Antoninus of Sorrento

Saint Antoninus was a Benedictine monk, hermit and abbot at Sorrento in southern Italy, at the turn of the sixth and seventh centuries. The Church remembers him for his ascetic life, for his friendship with Saint Catellus of Castellammare, and for the protection which the faithful believe he gives to the city of Sorrento. He reposed on 14 February 625.

Youth and hermitage

He was born in Campania, at Campagna, or in the village of San Silvestro according to some sources. Tradition says he was orphaned early and taken in by Benedictine monks. He became a monk at Monte Cassino, but Italy was then suffering from barbarian invasions and the Lombards plundered the monastery. Many monks fled to Rome to seek the protection of Pope Pelagius II, but Antoninus made for Campania and came to Castellammare di Stabia.

The bishop there was Saint Catellus. Wishing to become a hermit, Catellus left Antoninus to care for the town. Antoninus, however, longed for solitude himself and urged Catellus to return to his see. He then withdrew to Monte Aureo and lived in a natural cave. Soon Catellus too chose the mountain and attended to his diocese only now and then.

According to tradition, an apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel moved the two to build a stone church on the mountain, now known as Monte San Angelo or Punta San Michele. Later a priest of Stabia named Tibeius accused Catellus of sorcery, and he was held at Rome until a new pope freed him. He returned to Stabia and worked to enlarge the church he had helped to found.

At Sorrento

The people of Sorrento begged Antoninus to settle among them. He became abbot of the Benedictine monastery of San Agrippino, succeeding Boniface, and in this office his fame for holiness grew. Tradition keeps the story of a woman of Arola, the only one who gave him water to drink as he came down from the mountain, when all the others refused. For her sake he is said to have blessed the land so that water would never fail there.

Before his death he said he did not wish to be buried either in the city or outside it. His body was placed in a coffin and walled into the monastery of San Agrippino. It is told that later a workman wounded in the eye while the walls were being dug into received his sight after a procession led by the bishop.

Veneration

It is said that Saint Antoninus saved a child who had been swallowed by a whale. The people of Sorrento built a crypt and a basilica in his honour and believe he delivered the city from many dangers, among them a Moorish attack from the sea, plague and cholera. He is patron of the city of Sorrento. His feast is on 14 February.