Founder of the Barnabites. Born in1502 at Cremona, Lombardy, Italy; died July 5, 1539 in Cremona; canonized May 27, 1897 by Pope Leo XIII

Anthony Maria was born to a well respected patrician family. His father died when he was only two and he was brought up alone by his mother.

He was a bright student and entered the University of Padua to study philosophy. On completeing that he entered medical school in Padua, and became a doctor at the age of 22.  He devoted himself to working among the poor in his native Cremona.

It was in the course of his work that he recognized that he was called to the priesthood, and he began to study theology while continuing to treat the poor in the hospitals and the streets. He was ordained at 26, and it is said that when he celebrated his first Mass, angels surrounded the altar.

Continuing to work in Cremona, becoming famous as a preacher and excellent administrator, he followed advice to go to Milan and seek a bigger field for his apostolic work. There he met two priests with whom he founded a congregation for secular priests called the Society of the Clerics of Saint Paul, also known as the Barnabites.

With his brother priests he instilled in the faithful a deeper devotion to the sacraments and encouraged the practice of frequent communion, and continued his untiring service to the poor and sick.

Worn out by his efforts, he caught fever during a mission and, knowing he was at the end of his life, asked to be taken back to his mother's house in Cremona, where he died peacefully at the age of 37. He is said to have had a vision of St. Paul just before he died.

His body was found in an incorrupt state 27 years after his death.

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