Philosopher and Founder of the Rosminians. Rovereto born Antonio Rosmini-Serbati came from a well off family. Receiving his education at the University of Padua, he was ordained priest in Chioggia on April 21, 1821. Showing a particular interest in philosophy, Pope Pius VII encouraged him to further his studies in the matter, which led him to Milan in 1826, where he soon befriended the renowned poet and novelist, Alessandro Manzoni. Obliged to leave Trentino due to the serious hostilities aroused in regards of his anti-Austrian position by the local ordinary, Msgr. Giovanni Nepomuceno de Tschiderer, who was later to be beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, Rosmini founded at the Sacro Monte Calvario of Domodossola the Institute of Charity, whose members remain popularly known as the "Rosminians" in his namesake. The constitution of this religious congregation were approved by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839, with Rosmini being appointed provost general for life. In 1848, during the pontificate of Pius IX, he was invited to serve within the Roman Curia and trusted with the difficult task of trying to negotiate a concordat between the Pope and the Piedmontese state and to convince the Pope himself to create a confederation of Italian states. Becoming deeply involved in Vatican politics, Rosmini was offered to post of prime minister of the Papal States soon after Pellegrino Rossi's assassination in 1848, but he refused the position. Moving with Pope Pius IX to Gaeta following his flight from Rome that very same year, despite his influence, his writings did not refrain him from entering into a long controversy, mainly due to "Of the five wounds of the Holy Church", which aroused great opposition, especially from the Society of Jesus. Polemics regarding his writing did not even stop following his death which occurred in 1855 in Stresa. Over a century later, Pope John Paul II named him in encyclical "Fides et Ratio" as one of the greatest Christian thinkers, while his successor, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of a decree approving Rosmini's beatification, with the latter taking place in Novara in November 2007. His longtime friend, Manzoni, assisted him on his deathbed and wrote down his spiritual testament: "Adorare, Tacere, Gioire".