Franciscan
Thaumaturgist, born at Lisbon, 1195; died
at Vercelli, 13 June,1231. He received in
baptism the name of Ferdinand.
His father
was Martin Bouillon, descendant of the renowned
Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First
Crusade, and his mother, Theresa Tavejra,
descendant of Froila fourth king of Asturia.
His parents were noble, powerful, and God-fearing
people. Having been educated in the Cathedral
of Lisbon school, Ferdinand, at the age of
fifteen, joined the Canons Regular of St.
Augustine, in the convent of St.Vincent, just
outside the city walls (1210).
Two years later to avoid being
distracted byrelatives and friends, who frequently
came to visit him, he betook himself with
permission of his superior to the Convent
of Santa Croce in Coimbra (1212), where he
remained for eight years, occupying his time
mainly with study and prayer. Gifted with
an excellent understanding and a prodigious
memory, he soon gathered from the Sacred Scriptures
and the writings of the Holy Fathers a treasure
of theological knowledge.
In the year 1220, having seen
conveyed into the Church of Santa Croce the
bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs, who
had suffered death at Morocco,16 January of
the same year, he too was inflamed with the
desire ofmartyrdom, and resolved to become
a Friar Minor, that he might preach the Faith
to the Saracens and suffer for Christ's sake.
Thus Ferdinand left the Canons Regular of
St. Augustine to join the Order of Friars
Minor, taking at the same time the new name
of Anthony, a name which later on the Convent
of Olivares also adopted.
A short time after his entry
into the order, Anthony started for Morocco,but,
stricken down by a severe illness, which affected
him the entire winter, he was compelled to
sail for Portugal the following spring, 1221.
His ship, however, was overtaken
by a violent storm and driven upon thecoast
of Sicily, where Anthony then remained for
some time, till he had regained his health.His
only desire was to follow Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Accordingly, he applied to
Father Graziano, provincial of Coimbra, for
a place where he could live in solitude and
penance, and enter more fully into the spirit
anddiscipline of Franciscan life. Father Graziano,
being just at that time in need of a priest
for the hermitage of Montepaolo (near Forli),
sent him thither, that he might celebrate
Mass for the lay-brethren.
With the zeal of an apostle he
undertook to reform the morality of his time
by combating in an especial manner the vices
of luxury, avarice, and tyranny. The fruit
of his sermons was, therefore, as admirable
as his eloquence itself. Among the many miracles
St. Anthony wrought in the conversion of heretics,
the most important miracle is that of the
poisoned food offered him by some Italian
heretics, which he rendered innoxious by the
sign of the cross.
The zeal with which St. Anthony
fought against heresy, and the great and numerous
conversions he made rendered him worthy of
the glorious title of Malleus hereticorum
(Hammer of the Heretics).
After the death of St. Francis,
3 October, 1226, Anthony returned to Italy.
, Anthony retired to the Convent of Padua,
which he had himself founded. The last Lent
he preached was that of 1231; the crowd of
people which came from all parts to hear him,
frequently numbered 30,000 and more. His last
sermons were principally directed against
hatred and enmity, and his efforts were crowned
with wonderful success. Permanent reconciliations
were effected, peace and concord re-established,
liberty given to debtors and other prisoners,
restitutions made, and enormous scandals repaired;
in fact, the priests of Padua were no longer
sufficient for the number of penitents, and
many ofthese declared they had been warned
by celestial visions, and sent to St. Anthony,
to be guided by his counsel. Others after
his death said that he appeared to them in
their slumbers, admonishing them to go to
confession.
At Padua also took place the
famous miracle of the amputated foot, which
Franciscan writers attribute to St. Anthony.
A young man, Leonardo by name, in a fit of
anger kicked his own mother. Repentant, he
confessed his fault to St. Anthony who said
to him: "The foot of him who kicks his
mother deserves to be cut off." Leonardo
ran home and cut off his foot.
Learning of this, St. Anthony
took the amputated member of the unfortunate
youth and miraculously rejoined it.
In 1230, while war raged in Lombardy,
St. Anthony betook himself to Verona to solicit
from the ferocious Ezzelino the liberty of
the Guelph prisoners. At the end of Lent,
1231, Anthony retired to Camposanpiero, in
the neighbourhood of Padua, where, after a
short time he was taken with a severe illness.
Transferred to Vercelli, and strengthened
by the apparition of Our Lord, he died at
the age of thirty-six years, on 13 June, 1231.
He had lived fifteen years with his parents,
ten years as a Canon Regular of St. Augustine,
and eleven years in the Order of Friars Minor.
Immediately after his death he
appeared at Vercelli to the Abbot, Thomas
Gallo, and his death was also announced to
the citizens of Padua by a troop of children,
crying: "The holy Father is dead; St.
Anthony is dead!" St. Anthony wrote several
works: "Expositio in Psalmos", written
at Montpellier, 1224; the "Sermones de
tempore", and the "Sermones de Sanctis",
written at Padua, 1229-30.
