Saint Anthony of Padua
Bob and Penny Lord
Published by Bob and Penny Lord at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 Bob and Penny Lord
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St. Anthony of Padua
Finder of the Lost
There has always been an Anthony in my life. Even before I knew who Saint Anthony was, and what part he would play in my life, there was an Anthony in my life. You see, my middle brother’s name is Anthony, and although six years older than I, his job was to take care of baby sister. He grumbled a lot at having to drag the pest along with him and his friends, but he did. When I could not keep up with his long legs, he carried me on his shoulders. We fought, as brothers and sisters do, but do not let anyone else try to hurt me; I could always rely on my older brother to defend me. As I grew into a teen-ager he became my advisor to the lovelorn. I didn’t always welcome his counsel, but darn him, he was always right!
We each married and moved miles apart. But the Anthony of my intimate family was to be replaced, as an instrument, by another Anthony. Our precious son died, and we died along with him. We turned off God and His Church, and although we didn’t know it, Bob and I were on the way to turning each other off as well, when St. Anthony came into our life.
The St. Anthony who appeared in our life, after almost four years of us not asking anything of St. Anthony, of Jesus or any other member of our Heavenly family, was a curly-haired Sicilian-American. This Anthony persisted and persisted until he led us to Marriage Encounter and new life in Jesus and the Church. Even the Seminary, where we went for our Marriage Encounter week-end, was called, right again, St. Anthony’s.
Of course, I was completely unaware, at the time that St. Anthony was interceding in my life. But that doesn’t stop Jesus, His Mother or any of His Saints from consistently helping us. The pieces finally started to come together, when the fool (that’s me) began to grow up. As we learned more about this wonderful, exciting Faith of ours, I began to realize St. Anthony was not merely a statue my grandmother had on her altar, in our bedroom. He was not solely someone you prayed to find lost items1or a husband2. I wanted to know more about this special man, this St. Anthony, and so, the search began.
Who is St. Anthony?
In the United States, he has been given the obscure title of “Finder of Lost Articles.” Whenever we lose something, we ask St. Anthony to find it for us and, more times than not, he answers our prayers.
The St. Anthony, I had known over the years, is probably the one you know, as well. There was nothing I misplaced, I couldn’t ask him to find for me that he didn’t. One time, in Padua when I shame-facedly admitted turning to St. Anthony to find lost objects, a Franciscan reassured me, saying,
“Oh, St. Anthony doesn’t mind. As a matter of fact, he likes to be part of your everyday life. You see, as you are calling him to ask him to find something, he really is taking you by the hand and leading you to Jesus.”
This is not unlike the way St. Anthony lived his life. He was a brilliant man, but for most of his life, he chose to live an obscure life, a humble life. And because of this, no one knew who he was.
He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. There are 32Doctors of the Church.3In the 2,000 years since the Church was instituted, out of its millions of holy people, and thousands of canonized Saints, only 32have been given the honor of this title. The Saint, we pray to for lost objects, is one of these honored people. But until the Lord decided to put St. Anthony into active ministry, he was a dishwasher and confessor to Franciscan hermits. No one had any idea what the Lord had locked up in the mind and heart of this great Saint.
Son of Italy, his beginnings in Portugal
Sts. Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena are the co-patron Saints of Italy. This is in no way, to belittle them or the place they hold in the hearts of Italians and Catholics, as a whole; but the Saint’s statue, seen in every store, car or apartment, is that of St. Anthony of Padua, or as he is affectionately called, “Il Santo.”
Of course, the Portuguese would give them an argument; they call him St. Anthony of Lisbon, just because he was born there and lived there most of his life. Oh well!
This towering yet humble Saint is loved throughout the world by Catholics and non-catholics, including many Jewish people, as well. But, he is not really known for the fullness of who he was and is to us, the Church. Although, we believe this is really how he would like it, with all due respect to him and his wishes, we must nevertheless endeavor to share some of the discoveries we have made. This is not to further honor him, as he needs no added acclaim, but to encourage others to follow in his footsteps on their journey to Jesus.
Whenever our Church is in danger, and it looks like all the principalities of hell are about to level her, the Lord calls forth a Saint or two.
St. Anthony was born into a time of oppression: Portugal and much of Europe had been under Muslim domination for centuries. For over one hundred years, Portugal had been trying to liberate itself from its invaders. Piece by piece, pain upon pain, inch by inch their land was being reclaimed for Christ and His Church. Brave knights, many of them Crusaders, settled in Lisbon, after having fought courageously to oust the Saracens(or Muslims). St. Anthony was born of one of these knights, Martino. We are told in the most authentic biographies of the Saint, he came from a powerful family of the nobility.
St. Anthony was born on the Feast of The Assumption of Mary into Heaven, August the 15th, 1195. All his life, he was strongly devoted to our Lady and Her Assumption into Heaven. As he staunchly defended the Son, he championed the Son’s Mother, as well. Show me a Saint and I’ll show you Mary in his life.
His baptismal name was Fernando, which means bold in peace, and that he was, to the end of his life here on earth.
His religious education began where the most meaningful learning begins, from his parents. He not only inherited worldly wealth from his family, but a treasure that would hold him in holy stead the rest of his life, a heritage of the Faith that no one could ever take from him.
Although, there is little information about St. Anthony’s youth, there are legends that have followed him, filling in the blank pages, for almost 800 years. One of these legends4takes place when Fernando was quite young.
His father Martino and Fernando loved to go to their farm on the outskirts of town. One day, Martino took his son with him to see if their crop was ready to harvest. Summer was here; God was good and the crop was ready! There was only one problem; the greedy sparrows had their eyes and bills on the crop, as well. Martino would have to get help from the neighbors, if he was to prevent the winged enemy from pecking away his entire harvest before he could gather it. He delegated the task of keeping the thieving birds away, to Fernando, until he returned.
Fernando began running up and down the hills, shooing away the birds, before his father disappeared from sight. But soon, his little legs tired. Not far off, a small country church was calling to him, inviting him inside to pray. The little boy, torn between his duty to his father and his desire to pray, kept running toward the church and back toward the hills. Finally, he had an idea! He called to the sparrows to come with him. He led them into a large room, in the house, and locked the door and windows behind them. The little boy, Fernando, went peacefully and joyfully to spend time with the Lord, he could feel present in the church, even at this young age.
His father, upon returning and not being able to find his son, became frantic. Combing every inch of the hillside, as a last resort, he thought to look in the church. There was Fernando deep in prayer! Before his father could scold him, Fernando took his father’s hand and led him into the house. As they opened the door, the singing prisoners flew out to freedom and the crop.
As a priest, the older Fernando, later said, “The waves of the sea, when they hit a rock, break, and the tempest of temptation which hurts you will break if it finds you united to Christ.” Was this in memory of something that happened when he was still a boy? One day after Mass, Fernando, having stayed behind to pray, felt something stirring inside the church. He looked up toward the choir-loft; he saw a face so hideous, it made him tremble uncontrollably. It was the face of Satan; he was going to stop the boy from praying, if he had to scare him to death.
Fernando could no longer pray; he was frozen, paralyzed with fear. With all the strength he could muster, he traced a cross on the floor. As quickly as he had appeared, the vision disappeared. Tears of joy welled up in the little boy’s eyes; the Lord, his Shepherd had frightened Satan away. The only sign of the encounter was the cross which remained on the floor.
Fernando and the Call to Arms
Although their land was reclaimed from the Saracens, real peace had not returned to Portugal. Alfonso, the king largely responsible for their freedom, died, and a new king ascended the throne. The new monarch, Sancio I, was an equally just king, whose focus was to bring stability and peace to his country. This was not in keeping with the aristocracy, who, for their own reasons, whether for adventure or personal gain, were always on the lookout for a confrontation. Fernando’s father, of this class, advised his son to pursue the call to arms. With other young men of his station, Fernando developed an agile and strong body, a courageous spirit, and a boldness to do right, no matter the cost. Even though he and his father thought this was for the defense of country, we will see how God will use this training for defense of His Church.
Although very handsome and well accepted by his friends, at fifteen years old, Fernando began to feel an emptiness in his life. He had been in readiness for the eventuality of battle. At first, he found that exciting, but even that did not fill the void. All around him, his friends and companions were busying themselves with an idle life. Allures of the world were dominating and contaminating their minds, absorbing them with a need for more and more wealth. Self-love was consuming them. Pride, the “I” did this and the “I” did that, was blinding them. As a man, he later wrote,“...the heart before engaging in luxury, emerges in pride which is the beginning of all sins.”
The world was also tempting him with good: attachments and concerns tugging at him, pulling him apart. His country and family needed him (chivalry). Why couldn’t he marry and have a family (pure love)? There was nothing wrong with all the world was offering; then why did he see it as flawed and lifeless?
The young cavalier felt more and more stifled by the life around him. Fernando later describes his struggle between the world and the Kingdom,
“If you do not resist the evil of luxury, at the end even the things which appear good will perish.”
We often see a statue or painting of St. Anthony holding a lily, a sign of purity. This purity, like with St. Francis, was an ongoing war that could only be won with strict discipline and hard struggle, over many years. As he found himself being called more and more to the priesthood, he had to fight, not only his parents’ dreams for him to take over the family estates and give them grandchildren, but the lure of ambition, his desire to amount to something. Only the whisper in his heart, that gentle tugging at his spirit, kept him on the road to the Lord and the priesthood.
Fernando leaves his family
His family had reared him, in keeping with his place in society, to care for people’s physical and social needs. Then why were they so upset when he set out to work for the needs of their souls? Fernando joined the Order founded under the Rule inspired by St. Augustine. Unlike Benedictine monks, whose goal was personal sanctification through work and prayer, the Augustinians’ charism was to help other souls.
Fernando’s parents looked upon this son, who had shown such promise, with tears in their eyes. Their good-bys were, as if they would never see him again. He had demonstrated how dependable and mature he was, even for fifteen years of age; nevertheless, their grief was that pain, only another parent knows, of saying good bye to their baby. They were partly right; the Fernando who left the family would never be the same.
It was the year 1210 and Fernando walked through the door of St. Vincent’s Abbey. He had won a hard battle, but the war was yet to be won! Perhaps one of his sermons best speaks, of the walk he had chosen, his walk to the priesthood and Sainthood:
“Whoever joins a religious Order,... is like the pious women who on Easter morning went to Christ’s tomb. Considering the greatness of the tomb, they said: `Who will move the stone away for us?’ The stone is large, so is the harshness of convent life: the difficulty of entering, the long vigils, the frequent fasts, the sparse meals, the rough habit, the severe discipline, the voluntary poverty, the ready obedience...Who will roll the stone away from the tomb? Oh, you souls like those of the women, come near and observe and you will see that the stone has been removed. An angel came down and rolled the stone away and then sat on it. The angel is the grace of the Holy Spirit, who makes frailty strong, who softens every hardship, who makes every bitterness sweet by His Love...”
The Abbey he’d chosen, was too near Lisbon, and all he had left behind. The pealing of bells from the nearby church, he and his family had attended, cut through and disrupted the peace he sought with his Savior. Memories became more and more painful. His well-meaning friends, convinced he had chosen unwisely, did everything they could to try to dissuade him from becoming a priest. For his own good, he must leave the Monastery. As they were of good social standing, the Monks did not dare refuse them visiting rights; Fernando had to take another giant step away from the world toward his vocation.
He requested, he be transferred to a Monastery, far from Lisbon. His prior granted permission; Fernando set out by foot, to his new life in the Abbey of Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), 100 miles away, in Coimbra.
Fernando, priest of Christ
Fernando was now seventeen years old. The reason he joined the Abbey of Santa Cruz was to follow a more spiritual life. God had other plans! Maybe, because Fernando wanted only to love God, purely, he was to be given other gifts as well, gifts he would later use. This Abbey just happened to be a center of important ecclesiastical study. At St. Vincent’s, he’d read the literature of pagan philosophers. Here, at the Abbey, he would devote himself to Theology and the teachings of our Founding Fathers. He traced the History of the Church, delving into the religious controversies that our Church faced and survived over the centuries. Little did he know, he was being prepared for the battle, he would wage in her defense.
As he grew in his Faith, his love of Jesus in the Word grew. He wrote,
“Oh divine Word, admirable Word that inebriates and changes the heart, You are the limpid Source that refreshes the parched soul; the ray of hope that gives comfort to the sinner; the faithful Messenger that brings glad tidings to us exiles of our heavenly country!”
Fernando always had a photographic5memory. Every word he read in Sacred Scriptures, he placed in that library of his mind, never to forget it. He would use this gift from God, later, as a priest. He had an unquenchable love for learning; it came easy to him. The most talented and dedicated teachers were at his disposal. All the knowledge, derived from them and the Abbey’s extensive library, would be an ongoing source of nourishment, for Fernando, the rest of his life.
Eight years flew by, at the Abbey. His joy was to be replaced by pain. Ten years an Augustinian, Fernando asked to leave the Abbey, and the Augustinians. He requested permission, to join the followers of Francis. Fernando never did things half way. Not one to compromise, his spirit was disquieted by the division and dissension that had arisen among the canons, at the Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Prior was compromising his commitment to the Pope and his canons, placing loyalty to the King before his vocation as priest and Prior. The Pope excommunicated him. Some canons rallied behind the excommunicated Superior and others behind the Pope. This scandal and increasing influence of the world on the Abbey, brought about unbearable sorrow in Fernando’s soul. Many of his future sermons reflected his suffering. Referring to his Prior, he warned of the responsibility of one who would lead,
“The Superior is called the Father of the house, because under him the subject, like a son, enters the paternal house, where he finds shelter from the carnal lust, from the tempest of diabolical persecution, and from the poverty of worldly prosperity.”
He spoke with painful disillusionment, as he chastised certain canons who had sold out the Christian ideal, that of the Gospel,
“The locusts, which jump so high, signify the monks, who, resting on poverty and obedience, must jump to the heights of eternal life. But, unfortunately, from on high they jump back down again. Today there are no fairs,6(only) civil or ecclesiastical tribunes where monks are found. They buy and sell, build and destroy. In trials they begin the proceedings, they quarrel before the judges, they act as lawyers, they are witnesses ready to swear an important oath on unimportant matters.”