Antoninus of Florence

Saint Antoninus, O.P.
Bust outside the family home of St. Antoninus Torre dei Pierozzi, Florence, Italy
Religious, bishop and Confessor
Born	Antonio Pierozzi (1389-03-01)March 1, 1389 Florence, Florentine Republic
Died	May 2, 1459(1459-05-02) (aged 70) Florence, Florentine Republic
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (Archdiocese of Florence and Dominican Order)
Canonized	31 May 1523, Rome by Pope Adrian VI
Major shrine	Church of San Marco Florence, Italy
Feast	2 May; 10 May (General Roman Calendar, 1683–1969)
Patronage	Moncalvo, Turin, Italy University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Manila, Philippines

Saint Antoninus of Florence, O.P. (1389 - 1459), was an Italian Dominican friar, who ruled as an Archbishop of Florence. He is venerated as a saint by 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.

The young Anthony was received into the Dominican Order in 1405 at the age of sixteen at the new priory of the Order in Fiesole and given the religious habit by the Blessed John Dominici, founder of the community, becoming its first candidate. Soon, in spite of his youth, 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 had become 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.

From 1433-1446 Antoninus served as vicar of the Congregation. In this office, he was involved in the establishment of the Priory of St Mark in Florence. The priory's cells, including one for Cosimo de' Medici, were painted in frescos by Fra Angelico and his assistants.