St. Antoninus of Florence
1389 - 1459

May 10

Antoninus, one of the great Dominican saints, was born in Florence in March, 1389 of parents of the upper middle class. The loss of his mother when he was six years old may have contributed to his poor health as a youngster.

Impressed and influenced by the famous Dominican preacher John Dominic, Antoninus sought admission to the Order of Preachers but was rejected because of his health. Perhaps as a test of his sincerity, the friars told him to go home and memorize the Decretals of Gratian, the canon law of the time. This was a challenge to the young Antoninus, who returned to the priory the following year having learned the manuscript by heart. At the age of seventeen he entered the Order of Preachers.

Turmoil in the Church caused by the election of an anti-pope in June 1409 and suffering and fear fueled by the plague of 1413 were two of the experiences the young friar and his companions faced. Ordained in 1413, Antoninus returned to Fiesole in 1417, and two years later he was elected prior of the convent.

For the next fifty years, Antoninus led an active life as prior and as archbishop. His concern for the quality of Christian and religious life caused him to give himself unstintingly to preaching and teaching the Word of God. He encouraged Fra Angelico in his artistic beautifying of the monastery, thus making it renowned for its Christian art.

Antoninus was above all a Dominican friar, contemplative and active. Prayer, liturgical and private, was the sustenance of his life, the spring that nourished his ministry of service to the poor. Aware of two social ills that often contributed to poverty in families, Antoninus began a crusade against gambling and usury.

Falling ill with a high fever Antoninus, near death, reminded his sorrowing friars: To serve God is to reign. He died May 2, 1459 and was buried in San Marco where his incorrupt body still lies. He was canonized a saint on May 31, 1523.