Antonio del Duca

Who was Antonio del Duca?

Antonio del Duca or Lo Duca was the Sicilian friar whose persistent campaign for an official veneration of the "Seven Angelic Princes" was partly answered in the dedication of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, constructed to the orders of Pope Pius IV within the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian.

Antonio had been obsessed with the cult of the angels since the days when he was choirmaster in the cathedral of Palermo, 1513-15. At that time he discovered in the little Church of Sant'Angelo an ancient icon of the Seven Angelic Princes that emerged as if miraculously preserved from centuries of disuse. Fired with his faith, he travelled to Rome, harboring the intention of obtaining formal recognition of these Sette Principi angelici. In Rome he obtained a post as chaplain to Antonio Maria Cardinal Ciocchi del Monte, uncle of the future Pope Julius III. For the cardinal he composed a liturgy for a Mass of the Seven Angels.

After his patron's death in 1533, he served as chaplain to don Fernando de Silva, conde de Cifuentes, ambassador of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, never failing to seek official approval for his liturgy.