MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH ~ FEAST DAY; JUNE 13TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Anthony of Padua and all the Saints on this special feast day, we humbly pray for the Poor, the needy and those who have suffered a loss. We also pray for the sick and dying, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. With special intention for all those seeking for life partners. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽
SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), a Franciscan Priest is one of the most popular saints in the Church. Although he is popularly invoked today by those who have trouble finding lost objects, he was known in his own day as the “Hammer of Heretics” due to the powerful witness of his life and preaching. The saint known to the Church as Anthony of Padua was not born in the Italian city of Padua, nor was he originally named Anthony. St. Anthony is called “St. Anthony of Padua” on account of his long residence in that city, he was a native of Lisbon in Portugal, where he was born Fernando de Bouillon in 1195 to a powerful yet pious family, receiving the name of Ferdinand at his Baptism. He’s a son of an army officer named Martin and a virtuous woman named Mary. They had Ferdinand educated by a group of priests, and the young man made his own decision to enter religious life at age 15. His parents placed him at an early age in the community of the Canons of the Cathedral of Lisbon, by whom he was educated. At fifteen he entered the Order of Regular Canons of St. Augustine near Lisbon. He relinquished a life of nobility, wealth, and honor, and chose instead to serve God with the Augustinians. After two years he was sent to the convent of the Holy Cross of the same Order at Coimbra. Ferdinand initially lived in a monastery of the Augustinian order outside of Lisbon. But he disliked the distraction of constant visits from his friends, and moved to a more remote house of the same order. There, he concentrated on reading the Bible and the Church Fathers, while living a life of asceticism and heartfelt devotion to God.
Eight years later, in 1220, Ferdinand learned the news about five Franciscan friars who had recently died for their faith in Morocco. When their bodies were brought to Portugal for veneration, Ferdinand developed a passionate desire to imitate their commitment to the Gospel. When a group of Franciscans visited his monastery, Ferdinand told them he wanted to adopt their poor and humble way of life. Some of the Augustinian monks criticized and mocked Ferdinand’s interest in the Franciscans, which had been established only recently, in 1209. But prayer confirmed his desire to follow the example of St. Francis, who was still living at the time. He eventually obtained permission to leave the Augustinians and join a small Franciscan monastery in 1221. At that time he took the name Anthony, after the fourth-century desert monk St. Anthony of Egypt. St. Anthony wanted to imitate the Franciscan martyrs who had died trying to convert the Muslims of Morocco. He traveled on a ship to Africa for this purpose, but became seriously ill and could not carry out his intention. The ship that was supposed to take him to Spain for treatment was blown off course, and ended up in Italy. Through this series of mishaps, St. Anthony ended up near Assisi, where St. Francis was holding a major meeting for the members of his order. Despite his poor health, St. Anthony resolved to stay in Italy in order to be closer to St. Francis himself. He deliberately concealed his deep knowledge of theology and Scripture, and offered to serve in the kitchen among the brothers. At the time, no one realized that the future “Hammer of Heretics” was anything other than a kitchen assistant and obedient Franciscan priest.
St. Anthony became a preacher by accident. Around 1224, when a scheduled preacher did not show up for an ordination ceremony at Forli, the Franciscan superior told St. Anthony to go into the pulpit. St. Anthony was forced to deliver an improvised speech before an assembly of Dominicans and Franciscans, none of whom had prepared any remarks. His eloquence stunned the crowd, and St. Francis himself soon learned what kind of man the dishwashing priest really was and he was assigned to preach throughout northern Italy. In 1224 St. Francis gave St. Anthony permission to teach theology in the Franciscan order – “provided, however, that as the Rule prescribes, the spirit of prayer and devotion may not be extinguished.” St. Anthony taught theology in several French and Italian cities, while strictly following his Franciscan vows and preaching regularly to the people. Later, he dedicated himself entirely to the work of preaching as a missionary in France, Italy and Spain, teaching an authentic love for God to many people – whether peasants or princes – who had fallen away from Catholic faith and morality. Known for his bold preaching and austere lifestyle, St. Anthony also had a reputation as a worker of miracles, which often came about in the course of his disputes with heretics. Because of his success in converting heretics, he was called the “Hammer of Heretics”. St. Anthony of Padua was such a forceful preacher that shops closed when he came to town, and people stayed all night in church to be present for his sermons. He became associated with Padua because he made this city his residence and the center of his great preaching mission. His biographers mention a horse, which refused to eat for three days, and accepted food only after it had placed itself in adoration before the Eucharist that Anthony brought in his hands. Another miracle involved a poisoned meal, which Anthony ate without any harm after making the sign of the Cross over it. And a final often recounted miracle of St. Anthony’s involved a group of fish, who rose out of the sea to hear his preaching when heretical residents of a city refused to listen.
We may wonder why we always see Saint Anthony with the Child Jesus in his arms. The account of this heavenly visitation was told only after his death, at the official process concerning his virtues and miracles. It was narrated by the man who witnessed the marvel in question; the Saint himself had never spoken of it. Saint Anthony was in the region of Limoges in France, and was offered hospitality, rest and silence by this businessman of the region, in his country manor. He was given a room apart, to permit him to pray in peace; but during the night his host looked toward his lighted window and saw in the brilliance a little Infant of marvelous beauty in the arms of the Saint, with His own around the Friar’s neck. The witness trembled at the sight, and in the morning Saint Anthony, to whom it had been revealed that his host had seen the visitation, called him and enjoined him not to tell it as long as he was alive. The town near Limoges where this occurred remains unknown; the original account of the inquiry does not name it, but says that the man in question narrated it, with tears, after Saint Anthony’s death.
After Lent in 1231, St. Anthony’s health was in decline. Following the example of his patron – the earlier St. Anthony, who had lived as a hermit – he retreated to a remote location, taking two companions to help him. When his worsening health forced him to be carried back to the Franciscan monastery in Padua, crowds of people converged on the group in hopes of paying their homage to the holy priest. The commotion surrounding his transport forced his attendants to stop short of their destination. He did not reach the city but was taken to the Poor Clare convent at Arcella, where he died. After receiving the last rites, St. Anthony prayed the Church’s seven traditional penitential psalms, sung a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and died on June 13, 1231at the age of 36. Though he was denied the grace of Martyr’s death, St. Anthony was a Martyr of the Word, a Martyr of the road, a Martyr of the crowds. So numerous were those who flocked to hear him that often forced to preach in the open air. Pope Gregory IX, who heard him preach, called him during his lifetime the Arca Testamenti, meaning “the living repository of the Holy Scriptures” and Pope Pius XII, when he proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church, declared that he based all that he said on the texts of the Gospels, and could justly be called the Evangelical Doctor. St. Anthony’s well-established holiness, combined with the many miracles he had worked during his lifetime, moved Pope Gregory IX – who knew the saint personally – to canonize him one year after his death and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946. “St. Anthony, residing now in heaven, is honored on earth by many miracles daily seen at his tomb, of which we are certified by authentic writings,” proclaimed the 13th-century Pope. He is the Patron Saint of those Who have suffered a loss; lost items; lost people; lost souls; the poor; against shipwrecks; against starvation; Custody of the Holy Land; American Indians; amputees; animals; asses; barrenness; boatmen; Brazil; diocese of Beaumont, Texas; diocese of San Antonia, Texas; domestic animals; elderly people; expectant mothers; faith in the Blessed Sacrament; Ferrazzano, Italy; fishermen; harvests; horses; Lisbon, Portugal; lower animals; mail; mariners; oppressed people; Padua, Italy; paupers; poor people; Portugal; pregnant women; invoked by single women seeking for life partners; sailors; sterility; swineherds; Tigua Indians; travel hostesses; travelers; watermen and fishermen. He is renowned as the finder of lost articles. His feast day is June 13.
“Charity is the soul of faith, makes it alive; without love, faith dies.”~St Anthony of Padua
PRAYER: Almighty ever-living God, You gave Your people the extraordinary preacher St. Anthony and made him an intercessor in difficulties. By his aid grand that we may live a truly Christian life and experience Your help in all adversities… Amen🙏🏽