Antonio Pavoni was born around 1325 in
Savigliano and was noted for being a rather pious and intelligent child that set him apart from other children. He joined the
Order of Preachers in 1340 at the
convent of San Domenico and was later
ordained to the
priesthood in 1350. Pavoni received the appointment from
Pope Urban V in 1360 as the inquisitor-general for combatting heresies in
Genoa and the Lombard region and he was also elected as prior of the Dominican convent at Savigliano in 1368 and again in 1372; as prior he oversaw the construction of an extension to the convent. His methods of preaching and his austere life angered heretics who saw no character flaw in him that could be exploited as a weapon and so conspired to kill the priest. In 1374 the
Bishop of Turin Giovanni da Rivalta asked him to preach there during
Lent. He was stabbed to death in an ambush as he preached in
Turin the Sunday after
Easter on 9 April 1374. His remains were interred at the Dominican convent at Savigliano in 1468 -
Aimone Taparelli oversaw the interment - and later moved to the Dominican church at
Racconigi in 1827.
Beatification In 1375 he was named as one who died "in odium fidei" - in hatred of the faith - but reigning
Pope Gregory XI did not preside over his beatification; formal acknowledgement and thus beatification was received under
Pope Pius IX on 4 December 1856. ==References==