Antonio Farina was born on January 11, 1803 in Gambellara, a small town in the province of Vicenza, whose diocese would decades later be under his apostolic care.
At the age of 15 he entered the diocesan seminary and, in 1827, at 24, he was ordained a priest. For the next 18 years he would hold a professorship at the seminary. He was appointed chaplain of the parish of San Pedro de Vicenza, a position he held for a decade.
Father Antonio participated in different cultural and spiritual projects; He was involved in countless charitable works and led social services of an educational nature. For example, he was in charge of the management of the Public Primary and Higher School of Vicenza. Farina had a degree as a primary school teacher, a recognition that he obtained motivated by the conviction about the importance of education, which he conceived as a path oriented towards the integral formation of the person, religious practice and fraternal charity. His motto was: “True science consists in the education of the heart, that is, in the practical fear of God.”