June 13 - St. Anthony of Padua
A Portuguese by nationality and a native of Lisbon, St. Anthony nevertheless derives his surname from the Italian city of Padua where he made his last home and where his relics are still enerated. He was born in 1195 and was baptized Ferdinand, a name which he was to change to that of Anthony when he entered the Order of Friars Minor, out of devotion to the great patriarch of monks who was titular saint of the chapel in which he received the Franciscan habit.
His parents, young members of the Portuguese nobility, confided his early education to the clergy of the cathedral of Lisbon, but at the age of fifteen he joined the regular canons of St. Augustine who were settled near the city. Two years later he obtained leave tobe transferred to the priory at Coîmbra - then the capital of Portugal - in order to avoid the distractions caused by the numberous visits of friends. There he devoted himself to prayer and study, acquiring, with the help of an unusually retentive memory, an extraordinary knowledge of the Bible. He had been living at Coîmbra for eight years when Don Pedro of Portugal brought from Morocco in 1220 the relics of the Franciscans who had there lately suffered a glorious martyrdom. Ferdinand was profoundly moved, and conceived an ardent desire to lay down his life for Christ - an aspiration he had little prospect of realizing as a canon regular. To some Franciscans who came to his monastery of Holy Cross to beg, he laid open his heart, and eventually he was admitted to their order in 1221.
Within a very short time he was permitted to embark for Morocco with the intention of preaching the Gospel there. But he was prostrated by a severe illness which eventually necessitated his return to Europe. The vessel in which he sailed was driven off its course and he found himself at Messina in Sicily. He made his way to Assisi where, as he had learned from his Sicilian brethren, a general chapter was about to be held. It was the great gathering of 1221 - the last chapter open to all members of the order - and was presided over by Brother Elias as vicar general, with St. Francis seated at his feet. It cannot fail to have deeply impressed the young Portuguese friar. At the close the brethren returned to the posts allocated to them, and Anthony was appointed to the lonely hermitage of San Paolo near Forli. It happened that an ordination was held at Forli, on which occasion the Dominican and Franciscan candidates were entertained at the Minorite convent there. Through some misunderstanding none of the Dominicans had come prepared to deliver the customary address at the ceremony, and as no one among the Franciscans seemed capable of filling the breach St. Anthony, who was present, was told to come forward and speak whatever the Holy Spirit should put into his mouth. Very diffidently he obeyed; but once he had begun he delivered an address which amazed all who heard it by its eloquence, its fervour, and the learning it displayed. The minister provincial, informed of the talent possessed by the young friar he had brought from Assisi, promptly recalled him from his retreat and sent him to preach in various parts of Romagna, which then comprised the whole of Lombardy.
In addition to his commission as a preacher, he was appointed lector in theology to his brethren - the first member of his order to fill such a post. But it became more and more evident that his true mission lay in the pulpit. He had indeed all the qualifications - learning, eloquence, great power of persuasion, a burning zeal for souls and a sonorous voice which carried far. Though undersized and inclined to corpulence, he had an attractive, almost magnetic personality. Sometimes the mere sight of him brought sinners to their knees: he appeared to radiate holiness. Wherever he went crowds flocked to hear him and hardened criminals, careless folk and heretics alike were converted and brought to confession.
Shortly after the death of St. Francis he was recalled to Italy, apparently to be minister provincial of Emilia or romagna. He seems to have acted as envoy from the chapter general in 1226 to Pope Gregory IX, charged to lay before him for his decision the questions that had arisen. Anthony on that occasion obtained from the pope his release from office that he might devote himself to preaching.
From that time St. Anthony resided at Padua - a city where he had prevously laboured, where he was greatly beloved, and where, more than anywhere else, he was privileged to see the great fruit which resulted from his ministry.
After preaching a course of sermons in the spring of 1231, St. Anthony's strength gave out and he retired with two other friars to a woodland retreat at Camposanpiero. It was soon clear that his days were numbered, and he asked to be taken back to Padua. He never reached the city, but only its outskirts. On June 13, 1231, in the apartment reserved for the chaplain of the Poor Clares of Arcella, he received the last rites and passed to his eternal reward. He was only thirty-six.
Within a year of his death, Anthony was canonized; on that occasion Pope Gregory IX intoned the anthem "O doctor optime" in his honour, thus anticipating the year 1946 when Pope Pius XII declared him a doctor of the Church.
Source: Butlers Lives of the Saints, concise edition, revised and updated, edited by Michael Walsh (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991)