Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was born on March 24, 1797 at Rovereto to the noble Rosmini-Serbati family. Ordained priest in 1821, Antonio undertook the systematic philosophical-theological ministry.
In 1828, Antonio founded the Institute of Charity (Rosminians) at the Sacred Mount of the Crucifix at Domodossola — the religious congregation combining the systematic philosophical-theological ministry with the systematic charitable work.
Antonio became famous during his lifetime as the leading Italian Catholic philosopher of the 19th century — composing over 100 volumes of philosophical and theological works attempting the systematic reconciliation of the Catholic tradition with the post-Kantian European philosophical developments.
Antonio's work 'Le Cinque Piaghe della Santa Chiesa' ('The Five Wounds of the Holy Church', 1848) — the systematic critique of the 19th-century institutional Church, the liturgical, clerical, and ecclesial reforms — provoked significant controversy and was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books in 1849.
In 2001, Pope St. John Paul II removed Antonio's works from the Index; in 2007, Antonio was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI — the rehabilitation of the 19th-century Rosminian tradition.