|
St. Anthony of Padua
St. Anthony of Padua
June 13th is the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, the famous Franciscan Friar and patron of Padua (Italy). Nearly eight centuries after his death, millions of people around the world are very devoted to him. They flock to Anthony’s tomb in Padua and to his relics. What then is St. Anthony’s story?
Portuguese by birth, he was the son of wealthy noble parents who baptized him Ferdinand. He lived not far from the Cathedral of Lisbon, the city where he was born in around 1195.
Young Ferdinand’s parents wanted their son to receive the best possible education and sent him to school at Lisbon’s Cathedral. In the coming years, Ferdinand began to feel a call to religious life and at age 15 joined the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.
Lisbon, Portugal
As a canon he moved to the Convent of St. Vincent (not far from Lisbon) and then two years later to the Convent of Santa Croce in Coimbra – a city 206 kilometres north of Lisbon. His life in Santa Croce revolved around prayer and studying. Ferdinand lived in this convent for about 8 years.
In 1220, after seeing coffins with bodies of Franciscan martyrs who had died as missionaries in Morocco, he realized that he too wanted to be a Franciscan and travel on missions.
Still in Santa Croce, Ferdinand entered the Order of Friars Minor and received his Franciscan habit. He also took on the religious name of Anthony, which is how we remember him today.
As a Franciscan, Anthony eagerly embarked on his journey to Morocco where he saw himself working as a missionary. In Morocco, just as he expected to start his work, a powerful illness struck him down and forced him to undertake a return journey to Portugal, a journey that proved to decisive in Anthony’s life.
While Anthony was sailing back to his native land, a storm moved in over the area where his ship was travelling. It battered the ship with incredible ferocity and diverted it from course. Eventually, the sky cleared up and Anthony found that he had arrived at the shores of Sicily.
The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy
Since he was still sick, Anthony went ashore and allowed himself to recuperate. Some time later he travelled to Assisi for his Order’s General Chapter. From there he moved even farther north to a hermitage in Forli.
During his time at the hermitage an incident occurred that once again moved Anthony’s life in another direction. One day an ordination was set to take place. No one however had been chosen to preach during this important celebration. The superior at the hermitage asked a number of friars if they’d be interested in preaching. They were not. Anthony said that indeed he would be willing to preach. At first somewhat nervous, he soon enough began to speak eloquently about the Scriptures.
St. Francis of Assisi
In fact, Anthony’s preaching was so powerful that news of it began to spread. Francis of Assisi knew that Anthony had to use his gift to help others and therefore offered him the ministry of teacher of theology. This ministry was a perfect fit for Anthony. He ended up teaching in Montpellier, Toulouse, and Bologna. People flocked from all over to hear Anthony speak. The man also performed miracles.
Anthony of Padua died in 1231. In the last five years of his he filled the role of Minister Provincial of Emilia-Romagna. Pope Gregory IX canonized Anthony only a year after his death.
(Source of all related images on webpage and homepage: wikipedia.org.)
|
