Thomas Agni
THOMAS AGNI
Dominican author, religious superior, bishop, patriarch of Jerusalem; b. Lentini, Sicily; d. Acco, Palestine, Sept. 22, 1277. He became a Dominican c. 1220, and founded the priory of San Domenico in Naples in 1231 and became its first prior. As prior he conferred the religious habit on (St.) thomas aquinas. In 1255 (not 1247) he was provincial of the Roman province. Thomas governed the following dioceses: Bethlehem, from Sept. 4, 1255; Messina, from 1262; and Cosenza, from April 4, 1267. From March 19, 1272, until his death he was patriarch of Jerusalem. As patriarch he settled the conflict over the kingship of Jerusalem in favor of Hugo II of Cyprus and appealed to King Henry III of England for help in the Holy Land. He wrote a life of St. peter martyr of Verona.
Bibliography: j. quÉtif and j. Échard, Scriptores ordinis praedicatorum (New York 1959) 1.1:358–360. m. coniglione, Archivum fratrum praedicatorum 2 (1932) 443. h. c. scheeben, ibid. 4 (1934) 129. a. papillon, ibid. 6 (1936) 26.
[c. lozier]