Saint Anthony of Padua

Portuguese-born preacher, teacher, and scholar

• Born: August 15, 1195
• Birthplace: Lisbon, Portugal
• Died: June 13, 1231
• Place of death: Arcella, near Padua, Verona (now in Italy)

Anthony of Padua was one of the most eloquent Franciscan preachers and the first teacher of the Franciscan school of theology. He is credited with introducing the theology of Saint Augustine into the order and was named a doctor of the Church.

Early Life

Anthony of Padua (PAJ-ew-wuh) received the name Fernando (Ferdinand) at baptism. It is asserted that his father was Martin de Boullion, descendant of the renowned Godfrey de Boullion, commander of the First Crusade, and that his mother, Theresa Travejra, was a descendant of Froila I, fourth king of Asturias.

After he had completed the course at the Cathedral School of Saint Mary, Ferdinand, at the age of fifteen, joined the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in the convent of Saint Vincent outside the city walls in September, 1210. Two years later, he went to the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Coimbra, where he remained for eight years. In Coimbra, he became an expert in biblical studies. It is believed that he was ordained a priest in 1218.

In 1220, he saw the bodies of the first five martyrs of the Franciscan order (Saints Berard, Peter, Otho, Aiuto, and Accursio) being returned from Morocco, where on January 16, 1220, they had been killed for their faith. Ferdinand was so moved by the desire for martyrdom that he set his heart on becoming a friar minor. That same year, 1220, he received the Franciscan habit from the friars of the Convent of the Holy Cross at Olivares (near Coimbra), who were accustomed to beg alms from the canons. He took the name Anthony, a name that was later assumed by the convent at Olivares itself.

Life's Work

At his own request, Anthony was sent as a missionary to Morocco in December, 1220. There, however, he was stricken with a severe illness that affected him the entire winter, and he was compelled to return to Portugal the following spring. Driven off course by a violent storm, his ship landed in Sicily.

Anthony was informed by the Franciscans in Messina that a general chapter of the order was to be held at Assisi on May 30, 1221. He arrived in time to take part in the famous Chapter of the Mats, in which three thousand friars participated. It was here that he met Saint Francis of Assisi and was assigned to Bologna, in the province of Romagna.

For a time, Anthony resided in solitude and penance in the hermitage of Monte Paolo near Forlì. It was at Forlì that his talents as a preacher became known. Because of the absence of the regularly appointed preacher for the ordination of some Dominicans and Franciscans at Forlì, in 1222, Anthony was asked to preach the sermon. His eloquence and the depth of his knowledge astonished the audience.

Francis wrote to Friar Anthony in 1223 and appointed him the first professor of theology for the Franciscan order. He commanded him to teach in such a manner as to perpetuate the spirit of prayer and piety advocated in the rule. Anthony is credited with introducing the theology of Saint Augustine to the Franciscan order a union that was to become the characteristic mark of Franciscan theology.

Anthony spent some time in Vercelli between 1222 and 1225, where he discussed mystical theology with Thomas of Saint Victor, known as Thomas Gallus (d. 1246), the founder and abbot of the monastery of Saint Andrew. They became personal friends. Thomas was well known for his translation, commentary, and synthesis of the Pseudo-Dionysian works. Thomas had a strong influence on early Franciscans such as Alexander of Hales, Saint Bonaventure, and Adam of Marisco. He was so impressed by Anthony's knowledge that he asserted that “aided by divine grace, he drew most abundantly from the mystical theology of the Sacred Scripture.”

Anthony taught successively at Bologna, Toulouse, and Montpellier. In 1223, he started a school of theology for the friars, who called him Pater Scientiae and Doctor Veritatis. This school eventually developed into the school of theology of the University of Bologna. At Arles, Toulouse, and Montpellier, he taught in the order schools, not in the city universities. Toulouse had no public faculty of theology before 1229; Montpellier's was founded after 1240 and Bologna's after 1300. During this period, five Franciscan houses were founded at Nice, Bordeaux, La Réole, Saint-Jean-d’Angély, and Le Puy-en-Velay.

Because he was such an inspiring preacher, Anthony was commissioned to preach against the heretics in northern Italy (from 1222 to 1224) and against the Albigensians in southern France in 1224. Between 1227 and 1230, his preaching mission brought him back to Italy. During Lent in 1231, he preached daily in Padua.

Anthony's sermons attracted enormous crowds. People would begin to gather in the middle of the night to obtain good seats, shops would close, and Anthony had to be protected from souvenir hunters and the press of the crowd. He avoided preaching during harvest time so as not to interfere with this important farm work.

Only two series of Anthony's sermons have survived, one for saints’ feast days and one for Sunday. He is the only early Franciscan preacher whose actual words have been preserved. The printed sermons are in Latin, and they are very long and argumentative. The sermons can be described as moral and penitential in tone; it is known, however, that the later ones became more dogmatic. Anthony underscored his points by frequent reference to Scripture. Though the Franciscans were not the first to introduce biblical examples into sermons, their development of this practice revolutionized the art of preaching.

After the death of Francis of Assisi on October 3, 1226, Anthony returned to Italy, where he was elected provincial of Romagna-Emilia. After his election as guardian of the convent at Le Puy-en-Velay, he became the leader of the more rigorous party in the Franciscan order, who were opposed to the modifications introduced by Elias of Cortona, general of the order.

During the year 1228, Anthony preached in the Venetian province and gave the Advent sermons in Florence; he preached a Lenten series in Florence the following year. At the end of 1229, he took up his last permanent residence at Padua, at a convent he founded in 1227. At the general chapter on May 30, 1230, he resigned his provincial office, but in June he was sent as a member of a special commission to Rome to confer with Pope Gregory IX concerning the interpretation of the rule. (Gregory was the same pope who had invited Anthony to preach in Rome in 1227.) During the winter of 1230-1231, he worked on a revision of his sermons. In 1231, he preached his last course of Lenten sermons.

Anthony's audience at times numbered as high as thirty thousand. Because church buildings could not accommodate his listeners, he was obliged to speak in the open air. He preached to the public perched in an oak tree at Camposanpiero in 1231.

Two weeks before his death, Anthony stood on the summit of a hill that overlooked Padua and blessed the city as the dying Francis had once blessed his beloved Assisi saying, “Blessed be thou, O Padua! Beautiful is thy site, rich thy fields, but Heaven is about to crown thee with a glory still richer and more beautiful.”

Before he could return to Padua, Anthony died in Arcella on June 13, 1231, at the age of thirty-five. At the first news of his death, children ran about the streets crying out, “The saint is dead!” At his canonization on May 30, 1232, Gregory IX declared him to be a “teacher of the Church,” and Pius XII, on January 16, 1946, made him a doctor of the Church with the title doctor evangelicus.

Significance

Besides being a scholar and teacher, Anthony was a preacher of great force and persuasiveness. In mystical theology, he prepared the way for Saint Bonaventure, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint John of the Cross. With other members of the Franciscan school, in infused contemplation he attributed the primary force to the will. He was a forerunner of John of the Cross in teaching the classical doctrines of the passive, sensitive, and intellectual activities of the soul. Anthony's mysticism was, however, not as austere as Saint John', for he says that the devout individual may request the spiritual consolations that increase his love for God.

In 1263, when the relics of Saint Anthony were being transferred to a new chapel erected in his honor at Padua, it is said that Bonaventure found the saint's tongue preserved whole amid Anthony's ashes. Picking it up, Bonaventure said: “O blessed tongue, which always blessed the Lord and caused others to bless Him, now it is revealed how great was thy merit before God.” Because of the many miracles recorded at Anthony's tomb, he is chiefly remembered as a wonder-worker, and he continues to be widely venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.

Bibliography

Clasen, Sophronius. St. Anthony: Doctor of the Gospel. Translated by Ignatius Brady. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1973. A good short biography of Anthony. This 140-page work has 32 pages of pictures and many quotations from Anthony’s sermons. This work is useful because it attempts to present an authentic life of Anthony and omits unverifiable legends or tales.

Dent, Francis. Saint Anthony of Padua and the Twentieth Century. New York: P. J. Kennedy and Sons, 1899. This study is an old but useful examination of Anthony’s life. The author’s last four chapters describe how the devotion to Anthony grew and gives detailed accounts of the particular favors attributed to his intercession.

Franciscans of the U.S.A. St. Anthony, Doctor of the Church Universal: Souvenir of the Commemorative Ceremonies. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1946. A collection of five essays dealing with Anthony as a preacher and theologian and with his relationship with the people. These essays contain analysis and interpretation not found in other works. A good summary of Anthony’s contributions.

Huber, Raphael. St. Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church Universal: A Critical Study of the Historical Sources of the Life, Sanctity, Learning, and Miracles of the Saint of Padua and Lisbon. Milwaukee, Wis.: Bruce, 1948. This critical study is an indispensable and comprehensive source for the life and work of Anthony of Padua. Well-organized and well-documented chapters examine his life, his preaching and teaching career, and the authentic and the spurious writings. Included is a literary evaluation of the works on Anthony from a historical perspective, texts of three sermons, and an annotated bibliography.

Kerry, Margaret Charles, and Mary Elizabeth Tebo. Saint Anthony of Padua: Fire and Light. Boston: Pauline Books, 1999. A brief biography introducing Saint Anthony and his family origins, family life, and historical context, written especially for young, “intermediate” readers.

Moorman, John. A History of the Franciscan Order: From Its Origins to the Year 1517. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1988. A scholarly study of the Franciscan order that is filled with references and a large bibliography. It is an indispensable source for Anthony and his age, for it contains numerous references to primary materials arranged chronologically.

Nugent, Madeline Pecora. Saint Anthony: Words of Fire, Life of Light. Boston: Pauline Books, 1995. A fictionalized biography “narrated” by contemporaries of Anthony. Includes very helpful explanatory chapter notes

O’Brien, Isidore. Enter Saint Anthony. Chicago: Daughters of St. Paul, 1976. An inspiring life of Anthony that provides accurate and stimulating information on the career and work of Anthony and the temper of the age.

Stoddard, Charles Warren. St. Anthony: The Wonder-Worker of Padua. 2d ed. Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books, 1978. Written for the general reader, this book does justice to the life and career of Anthony. It is a well-rounded, brief account.

Zawart, A. “The History of Franciscan Preaching and of Franciscan Preachers 1209-1927.”In Franciscan Educational Conference. Vol. 9. St. Bonaventure, N.Y.: St. Bonaventure University Press, 1927. A detailed study of the character of Franciscan preaching as a new development in medieval religious practice. A valuable analysis of the character of religious life in Anthony’s time.