Antonio Rosmini
Who was Antonio Rosmini
Antonio Rosmini was born on the 24th March 1797 in Rovereto, northern Italy. Throughout his life he was a Catholic and devoted to Our Lady. As a child he found school easy! He loved to read about the lives of the saints and the acts of the martyrs and studied Philiosophy and Mathematics. In 1813 he felt God calling him to be a priest and he studied for the priesthood at Padua University. He was ordained a priest in Chioggia in 1821. He published many works, especially about the relationship between faith and reason, but in 1849, the Vatican declared that his works contained very serious errors and asked him to check and change his ideas. However, Rosmini believed his work was accurate and faithful. It was 1854 before the Vatican reversed its opinion. He died on the 1st of July 1855. Rosmini was beatified on the 18th November 2007.
Why is Rosmini important to St Marie’s?
In 1825 he received a vision from God, of a plan to form a group or society, of religious men. In 1828 he founded The Institute of Charity. The Institute’s special characteristic or charism, was that they would always wait to see what God wanted them to do (divine providence) rather than starting a project or an idea of their own. In 1835 the Institute of Charity came to England and Ireland. A few years later, the Sisters of Providence (set up for ladies who wanted to be part of the Institute of Charity) also came to England. Sister Mary Angela and Sister Mary Camilla are both Sisters of Providence. The priests here at St Marie’s Church all belong to the Institute of Charity. Fr Tony, Fr Baxter and Fr Buckner are all Rosminian priests.
There are Rosminian Priests and Rosminian schools all over the world - New Zealand, Tanzania, Italy, France, India, Venezuela, USA, Ireland, Wales and England. St Marie’s Catholic Primary School and Nursery is part of the world wide Rosminian family. We are all linked to each other because of one man –Antonio Rosmini! We remember him particularly on his special day the 1st July.
The coat of arms of the Rosminian Order, the six stars refer to the 6 jars of water that Jesus turned into wine at the wedding at Cana. From his meditations on the Gospel accounts, Rosmini discerned 6 Maxims of Christian Perfection that come from and return to the Gospel – holiness, love for the Church, the call to serve the Church, divine providence, acknowledgement of our nothingness and the will of God in our daily life.
