Antonio Lombardi was born to Nicola and Domenica Lombardi, a middle-class family from Catanzaro. Baptized on December 26 in the Parish of San Giovanni Battista in Catanzaro, he received the names of Luciano and Antonio.
His father, a lawyer and established politician not only locally but also nationally, was trained at the school of radical socialism in Catanzaro and was close to the Masonic tendencies present in the city. Her mother was a very pious, religious and mild-tempered woman, but her life was not easy due to a mental illness that caught her at the beginning of maturity.
At the end of his high school studies Antonio went to Rome where he graduated in law. As regards his inner life, he lived his youth in a state of general religious indifference. Thanks to an intense friendship, he rediscovers an intense and genuine religious feeling. The death of her friend, which took place in 1929, completed Lombardi's inner turning point which culminated in 1932 - according to the testimony of his sister Adelaide entrusted to a written memoir - in full adherence to the Gospel. He leaves his father's law firm. And he fully lives his vocation as a baptized person in the Church by participating in the life of the diocesan Catholic Action, he is appointed President of the Men in 1941. His main objective is the formation of consciences, the creation of mature personalities, of adult Christians. His cycles of conferences on Christian doctrine have remained famous, in which many young people and city authorities took part. He also collaborates with FUCI students. The choice to operate in the field of training becomes more and more intense. His death prevents him from completing many of his projects.
