She came from a large poor family, the second eldest of ten children who lived on the island of Sardinia in Italy. She left school to help with the family chores when her mother became bedridden. She was referred to by her mother as the “flower of my life”. Antonia joined the Young Women of Catholic Action when she was ten. She was in a forest with a friend gathering firewood on the 17th May 1935 when she was assaulted by a teenage boy who wanted to rape her. Her friend ran for help, while Antonia defended herself. The young man attacked Antonia with dozens of blows with a rock and she died. It was already too late when help arrived. She is considered a martyr of sexual purity and was declared a Blessed by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1987.
