Essential Chronology of the Life of

St. Anthony Mary ZACCARIA

CHILARDOTTI, Franco Maria, CRSP. Antonio Maia Zaccaria 1502-1539 : Una meteora del ciquecento nella scia di Paolo Apostolo. 2nd Ed., 2009, pp 183-193

February 2, 1501 (Cremona). Lazzaro Zaccaria marries Antonia Pescaroli.

December 1-15, 1502 (Cremona). Anthony Mary Zaccaria is born in the home of the Zaccaria family (Premoli, Storia I, pp. 399-403). (Probable date is Thursday, December 8, 1502.) On the same day, Anthony Mary is baptized in the octagonal baptistery of the cathedral of Cremona, probably by his uncle Don Tommaso Zaccaria, canon of the cathedral and a holy priest (1503). Don Tommasos successor, Don Gabriele Zaccaria, introduced Anthony Mary to devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Marian chapel built by the Zaccaria family in church of St. George.

March 15, 1507 (Cremona). The young Anthony Mary, accompanied by his guardian, Pietro Fellini, dispenses a sum of 100 imperial lire to the archpriest of the cathedral, Don Giacomo Schizzi, thus discharging an inheritance left to him by his uncle Don Tommaso (Testament, March 15, 1502) in honor of Our Lady of the Pillar.

15141518 (Cremona). The young Anthony Mary attends the episcopal school attached to the cathedral, under the guidance of Gaspare Mariani for the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and Cesare Mozzi for the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy).

15181519 (Pavia). Anthony Mary finishes his education in liberal arts at the University of Pavia. Here he is presumed to have met the young Gerolamo Cardano (15011575), who would become his schoolmate at Padua.

October 5, 1520 (Cremona). Anthony Mary makes his last will and testament, appointing his cousin Bernardo administrator of their common heritage and giving his mother, Antonia, the interest of such goods for the duration of her natural lifetime.

October 16, 1520 (Cremona). Anthony Mary leaves all his inheritance to his mother, reserving only 100 imperial lire for his college expenses. On the same day, he leaves for Padua, where he would enroll as artium et medicinae scholaris at the famous University of Padua.

October 18, 1520 (Padua). On the feast of St. Luke, Anthony Mary begins the academic year as a student of the Faculty of Arts in the Department of Medicine.

15201521 (Padua). The student Zaccaria attends lectures on The Sentences of Peter Lombard and On the Soul of Aristotle, both given in the Thomistic way by Spanish professor Juan de Montesdoch.

After Easter of 1521 (Padua). The student Zaccaria collaborates briefly with the doctor and philosopher Marcantonio Zimara in drawing up the Table (a glossary of AristotelianAverroes judgments).

November 4, 1521 (Padua). Anthony Mary Zaccaria, together with his friend Serafino Aceti, participates in a meeting of the Arts students that elects the physician Andrea da Cividale to translate some Arab writers into Latin.

August 15, 1524 (Padua). According to tradition, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the student Zaccaria completes his studies at the University of Padua and returns to Cremona.

October 7, 1524 (Cremona). The new doctor Zaccaria returns to Cremona. Together with his cousin Bernardo, he sells one-third of the shop known as Le Drapperie to Gianfrancesco Fiocchi at the price of 800 imperial lire, and at the same time leases to him the remaining two-thirds.

June 16, 1526 (Cremona). Anthony Mary, together with his cousin Bernardoboth had a previous agreement with Gianfrancesco Fiocchi to sell (with right of redemption) the shop which has now become a grocery and pharmacysells to Antonia Spighi, called the Marascha, a third of the shop with interest at the price of 800 imperial lire, with an agreement to redeem it within seven years at the same price.

March 13, 1528 (Cremona). Anthony Mary, together with his cousin Bernardo and on behalf of the entire Zaccaria family, presents to the vicar general of Cremona the new chaplain of the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Don Marco Zaccaria. The chaplaincy had been vacant as a result of the death of Don Gabriele Zaccaria.

April 10, 1528 (Solarolo Rainerio). Anthony Mary and Bernardo, through a private written agreement, divide their assets.

June 6, 1528 (Cremona). Zaccaria receives the tonsure and the minor orders.

1528 (Bologna). Zaccaria completes, in a short time, his studies in theology in Bologna, in preparation for the priesthood. He had been staying as a guest of his friend Serafino Aceti at the Convent of San Giovanni in Monte.

September, 19, 1528 (Cremona). Anthony Mary Zaccaria is ordained a subdeacon by Bishop Luca di Seriate (Bergamo)titular bishop of Duvno in Herzegovina (suffragan diocese of Split, or Spalato in Italian) and suffragan of Cardinal Benedetto Accolti, archbishop of Ravenna and bishop of Cremonain the chapel of St. Joseph. Anthony Mary is second in the list of candidates for ordination to the subdiaconate.

December 19, 1528 (Cremona). Zaccaria is ordained a deacon by the suffragan bishop, Luca di Seriate.

January 2327, 1529 (Solarolo Rainerio). Zaccaria signs some purchase agreements for his properties in Solarolo.

January 28, 1529 (Dovarese Island). On behalf of his cousin Bernardo, Zaccaria makes another purchase, some livestock for his farm in Solarolo.

February 13, 1529 (Cremona). Zaccaria sells to the jewelry shop of Ettore Covo, located under the portico of Palazzo del Capitano, a gold necklace worth 96 gold scudi at a price of 547 imperial lire. With this act of detachment he makes himself ready for priestly ordination.

February 20, 1529 (Cremona). Anthony Mary Zaccaria is ordained a priest in the chapel of St. Joseph by Bishop Luca di Seriate, titular bishop of Duvno and suffragan of Cardinal Benedetto Accolti. Anthony Mary is third in the list of twenty-one candidates for ordination to the priesthood.

April 4, 1529 (Cremona). Zaccaria makes another act of renunciation with the sale of the former Falcone Hotel.

August 11, 1529 (Cremona). Zaccaria purchases from Master Fabrizio Benci, a resident of Padua, a parcel of land with a house located at Recorfano in Cremona.

October 11, 1529 (Cremona). Zaccaria sells back (with right of redemption) to Master Fabrizio Benci the house that he bought from him two months earlier.

End of 1529 (Guastalla). Don Pietro Orsi, chaplain to the Countess of Guastalla, Ludovica Torelli, dies. Countess Ludovica Torelli, who had previously met Zaccaria with his mother when she was married to Lodovico Stanga, appoints Zaccaria as her new chaplain, perhaps at the suggestion of Fra Battista da Crema. From then on, Zaccaria would become an itinerant pilgrim of God, like St. Paul.

May 31, 1530 (Cremona). Zaccaria writes from home to Fra Battista da Crema, who is in Milan.

July 23, 1530 (Cremona). Zaccaria ratifies through a notarial act the private division of assets with his cousin Bernardo. They had previously agreed to this division of assets on April 10, 1528, in Solarolo Rainerio.

Fall of 1530 (Milan). Zaccaria joins the Oratory of Eternal Wisdom, where he meets Bartolomeo Ferrari and Giacomo Antonio Morigia.

January 4, 1531 (Cremona). Zaccaria writes to Ferrari and Morigia, who are in Milan.

Spring of 1531 (Guastalla). Zaccaria meets Ferrante Gonzaga; he and his troops had stopped to pay homage, as tradition demanded, to Our Lady of the Rock.

July 28, 1531 (Milan). From the house of Torelli, Zaccaria writes to Carlo Magni, the head of the group known as Amicizia (Friendship), which was based in Cremona.

August 30, 1531 (Milan). Zaccaria introduces the ringing of bells at three oclock in the afternoon every Friday to commemorate the Passion and Death of Our Lord (Burigozzo, Cronaca, III, p. 509).

December 14, 1531 (Cremona). Zaccaria makes his last will and testament, leaving his inheritance to his mother, who already expects all of his goods by virtue of the irrevocable donation he made to her in 1520.

December 14, 1531 (Cremona). In the same last will and testament, Zaccaria stipulates the construction of a chapel in honor of the Conversion of St. Paul in his parish, St. Donato. In this way he established a legal basis for his devotion to St. Paul. For the Paulines, the chapel became the first official center of Paulinism in the duchy of Milan, after the Circle of Meaux in France was disbanded in 1525; this group was also influenced by the study of Paul. Zaccaria then appoints Don Giovanni Maria Gaffuri as the first chaplain of the center.

January 8, 1532 (Cremona). At the Zaccaria home, Anthony Mary appoints his close friend, Don Giovanni Maria Gaffuri of Fontanella, Cremona, as his legal representative.

February 25, 1532 (Milan). Zaccaria and his followers begin to suffer intense persecution. A Lenten preacher in the cathedral of Milan (a certain Carmelite Brother) incites the crowd against the Paulines, but later he repents.

March 9, 1532 (Venice). Fra Battista da Crema (and with him his disciples, including Anthony Mary Zaccaria) is harshly criticized for having opened in Milan a shop...to the disgrace of the Christian religion.Burigozzo, who speaks of synagogues...near St. Ambrose (Burigozzo, Cronaca, III, p. 510), confirms the existence of this shop.

February 18, 1533 (Bologna). Zaccaria receives, with unexpected celerity, from Pope Clement VII, the Bull of approval for his incipient group, still without an official name and residence.

May 29, 1533 (Cremona). Zaccaria achieves peace between Don Marco Zaccaria and Benedetto Prasi, who is represented by his father Vincenzo, following a challenging argument over the dowry of the Marian chapel owned by the Zaccaria family in St. George.

September 27, 1533 (Milan). Zaccaria signs the purchase agreement for a house near the church of St. Catherine, by the Fabbri bridge in Milan. It would become the first residence of his group. The following Monday, September 29, he comes to reside there with Bartolomeo Ferrari.

November 10, 1533 (Guastalla). As the legal representative of Ludovica (Paola) Torelli, Zaccaria leaves for Curtatone, Mantua, to defend the innocent Fra Battista da Crema from the unjust accusations of his superiors. He is accompanied by Don Ludovico Negri, the vicar general of Guastalla. Zaccaria returns to Guastalla on November 13, 1533. December 31, 1533 (Guastalla). It is Wednesday; in the house of the Countess of Guastalla, Zaccaria assists the dying Fra Battista da Crema. Battista dies in the night between December 31 and January 1.

January 16, 1534 (Guastalla). From the house of the Countess of Guastalla, Zaccaria writes to his "beloved brother in Christ," Giovan Giacomo Piccinini, who is in Milan.

October 4, 1534 (Milan). To his companions gathered in St. Catherine, who are fearful and worried on account of the case against the entire house of Paul, Zaccaria addresses a passionate exhortation, urging them to imitate Christ Crucified under the banner of Paul and to perceive the persecution as a gift by which they could unite themselves more deeply to the Cross. They embrace each other, crying and expressing their loyalty.

October 5, 1534 (Milan). The case is dismissed. Zaccaria and his companions can continue their apostolate in relative serenity.

November 24, 1534 (Milan). Zaccaria charitably resolves a case involving the young Maddalena Comi, owner of an apartment near the monastery of the monks of St. Ambrose. He personally paid all outstanding debts in cash at the office of the banker, Giovanni Barbavara, who in turn would need to repay them to Comi on the eve of her wedding.

January 15, 1535 (Milan). Pope Paul III approves the Angelic Sisters with the Bull, Debitum pastoralis officii.

July 25, 1535 (Rome). Pope Paul III, in a bull of approbation, confirms the devotion to St. Paul practiced by Zaccaria and his group.

October 5, 1535 (Milan). Zaccaria and his companions move into a house near St. Ambrose donated by Countess Ludovica (Paola) Torelli; the house at St. Catherine had become too small after the arrival of new postulants. There they would form a small oratory dedicated to St. Paul Decapitated, and Morigia and some others would come to live there.

October 18, 1535 (Milan). Zaccaria, Ferrari, and Morigia accept a donation from Torelli, who made them heirs of her inheritance.

December 25, 1535 (Milan). On Christmas Day, Anthony Mary Zaccaria celebrates the Mass for the first time at the oratory of the Angelic Sisters Monastery of St. Paul.

January 25, 1536 (Milan). Zaccaria placed under the protection of St. Paul the new monastery of the Angelic Sisters.

February 27, 1536 (Milan). Zaccaria gives the habit to the six postulants of the Angelic Sisters; among them is Paola Antonia Negri.

April 15, 1536 (Milan). In the new residence near St. Ambrose, Anthony Mary Zaccaria and his companions agree to appoint Giacomo Antonio Morigia as superior. This occurs after three votes in which Morigia was repeatedly elected. Morigia is made superior at the hand of Father Anthony Mary Zaccaria, to whom, as a true charismatic leader, the acceptance and formation of novices is entrusted.

May 7, 1536 (Milan). Zaccaria promotes the exposition of the Holy Shroud from the balcony of Castello Sforzesco. It is the first in history that the Shroud is put on display in the castle.

June 20, 1536 (Milan). Seeing new signs of persecution emerging, Zaccaria asks, also in the name of Torelli, that the case of 1534 be reopened. This has led to the full acquittal of the Paulines from the accusations charged against them.

June 29, 1536 (Milan). Anthony Mary Zaccaria is unanimously elected confessor of the Angelic Sisters; he retains this office up to his death on July 5, 1539.

November 30, 1536 (Milan). Zaccaria proposes to Fr. Francis Castellino that he permanently establish the School of Christian Doctrine for the youth.

December 13, 1536 (Milan). In the parlor of the Monastery of St. Paul, Anthony Mary Zaccaria appoints Andrea Roberto, future vicar general of St. Charles Borromeo, to appear before the judges in his defense (Premoli, Storia I, pp. 465-467).

January 25, 1537 (Milan). Zaccaria accepts the profession of vows of the Angelica Sister Paola Antonia Negri.

March 4, 1537 (Milan). Zaccaria appoints Negri Mistress of Novices.

April 19, 1537 (Guastalla). In a handwritten letter undersigned by Torelli, Zaccaria appoints Giuseppe Fellini of Cremona as Podesta (mayor) of Guastalla.

May 26, 1537 (Cremona). On the eve of Pentecost and before the Mission in Vicenza, Anthony Mary Zaccaria writes to his "Angelics and divine Daughters in Christ."

July 2, 1537 (Milan). On Tuesday, Zaccaria accompanies the first Pauline missionaries (Barnabites, Angelic Sisters, and Laity of St. Paul) and some collaborators (Castellino da Castello and Fra Bono Lizzari) to Vicenza, and builds an altar in honor of St. Paul in the Church of the Converted.

July 9, 1537 (Milan). To prepare himself to make the vows, Zaccaria, upon his arrival from Vicenza, renounces, with a waiver of attorney, in the hands of Morigia all his existing properties in the Duchy of Milan.

March 4, 1537 (Milan). Zaccaria appoints Negri Mistress of Novices.

April 19, 1537 (Guastalla). With a handwritten letter undersigned by Torelli, Zaccaria appoints Giuseppe Fellini of Cremona Podest (Mayor) of Guastalla.

May 26, 1537 (Cremona). On the eve of Pentecost and shortly before the mission in Vicenza, Anthony Mary Zaccaria writes to his Angelics and divine Daughters in Christ.

July 2, 1537 (Milan). Zaccaria accompanies the first Pauline missionaries (Barnabites, Angelics, and Laity of St. Paul) and some collaborators (Lorenzo Davidico, known also as Castellino da Castello, and Fra Bono Lizzari) to Vicenza. Zaccaria soon had an altar built in honor of St. Paul in the church of the Converted.

July 9, 1537 (Milan). To prepare himself for his profession of vows, Zaccaria, upon his return from Vicenza, renounces into the hands of Morigia, with a waiver of attorney, all his existing properties in the duchy of Milan.

August 21, 1537 (Milan). The Senate President, Giacomo Filippo Sacchi, issues a full acquittal ex capite innocentiae on all the accusations of heresy against the Paulines.

Year 1537 (Milan). Anthony Mary Zaccaria promotes the solemn Forty Hours adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the cathedral of Milan, and in shifts at the four gates (Porta Orientale, Porta Romana, Porta Ticinese, and Porta Vercellina) of the city.

August 29, 1537 (Milan). At the request of the citizens of Milan, Pope Paul IIIin the brief Universis Christifidelibus, addressed to the vicar general, Cardinal Marino Caracciolo approves and endorses the Forty Hours adoration.

September 2, 1537 (Milan). Zaccaria leaves again for Vicenza and re-establishes the mission. He stays near the Monastery of the Converted and chooses as centro di irradiazione (literally, center of irradiation) the church of St. Zenone. It is likely that here he met with St. Ignatius and his companions, who were in Vicenza that month.

End of October 1537 (Vicenza). Zaccaria has returned to Milan, where he participates in the conclusion of the Forty Hours adoration in Porta Vercellina. He requested Bartolomeo Ferrari to take his place and stay with the Paulines in Vicenza.

October 8, 1538 (Cremona). Zaccaria writes to Ferrari and the Angelic Sisters in Vicenza, exhorting them to not lose heart amidst the difficulty of the mission. The letter also includes the following: He announces the imminent purchase of the church of St. Barnabas and declares it to be the ultimate goal of his institutional projects. He urges Ferrarithough he knows it is a difficult requestto send his divine priest Castellino so that he may represent him (Ferrari) at the inaugural benediction. He informs them that he will go to Guastalla today or tomorrow to do some work with Basilio Ferrari on behalf of Torelli.

November 3, 1538 (Guastalla). Zaccaria writes a fatherly and heartfelt letter to the children of Paul the Apostle and ours too residing near St. Ambrose in Milan. He signs the letter, Priest of the Apostle Paul.

November 13, 1538 (Guastalla). Zaccaria seeks and obtains justice, through the intervention of the Podesta (mayor), for Giandomenico Mangalassi. Also on this day, he writes a note of comfort to our Battista, his servant in Cremona.

March 26, 1539 (Milan). Torelli nominates Anthony Mary Zaccaria and Pelligrino Cignacchi as her legal representatives in her attempts to peacefully resolve a dispute with Carlo Gonzaga regarding the distribution of the irrigation water in Novellara (ASM, Notaries 10096, G.P. Bezozzi a.d.).

March 28, 1539 (Milan). At the request of the Marquis of Vasto, Alfonso dAvalos, Pope Paul III renews the indulgences that had been previously granted for the Forty Hours adoration.

April 12, 1539 (Milan). In the parlor of the Monastery of St. Paul, Zaccaria and Morigia facilitate Torellis donation of a farm in Pizzolano San Martino to the Angelic Sisters. Then, on behalf of Ferrari (who is not present) and the entire Congregation, they accept the donation of a house near St. Ambrose, also from Torelli.

End of May 1539 (Milan). Zaccaria is sent by Torelli to Guastalla for some important things, particularly drawing up a peace agreement with the nobles of the city in relation to the sale of the county to Ferrante Gonzaga.

June 10, 1539 (Guastalla). Zaccaria writes a letter to the Angelic Sister Paola Antonia Negri.

June 11, 1539 (Guastalla). Zaccaria writes to one of his most beloved disciple, Battista Soresina.

June 20, 1539 (Guastalla). Zaccaria writes to the Omodei couple in Milan and mentions a great weariness of the body. He feels that his death is imminent, and he seeks to return to Cremona onboard a boat owned by merchants who are obliged to stop in that city as part of their trade route along the Po River.

July 5, 1539 (Cremona). On Saturday, at three oclock in the afternoon, on the eve of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Anthony Mary Zaccaria dies in his home (the house where he was born). After receiving a vision of St. Paul, he passed from this life in the arms of his mother and surrounded by his first companions. Bonsignore Cacciaguerra, who accompanied him from Guastalla, exclaims, O Cremona, if you only knew whose life it is that left today! What a great loss! The suffragan bishopLuca di Seriate, who ordained Zaccaria to the priesthood presided over the funeral, surrounded by all the clergy; the service was attended by the entire aristocratic assembly and by numerous people from Cremona and the surrounding towns. A year after the saints death, his friend Serafino Aceti wrote of him, His presence now adorns the sky, as it once adorned the earth.

September 5, 1543 (Cremona). Bernardo Zaccariato free himself from an obligation established by his cousin Anthony Mary for the chapel of the Conversion of St. Paul in St. Donatotrades two parcels of land (the fields of Levata and Rotta, with a total of eighty-eight perches.) This event captures the importance of Pauline devotion in the life of Anthony Mary, for it shows that this aspect of his spirituality left a strong impression on his cousin Bernardo.

Rev. August, 2013