati di vita è fatta in vista
soprattutto dei possibili peccati in cui possono, per così dire,
professionalmente cadere gli appartenenti ad essi; e se un interesse è offerto
da questa sorta di rassegna della società fiorentina ed europea quattrocentesca
- si deve notare che acquista particolarmente importanza, pur nel tono
pianamente espositivo della Summa, il titolo terzo, De dominis temporalibus,
in relazione ai rapporti tra i vari re dell'Occidente cristiano e l'imperatore
e alla lotta contro i Turchi, prima della caduta di Costantinopoli esso è forse
rappresentato più dalla possibilità di conoscere delle opiniones communes,
moderate e piene di buon senso (non per nulla "Antoninus
consiliorum"!), che da ardite tesi etico-politiche. E sarà altresì da
notare che, in atmosfera di conciliarismo, il parere di A. sembra decisamente
orientato a favore della supremazia papale (ma siamo ormai nel 1448); della
quarta parte va segnalato il titolo quindicesimo che, come osserva il
Mandonnet, contiene una vera e propria Mariologia, introdotta e sviluppata sotto
il titolo relativo alla pietà: e può avere un qualche interesse per lo storico,
in questo caso, il ricordo che del movimento dei Bianchi è fatto (cfr.
Summa..., IV pars, caput 2, ediz. cit., p. 290 r A), in relazione a
un'apparizione della Vergine che avrebbe annunziato la morte di un terzo degli
uomini, quale castigo divino a causa dei loro peccati. Una punizione che
avrebbe determinato il movimento dei Bianchi e si sarebbe, però, concretata con
una "pestis universalis nimia" del 1400 che avrebbe ucciso appunto
"tertia pars hominum".
Ma si potrebbero
moltiplicare questi esempi, che ci confermano come, in sostanza, la Summa
antoniniana sia un quadro dai tratti non certamente nuovissimi, ma
minuziosamente curato, per la consapevolezza di tutta una tradizione non sempre
uniforme sui singoli argomenti e per l'impossibilità di limitarsi ad
enunciazioni che non siano comprensive di una prassi che lo sviluppo della vita
in tutte le sue manifestazioni aveva reso estremamente articolata e complessa.
Nel che è facile ritrovare il prevalente interesse di A. per i problemi più
tipicamente pratici ed il raffronto continuo tra l'enunciato teorico e
l'esemplificazione concreta, che caratterizza la Summa di A. da quella più
organicamente dottrinaria, ma anche più genericamente astratta dell'Aquinate.
A provare l'enorme
diffusione e fortuna della Summa, basti qui indicare alcune delle edizioni -
molte delle quali in incunabolo - che furono fatte dell'opera: Venezia 1477,
1479, 1480, 1481, 1487, 1571, 1582; Verona 1740, editori Pietro e Girolamo
Ballerini, dedicata a Benedetto XIV, con Praelectiones esplicative;
Spira 1477; Basilea 1502, 1511; Firenze 1741, editori Mamachi, Remedelli (la
prima parte della Summa, delle due edite soltanto, con la terza del Chronicon,
è edita sulla base di un autografo: cfr. S. Orlandi, Necrologio di S. Maria
Novella, II, Firenze 1955, pp. 271 ss. e n. 44, p. 276). A conferma della
fortuna di A. è da segnalare che alcune parti della Summa vennero estratte
dall'opera generale e pubblicate a parte, sempre ad uso dei confessori e dei
predicatori, sotto forma di trattazioni distinte: De
excommunicationibus et censuris (Summa, III, tt. XXIV-XXV); De
sponsalibus et matrimonio (Summa, III, t. I), ecc.
Il Chronicon,
scritto come la Summa durante gli ultimi vent'anni della vita del santo,
rientra, come anche studi relativamente recenti hanno sottolineato (J. B.
Walker, pp. 149-157) in un disegno di edificazione morale, che deve completare,
e lo si è già avvertito, la teoria esposta nell'opera maggiore: "presentation
of examples of righteous living" (Walker, p. 149). Caratteristica di
quest'opera, che ebbe fortuna pari a quella della Summa, almeno fuori d'Italia,
a giudicare dalle edizioni, che, ad eccezione di quella di Venezia - 1474-1479
- dell'Opera Omnia, sono tutte non italiane (Norimberga 1484; Basilea
1491; Lione 1517, 1525, 1527, 1581-1587: quest'ultima a cura del gesuita
Maturi, che l'ha annotata e dedicata al generale dei domenicani, Sisto Fabbri),
è il procedere narrativo spesso interrotto da ampi profili biografici che sono
stati spesso utilizzati in altre opere, com'è nel caso della biografia di
Giovanni Dominici, che è entrata negli Acta Sanctorum. Sarebbe ovviamente
erroneo, specie per la parte antica e alto-medievale, voler anche tentare un giudizio
di merito sul valore storiografico del Chronicon, che nell'impianto
(Storia universale, dalla Creazione alla seconda metà del sec. XV) e nel
metodo, non sopravvanza di certo la produzione consimile medievale; è evidente
un tentativo di narrazione non annalistica, dovuto, con tutta probabilità,
all'influsso della contemporanea storiografia umanistica, dalla quale, per
altro, A. non mutua il senso critico-filologico. Può essere anche utile, a
comprendere le caratteristiche dell'opera ed il suo sistema combinatorio - per
il quale l'opera del Walker, come già l'opuscolo rarissimo dello Schaube, Die
Quellen der Weltchronik des heil. Antonin von Florenz, Hirschberg 1880,
utilizzato dal Walker, è importantissima -, indicare le fonti della cronaca
antoniniana: Antico e Nuovo Testamento; Agostino, De civitate Dei;
Leonardo Bruni; Cassiodoro, Historia Tripartita; Eusebio; Eutropio;
Graziano; Gregorio Magno; Elinando; Giuseppe; Giustino; Orosio; Pietro
Comestor; Sigeberto di Gembloux; Suetonio; Vincenzo di Beauvais e tra i
contemporanei, il Minerbetti e Poggio Bracciolini, non nominato ma utilizzato,
come ha visto il Morçay (Chroniques de S. Antonin: fragments
originaux du titre XXII 1378-1459, Paris 1913). E sempre il Morçay ha
ravvisato nella particolare utilizzazione fatta da A. di Leonardo Bruni,
conosciuto personalmente come esecutore testamentario di Niccolò Niccoli, un
particolare apprezzamento verso colui che al momento del grande scisma aveva
seguito le parti del pontefice romano e, massimammte, di Gregorio XII.
L'opera è
tradizionalmente divisa in tre parti, che comprendono - ed è anche questo un
fatto significativo - come le compilazioni canoniche e giuridiche, ventiquattro
titoli, suddivisi in capitoli e sezioni. Lo schema su cui poggia la narrazione
è fornito dalla tradizionale divisione della storia del mondo in sei età: alla
prima ed alla seconda età è dedicato il titolo I (Adamo-Torre di Babele); alla
terza, il titolo secondo (Abramo - civiltà cretese), alla quarta, il titolo
terzo (Davide - Babilonia e cattività degli Ebrei); alla quinta, il titolo
quarto (imperi dell'antichità - nascita di Cristo): la sesta età occupa tutto
il resto dell'opera. Dal titolo V al IX, sono narrate le persecuzioni
anticristiane ed il trionfo del cristianesimo; dal X al XVI, le vicende
dell'alto Medioevo, con profili biografici di alcune grandi figure (s.
Benedetto, Gregorio Magno, ecc.); dal titolo XVII al titolo XXI, la storia dal
sec. XII allo scisma d'Occidente; nel titolo XXII, il più importante, le
vicende contemporanee ad A.; i titoli XXIII e XXIV sono relativi alla storia
degli Ordini domenicano e francescano. Lasciando da parte il valore critico
della narrazione degli avvenimenti antichi e non contemporanei, si può
osservare che A., nei confronti dei fatti di cui è stato testimone o che si
sian svolti negli anni della sua esistenza, mantiene un prudente riserbo, come
nel caso dello scisma, a proposito dei quale osserva che non importa tanto che
si segua questo o quel papa, ma solo quello la cui elezione sia avvenuta
canonicamente. Modo assai accorto di evitare un giudizio su di una materia
ancora scottante, anche se ormai messa in secondo piano dal sopraggiungere
delle discussioni conciliari. D'altro canto, si deve osservare con il Morçay
che il solo Chronicon non può fornire, un'idea esatta
dell'atteggiamento di A. verso i vari problemi del suo tempo, poiché nell'opera
storica, dato il carattere compilatorio, solo raramente appare un giudizio
personale: che del resto A. ha sempre cura di riferire con la riserva che esso
non è pertinente alla materia storica.
Le opere minori
comprendono: un Confessionale, in latino, noto anche come Summula
Confessionis, diviso in tre parti: la prima, nota come Defecerunt, dalle
parole iniziali, in latino, italiano e spagnolo (numerose edizioni: cfr. Dict. d'Hist. et
de Géogr. Ecclés., III, col. 858, sub voce Antonin, saint, a
cura di R. Morçay); Curam illius habe, in ital. Medicina dell'anima; Omnis
mortalium cura, in italiano Specchio di coscienza. Questi trattati sono
tutti confluiti nella Summa (non, come si credeva una volta, estratti
da essa: cfr. per quest'ultima opinione, P. Mandonnet, in Dict. de
Théol...,cit., col. 1452); la vicenda delle loro edizioni è assai complessa, e
si rinvia, per un'esposizione analitica alle opere, specie quella del Morçay,
citate in bibliografia. Le numerose edizioni attestano, d'altra parte, il
carattere di manuali confessionali che essi ebbero; di carattere manualistico
anche il De ornatu mulierum (cfr. Summa, II, tit. IV, capitolo
V) ed il Libretto della dottrina cristiana per i putti piccoli e
giovanetti, edita insieme con il terzo Confessionale volgare (Specchio
di coscienza). A Dianora e Lucrezia Tornabuoni, madre del Magnifico Lorenzo è
dedicata l'Opera a ben vivere, opuscolo scoperto a Firenze e pubblicato da F.
Palermo nel 1858; le caratteristiche di meditazioni spirituali riscontrabili in
esso hanno fatto vedere un antecedente dell'Introduction à la vie dévote di
Francesco di Sales (cfr. Thiérard-Baudrillart, Une règle de vie chrétienne
au XVème siècle, Paris 1921, traduzione francese dell'opuscolo di A.); nella
stessa linea è la Regola di vita cristiana, scritta per la vedova di
Lorenzo de' Medici il Vecchio, Ginevra Cavalcanti (1440). Si ricordi ancora
il Trialogus super enarratione evangelica de duobus discipulis euntibus in
Emmaus e l'epistolario, la cui raccolta più completa è quella curata da T.
Corsetto, Firenze 1859 (ventiquattro lettere). Importanti per la casistica
prospettata che, al solito, illumina sul costume del tempo, le Responsiones di
A. a sessantanove questioni sottoposte a lui da Domenico di Catalogna (ma vedi
per altre Responsiones l'articolo del Creytens in Arch. Fratrum
Praedic., XXVIII [1958], pp. 149-220).
Sermoni inediti per
quaresimale sono contenuti nel cod. Bibl. Naz. Firenze, Conv. Sopp.,
A. 8 1750, e nel cod. Bibl. Ricc., Firenze, 308.
Bibl.: Lo studio critico
più accurato e completo della vita di s. A. resta ancora oggi quello di R.
Morçay, Saint Antonin archevêque de Florence (1389-1459), Paris 1914,
che ha utilizzato le biografie, le fonti documentarie e le opere a stampa
pubblicate fino a quell'anno, integrando il materiale disponibile con il frutto
di nuove ricerche archivistiche. L'ampia bibliografia che vi è elencata alle
pp. XXVII-XXXII comprende nella massima parte le citazioni già fatte da D.
Moreni, Bibliogr. stor. ragionata della Toscana..., I, Firenze
1805, pp. 69, 126 s., 264, 278, 359; II, ibid. 1805, pp. 63, 386, 397, 446,
486, e U. Chevalier, Répertoire,... Bio-bibliografie, Paris 1905,
coll. 285 s. Un successivo, autorevole aggiornamento di essa è dato dal Padre
Waltz, in appendice al profilo biografico del santo pubblicato nell'Enciclopedia
Cattolica. Non è mancata, anche recentemente, l'attenzione di alcuni scrittori
cattolici a proposito di s. A., ma non si può dire che essa abbia suscitato
opere di carattere critico, trattandosi nella maggior parte dei casi di
rielaborazioni dei dati e delle conclusioni già note. Un gruppo di scritti è dovuto
a E. Sanesi, La vita di S. A. arciv. di Firenze, Firenze
1941; Id., S. A. e l'Umanesimo, in Rinascita, III, 2 (Firenze
1940), pp. 105-116; Id., L'insegnamento della dottrina cristiana in
Firenze da S. A. al b. Ippolito Galantini, Firenze 1940; Id., S.
A., nel vol. Santi Italiani, edito a cura di J. De Blasi, Firenze 1947. Si
vedano anche P. Bargellini, S. A. da Firenze, Brescia 1947, e A.
Masseron, Saint Antonin (1389-1459), Paris 1927, di intento
divulgativo, come il recentissimo profilo dovuto a C. C. Calzolari, S. A. Pierozzi
dornenicano, arciv. di Firenze, Firenze 1959, scritto in occasione
delle celebrazioni tributate dalla città e dalla diocesi al suo antico
arcivescovo. Lo stesso autore ha poi pubblicato il volume Frate Antonino
Pierozzi dei Domenicani, arcivescovo di Firenze, Roma 1961, che riprende
tutta la bibliografia di argomento antoniniano e contribuisce ad una maggiore
conoscenza della biografia di A. con nuove accurate ricerche archivistiche. Per
la ricorrenza del centenario è stato tenuto nel convento di S. Marco un ciclo
di conferenze, in corso di stampa, delle quali - dal punto di vista più
propriamente biografico - interessano quelle fatte da P. Brezzi e da C. C.
Calzolari. Ricerche particolari interessanti S. A. sono quelle pubblicate da V.
Chiaroni, Gli autografi di S. A. Pierozzi e del b. Angelico
nell'atto della separazione del convento di S. Marco in Firenze dal
convento di S. Domenico di Fiesole, concluso nel luglio del 1455,
Firenze 1955; e da S. Orlandi, Beato Angelico. Note cronologiche,
in Memorie Domenicane, 1955, fasc. I. Si veda anche S. Orlandi, Necrologio
di S. Maria Novella (1235-1504), 2 voll., Firenze 1955. Per la parte
dottrinale, oltre alla già citata opera del Morçay, sono da vedere le voci del Dict. de
Théol. Cath. e del Dict. d'Hist. et de Géogr. Ecclés.,
rispettivamente a cura del Mandonnet e del Morçay; sull'etica economica,
importanti le recenti opere di J. Noonan, Scholastic Analysis of Usury,
Princeton 1957, A. F. Veraia, Le origini della Controversia teologica sul
contratto di censo..., Roma 1960, cfr. Indice dei nomi, di L. Dalle
Molle, Il contratto di cambio nei moralisti dal sec. XIII al sec. XVIII,
Roma 1954, cfr. Indice dei nomi; invecchiata e superata l'opera di B.
Jarret, S. Antonino and Mediaeval Economics, London 1914; per una visione
in chiave "moderna" del pensiero di A. sul lavoro, v. G.
Barbieri, Le forze del lavoro e della produzione nella "Summa" di
S. A., in Economia e storia, VII (1960), pp. 10-36; sulle cronache,
indispensabile l'opera di J. B. Walker, The "Chronicles" of
Saint Antoninus. A Study in historiography, Washington 1933.
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-antonino-pierozzi_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
Creighton Gilbert, « Saint Antonin de Florence et l'art. Théologie pastorale, administration et commande d'œuvres »Traducteur : Jeanne Bouniort, Revue de l'Art Année 1990 90 pp. 9-20 : http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rvart_0035-1326_1990_num_90_1_347867
