Antonio Rosmini was born on 24 March 1797 in Rovereto to a noble and well-to-do family. He grew up in a deeply religious environment. His mother who was a very sensitive and religious woman and his older sister, Margherita, who entered the Canossian Sisters influenced him in his vocation. When he was sixteen he felt called to the priesthood. His parents initially opposed his decision, but Antonio was soon left free to follow his own path. In 1816 he enrolled for theological studies at Padua University and on 21 April 1821 he was ordained priest. He began a period of solitude in Rovereto, whichwascharacterised basically by study and prayer. During this time his decision grew to devote himself solely to his own conversion, keeping an open mind to any form of apostolate which Providence might indicate to him through external circumstances (“principle of passivity” and “indifference”). The religious vocation of his sister was the occasion of getting to know the Marchesa di Canossa, who invited him to found a male branch corresponding to the Daughters of Charity which she had founded. Don Antonio reflected on this at length, studied the plan, and waited for clear signs of the will of God. In his retirement at Rovereto he also devoted himself to writing a work on political philosophy — this was dedicated to the aspirations of peoples and the actions of governments on the path to real social justice and true liberty — to pursue this work more deeply he went to Milan in March 1826, where he became friends with Count Giacomo Mellerio and Alessandro Manzoni.
Subsequent events led don Antonio to found an institute different from that proposed by Canossa. In the Lent of 1828 on Monte Calvario at Domodossola he immersed himself in prayer and fasting and drew up the Constitutions (Constitutions of the Society of Charity) which signalled the beginning of the Institute of Charity committed to professing “universal” charity in its three forms (spiritual, intellectual and temporal) according to the needs of their neighbour. At the end of 1828 it received the approval of Pius VIII. In 1832, ever following the will of God, don Antonio found himself directing the first stepsof Congregation of the Sisters of Providence, their evangelical life would make the asceticism of the male institute their own. Meanwhile the first requests for apostolic works arrived, predominantly schools: thus began the work of male and female Rosminian teachers. This work developed as time went on and still persists today.
While he was busy with the life of the two Institutes, don Antonio attended also to the work of writing books, pointed out by the Pope as his specific vocation, but his work as a thinker brought him a succession of difficult trials and misunderstandings, which completely marked the last period of his life. Firstly, two little works were placed on the Index, this resulted in a first process which concluded with a verdict of acquittal. Subsequently new accusations brought with them a true and real anti-rosminian campaign which led Pius IX to order the examination of all his works; this lasted for a good four years. A Sentence of full acquittal of Rosminian teaching was handed down in March 1854, with a veto on renewing subsequent accusations. A few months later on the 1st July 1855Antonio Rosmini died in Stresa, little more than 58 years old in the early hours of the morning. But the publication of two posthumous works (the Theosophy and the Introduction to the Gospel according to John) provided his adversaries with the occasion to launch a new attack. They collected “Forty Propositions” regarding fundamental points of his teaching and denounced them to the Holy Office. A decree of condemnation followed in 1888, which did not mention heretical teaching, but only of statements “which did not seem to be in harmony with Catholic truth”.
These attacks and condemnations did not, however, affect the moral and spiritual greatness of Rosmini. As well as testimonies to his holiness while he was still living, there were added those of many people who, after his death and up to the present day, find in him a master of the spiritual life. Finally in February 1994 the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints gave its placet (assent) to the beginning of the process for the cause of beatification of the Servant of God, Antonio Rosmini.
