St. Anthony Catholic Church - About Our Patron Saint

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St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua is one of the most loved saints of the Catholic Church. He was canonized one year after his death. He died on June 13, 1231. His feast day is June 13. Many ask him to pray to God for them to find lost items. Three hundred years after his death, his body was exhumed and, miraculously, his tongue was found to be incorrupt.

Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony

St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for his creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety.

Encouraged by this thought, I ask you to obtain for me the favors that I seek (mention your request here).

The answer to my prayer may require a miracle, even so, you are the Saint of Miracles.

O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was full of sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the Infant Jesus, who loved to be held in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever by yours.

The Life of St. Anthony Series

In honor of our patron saint St. Anthony of Padua, there will be a series about the life of St. Anthony, 1-14

The Life of St. Anthony

Series 1

It is difficult to write a biography of St. Anthony of Padua because we have so few details about large portions of his life, especially about his youth. Much of the information that we do have is derived from pious legends which have relatively little historic value. The legends were often variations of set patterns which could then be applied to any saint (e.g. many saints are seen preaching to animals, including both St. Francis and St. Anthony). Thus, one must be careful in claiming that one or another of the details of the life of a saint is historic. Never-theless, certain details about the life of St. Anthony can be verified, and the fol-lowing short biography is based upon those elements.

St. Anthony, whose baptismal name was Ferdinand, was born in Lisbon in 1195, the eldest son of an influential family. His parents had great plans for him, and so they arranged for a sound education. There were thinking of an ecclesiastical or bureaucratic career, but Ferdinand disappointed them by choosing a life more directly dedicated to the service of the Lord. He was known for his piety and fer-vour in prayer. In fact, one of the earliest legends concerning him is of how he was disturbed by a demon while he was praying, and how he chased that demon away by making a sign of the cross upon the floor.

Series 2 - The Life of St. Anthony…

Ferdinand‘s pious intentions brought him into more and more conflict with his family. They wanted him to be successful according to the standards of the world. They wanted him to further the good fortunes of his family. Ferdinand only wanted to respond to the call of the Lord.

When he was fifteen, after much prayer and reflection, he left his rich home and went to live in the Augustinian Abbey of St. Vincent on the outskirts of Lisbon. The canons Regular of St. Augustine, the religious order which he joined, have always been famous for their dedication to scholarly pursuits. It is to the Augustinians that the Saint is indebted for his intellectual formation which made him one of the most learned cler-ics in Europe at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Ferdinand thought that he would find the Godly peace which he sought by fleeing the world and joining a religious order. Unfortunately, St. Vincent was too near to his home. Friends and relatives were always visiting him, bringing him gifts which embarrassed him and news of what was happening in their social world which disturbed him. He simply could not find any peace there, and his studies were suffering. Finally, Ferdinand begged his superiors for a transfer to another abbey, and they sent him to the Augustinian Abbey of the Holy Cross in Coim-bra (which at that time was the capital of Portugal). There he continued his studies and was ordained to the priesthood when he was 25 years old.

Series 3 The Life of St. Anthony…

After his ordination, Ferdinand (St. Anthony‘s name before he became a Franciscan Monk) was placed in charge of hospitality in his abbey. It was in this responsibility that he first came into contact with the Franciscans. In 1219 he met five followers of St. Francis who were on their way to Morocco to preach to the Muslims. He was strongly attracted by their simple Gospel life style.

Then in February 1220, news arrived that his five Franciscan friends had been martyred in Morocco. Their remains had been gathered together and sent to Portugal where they were being venerated as relics of martyrs of the faith. The king ordered them to be placed in the Church of the Holy Cross in Coimbra.

Ferdinand meditated upon the heroic response of these Franciscans to the call to live the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, a call that brought them, too, to their cross. He felt embarrassed, for he considered his own life as an Augustin-ian to be mediocre and filled with compromise. He longed to embrace the heroic life style of the early Friars Minor. He wanted the freedom of a charismatic and joy-filled response to God‘s call to leave everything and follow Him.

Ferdinand eventually obtained permission from his superiors to join the Franciscans. He was invested with the Franciscan habit and began to learn the teachings of their holy founder St. Francis. With this new life style, he also took on a new name. He called himself Anthony, after the hermit St. Anthony of the desert to whom the Franciscan hermitage was dedicated.

Series 4 Life of St. Anthony…

Shortly after, Anthony set off with a fellow friar, intending to die preaching the Gospel in Morocco. He had barely arrived when he contracted a horrible fever which left him semiconscious for weeks. He did not even have the strength to stand up, let alone go into the market place to preach the Word of God. Anthony‘s generous dream of serving the Lord with his words and his very life had been crushed. There was only one thing left to do: surrender to the will of God. And so Anthony said farewell to Africa and set sail for Portugal. But even this choice would be challenged by the Lord. The ship encountered a terrible storm which blew it off course. Finally, it was forced ashore on the island of Sicily. Weak and confused as to the direction that the Lord intended for him, Anthony travelled to Assisi where there was to be a great assembly to friars. On the feast of Pen-tecost in 1221 thousands of friars gathered in Assisi from all over Europe in what has come to be known as the Chapter of Mats.

There Anthony listened to the teachings of St. Francis, and he was greatly consoled. As the friars dispersed to go to their home friaries, Anthony waited for someone to give him a sign of where he should go. Finally, the provincial of Bologna, Friar Graziano, invited Anthony to follow him. Graziano sent Anthony to a small hermitage in the moun-tains in the town of Montepaolo to serve as a priest for the community of brother hermits living there.

Series 5 The Life of St. Anthony…

Things rarely work out the way we have planned them, for God‘s ways are not our ways. In only a short time, Anthony had travelled from Coimbra in Portugal to the shores of Morocco, then a Sicily, then to Assisi, and finally to a small hermitage in Montepaolo.

There, at last, Anthony found the peace which he had sought for so long. He immersed himself in his priestly service to the community as well as in the household tasks of cooking and cleaning.

But the Lord had other plans for him. One day he was asked to attend the celebration of an ordination to the priesthood in the city of Forli. The preacher failed to arrive, and Graziano, Anthony‘s provincial, ordered him to preach what ever might come to mind. All were astounded when Anthony preached with both great learning and fervour. His peaceful period of retreat in the hermitage had come to an end, for henceforth he would be called upon to preach near and far.

Anthony travelled throughout Northern Italy and Southern France, preaching especially in the areas that had been plagued by heresy. He combated both abuses in the Church (e.g. political intrigues, moral decadence) which had caused many to lose their faith, as well as the heretical positions (e.g. rejection of creation as evil, rejection of Church authority and the sacraments) which confused the faithful. His most powerful weapon against these enemies was his Gospel lifestyle, for by living what he preached he was able to confound heretics and edify Catholics.

Series 6 Life of St. Anthony…

Once Anthony had travelled to the city of Rimini because it was a hotbed of heresy. The city leaders had ordered everyone to ignore him, so no one turned up for his homilies. Wherever Anthony went, he was greeted by silence.

Anthony walked along praying and reflecting upon what had happened. As he walked outside of the town, he came to the mouth of the Marecchia River where it flows into the Adriatic. There he began to address the crowds, not of people but of fish. He called out, “You, fish of the river and sea, listen to the Word of God because the heretics do not wish to hear it.” Suddenly there were thousands of fish neatly arranged in rows, all pushing their heads through the surface of the water as if they were straining to listen to everyone of Anthony‟s words.

The people of Rimini, seeing this miracle, gathered to listen to Anthony. What began with simple interest in an extraordinary event turned into a passionate conviction that Anthony was speaking to their very hearts. They were so moved by Anthony‟s words, by his call to conversation, that they abandoned their hardened positions and returned to the Church. As we stated above, we are not sure that this story is historic, but it certainly does represent a version of what often happened when Anthony preached: that many hardened sinners were converted through the unselfish love of Anthony.

Series 7 - The Life of St. Anthony…

One of the reasons why Anthony worked so hard to convert heretics was because he genuinely felt sorry for them. He saw that they were depriving themselves of the most precious gift of the Eucharist, and he believed that no one could long survive without his spiritual nourishment.

One day, a heretic told Anthony that he would believe that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist only if his mule bowed down to it.

They established that the test should take place in three days. The heretic starved his mule for the next three days. When the appointed time had arrived, Anthony stood off to one side with the consecrated host in his hands, while the heretic stood to the other holding some fodder for the mule to eat. The mule, ignoring its own extreme hunger, went before the Eucharist and knelt down to adore the Blessed Sacrament.

There are many other miracles associated with Anthony‘s ministry, but they should not distract our attention from the fact that most of Anthony‘s ministry was performed in simple everyday ways. It was his fervent life style, his prayer, his gentleness, his humble use of his great learning that brought people to conversion. Anthony also ministered to those ministering to others, for he taught theology to the friars in Bologna, Montpellier, Toulouse and Padua. This work and his writing earned him the title of Evangelical Doctor of the Church.

Series 8 - Life of St. Anthony…
Anthony was likewise concerned about those who would not hear the consoling words of forgiveness heard in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He would normally go directly from his preaching to spending long hours in the confessional. Often he could not find a chance to take a rest or even get a bite to eat until long after the sun had set.

Anthony had the wonderful gift in his preaching of being able to challenge people to conversion without making them feel resentful.

There are a number of legends concerning his call to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Once a penitent had come to the sacrament, but became so nervous that he was unable even to speak. Fortunately, he had written down a list of his sins beforehand. As Anthony read off the sins one by one, they disappeared from the list which had been written on the paper.

On still another occasion a young man confessed kicking his mother. Anthony, horrified at the lack of respect that the young man had shown his mother, told him that anyone who would kick his father or mother should have his foot cut off. The young man, being simple-minded, interpreted Anthony‘s words somewhat too literally, went home and cut off his foot with an axe. Called by the man‘s hysterical mother, Anthony came to the house where he lay. He prayed for him, imploring the help of God, and he then miraculously reattached the man‘s foot.

Series 9 - Life of St. Anthony…
"Peace and Good," was a greeting often heard from the early Franciscans. Sadly, peace and goodness were all too often lacking in their society. Emperors opposed Popes, and Popes sent great armies against kings. The nobility opposed the prerogatives of the merchant class, and they both despised the poor. There was a sense of chaos, and people did not know where to turn. These chaotic divisions extended down to the very foundation of society. Anthony, like St. Francis, fought the evils of hate and division. His simple Gospel message proclaimed that time was short, and that we must create the Kingdom of God while we have the opportunity. His example of love and acceptance itself became a powerful call to conversion.
Because many held him in great esteem, he was often called upon to reconcile families, political parties and cities. He constantly preached love and forgiveness. He called people to liberate themselves from their self-imposed imprisonment to selfishness, resentment and jealously. Here too, we bear the legends which show the Saint creating a spirit of family and social peace.

There is the story of how he caused the newborn baby to speak in order to give witness to the innocence of his mother who had been unjustly accused of adultery by her jealous husband. Another time he healed a woman who had been mortally wounded by her jealous husband.

Series 10 - Life of St. Anthony…
The 13th century marked a turning point in the economic history of Europe. Previous to this time, people generally depended upon subsistence farming to meet their needs. Each farm and each village were relatively autonomous, for trade was difficult and dangerous. Cities were small and highly dependent upon their immediate environs for the necessities of life.

The great pilgrimages of the late Middle Ages and Crusades changed this. Slowly people began to trade with more distant lands, and to depend upon goods brought from outside of their world. As trade developed, the cities grew. Simple barter was insufficient, and a money economy developed.

Along with trade and money, there was also a growth of unscrupulous business practices, e.g. usury (the lending of money at exorbitant rates of interest), debtors prisons, etc. Anthony, like the other friars, preached a detachment from the goods of this world. They condemned the exploitative business practices of their day, especially usury.

Once Anthony preached at the funeral of a money lender. He told his listeners that they should not bury his body in consecrated ground, for his soul was already suffering the torments of hell. He said that the man‟s heart was no longer in his body, but that the Gospel had been fulfilled, “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart (Mt 6,21; Lk 12,34). They opened up the man‟s side and found that his heart was missing, but they found it when they opened up his treasure chest.

Series 11 - Life of St. Anthony

Anthony always defended those who were powerless and incapable of defending themselves. He proclaimed the dignity of every person. He did this not only while he was preaching to the crowds, but also when he stood before those who were known to be cruel tyrants. One of his contemporaries writes, "Anthony, who had so avidly desired to die a martyr, did not give in to anyone, even if it might cost him his life; with enormous courage he resisted the tyranny of the mighty. He stood up to certain powerful figures so firmly that other preachers, even the most famous, trembled before his resolution and were smitten with fear."

Far from closing himself behind the safe and tranquil walls of an abbey library as he had in his earlier years, Anthony now bore witness to the truth in the corridors of power and in the market places of his world. He proved that the Gospel was alive and relevant to the men and women of his times. The most famous story concerning his political courage involves a certain Ezzelino da Romano. Ezzelino belonged to the political party known as the Ghibellines. Both they and their opponents, the Guelphs, were famous for the conniving and bloodthirstiness, and Ezzelino was considered by all to be a master in the art of treachery. Ezzelino was holding certain Guelphs as prisoners, threatening to execute them. Anthony courageously stood before him and called him to conversion. He repented his ways, only to turn back to his old tricks after Anthony had left.

Series 12 - Life of St. Anthony

By 1231, the many journeys he had made and the many illnesses he had suffered had taken their toll. Anthony was suffering from dropsy, and his strength had all but failed him. All throughout Lent of 1231 he preached to ever increasing crowds of Padua, but his preaching and the end-less hours of confessions left him prostrate. Around this time, Anthony had a premonition of his approaching death. The friars and Count Tiso invited Anthony to go to a hermitage in Camposampiero, a town not far from Padua, so that he might recover his strength. Tiso had been one of the unscrupulous politicians seen in the previous account, but after hearing Anthony preach, he had converted and had donated the plot of land to the friars upon which the hermit-age at Camposampiero was built.

The ground was damp at this time of year, and it aggra-vated Anthony‘s illness. This problem was solved when the friars noticed Anthony admire an immense walnut tree on the property. They told Tiso about it, and he had a small tree house built in the walnut tree for Anthony.

One night Count Tiso was passing by Anthony‘s room when he was attracted by a powerfull light. At first he thought that it must be a fire, and so he burst into the room. There he saw Anthony in ecstasy embracing the Infant Jesus. Anthony begged Tiso not to tell anyone about what he had seen, and Tiso respected the Saint‘s wishes until after his death.

Series 13 - Life of St. Anthony

The care of Count Tiso and of the friars was not enough to bring Anthony back to health. On June 13, 1231, Anthony came down from his tree house to eat the noonday meal with the friars. They had scarcely begun when he collapsed into their arms. As the friars supported him, he whispered to them that he wished to be taken to Padua so that he might die there. He wanted to spend his last hours in the friary which he loved so much near the Church of Santa Maria. The friars put him on a cart and travelled toward Padua, but Anthony was already too weak to make it. As they approached a Poor Clare monastery in Arcella, a town close to Padua, they decided that it would be best to take him there. After he was anointed by a priest, he intoned the hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, "O Glorious Queen, exalted above the stars!"

The friars noticed that he was gazing attentively at something, and so they asked him what he saw. He responded, "I see my Lord." Shortly after that he passed away. He was only 36 years old, but he had travelled thousands of kilometers in his missions and he had preached to tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of the faithful. The friars tried to keep Anthony‘s death a secret lest his body be stolen, but almost immediately children were seen running through the streets of Padua calling out, "The Saint is dead. Friar Anthony is dead."

Final Series - Life of St. Anthony

The friars carried the body from Arcella where he died to the Church of Santa Maria. That same evening miracles began to occur at the site of the tomb. The fame which Anthony had acquired during his life was redoubled in his death.

The bishop of Padua, and Pope Gregory IX, immediately began to promote his canonization. Anthony was so well known and holiness so universally attested that the investigation lasted less than a year. On May 30, 1232, Pope Gregory canonized Anthony of Padua.

The friars, the people of Padua, and the ever increasing number of pilgrims who visited the tomb of the Saint all worked together to begin on the construction of a new majestic basilica. In 1263 the friars transferred St. Anthony‟s remains into the new church built in his honor. When the casket holding his body was opened to verify it contents, the tongue of the Saint, the instrument with which he had glorified God in so many homilies, was found to be intact.

Today St. Anthony is truly a universal saint, respected and venerated even by non-Christians. He is especially know as the patron saint of the lost, for all throughout his life he restored things back to people who had lost them: for some it was their health, for others their hope, for still others their virtue, and for many their faith. Today, as in the 13th century, we call out, “St. Anthony, pray for us!”.