Saint of the Month
June
2001
Saint
of the Month
SAINT
ANTHONY of PADUA
DOCTOR of the CHURCH and THAUMATURGE
(1195-1231)
Born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1195, Ferdinand de Bouillon was of a noble family related to the famous Godefroy de Bouillon, victor and first king of Jerusalem, after the Crusade of 1099. Favored by nature and grace, he resolved at the age of fifteen to leave the world and consecrate himself to God in the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. No flattery, threat or caress of his relatives could persuade him to leave that holy refuge. He asked to be transferred to another convent to avoid their solicitations, and was sent to Coimbra.
Still young, his sanctity became evident through miracles; he cured a poor religious whom the devil was obsessing by covering him with his cloak. When this young religious decided, after witnessing the return of the martyred remains of five Franciscans who had gone to Africa, to join that Order so favored with the graces of martyrdom, the Augustinians were desolate but could not prevent his departure, for Saint Francis himself appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to leave in July 1220. He was sent to Africa but at the age of twenty-seven was obliged to return to Italy because of sickness; thus he was deprived of the martyr's crown he would have been so happy to receive.
In 1222 Anthony, as he was now called, went with other Brothers and some Dominican friars to be ordained at Forli. There Fra Antonio rose under obedience to preach for the first time to the religious, and chose for his theme the text of Saint Paul: Christ chose for our sake to become obedient unto death. As the discourse proceeded, "the Hammer of Heretics," "the Ark of the Testament," "the eldest son of Saint Francis," stood revealed in all his sanctity, learning, and eloquence before his rapt and astonished brethren. He had been serving in the humblest offices of his community; now, from this obscurity he was called forth, and for nine years France, Italy, and Sicily heard his voice and saw his miracles. And men's hearts turned to God.
One night, while Saint Anthony was staying with a friend in the city of Padua, his host saw brilliant rays streaming under the door of the Saint's room, and on looking through the key hole he beheld a little Infant of marvelous beauty standing upon a book which lay open on the table, and clinging with both arms round Anthony's neck. With an ineffable sweetness the Brother witnessed the tender caresses of the Saint and his wondrous Visitor. When finally the Child vanished, Fra Antonio, opening the door, charged his friend, by the love of Him whom he had seen, to tell the vision to no man as long as he was alive.
After a number of years of preaching and writing, and then a short time of retreat in a hermitage near Padua, he was overcome with a weakness which advanced so rapidly that it was evident his last days had arrived. He died at the age of thirty-six, after ten years with the Canons Regular and eleven with the Friars Minor, on June 13, 1231. The voices of children were heard crying in the streets of Padua, "Our father, Saint Anthony, is dead." The following year, the church bells of Lisbon rang without ringers, while at Rome one of its sons was inscribed among the Saints of God.
Reflection
Let us love to pray and labor unseen, and cherish in the secret of our hearts the graces of God and the growth of our immortal souls. Like Saint Anthony, let us attend to this first of all and leave the rest to God.