Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria

Anthony Mary Zaccaria was born in Cremona, Italy, in 1502. His father died when he was a baby, and his devout young mother raised him to love the poor. He studied medicine at Padua and practiced as a physician in his hometown, but soon realized that he wanted to heal souls as well as bodies. He was ordained a priest in 1528.

Moving to Milan, he gathered priests and lay people eager to reform Christian life in a time of corruption and confusion. In 1530 he founded the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, approved by Pope Clement VII in 1533 and known as the Barnabites after their church of Saint Barnabas; he also founded the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul and a lay association of married couples. He spread the Forty Hours adoration and the ringing of church bells on Friday afternoons to recall Christ's death. Worn out, he died in Cremona on July 5, 1539, and was canonized in 1897.

The Barnabite Fathers, present in Italy and in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and the United States, celebrate his feast with Eucharistic adoration. Many parishes keep his custom of ringing the bells on Friday at three in the afternoon in memory of the Passion.