Born outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1739, he attended a Jesuit seminary but later chose to become a Franciscan.
Throughout his priesthood, Antonio was known as a preacher, healer and mystic, and for his charity among the poor. He was co-founder and later the superior of a group of religious sisters, Our lady of the Conception of Divine Providence.
When Antonio came to the defense of a soldier accused of insulting the army captain's son, he was sent into exile. But his popularity among the people soon convinced the Army to overturn that exile.
He died December 23, 1822. St. Antonio's canonization in Sao Paulo in 2007 was Pope Benedict XVI's first canonization liturgy outside the Vatican.
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw