St. Anthony of Padua

“St. Anthony of Padua with the child Jesus.”
St. Peter Catholic Church, Canby, Minnesota.

St. Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195. His baptismal name was Ferdinand, and he was a member of the prominent Bouillon or Buglione family.

He joined the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, also known as the Augustinians, a religious order of priests and brothers, when he was fifteen. He spent two years at the monastery in Lisbon, and desiring more solitude, moved to the monastery in Coimbra where he spent much of the next nine years in the study of Sacred Scripture at the feet of scholars from the University of Paris.

While in Coimbra, he met the Franciscans who had a monastery nearby. He was deeply inspired by them, and in 1220, after a painful farewell to his Augustinian confreres, joined the Franciscans and took the name Anthony after St. Anthony of the Desert, also the patron saint of the Franciscan monastery.

Anthony joined the Franciscans on the condition that he would be allowed to be a missionary. Earlier Anthony had met five Franciscans who went to Morocco in northern Africa to preach the gospel to convert the Muslims who had taken control there. All five were martyred. Anthony went to Morocco in the hope of becoming a martyr but shortly after his arrival he came down with an illness so severe that he was recalled to Portugal. On the return voyage a violent storm blew his ship far off course and he landed in Sicily where there was a Franciscan monastery.

Anthony accompanied the Sicilian Franciscans to Assisi for the order’s General Chapter in 1221. He met St. Francis shortly after his arrival, and not long afterward he was ordained a priest. Still in frail health and not wanting to return to Portugal, he sought a ministry in Italy, but none was granted to him except a chaplaincy for six brothers who lived in Forli, an isolated mountain location. Anthony offered Mass for the brothers each day, performed menial tasks, and spent the rest of his time in a cave in prayer, study, and meditation.

Anthony’s breakthrough came on March 19, 1222, when he attended an ordination. The homilist failed to appear so Anthony’s religious superior, who knew of his brilliance, asked him on the spur of the moment to preach. He did so with astounding fervor and eloquence before his fellow Franciscans and the bishop. With his spiritual gifts revealed, his quiet private days abruptly came to an end. Francis appointed Anthony as theology instructor for his fellow Franciscans, and Francis and Anthony became close friends.

Anthony traveled extensively throughout Italy and southern France, and as his fame spread, the crowds increased. When he would arrive at a town, the shops would close and people would gather quickly, sometimes as many as ten, twenty, or even thirty thousand. He was fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Greek and Latin. He preached against the Albigensian heresy, converted non-believers, silenced critics, and became known as “the Hammer of the Heretics.” A number of miracles were attributed to him.

After St. Francis died, Anthony returned to Italy and was elected Provincial of northern Italy. In 1227 he returned to Padua where he spent the last four years of his life. People called him the “Ark of the New Testament” because he knew Scripture so well. He also became known as the “Evangelical Doctor,” one of the foremost preachers in the history of the Church. He died on June 13, 1231, at the age of 36, and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on Pentecost, 1232.

St. Anthony is the patron saint of Portugal, Brazil, travelers, the poor, the harvest, barren women, and lost articles.