He was born Antonio Pierozzi (also called de Forciglioni) on 1 March 1389 in the city of Florence, then capital of an independent Republic, to Niccolò and Tomasina Pierozzi, prominent citizens of the city, Niccolò being a notary. The young Anthony was received into the Dominican Order in 1405 at the age of sixteen at the new priory of the Order in Fiesole and given the religious habit by...