Saint Antoninus of Florence

Antoninus of Florence OP (1 March 1389 – 2 May 1459) was an Italian Dominican friar who served as Archbishop of Florence in the 15th century. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He was born Antonio Pierozzi (also called de Forciglioni) on 1 March 1389 in the city of Florence, then capital of an independent Republic, to Niccolò and Tomasina Pierozzi, prominent citizens of the city, Niccolò being a notary. His mother died when he was about five years of age. As a child, he spent time at the church of Orsanmichele. The young Anthony was received into the Dominican Order in 1405 at the age of sixteen at the new priory of San Domenico in Fiesole and given the religious habit by the Blessed John Dominici, founder of the community, becoming its first candidate. With Fra Angelico and Bartolomeo di Fruosino, the one to become famous as a painter, the other as a miniaturist, he was sent to Cortona to make his novitiate under Bl. Lorenzo da 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 the Convent of Foligno. He was tasked with the administration of various houses of his Order at Cortona, Rome, Naples, as well as Florence, which he labored zealously to reform. These communities became part of a new Dominican Congregation of Tuscany, established by John Dominici in order to promote a stricter form of life within the Order, which had been devastated through its division in the Western Schism of the preceding century. In 1430 he became prior of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. From 1433 to 1446 Antoninus served as vicar of the Congregation. In this office, he was involved in the establishment of the Priory of St Mark in Florence with friars from Fiesole.