One day when a scheduled speaker failed to appear, the brothers pressed him into speaking. He impressed them so that he was thereafter constantly traveling, evangelizing, preaching, and teaching theology through Italy and France.
A gifted speaker, he attracted crowds everywhere he went, speaking in multiple tongues; legend says that even the fish loved to listen. One of the most beloved of saints, his images and statues are found everywhere. Simple and resounding was his teaching of the Catholic Faith, so that the most unlettered and innocent might understand it. Anthony was canonized less than one year after his death at the age of His ship was swept off course and he landed in Sicily.
For a time he lived as a hermit, praying and studying in solitude. One day, a Franciscan superior asked Anthony to preach a sermon without any preparation. His words amazed people. Now God was calling Anthony to something new again. He was to become a great preacher throughout Italy and at his home church in Padua. He was only 36 and had been a Franciscan but 10 years. Anthony was a simple and humble friar who preached the Good News lovingly and with fearless courage.
The youth whom his fellow friars thought was uneducated became one of the great preachers and theologians of his day. He was a man of great penance and apostolic zeal. But he was primarily a saint of the people. The reason for invoking St. As the story goes, Anthony had a book of psalms that was very important to him. Besides the value of any book before the invention of printing, the psalter had the notes and comments he had made to use in teaching students in his Franciscan Order.
A novice who had already grown tired of living religious life decided to depart the community. Upon realizing his psalter was missing, Anthony prayed it would be found or returned to him. And after his prayer the thieving novice was moved to return the psalter to Anthony and to return to the Order, which accepted him back.
Legend has embroidered this story a bit. It has the novice stopped in his flight by a horrible devil, brandishing an ax and threatening to trample him underfoot if he did not immediately return the book. Obviously a devil would hardly command anyone to do something good. But the core of the story would seem to be true. And the stolen book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna.
In any event, shortly after his death people began praying through Anthony to find or recover lost and stolen articles. And the Responsory of St. Anthony composed by his contemporary, Julian of Spires, O. Anthony Bread is a term used for offerings made in thanksgiving to God for blessings received through the prayers of St. Sometimes the alms are given for the education of priests. In some places parents also make a gift for the poor after placing a newborn child under the protection of St.
It is a practice in some churches to bless small loaves of bread on the feast of St. Anthony and give them to those who want them. Different legends or stories account for the donation of what is called St. Anthony Bread. By at least one account it goes back to , when it is said a child drowned near the Basilica of St.
Anthony which was still being built. Another reason for the practice is traced back to Louise Bouffier, a shopkeeper in Toulon, France. A locksmith was prepared to break open her shop door after no key would open it. Bouffier asked the locksmith to try his keys one more time after she prayed and promised to give bread to the poor in honor of St.
Anthony if the door would open without force. The door then opened. After others received favors through the intercession of St. Anthony, they joined Louise Bouffier in founding the charity of St. Anthony has been pictured by artists and sculptors in all kinds of ways. He is depicted with a book in his hands, with a lily or torch. He has been painted preaching to fish, holding a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament in front of a mule or preaching in the public square or from a nut tree.
But since the 17th century we most often find the saint shown with the child Jesus in his arm or even with the child standing on a book the saint holds. A story about St. Anthony was praying far into the night when suddenly the room was filled with light more brilliant than the sun.
His propensity as a preacher became known quite by accident. Most who knew Anthony in saw him as a pious individual but without any special talents, especially that of an orator. Anthony, without warning, was asked to preach at a gathering of Franciscans and Dominicans. So forceful, simplistic, even eloquent was his presentation that he was quickly asked to preach all over Italy and areas of France.
His theological expertise and inspirational oration were not lost on the leader of the order, St. Francis, who soon enlisted Anthony to teach theology to other Franciscans. This was a unique honor, as he would have a great impact on the future of the order and, by extension, the Church. In the 12th- and 13th-century Europe , various heretical groups, but primarily the Albigensians of southern France, were growing in number with the intention of rejecting most Church teachings, bringing down the pope and destroying the Catholic faith.
Anthony was sent to dissuade and return these misguided people to the flock. By his devotion to Church beliefs, unpretentious manner, lack of insult and well-articulated debate, he was able to turn certain of these heretics back to the Church. Anyone who came in contact with Anthony was impressed by his sincerity, his humility; some recognized the Spirit of God speaking through him.
The Child Jesus himself touched his lips with his fingers, that they might pour forth golden words. He had a remarkable love for the Eucharist, and one story, perhaps a legend, exemplifies such love. Anthony was confronted by a heretic who denied the Catholic belief in the Eucharist. The heretic challenged Anthony, saying that he would starve his mule for three days and then bring the animal in front of himself and the saint. The heretic would have food that the mule normally ate; Anthony would have the Blessed Sacrament.
If the mule ignored the food and instead knelt down in front of the host, the heretic would become a Catholic. On the third day, the animal went straight to Anthony, who was holding the Eucharist, and knelt down.
In , Anthony settled in Padua, Italy. People flocked to hear his sermons, sometimes there were as many as 30, attendees. He became a champion of the poor in Padua; among other acts, he influenced the local government to pass legislation protecting the poor from prison if they could not pay their debts.
The saint is the source of St.
0コメント