Today, July 5, is the memorial of Saint Anthony Maria Zaccaria.
Founder of the Barnabites.
Anthony was born in 1502 in Italy. As his family was of the nobility, he was able to receive proper education. He studied philosophy and medicine at Padua, Italy, receiving his doctorate at age 22.
He worked as a physician to the poor and served as a catechist. When he answered God’s call to the religious life, he entrusted his inheritance to his mother.
He was ordained at age 26. Eyewitness reports said that angels were seen around the altar at his first Mass.
He was a sought-after preacher. In Milan, he founded the Society of Clerics of Saint Paul (the Barnabites) for men religious, the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul for un-cloistered nuns, and the Laity of St. Paul for married people. These groups aimed to reform the morals of the faithful, to encourage laymen to work together with the apostolate, and to frequently receive Communion.
While on a peace mission in Guastalla, Italy, Anthony became ill with fever and died at his mother‘s house at age 36. In his last moments it is reported that Saint Paul the Apostle appeared to him.
Blessed Pope Pius IX beatified Anthony in 1849. Pope Leo XIII canonized him in 1897.