of St. Anthony of Padua
June 13, 2019
CollectNativity, Washington, D.C.
St. Anthony was born in Lisbon—not in Padua—in 1195
and became an Augustinian priest and a Scripture scholar. But when the relics of some Franciscans who’d
been martyred in Morocco for preaching to the Muslims were brought to Lisbon,
he was inspired to join the Franciscans and go to Morocco himself, hoping for
the same fate. He fell ill, however, and
had to return home. God had another plan
for him.
He didn’t make it back to Portugal, tho. His ship was blown off course, and it landed
in Italy. That must have been some
storm! So God had another plan for
Anthony.
At a Franciscan general chapter Anthony met St.
Francis himself, and the 2 quite impressed each other. Nevertheless, Anthony was sent to an obscure
friary and given very menial tasks to do like cooking and cleaning, in spite of
his learning. Apparently his brothers
didn’t recognize that learning, or at least didn’t appreciated it, because of
the Franciscans’ humble way of life.
But God had another plan. One day when there were to be some
ordinations, the Franciscans hosted a good number of Dominican friars. The Dominicans assumed that the hosts would
see to the preaching, while the Franciscans assumed the Order of Preachers
would do so. So no one was appointed,
and no one was prepared. (Does that
sound like parish life?) The local superior
commanded Anthony to preach, tho obviously he wasn’t prepared either—except by
his long study of and meditation upon the Bible. He wowed the crowd with a learned yet simple
sermon, so much that St. Francis commissioned him to go to southern France to
preach against a widespread heretical movement there.
Anthony had great success and continued to preach
in northern Italy, as well, eventually settling in Padua, where St. Francis
appointed him the 1st Franciscan theology professor. It had became evident that even the simple
Franciscans required some learning in this new world of cities, universities,
and the Renaissance. God was developing
a great plan not only for Anthony but for the entire Church.
Anthony became known as a man whose preaching could
convert sinners as well as heretics and who could reconcile enemies. His preaching style was simple and gentle but
filled with knowledge of the Scriptures and the sound traditions of the
Christianity.
Always in poor health, Anthony died in 1231 at the
age of 36. He was canonized just one
year later!
Our prayer today referred to his preaching and to
our desire to “follow the teachings of the Christian life,” which was the focus
of Anthony’s preaching and of his own life, especially in his obedience to God’s
will—to God’s plan as revealed in the events of his life. There’s a lesson for us—to pay attention to
how God speaks to us each day thru our interactions with people and thru
events.
We also see in Anthony a love for the Bible and a
thorough familiarity with it. Thru the
Scriptures he became familiar, intimate, with Christ. You probably have noticed that most statues
of St. Anthony, like ours over there (at left), depict him with a book in his hands—the
Bible, of course—and sitting on the book, the infant Jesus. Another lesson for us.
Finally, the Collect referred to St. Anthony as an
intercessor for God’s people “in their need,” praying that thru his prayers we
might know God’s “help in every trial.”
We always go to him in our minor trials of having lost something. May St. Anthony intercede for us that we may
never be blown off course, may never lose our way toward Christ.
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