St. Antony Mary Zaccaria

Antony Mary Zaccaria belongs to that sorrowful but fruitful period before Trent when the Church was badly in need of renewal yet still produced saints able to begin it from within. His story begins with his childhood at Cremona, where his widowed mother raises him well and encourages his compassion for the poor. He studies medicine at Padua, returns home to practice, and then slowly recognizes that God is calling him to heal souls as well as bodies. He studies theology, serves the dying, teaches Christian doctrine in the parishes, and in 1528 is ordained priest. In Milan he finds a small community of devout laypeople gathered around Countess Ludovica Torelli, and out of that company he helps found the Barnabites, a congregation of regular clerks devoted to reform of both clergy and lay life. The name came from the church of St. Barnabas in Milan that became their center. Antony Mary preaches with great ardor, encourages frequent communion at a time when this was not common, and revives the practice of the Forty Hours devotion.

He writes spiritual letters of real depth. He is also tireless in forming communities of consecrated women. What marks him throughout is the combination of mystic intensity and apostolic practicality. He does not reform at a distance. He preaches in the street, attends the dying in hospitals, and wears himself out in the work of renewal. He dies in 1539 at barely thirty-six, exhausted by labor and illness, returning to Cremona to die in the house where he had been born.