Trained as a medical doctor in northern Italy, Anthony also was drawn to teaching religion to the poor. He decided to switch vocations and was ordained a priest in 1528. In 1530 he and two Milanese noblemen founded an order of reforming priests, the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, more commonly known as Barnabites, after their first headquarters at the Church of St. Barnabas in Milan. Despite church opposition, the order won praise for its care of plague victims, and was formally approved by the pope in 1533. Anthony was elected the first provost general but resigned to open a second house in Vicenza. He fell gravely ill while giving a parish mission and died at his mother’s home. He was canonized in 1897.
