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FIFTEENTH VOLUME.
THE CHRONICLE OF
ST. ANTONY OF PADUA.
HAVERSTOCK HILL, N.W.
PRINTED BY THE SOCIETY OF ST. ANNE.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
/ THE CHRONICLE OF
ST. ANTONY OF PADUA^
" THE ELDEST SON OF ST. FRANCIS "
EDITED BY
HENRY JAMES COLERIDGE
OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
NEW EDITION
LONDON
BURNS AND DATES
GRANVILLE MANSIONS W
188*
IB X if 7 00
Gf c.e>
LUX ' MUNDI ' DEUS ' IMMENSE ' PATER ' ^TERNITATIS
LARGITOR ' SAPIENTI^E ' ET SCIENTI^E
ET ' TOTIUS ' GRATIS ' SPIRITUALIS
IN^STIMABILIS ' DISPENSATOR
NOSCENS ' OMNIA ' PRIUSQUAM ' FIANT
FACIENS ' TENEBRAS ' ET ' LUCEM
MITTE ' MANUM ET ' TANGE ' OS ' MEUM
ET ' PONE ' ILLUD UT ' GLADIUM ' ACUTUM
AD ' ENARRANDUM ' ELOQUENTER ' VERBA ' TUA
FAC ' DOMINE ' LINGUAM ' MEAM ' UT ' SAGITTAM ' ELECTAM
AD '-PRONUNCIANDUM ' MEMORITER MIRABILIA' TUA
MITTE ' DOMINE ' SPIRITUM TUUM
IN ' COR ' MEUM ' AD ' PERCIPIENDUM
ET ' IN ' ANIMAM ' MEAM AD ' RETINENDUM
ET ' IN ' CONSCIENTIAM ' MEAM ' AD ' MEDITANDUM
PIE ' SANCTE ' MISERICORDITER CLEMENTER ' ET ' LENITER
IN ' ME ' GRATIAM ' TUAM ' INSPIRA
DOCK ' INSTRUE ET INSTAURA ' INTROITUM ET ' EXITUM
SENSUUM ' MEORUM ' ET ' COGJTATIONUM MEARUM
ET ' DOCEAT ' ME ' USQUE ' IN ' FINEM DISCIPLINA ' TUA
ET ' ADJUVET ' ME ' CONSILIUM ' ALTISSIMI
PER ' INFINITAM SAPIENTIAM ' ET MISERICORDIAM ' TUAM
AMEN.
(Oratio S. Antonii.)
PREFACE.
THE history of St. Antony of Padua has been
written by many authors, whose researches have
thrown all the light upon it that we can now hope
for. There have been, as we are told by Azevedo
in his preface, more than a hundred lives of the
Saint in different forms. He mentions as particu-
larly worthy of attention three Franciscan authors,
Arbusti, a Minor Conventual, Angelico da Vicenza,
of the Riformati, and Luigi da Missaglia, of the
Observants, as well as the learned Bollandists, and
Wadding, the historian of the Order. But Azevedo
himself, who wrote late in the last century, has
rendered all further comparison of authorities almost
superfluous, and his Life of St. Antony, whose fellow-
countryman he was, may justly claim to be the
standard work on the subject. In the following
pages he has been followed, except in one or two
particulars of minor importance, where his decision
seemed grounded on insufficient evidence, as when
vii'i PREFACE.
he denies that St. Antony visited Mount Alvernia on
his way from Rome in his last journey to Padua,
on the ground that the Saint was sent to preach
wherever the Spirit of God might guide him.
The aim of the present volume, like that of
the Story of St. Stanislaus, is to give the English
reader a clear and . flowing account of the life of
the great Franciscan preacher without digression or
inordinate commentary. The order is that of Azevedo,
whose narrative has seldom been quitted, except for
the purpose of quoting the beautiful old Franciscan
Chronicles. It may be remarked that, after all,
St. Antony is hardly known to us in his personal
character, and that a great part of what is related
of him consists in the anecdotes of his miracles. It
was his great aim to be hidden in life, and to a
certain extent, he has succeeded in hiding himself.
We possess his Sermons, it is feared, not only in
a very imperfect form, for he probably never wrote
out more than notes of what might be said, but
also in a form in which his genuine work, as far as
he accomplished it, is overlaid by the arrangement
and manipulation of others. It is only after long
and careful study that we can arrive at such traces
PREFACE. ix
of individual character as are scattered over the
Sermons as we possess them.
It is curious to find it said, as we are assured by
his biographers, that St. Antony was less famous for
miracles in his lifetime than other saints of the same
eminence. It was chiefly as a Saint and a great
preacher against heretics that he was known to his
contemporaries. His most famous miracles were
wrought in defence of the Catholic truth, and had
a distinct bearing on his work as a preacher. In
the lives which we possess of him, he is, on the
other hand, chiefly put before us as a wonder-worker.
The difference may be illustrated by a comparison,
in the case of our Lord Himself, between the picture
given of Him by St. Matthew as the Divine Teacher,
and that by St. Mark, in which miraculous power is
far more prominent, though we have many beautiful
and delicate touches added to our Lord's portrait,
in consequence of the loving manner in which
St. Peter stored up his personal memories of his
Master. In the case of St. Antony, the teaching of
the Saint is to most of us nearly a sealed book,
though we know its general drift and character, the
personal traits which might have been preserved
PREFACE.
by a faithful friend and companion have in great
measure disappeared, except so far as they can be
gathered from a few anecdotes, while the wonders
which he worked in confirmation of his teaching
have remained.
I can make no apology for the detail in which
these miracles are related in the pages which follow.
It would be quite natural in a rationalistic or even
in a Protestant writer to omit them or slur them
over, though, in the case of a writer of the last
named class, I conceive that he would be very incon-
sistent in so treating them, unless he was prepared
to sacrifice the miracles of the Gospel in any history
of our Lord. Catholic writers have over and over
again shown to demonstration that the only logical
and reasonable manner of dealing with Christian
miracles of any age is to consider them as generally
possible and even, in certain cases, probable, and to
let single miracles rest upon the same evidences as
other facts possible or probable in history. This
principle may sometimes be asserted without being
acted upon. We may sometimes be too much
inclined to put the miracles of the saints in the
background, when we do not omit them, or to pass
PREFACE. xi
them over as less important than they are in truth,
much as the Gospel miracles are sometimes set aside
by writers who still call themselves believers in the
supernatural Revelation of which the Gospels are
the record. Perfect loyalty to our faith, in the one
case as in the other, seems to require that we should
make no compromise whatever as to what we believe
to be true. One of the great notes of the Church,
that of sanctity, has been in all ages providentially
attested by the evidence of miracles, among other
kinds of evidence, and our Lord's promise as to
the continuance of this kind of evidence is plain
and indisputable. It is this truth, rather than any
remarkable difficulty as to miracles in themselves,
which makes their recurrence in the lives of Catholic
saints so unpalatable to the world at large, to Pro-
testants no less than to rationalists, thougn for
different reasons. It is a matter of sincere regret
to many, who wish well to those among the higher
Anglicans who are engaged in fighting the battle
against infidelity with so much of earnestness and
learning, to see them so ready to consider it as a
matter of course that the miracles with which the
careers of the Catholic saints are studded are to be
xii PREFACE.
treated as fictions or even as impostures. Unfor-
tunately, their ecclesiastical position requires this
concession on their part, but it does not the less
involve them in an inconsistency which is fatal to
their own arguments against unbelievers. Perhaps,
if they find Catholic writers at all inclined to
withdraw from the defence of Catholic miracles as
matters of history, they may be confirmed in their
own implicit sacrifice of evidence on which the
truth of Christianity depends in no slight degree.
Again, it can never be truly imprudent to set
before Catholics the marvels by which the Christian
Apostolate has, in all ages alike, been attested and
sanctioned. Their faith may be fed and increased
by the knowledge of the wonders which God has
worked and is constantly working through the inter-
cession of the saints, while the same faith may be
chilled and enfeebled, if these glorious evidences of
His Power and Love are in any way set aside from
their lawful place.
H.J. C.
London, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 1875.
CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
THE TRAINING OF A GREAT PREACHER.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Five Friars.
The .Franciscan Friars at
Coimbra . . . i
At the Augustinian monas-
tery ..... 2
Ferdinand de Bulloens . 3
Queen Urraca's request . 3
Dona Sancha at Alenquer . 4
The friars at Seville . . 5
Before the Moorish King . 6
Sentence passed on them . 7
Their joy .... 8
Sentence suspended . . 9
They are sent to Morocco . 10
The Infant Don Pedro . n
Miramolin . . . .12
Imprisonment and escape
of the friars . . .12
The army against the
Arabs .... 13
Second imprisonment . 13
Again before the King . 14
Last trials . . . .15
Execution 16
Appearance to Dona San-
cha 17
PAGE
The relics carefully hon-
oured 18
The Infant takes them to
Ceuta .... 19
Lands in the kingdom of
Leon . . . .21
Arrival of the relics at
Coimbra . . . . 22
CHAPTER II.
Ferdinand Martin de Bulloens.
Birth and family . . 23
The Crusaders at Lisbon . 24
Ferdinand's grandfather . 24
Place of his birth . . 25
His early piety ... 26
Placed in the Cathedral . 26
Early miracle ... 27
Enters the Monastery of
St. Vincent ... 27
Goes to Santa Cruz . . 28
His residence there . . 30
CHAPTER III.
Fra Antonio.
Ferdinand ordained priest. 32
His desire to join the
Friars 33
XIV
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Admission to the Order . 34
Takes the name of Antony 34
Sent to Africa ... 35
Obliged to return by
sickness .... 35
Driven by a storm to Sicily 35
Goes to Assisi ... 35
At the Chapter ... 36
Unknown to everyone . 37
Sent to Montepaolo . . 37
His life there ... 38
Traces on the spot . . 39
PAGE
CHAPTER IV.
Antony at Forli.
The ordinations at Forli . 41
Antony ordered to preach . 42
His sermon ... 43
Astonishment of the hearers 44
Providential preparation . 46
Appointed preacher by the
Provincial ... 46
And by St. Francis . . 46
BOOK THE SECOND.
EIGHT YEARS OF WORK.
CHAPTER I.
The Heretics in Romagna.
Traditions at Forli . . 49
Preaching in Romagna . 50
Antony's prayer . . 50
Miraculous preaching . 51
Heresies of the day . . 52
Great danger to the Church 53
Parallel to our own time . 54
TheCathari ... 55
War against the Albigenses 56
Antony at Rimini . . 56
His sermons avoided . . 57
He preaches to the fishes . 57
Conversion of the spec-
tators . . . -59
Appropriateness of the
miracle .... 60
CHAPTER II.
The conversion of Bonvillo.
Obstinacy of Bonvillo . 63
The challenge ... 64
Miracle of Antony . . 65
Plot of the heretics to poi-
son Antony ... 65
Antony at Vercelli . . 66
Sent to Bologna ... 67
Appointed to teach theology 68
A Lent at Vercelli . . 69
CHAPTER II.
Labours in France.
Antony at Montpellier . 71
His manuscript stolen . 72
The frogs at Montpellier . 72
Antony at Toulouse . . 73
The martyrology and the
Assumption ... 74
Antony's vision . . -75
Antony Guardian of Puy . 75
Synod of Bourges . . 76
Sermon on the way . . 76
The Archbishop of Bourges 77
At Limoges . . . 77
A Sermon at Puy . . 78
CONTENTS.
PAGE
The notary who was to be
a martyr .... 79
Chapter at Aries . . 80
Appearance of St. Francis . 80
Custode of Limoges . . 81
Antony at Brive .82
Two miracles ... 83
Antony and the madman . 84
CHAPTER IV.
In Sicily and Italy.
Miracle on the way to Mar-
seilles .... 85
Antony in Sicily . . 87
At Messina ... 87
The monastery at Tentine 88
The capon and the owl . 89
Antony at Assisi . . 89
Provincial of Romagna . 89
At Rimini . . . . 90
At Udine and Gemona . 91
CHAPTER V.
First Visit to Padua.
State of Padua ... 93
Confraternity of the Co-
lombini . . . -94
Elena Enselmini . . 94
Luca Belludi 95
Sermons at Padua . . 95
Arcella .... 96
The Child Jesus . . 97
Testimony of Tiso . . 98
CHAPTER VI.
Some Miracles.
The Lent of 1228 in Padua 99
Miracle as to confession . 100
Leonardo . . . . 101
The jealous husband . 101
PAGE
Danger of Antony's father 102
Antony transported to Lis-
bon 103
Evidence of the dead man 104
Second story of the delive-
rance of his father .
CHAPTER VII.
Antony and Ezzelino.
Boldness of Antony's
preaching
Ezzelino da Romano .
His cruelty
Antony rebukes him .
Ezzelino at his feet .
His account of his submis-
sion ....
His message to Antony
His gift rejected
He restores Fonte
Return of Antony to Padua
CHAPTER VIII.
Antony in JEmilia.
At Ferrara
Miracle on a child
Montepaolo and Bologna .
At Florence
The usurer's heart
CHAPTER IX.
A Ivernia and A ssisi.
The cave at Alvernia .
Arezzo ....
Return to Florence .
Milan .
Vercelli . . . .
Cremona .
Brescia .
Verona . . . .
Chapter at Assisi
104
107
108
109
in
112
112
"3
116
117
118
118
119
121
122
123
123
I2 4
125
126
I2 7
128
XVI
CONTENTS.
BOOK THE THIRD.
THE LAST YEAR OF A SHORT LIFE.
CHAPTER I.
Some Notes of Franciscan History.
The Chapter at Assisi
Fra Elias . ' .
Fra Giovanni Parenti elec-
ted General .
Euilding of the Sacred
Convent ....
Canonization of St. Francis
Question as to his Testa-
ment ....
Antony no longer Provin-
cial
Asked to write his sermons
Prophecy as to a child
Its fulfilment
CHAPTER II.
Antony at Rome.
Antony spokesman to the
Pope ....
The Pope's joy at his pre-
sence ....
Foreigners at Rome .
Wonderful Sermon of
Antony ....
'The Ark of both Testa-
ments ' .
His knowledge of Scripture
The Pope's esteem of his
sanctity . .
Decision of the question .
Antony at Alvernia .
iGE
PAGE
CHAPTER III.
ry.
Second Visit to Padua.
131
Antony at Padua
146
I 3 I
The robbers
147
Their conversion
148
132
Reform at Padua
149
Charity of Antony
149
133
Relief of debtors
150
I 34
The Sermons on the Saints
ISO
The Lent of 1231
151
135
Anecdotes of preaching
152
Works of mercy
153
135
Attack of Satan
I 53
136
Some miracles .
154
136
The lame child .
156
137
CHAPTER IV.
Sermons of St. Antony.
Few anecdotes preserved
139
to us
157
His sermons as we have
140
them . .
158
141
Sermon on 'the Annun-
ciation ....
158
141
Interpretation of names .
159
A ' moral ' Sermon
1 60
142
An allegorical Sermon
160
143
The Day of Judgment
161
Knowledge of Scripture in
143
the audience .
163
144
Antony above all things a
145
preacher ....
165
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Comparative scarcity of
miracles .... 166
Multitudes after his death 167
His knowledge of the con-
science .... 168
Marvels at his sermons . 168
Private exhortations . .170
His method with heretics . 171
B. Giordano Forzate. . 171
CHAPTER V.
The last month of life.
Antony retires after Easter 173
PAGE
Camposampiero . . . 173
The cell in the walnut-
tree 174
Journey to Verona . . 174
A prediction on his re-
turn .... 175
Last illness . . .176
At Arcella . . . .176
His last moments . . 177
Personal description . .178
Appearance to Don Tho-
mas 179
BOOK THE FOURTH.
THE REWARD OF A FAITHFUL SERVANT.
CHAPTER I.
The Funeral of St. Antony.
The community at Arcella 182
Antony's death revealed by
children . . . .184
Petition to retain the body
at Arcella . . .185
Disturbances at Amelia . 185
Arrival of the Provincial . 187
The body removed to Sta.
Maria Maggiore . .187
Outburst of miracles . . 188
CHAPTER II.
Canonization.
Processions and devotion at
Padua .... 189
Offerings of candles . .190
Devotion of Tuesday . . 191
Deputation to Rome . . 192
Difficulties as to the canoni-
zation .... 193
How removed . . . 193
The canonization at Spoleto 194
Devotion at Lisbon . . 194
Padua 195
Tyranny of Ezzelino . . 196
Deliverance . , .197
CHAPTER. III.
The Protector of Padua.
Translation of St. Antony's
body by St. Bonaventure 198
The tongue incorrupt . 198
Father Ignatius Martini . 199
Other translations . . 200
Their commemoration . 200
The fire in 1749 . . 202
St. Antony's protection of
Padua .... 203
Cardinal Rez2onico . . 203
CONTENTS,
PAGE
CHAPTER IV.
Miracles.
Miracles in all ages . . 205
Scoffers and Protestants . 205
Immense number of St.
Antony's miracles . . 206
Miracles in the Chronicles . 207
The Responsory composed
by St. Bonaventure . 208
Its evidence for the mira-
cles .... 209
Azevedo's classification
Deliverances from death .
Conversions
Calamities averted
Devils and leprosy
Recoveries of things lost .
Picturesqueness of the mir-
acles .
Continued devotion to St.
Antony .
His position among the
Saints . . . .
PAGE
210
210
211
211
212
213
2I 4
215
215
BOOK THE FIRST.
THE TRAINING OF A GREAT PREACHER.
CHAPTER I.
The Five Friars.
IT was on the i6th of January, 1220, twelve years
after the foundation of the Franciscan Order, and
about six before the death of St. Francis himself, that,
to use the words of the old chronicler, Mark of Lisbon,
' he sent the first-fruits of his children to "heaven.'
They were five friars, whom their holy Father had
sent to preach the faith in Morocco, and who were
martyred by the hand of the Mahometan king Mira-
molin himself. They were six originally, four priests
and two lay-brothers; but Fra Vitale, who was at
their head, fell sick before leaving Spain, and had
to be left behind in a town of Aragon. The others
went on to Coimbra, where the Portugese Court
then resided, and were lodged in the Monastery of
Santa Cruz, a house of the Canons Regular of
St. Augustine. The Friars Minor had a small
monastery called Olivarez, or ' Of the Olives,' near
Coimbra. The fact that the strangers went to the
Augustinian monastery seems explained when we are
B
THE FIVE FRIARS.
told that Queen Urraca's confessor, Don Pedro Nunez
was one of the Canons. As she had a great devo-
tion to the Franciscan Order, he may probably have
arranged matters so that she might see them more
easily, the Monastery of Olivarez being outside the
walls. She is said by some old chroniclers to have
had an interview with St. Francis himself when he
was in Portugal a few years before this time, and to
have had from him the prophecy that the kingdom of
Portugal was never to be united to that of Castile.
But the best writers throw doubt on the story, and
St. Francis does not seem to have reached Coimbra
in his short stay in Portugal.
But, whatever may have been the reason on
account of which the friars took up their abode in
the Augustinian monastery rather than in their own,
it is interesting to think that their presence at Santa
Cruz brought them into personal intercourse with one
who was afterwards to owe to them his own vocation
to their Seraphic Order, of which he was to become
one of the brightest ornaments on earth and in
heaven. A young religious of the monastery then
held the office of ' guest-master,' and must have
attended to the simple wants of the travellers with
all the charity and devotion for which religious
houses are so famous. This young guest-master was
then known as Hernan or Ferdinand de Bulloens, and
THE FIVE FRIARS.
it is his holy and wonderful life which these pages are
intended to trace. But we must first continue the
story of the five friars on whom he was now waiting.
Queen Urraca, as the Franciscan chronicles tell
us ' sent for and most lovingly received the friars,
for, indeed, .she had their Order in great esteem,
and inquired many things concerning their errand,
most courteously offering to supply all their wants.
Not content with the brief account of their General's
intention which they gave her, this lady, thirsting
as the hart for the Word of God, engaged them in
spiritual discourse, drawing thence much sweetness
and consolation ; then, taking them apart, she be-
sought them, for the love of Him for Whose sweet
Name they were going to torments and to death,
to beg of God to reveal to them the day on which
she should die. And albeit the friars endeavoured
by all means to escape her importunity, saying that
they were unworthy to know the secrets of the Lord,
and other words of the like import, yet did she at
length prevail with them to give her that promise
which she craved. And so, after fervent prayer, they
again came before the Queen, and bade her be of
good courage, for that it was the will of God that
her end should be very shortly, and before that of
the King her husband. Moreover, they gave her
a sure sign, for, " Know lady," they said, " that
THE FIVE FRIARS.
before many days we shall die by the sword for
the faith of Christ. Praised be His Divine Majesty,
Who has chosen us, poor men, to be in the number
of His martyrs. Our bodies shall be brought into
this city with great devotion by the Christians of
Morocco, and you and your husband shall go to
meet them. When these things shall come to pass',
know that the time is come for you to leave this
world and go to God." '
The remainder of the story of the five martyrs
must be told in an abridged form, but it ought not
to be omitted, as the reader will see, from any life
of the Saint to whose history these pages are devoted.
' On taking leave of the holy men, the good Queen
gave them [letters to the Infanta, Dona Sancha,
daughter of the King of Portugal, then living in
a villa called Alenquer, on the banks of the Tagus.
She received them most graciously, for indeed she
was a lady of exceeding virtue, and such a lover of
holy virginity that she had^ refused every proposal of
marriage, and spent.her days in prayers and fastings,
and much mortification of the flesh. Her chapel
was served by priests of the Order of the blessed
Father, St. Francis, whom, at her entreaty, he had
sent to her. Think, therefore, how gladly she enter-
tained these five, discoursing with them of spiritual
things, and providing them with all things needful.
THE FIVE FRIARS.
On their departure she furnished them with the dress
of seculars, as otherwise they would not have been
suffered to enter the country of the Moors, who make
more account of their law than of aught beside, nay,
even our own merchants, more careful for worldly
gain than for souls bought by Christ's precious Blood,
would have opposed their entering had the cause of
their coming been known.
' Wherefore they tarried at Alenquer till their hair
and beards had grown, and then set forth for Lisbon,
whence they took ship for Seville. That city belonged
to the Moors ; but they found lodging in the house
of a rich and noble, and seemingly devout Christian.
Here they again put on their religious habits, and
nothing doubting the good will of their host, laid open
to him their minds with all plainness. But he, to their
great discomfiture, took the matter in quite another
way, for being in fear of his life, and that of the other
Christians, he did his utmost to turn them from their
purpose, saying that they would have all their pains
for nothing, if indeed they did not run a risk of losing
their own faith by reason of those torments which
they would have to suffer.
* Now, when the friars heard him speak in this
strain, they made all haste to depart, and like stout
and valiant soldiers marched forth to attack the
enemy in his stronghold, namely the Moorish
THE FIVE FRIARS.
mosque : there, finding their foes, so to speak, fully
armed, praying to their prophet, they struck at them
with that sharp weapon, the Word of God. They,
on their part, marvelling at the strange dress of the
friafs, and taking them for a set of madmen, drove
them forth with much violence ; but these holy men,
nothing daunted thereby, did but encourage one
another to greater boldness, saying " What do we
here, so few in number, against such a multitude ?
Let us rather go straight to the King, and having
conquered the head we shall gain an easy victory
over the members. Come, let us go joyously to
confess before him that dear Lord Who ransomed
us with His Blood, and Who is waiting to crown us
with the crown of martyrdom." To the palace, there-
fore, they went : and after much parleying with the
guards, who asked whether they were the bearers
of any letters or credentials to the King, and who
would fain know their business before allowing them
to enter, they were at length admitted to the royal
presence, and the King inquired who they were, by
whom they were sent, and for what intent. To which
they made answer, that they were Christians, sent by
the King of Kings, Jesus, the Saviour of the world,
to preach His holy faith, and that their business with
him was to save his miserable soul, which could not
be done but by his forsaking Mahomet and believing
THE FIVE FRIARS.
in Christ, and receiving baptism in the name of the
Holy Trinity.
' But the Moorish King, who looked to hear some-
thing of quite another sort, broke out into a rage at
hearing his prophet blasphemed, and asked the saints
whether they came to preach only to him, or to his
people also. " O King," they said, " we come first
to thee as the head of this accursed sect, that being
led into the way of truth, thou mayest teach it to thy
people, and be to them the means of salvation, as
thou now art of their perdition." At which words
the King becoming more and more inflamed with
fury, exclaimed- " O wretched and accursed men*
doubtless you have been sent here for your many
and great sins, for which you shall suffer the extremity
of punishment, unless you desist from your rash enter-
prize, and embrace the faith of our great prophet,
for then will I not only pardon you, but bring you
to great riches and honour, that all may know how
we reverence him, and favour them who forsake other
laws for his : but otherwise ye shall expiate your
madness by divers torments and certain death." But
the saints made answer that the law of Mahomet was
an accursed law* which would condemn its followers
to eternal death, in which all their honours and
treasures would perish with them ; while, on the other
hand, by being poor and despised for a very short
THE FIVE FRIARS.
time in this world, they would gain indestructible
treasure in the next ; and they adjured the King to
think on this everlasting reward, for that if he so
highly esteemed his earthly kingdom, much more
ought he to prize the heavenly realm ; and besought
him to turn to the true God, Who had sent them as
His messengers to deliver him from that dread doom
which else must be his portion. But the King, not
waiting to hear more, gave orders that they should
be driven from his presence, and beheaded imme-
diately.
' Full of gladness at this sentence, the friars spoke
one to another, saying " O happy we, that now see
the day we have long desired and the thing we
have so long prayed for is granted to us : well is it
with us, for we are already in port ; let us buckle on
our armour, and bravely endure that sharp short
conflict which awaits us. Soon we shall be beyond
the storms of this life, and the temptations of the
devil, and the siren songs of the flesh ; then will men
have no more power over our frail bodies, but we
shall go to our home in heaven to see Him Who is
our first beginning, and to receive a hundred-fold for
the sufferings we have borne for His sake. Let us
thank and praise Him with merry hearts, and gladly
present to Him the lives which He bought by His
death." With these and other like words they
THE FIVE FRIARS.
comforted each other, and hastened to the place
where they were to die with such eagerness that the
executioner, believing them to be mad, sought to
turn them from their folly, as he deemed it, and to
accept the offers of his sovereign's clemency. But
they told him that it would be real madness to prefer
the perishable goods of this world to the joys of
eternity, and that this life was but a breath in com-
parison of the next.
' Now, while all this was going on, the prince, who
was present when his father gave that sentence,
besought him not to act rashly in the heat of passion,
but rather to strive to compass the conversion of
those miserable men by means of his own sages,
and so to get great glory for himself ; which counsel
pleased the King well, and he sent to revoke the
sentence, and to give orders to imprison the men in
a certain tower.
' On hearing this, the holy men endured another
sort of martyrdom in their spirits, fearing that God
on account of some grave imperfection in them, would
not give them that crown which they aspired to ; not-
withstanding, they committed their cause to Him, and
in obedience to the command which they had received
to preach the Faith, they began to do so from the
battlements of the tower to. the Moors who passed
by, which thing coming to the ears of the King, he
io THE FIVE FRIARS.
had them removed to a subterranean prison, where
they spent five days praying and preaching to their
fellow-prisoners ; after which they were again brought
before the King, who, as before, reviled them as
madmen, and once more bade them choose between
torture and death and the greatest honours of his
kingdom. The holy martyrs replied that, as they
had already told him, they cared no whit for all his
treasures ; and that as for the death with which he
sought to affright them, it would be to them a most
welcome messenger to bring them into His presence
Whom they so greatly longed for, that every hour
seemed a thousand years while they were parted from
Him. And as they went on to speak of the endless
pains of hell which await those who reject the true
God and obstinately persist in serving that false
prophet, and of our Lord's huge mercy in tarrying
so long for the King's conversion and sending His
servants to show him the way of salvation, he began
to feel the power of the Holy Spirit in his soul, in
some measure, for albeit he drove them from his
presence, and had them led back to their dungeon,
yet did he take counsel with his Ministers how he
should deal with those men, and they, moved in like
manner by the words they had heard, persuaded the
King not to shed the blood of those madmen, but
to send them away to some country of the Christians
THE FIVE FRIARS. n
and as it so chanced that a ship was even then about
to sail to Morocco, where were many Christians, the
King lent an ear to their counsel and gave order
that so it should be.
' The saints, therefore, were conducted to Morocco
by a certain Spanish cavalier, Don Fernando de
Castro, who had taken service in the Court of Mira-
molin, the King of that country, on account of certain
differences between him and the King of Portugal,
and were by him introduced into the palace of the
Infant, Don Pedro, brother of the said King, who,
for reasons of a like sort, had taken up his abode
in Morocco. He greatly marvelled at seeing these
men, so pale of visage, and so worn that they were
like walking skeletons, with hollow eyes, and backs
bowed with fatigue and suffering, and yet withal with
so gracious and sweet an aspect, and so bright a
gaiety shining in their faces, that they were more like
angels than men. Outwardly, indeed, they were half
dead, but interiorly so inflamed with the divine
charity and the love of their neighbour, that they
made a jest of death nay, rather they regarded it
as a thing most precious and desirable. The Infant,
having well considered all this, as also the great pains
these men had taken to gain the crown of martyrdom
in Seville, and fearing the confusion that would ensue
if they should now do the like, strove with many and
12 THE FIVE FRIARS.
seemingly fair arguments to turn them from their
purpose. But they, answering never a word, left his
palace, and went forth into the streets inquiring the
way to that of the King Miramolin, and being told
that he was not then in the city, but would shortly
return, they stood on a rising ground near which he
should pass by, and so soon as they saw him, one of
their number began in a loud voice to preach the
Catholic faith and to condemn the sect of Mahomet.
The King, astounded at so much boldness in a man
of such mean garb and aspect, commanded that they
should be driven outside the gates towards those
parts inhabited by the Christians ; and the Infant
himself sent two of his followers to accompany them
to Ceuta, whence they might take ship for Portugal.
But those servants of God, without paying any heed
to them, turned back, and boldly preached our holy
faith in the square of the city, till they were seized
by the King's guards and thrown into prison, where
for twenty days they lived without meat or drink,
being sustained by the mere grace of God,'
The chronicle goes on to relate the wonders which
followed. A pestilence broke out, and the inhabitants
besought the King to release the barefooted pri-
soners,' and on doing so he found to his surprize that
like the holy children at Babylon, they had gained
in flesh and appearance from their confinement.
THE FIVE FRIARS. 13
They were committed to the care of some Christians,
and sent to Ceuta : but they escaped from their
guards, and began to preach in the streets. Then
there came an invasion of Arabs from the desert,
and the force which was sent against them might
have perished- for want of water,, but that Brother
Bernard ' dug a little hollow in the ground with
a stick, when immediately there gushed forth so
plentiful a fountain that all the army, together with
their horses and camels, had enough to slake
their thirst, and likewise there was a supply to
take for the march.' The friars, however, were again
sent to Ceuta, and again escaped, as the Christians
were afraid to put violence upon them, so they were
committed to the care of a Mahometan officer, from
whom, however, they managed once more to escape.
They were then taken before a judge, and severely
threatened and tortured. ' In the end they were
thrown into prison, more than half dead, and there
theyspent the night in thanking God, and encouraging
each other to suffer bravely for His sake. And that
good and gracious God, looking down from heaven
upon His dear servants, was pleased to console them
by His divine presence, and to appear to them in
a radiant light, filling their souls with such sweetness,
that all their sufferings were forgotten as though they
had never been. This bright light was seen by the
I 4 THE FIVE FRIARS.
guards with an appearance of many shadows of
persons moving in it, so that they suspected that in
some way the saints had been conveyed out of
prison, and going with all speed to a certain good
Christian named Pedro Hernando, who was also a
prisoner, they told him how they had seen the
holy men rising towards heaven in a glory of light ;
but he, understanding it to be some vision, bade
them fear nothing, for that He had heard them
singing praises to God all night. And they, hastening
to the prison, found them there, as full of joy and
contentment as though nothing had befallen them.
' Now, when the King knew all these things, he
doubted with himself whether he should endeavour
to turn the saints to his false faith, or should condemn
them to death. But the Infant, foreseeing what the
end would be, sent at once to the Governor, praying
him to let their bodies be given to the Christians
for burial, and not abandoned to the fury of the
Moors, which thing he promised. Meanwhile, the
friars were taken before the King, who thus accosted
them " Now that you are here before me, choose
whether you will die as my enemies, or live as my
chosen and honoured friends." They with great
serenity made answer, that none could doubt them,
to be already his friends, seeing that they had come
from a far country, with their lives in their hands, for
THE FIVE FRIARS. 15
love of his soul and the souls of his people. But he
turned away, filled with fury, and betook himself to
his private chamber, there to take counsel with himself
how to deal with these men, over whom neither fair
nor harsh words had any power. While they, praising
God for the. grace He had given them to remain
hitherto unshaken in constancy, began to preach
in that very audience chamber to all those present,
without heeding the blows and buffets which the
infidels ceased not to give them.
' One of the bystanders was a Moorish knight, very
much in the King's favour, who, desiring to prove
whether by gentle speech he might prevail with the
servants of God, adjured them to listen to his lord,
who, notwithstanding he had endured so many
insults from them, and so many blasphemies which
they had spoken against the great prophet, yet was
willing to spare their lives. This blind infidel greatly
extolled that arch-deceiver, saying that his holy law
had been given to him by God Himself, and that
by his intercession they would gain great glory in
heaven, if only they would consent to embrace his
faith. Now, Brother Otho, not enduring to hear
more, exclaimed with a holy indignation 'Avaunt,
Satan ; and know that we are worshippers of the
true God alone. Think of thy own miserable soul,
which will be lost eternally unless thou leavest this
THE FIVE FRIARS.
accursed way ; and trouble not thyself for us, who
have chosen a sure and certain, road to heaven."
Saying this he spat twice on the ground in token
of his abhorrence of Mahomet and his sect, and the
Moor, not daring to draw his sword, because to use
arms in the royal palace was as much as a man's
life was worth, struck Brother Otho on the cheek,
saying " Take that ; and learn another time to keep
silence." Then that true disciple of Jesus said, " God
pardon thee, my brother," and offered him the other
cheek, saying that he was ready to suffer all things
for the love of God ; at which new sort of vengeance
all present marvelled much as at a thing wholly
unknown indeed to the world, and only practised
by God's faithful servants.'
A last effort was made, the King offering them
some beautiful damsels as wives, and promising to
give with them large dowers if they would embrace
the false creed of Mahomet. On their refusal, he
determined to put them to death with his own hand.
They were led into the public square, and there he,
' arming himself with a. huge scimitar, clove all the
five, one after another, from the crown to the chin,
and afterwards struck off their heads, taking withal
a devilish joy in seeing the great streams of blood
which flowed from the bodies of the martyrs, each
of whom received his death-stroke kneeling and
THE FIVE FRIARS. ;i?
praying for his murderer ; and so they gave their
souls to God, in the year of our Lord, 1220, and the
third of the Pontificate of Pope Honorius the Third,
on the 1 6th day of January, not quite seven years
before the death of the glorious father, St. Francis ;
and they were' the first-fruits of his order that he sent
to heaven.
' At that very hour, as the Infanta Dona Sancha
was fervently praying in her chamber, they appeared
to her bright and shining as the sun, bearing in their
hands a scimitar in token of triumph, and thus they
spoke to her " O faithful handmaid of the Most-
High, it has pleased Him, in recompense of those
good words with which thou didst encourage us, and
speed us forth to win our crowns, to permit us to
visit thee in that guise in which we gained them, and
to promise to be thy advocates in heaven." And
having said this they vanished, leaving the Infanta
greatly comforted. Afterwards she built a church
in that same place where she had had this vision,
that God might be ever honoured in His saints. 1
Notwithstanding all the attempts of the infidels
to dishonour the relics, and finally to burn them,
they were unable either to destroy them or to keep
them from the Christians. ' There broke forth such
a terrible storm of wind and hail with most vivid
lightnings that they fled to their homes in far greater
C
i8 THE FIVE FRIARS.
fear than the Christians had done before ; and so
the faithful were able to collect the holy relics by
the light of those flashes, and to carry them to the
Infant, for they dared not keep them in their own
houses. Even some few small portions which they
had overlooked were recovered ; for the Moors,
whose greed of gain is equal to their cruelty, them-
selves brought them 1 to the Christians, who bought
them of them.
' The Infant had prepared very costly vessels for
the reception of the relics, but, first of all, it was
necessary to' dry them, so that they might be con-
veyed to Portugal, and with this intent he confided
them to John Ruberto, a Canon of Santa Cruz at
Coimbra, his chaplain and confessor, and a very
devout religious, and to three very innocent and
virtuous young pages of his, who were to assist in
the work. These youths were not allowed to leave
the house during this time, lest by so much as a
thought they should profane the sanctity of the relics,
' Now when the relics were sufficiently prepared,
and reverently placed by the Infant in two magnifi-
cent caskets, most richly adorned with silver and
gold, he many times asked the King's leave to depart,
_but in vain, for not only did he refuse him permission,
but listened to the counsel of the Moors to kill him and
all the Christians in his dominions, and he continued
THE FIVE FRIARS. 19
stubborn for some time, till it pleased God miraculously
to soften his heart, so that he sent for the Infant, and
told him that he was free to go whithersoever he
listed. He therefore caused a mule to be laden with
the caskets, and straightway began his journey with
all his followers, misdoubting lest the King might
change his mind, and for this reason he travelled in
such haste, that having left all the usual places of
refreshment far behind, he was forced to pass the
night in an uninhabited place called Arozza, which
was so infested by lions that all those who saw them
pass that way ma'de sure that that night would be
their last. The Infant was not- ignorant of the
reputation of the place, but he had such faith in
the relics of which he was in charge, that as soon
as the roars of the savage beasts were heard approach-
ing, he gave orders that the caskets should be laid
in the way by which the lions must come, and no
sooner were they within sight of these sacred relics
than they fled swiftly from the place, and were never
again known to appear there.
' Meanwhile, King Miramolin, having heard that
the relics were taken away, sent a troop of light
horsemen in pursuit of the Infant. And now two
wonderful things came to pass. First the Infant by
the inspiration of God, did as they of old had done
when they left the oxen bearing the ark of the
2 o THE FIVE FRIARS.
covenant to choose their own way ; and the mule,
thus left to itself, turned out of the straight road,
and miraculously choosing a steep mountain path,
baffled the pursuers. But this was not all ; for when
they, riding very swiftly, reached another road, where
they were both seen and heard by the Christians,
God, by His divine omnipotence, so blinded them
that they were utterly unable to find the path which
led straight to those they sought. And so, filled
with a great confusion and astonishment, the Moors
turned back, having, against their will, been made to
manifest the glory of the saints of God and of God
in His saints. As for the Infant and his men, they,
praising the goodness of the Lord, arrived safely at
Ceuta, where they were received with great joy and
gladness. Here he embarked on board a ship which
he had in readiness, and sailed for Seville. Now,
in the night, which was very dark and starless, they
were on the point of striking on a rock, and would
doubtless have perished but for the help which God
granted them by the merits of those precious relics,
for just as the danger was imminent, so brilliant a
light suddenly shone in the sky as showed them the
rock, and so they escaped the peril.
' Meanwhile, a messenger had come to the King of
Seville, charging him to send the Infant prisoner to
Morocco, and to put all his followers to death, which
THE FIVE FRIARS. 21
news reaching him before he arrived at Seville, he,
instead of landing there, continued his course towards
Galicia, and thence travelled to the kingdom of Leon*
-where reigned his cousin Alfonso, who had left
Portugal for the reasons before mentioned. Here
he went to the house of a friend of his in. the city
of Astorga, who for thirty years had been afflicted
with a grievous sickness, and deprived of the use
of his limbs, whom he besought to address himself
with confidence to those holy relics of which he was
the bearer, telling him the wonders that God had
wrought by their means* And this poor man, riot
being able to say a word (for his sickness had taker!
from him the power of speech), knelt down and
prayed in his heart with such a lively faith, that he
was, in that instant, healed of all his infirmities.
As he was not able himself to go to Portugal, the
Infant sent the relics to Coimbra in charge of a good
and noble knight, named Alfonso Perez de Acuna,
and several others. King Alfonso, with his wife,
Doha Urraca, sent a messenger to meet them and
desire them to wait, for that he, with all the clergy
and nobility, intended going forth to meet the holy
relics with all suitable reverence and solemnity ;
which when they had done, they followed the mule
which bore them, and which was still left to take its
own way, to the Monastery of Santa Cruz, at the
22 THE FIVE FRIARS.
gate of which it stopped and refused to stir till it was
opened. No sooner was this done, than the mule
walked straight to the high altar, before which it
knelt down, waiting till the relics should be taken
from its back. Now the King's design had been to
deposit the relics in the principal church of the city,
but seeing in this a sure token that it was the will of
God that they should rather abide in that monastery,
he had a very superb chapel erected, with a shrine,
in which nearly all the relics were laid : what re-
mained were sent, part to a Franciscan monastery,
and part to a convent, of which the Infanta, his
sister, was abbess.'
CHAPTER II.
Ferdinand Martin de Bulloens. 1
IT is now time to return to the young religious
priest, as he seems at this time to have been, who
has been already mentioned as waiting upon the
five holy Franciscan martyrs in the monastery of
Santa Cruz. Ferdinand de Bulloens was born in 1 195,
on the 1 5th of August, the feast of our Lady's
Assumption. His parents, Martin de Bulloens and
Maria Teresa Tavera, were both persons of distinc-
tion, and the latter traced her descent from a
sovereign of the ancient kingdom of Asturias in the
eighth century. His Father's family was of Flemish
origin, the same to which belonged the great Godfrey
of Bouillon, and their name was derived from the
castle of Bouillon, on the confines of France and
Flanders. They had not been settled in Portugal
quite fifty years at the time of our saint's birth.
His grandfather, Vincent Martin de Bulloens, was one
1 The name is so written in the Spanish Chronicle of
St. Francis. Buglioni, the form used by Azevedo, seems to be
an Italian version of the name.
24 FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS.
of several noble knights who were detained on their
way to the Holy Land in the Crusade under William
' Longsword,' by the entreaties of King Alfonso I.,
who begged their assistance in regaining his capital,
Lisbon, from the hands of the Saracens, who held it
in possession. The Christian fleet was persuaded
by the King to enter the Tagus, and the whole
army landed to aid in the siege. It cost them five
months' delay, from May to October, when the city
at last fell. The number of the besiegers slain was
of course much greater than that of those lost on
the other side, and two churches were built one
by the King and the other by the Crusaders in
memory of their lost comrades in arms. As those
who fell in such wars were considered martyrs, the
church which was built by the strangers was dedi-
cated to our Lady of Martyrs, and the name meets
us more than once in later history. The famous
Archbishop of Braga, Bartholomew de Martyribus,
was baptized in this church, and took his surname
from it. Many of the strangers settled in Lisbon.
King Alfonso offered large rewards of land and
booty to all who would accept them. The greater
number, however, proceeded on their way to Pales-
tine. Ferdinand de Bulloens' grandfather was one of
those who stayed. He was invested with the dignity
of Governor of Lisbon.
FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS. 25
From his birth Ferdinand seems to have been a
favourite child of Mary. Born on the Feast of her
Assumption, he was baptized in the Cathedral of
Lisbon, which was dedicated to the same mystery,
and which was immediately facing his father's house.
We are told that his mother was in the constant
habit of directing his attention to it while quite an
infant, and that he never failed to show the greatest
delight when she did so. He received the name of
Ferdinand, after his uncle, .a very pious priest, who
was one of the Canons of the Cathedral, and the
font in which he was baptized was long preserved
and held in veneration. It is also said that the
door through which he was brought into the
Cathedral was only opened on his feast, and that
it was necessary to protect it by a wooden hoarding
from the ill-judged piety of the Faithful who would
otherwise have destroyed it for the sake of having
pieces to keep as relics. On the site of Martin
de Bulloens' house was built a small but beautiful
church, which was restored after the great earth-
quake of 1755. A wonderful circumstance happened
at that time. The church caught fire, but the
antependium of the altar of the saint was uninjured.
This was not all. On clearing away the ruins of
the church, some time after, a youth was found
buried among them, but perfectly well and strong,
26 FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS.
and, on being questioned, he said that a Franciscan
friar had brought him food, and cheered and con-
soled him, all the time he was there.
The little Ferdinand showed signs of his future
sanctity from his earliest years. He was docile and
affectionate, full of compassion for the poor, and of
attachment to all the offices of the church, above
all to the Holy Mass, which he never failed to hear
every day. It is said that at the age of five he was
moved, by his devotion to our Lady, to make a
vow of perpetual virginity, and that from that time
he desired to consecrate himself wholly to God.
In those ages of faith it was not uncommon for
parents to dedicate their sons, for a certain number
of years, to the special service of God in the Church,
and Ferdinand's pious parents were not slow in
satisfying their own devotion and the holy incli-
nations of the child in this way. They placed him
same say at the age of ten, but from the way he
is mentioned at this time by some old authors, it
seems likely that he was still younger with the
clerics of the Cathedral, where he was soon dis-
tinguished for his studious and pious habits. It
seems beyond a doubt that the priest to whose care
Ferdinand was confided was the uncle whose name
he bore ; for although it is only said by old authors
that he was intrusted to a pious priest attached to
FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS. 27
the Cathedral, yet, as his uncle is always called
" Master Ferdinand" in contemporary writings, and
as there certainly was one of the canons who
bore the title of Master of the scholars, it seems
reasonable to suppose that this was Ferdinand de
Bulloens.
The first miracle connected with the future saint
is said to have been wrought whilst he was with
the canons of Lisbon Cathedral, and although the
Bollandists consider the tradition doubtful, it is very
general in Portugal, and is mentioned by several
authors of the time. The story is that Ferdinand
drove away the devil, who appeared to him one day
in the form of a dog, by making the sign of the
Cross on a piece of marble, which ever after retained
the impression. The stone is on the staircase leading
to the choir, and is greatly venerated by the people.
At the age of fifteen Ferdinand determined to retire
altogether from the world, and for this object he made
choice of the Monastery of St. Vincent without the
walls, a house of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine,
of the Congregation founded in the preceding century
by St. Theotonio at Santa Cruz at Coimbra. He had
no difficulty in following his vocation ; his pious
parents willingly offered to God the son whom they
already regarded with veneration as a soul specially
chosen by Him, and the canons received him with
28 FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS.
open arms. His first trouble arose from finding that
the time which he desired to devote altogether to
the things of God was broken in upon by the fre-
quent visits of his parents and relations ; and a far
more vexatious disturbance was caused by those of
worldly friends and acquaintances, who were con-
tinually trying to induce him to quit the religious
life for the career of distinction and splendour which
awaited him in the world.
Such attacks, as may well be believed, fell harmless
on the young soldier's armour of proof; it was the
fear of being involved in earthly occupations and
amusements which had led him to a life of retire-
ment, and the more he heard of pleasures and riches
the more enamoured he became of the purity of Mary
and- the poverty of Jesus. But he felt that while he
was so near Lisbon these disturbing influences would
be at work, and that till they ceased he could not
be wholly occupied with God ; he therefore requested
the Prior of St. Vincent to send him to the Monastery
of Santa Cruz at Coimbra. This Prior was a very
holy man, Don Gonzalo Mendez, whose soul was .
seen after his death ascending to heaven by Fra
Egidio, a saintly Dominican, whilst he was saying
Mass at Santarem, at a long distance from Lisbon.
He was much grieved at losing the young brother,
who had much endeared himself to all the community
FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS. 29
during the two years he had passed at St. Vincent,
but the reasons he gave were so just and solid that
the Prior granted his request.
Two miraculous occurrences are related of Ferdi-
nand during his residence at Santa Cruz. He was
nursing one of 'the religious, who was seriously ill,
and whilst praying for his recovery it was revealed
to him by God that the sickness was produced by
the agency of the devil. Ferdinand immediately la d
the end of his habit over the sufferer, and he was
cured in an instant. The other miracle may have ,
been the reward of the humility which caused him
to rejoice when any particularly mean and unpleasant
office was allotted to him. He was occupied in an
employment of this sort when the Elevation bell
struck his ear, and as he prostrated himself in adora-
tion the walls of the room he was in parted before
his eyes and showed him the altar and the priest
and the Sacred Host.
Eight years passed, all given by Ferdinand to obe-
dience, prayer, and the study of the Sacred Scriptures :
his memory was remarkably retentive, and he knew
by heart the whole of the Bible as well as the most
striking passages in the commentaries of the Fathers.
It is still more remarkable that he never forgot them,
although, partly from illness and partly from his lowly
avocations, he never read anything but his breviary
30 FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS.
during the first two years after he entered the Order
of St. Francis.
The Prior of Santa Cruz, Don John Cesare, as
well as Don John and Don Raymond, St. Antony's
masters in philosophy and theology, were all dis-
tinguished men, so that the opinion recorded of him
in a manuscript preserved at Santa Cruz deserves
attention. It runs thus : ' Among the Canons Regular
of Santa Cruz at that time was the Rev. Father
Antony, whose name was Ferdinand Martini, a very
learned and pious man, much distinguished in letters,
and illustrious by the abundance of his merits.' 2 This
was written in 1222, at the end of the time spent
by St. Anthony in the solitude of Montepaolo, and
while the light which was to shine so brilliantly in
the last years of his life was still hidden and unsus-
pected.
This testimony makes it clear that the Canons
Regular of St. Austin did not undervalue the merit
of the religious whom the)- so generously gave up,
as we shall see in the next chapter. The Providence
of God was all the time preparing him for his great
work in the Church, and although the great power
2 ' Erat tune temporis inter alios Regulares Canonicos
S. Crucis, R. P. Antonius, qui Ferdinandus Martini nuncupa-
batur, vir utique famosus, doctus, et plus, magna literatura
ornatus, et gloria meritorum stipatus. 1 All the Bulloens family
were in the habit of adding Martini to their own names.
FERDINAND MARTIN DE BULLOENS. 31
which he exercised over his contemporaries must no
doubt be chiefly set down to the consummate sanctity
which was matured under the humiliation and seve-
rities which he had to undergo after leaving Coimbra,
it cannot be questioned that without the great learn-
ing which he had so carefully stored up under the
excellent masters afforded him by the Canons Regular
he could never have accomplished the work which
it was appointed him to do. God was silently pre-
paring His instrument at a distance from the land
in which he was to be used for the Church. The
discipline of the mind was working together with the
discipline of the soul, and the subject of so much
Providential care was as yet absolutely ignorant of
the task for which he was nevertheless spending so
much industry and prayer to make himself ready.
CHAPTER III.
Fra Antonio.
THE date of Ferdinand's ordination to the priesthood
is not known, but it certainly took place while he was
at Santa Cruz. This is proved by the Franciscan
chronicles and the history of the five martyrs of
Morocco, which give an account of a vision with
which our saint was favoured ' whilst he was cele-
brating Mass.' He had made his first acquaintance
with the Franciscans when some of the friars came
from the little convent founded by Queen Urraca to
beg alms in Coimbra. On these occasions they
visited Santa Cruz, and the sight of their humility
and poverty kindled in his heart the first spark of
that desire, which burst into flame when the relics
of the martyrs reached Coimbra. One of the friars
with whom Ferdinand had made friends fell sick and
died : and as he was saying Mass, he saw the soul
of this Franciscan, at the moment of its departure,
pass through Purgatory, in the likeness of a bird in
very rapid flight, and thus ascend to heaven. And
PR A ANTONIO. 33
in one of the Lessons in the Office of the Saint,
recited by the Augustinian Canons in Portugal, it
is expressly said that he was a priest when he joined
the Order of St. Francis. 1
It was the desire for martyrdom that gave the
final impulse to Ferdinand's attraction. He had
long yearned for a life of austerer penance than that
of Santa Cruz : he had long desired to imitate His
Divine Master in the absolute poverty of His Life ;
and now he was inflamed with an ardent longing to
preach His Faith, like those happy five, to those
sitting in darkness, and, like them, to give Him life
for Life. We are told that he went through a time
of trial before he resolved on saying all that was
in his heart, and that, in his deep humility, he
reproached himself with being rash and presumptuous
in desiring a happiness of which he sincerely believed
himself unworthy. But the struggle came to an
end. One day he told his secret to two friars who
came to the Monastery, at the same time begging
that if he was admitted into their Order he might
be sent to preach the Faith in Africa. The friars
returned full of glad surprise to tell their Superior
of the high-born priest in the rich Monastery of
Santa Cruz, who humbly craved admittance among
the poor sons of St. Francis. It was granted by the
Ad Fmnciscanwn Ordinem . . . sacerdos factus transivit.
D
34 FRA ANTONIO.
unanimous vote of the whole chapter. The next
step was to gain the consent of his Prior : this, too,
was given, though he and all the community were
full of sorrow. ' Go then, if you will,' said one of
them, half in grief and half in anger, ' go, and
become a saint.' ' When you hear of my being one,'
the young priest answered calmly, ' you will give
praise to God.' The words were prophetic, for in
less than twelve years from that day he was
solemnly canonized by Pope Gregory IX.
Ferdinand received the habit of the Friars Minor
before leaving Santa Cruz, which he immediately
afterwards left for the lowly little Monastery of the
Olives. He then took the- name of Antony, out
of his great devotion to the holy abbot and anchoret
to whom that monastery was dedicated. He was
anxious too to escape the importunities of worldly
friends by concealing himself under a change of
name. The cell which he occupied at the beginning
of his novitiate was long regarded with great venera-
tion, and, after a time, converted into a chapel.
In the December of 1220, a few months after
entering the Franciscan Order, he received with a
joyful heart the obedience he so greatly desired, to
go to Africa. It is uncertain whether, by special
permission, he was professed before leaving Europe.
The Provincial gave him, as a companion, Fra
FRA ANTONIO. 35
Filippo, a Spanish lay-brother, who had the same
desire for martyrdom as St. Antony, 2 a desire which
it was not the will of God to satisfy in either case ;
neither was Africa to be the scene of St. Antony's
labours. He fell sick of a violent fever immediately
after landing, and could not shake it off the whole
winter. Accordingly both he and his companion
were recalled to their own Province by their Superiors
after four months. But Portugal was not the country
in which he was to do a great work in a short time
for the glory of God and the salvation of men : and
the ship in which he sailed was in sight of a Spanish
port, when a sudden storm came on and drove her
to the coast of Sicily.
Antony was so ill and prostrate from the effects
of his long illness, and the voyage, that he was
obliged to stay some time at Messina to gain a
little strength before travelling to Assisi, where he
intended to be present at the General Chapter of the
Order which was to be held there at Pentecost, and
to enjoy the happiness of seeing its holy Founder.
He remained in Sicily till after Easter, and then he
and Fra Filippo set out for Assisi.
Antony had felt keenly the disappointment of
2 Fra Filippo was present at the death of St. Francis ; he
died at the age of eighty-seven, in the Monastery of Colombaio,
near Monte Alcino : many miracles were wrought at his tomb.
36 FRA ANTONIO.
leaving Africa and losing his hopes of martyrdom ;
and although he accepted the will of God unmur-
muringly, he resolved to compensate, as far as possi-
ble, for the loss he had sustained, by offering Him
not only the sacrifice of a. life of continual penance,
but that of his honour and reputation. He care-
fully concealed every sign of learning and talent, and
gave everybody the idea that he was an ignorant
and illiterate person, very much below the average
in intelligence and capacity., It was the easier for
him to do this, as his humility had led him studious-
ly to hide his gifts- while he was in the Monastery
of the Olives. The wonder seems to be that his
saintly artifice was so completely successful as to
deceive St. Francis himself, who was so marvellous
a discerner of the conscience, that St. Bonaventure
tells us that he possessed the infused gift of reading
the souls of his children. But such gifts are only
bestowed as St. Paul says, ' in part,' for the purposes
for which God intends them to be used. And it
was the will of God to veil the lustre of this hidden
gem till the time came when He was pleased to
reveal it. Thus it was that in this instance He
(
either withheld from St. Francis his wonted illumi-
nation, or else He inspired him to cooperate with
His designs by concealing the knowledge of the
truth which he really possessed.
FRA ANTONIO. 37
However this may be, the Portugese friar's recep-
tion was what would ordinarily be considered most
discouraging and humiliating. St. Francis seemed to
take little notice of him. Everybody passed him over,
no one would have anything to do with him. He was
away from his own Province and Superiors, and they
had no knowledge of his presence in Italy, so as to
have given any information about him. His com-
panion, though only a lay-brother, easily found a
place in the Monastery of Cittadi Castello ; the busi-
ness of the Chapter was concluded, every one else was
disposed of, one after another left the place of meeting,
and Antony was left neglected and almost alone.
His sickly and weakened body helped his own humility
in making him thus despised. It is said that he had
determined to' leave the disposal of himself entirely
to Providence, and so made no application either to
St. Francis or any one else for employment. He
would ask for nothing and refuse nothing. Father
Gratian, the Provincial of Romagna, happened to
notice him. He was looking out for a priest to say
Mass at a very small hospice, where six lay-brothers
formed the community, and he asked the feeble and
ailing stranger whether he were a priest. ' I am,'
was the simple reply. Had he as yet any destination ?
'No.' Father Gratian on the spot sent him to
Montepaolo, a very lonely place near Forli, whither
38 FRA ANTONIO.
he at once betook himself, entering on his duties
as chaplain with great joy, and devoting himself to
a life of extreme silence and penance.
The Superior of the community was a lay-brother.
Antony fell at his feet, begging him with tears to
employ him in some way which might be a relief to
himself and his companions. With great joy he
agreed to undertake the washing of the kitchen uten-
sils and sweeping of the house. He was in the habit
of spending long hours in prayer and penitential
exercises in a sort of cave or grotto, but before taking
possession of it he obtained leave of the Superior
to request permission for its use of one of the lay-
brothers who kept some tools there. This cave
became, in fact, his abode during the nine months
he spent at Montepaolo, a time devoted to continual
prayer, and to fasts and penances equal in severity
to any practised by the most mortified solitaries of
the desert. It was a time of preparation, in which
God was forming and perfecting the future Apostle
of His Church. But while his soul was fed and
strengthened by this divine intercourse, and illu-
minated by many wonderful lights, his body, already
enfeebled by sickness, became so weak from his
prolonged austerities that sometimes he could
scarcely stand, and was obliged to be supported when
walking*
FRA ANTONIO. 39
Old chroniclers of the ' Gesta ' of St. Antony are
fond of comparing this 'hermitage of Montepaolo' to
the cells of the solitaries of the Thebai'd. It was in
a wild and mountainous part of Tuscany, about ten
miles from Forli. Not a trace exists of the Monas-
tery ; but, near the grotto consecrated by the prayers
and penances of the Saint, a chapel or oratory was
built in 1629, by a Signor Paganelli, in gratitude
for a miraculous recovery obtained by St. Antony.
Emmanuel Azevedo, the Saint's biographer, who
visited the spot, says that half way up the mountain
he came upon a spring of the most beautifully clear
water, which though it fell into a basin hollowed in
the earth, remained perfectly limpid. He adds that it
was then the rainy season, and all the other springs of
the neighbourhood were thick and muddy. He was
assured, not merely by the peasants, but by priests,
and other educated persons, that in the most violent
storms of wind it is always quite calm and still on
' St. Antony's mountain,' and that this was so well
known by travellers, that in tempestuous weather they
were always anxious to reach that spot, and enjoy a
quiet breathing-space. He was told that three very
old poplars formerly grew near the fountain, from
which the faithful used to cut pieces to take away
with them. Crowds of pilgrims used to visit the
oratory, and about two hundred silver ex votes still
40 FRA ANTONIO.
witnessed to their devotion. A room was still shown
in the house of the Corbici family which a well-
founded tradition recorded to have been occupied by
the Saint when journeying from Montepaolo to Forli ;
and a copy of the Bible existed which was given by
him to the same friendly family. Another interesting
memorial was cut down about eighty years ago a
very aged oak outside one of the gates of Forli,
under which St. Antony was said to have been in the
habit of praying.
CHAPTER IV.
Antony at Forli.
ANTONY spent nine months in the solitude of
Montepaolo. But at last the time came when his
light was to shine forth. Like the Forerunner of our
Lord, he had been 'in the deserts,' where uninter-
rupted communion with God had ' strengthened him
in spirit ;' and the Lent of 1222 was to be ' the day
of his manifestation.' He was summoned to Forli,
where the Provincial, Father Gratian, was about to
hold a Chapter of the Order. It was the time of
ordinations, and besides priests, there were present
some friars in minor orders, who were to be ordained
by the Bishop of Forli. There were some Dominican
fathers there, perhaps for the ordinations, making
themselves companions to the friars of St. Francis
out of brotherly kindness and charity.
It seems quite uncertain who were the hosts and
who were the guests on the occasion, as the Fran-
ciscans had no monastery in Forli for a long time
after this date, and, though the Dominicans had a
42 ANTONY AT FORLI.
\
church and a monastery there in the lifetime of their
great founder, these do not seem to have been as
yet begun, or at least completed. However, the time
came for a spiritual conference, a practice in the
Order of St. Francis, and a friendly contest sprang up
as to who should address the united body. If the
Dominicans were at home, it would be natural for
them to insist on the office being discharged by one
of the strangers, and if, as is more probable, the
Franciscans had received the others in some humble
hospice which belonged to them, they would only
have been acting on the beautiful courtesy of religious
life in begging their visitors to break to them the food
of the Word of God. The end of the conflict was
that the Superior of the Franciscans turned to Father
Antony, and bade him preach on the spur of the
moment. It has' been thought that he imagined that
his Order could lose no credit at the failure of one
who was so simple and unlettered ; but we may be
allowed to think that the command was not given
without some reference in the mind of the Superior
to the austere and penitential virtues for which he
must have been already known among his brethren.
Antony himself was filled with confusion. He had
never preached in his life, though all his life had
been, in the Providence of God, a course of training
for the highest achievements which lie within the
ANTONY AT FORLI. 43
reach of the greatest preachers in the Church. Not
only had he never preached, but he had never opened
a book except his breviary since he became a Friar
Minor. The Superior was inflexible in rejecting the
excuses of the humble priest. Antony said he was a
poor ignorant man, who had been fitly employed in
washingthe dishes in the kitchen. No spiritual person
would see in that any disqualification for the highest
work in the Church. The Superior told Antony he
knew all that he could say, and ordered him to
preach out of obedience. The tradition seems too
intrinsically probable to be doubted, that the words
of the Superior furnished Antony with his text,
' Christ became for us obedient unto death, even the death
of the Cross.' He may have intended when he began,
to speak a few plain ordinary words on the subject
of the season, the obedience of the Son of God for our
sakes. His words flowed out like a grand stream
which had long been pent up, and was now at last
free. The discourse fell into a beautiful order,
passages from the Scripture and the Fathers taking
their due places in the argument as it proceeded
to unfold itself, while every word breathed the most
intense feeling and the deepest unction, the language
was clear and powerful, the voice sweet and sonorous,
every gesture and motion full of grace and simple
majesty.
44 ANTONY AT FORLI.
The audience was rapt in astonishment and de-
light. No one had ever preached so before. They
were but few in the little chamber in which the
conference was given, but their fewness had not
prevented the instantaneous revelation of a holy
preacher of the highest grade, the man for whom
Italy had long been waiting, who was to have the
power to root out the heresies by which the population
was already deeply infected, the man on whose lips
thousands were to hang, who was to be a burning
and shining light to one great multitude after another.
There is no power on earth that can be compared
on its own line, to the power of eloquence. But
the eloquence which thrills the crowds of men in
some time of political agitation, which influences- or
excites the 'madness. of the people,' as the Psalmist
says, and is so often responsible for evil deeds as
well as for the enthusiasm of devoted patriotism, is
poor indeed when compared with the higher out-
bursts of the spiritual eloquence of those to whom
God has given the great commission to preach His
Word before peoples and nations, and on whom He
lavishes the natural and intellectual gifts which are
required for their high position, fitting them moreover
by special graces and training for its discharge : while
at the same time He pours out upon their hearers
the graces which enable them to profit in an extra-
ANTONY AT FORLI. 45
ordinary degree by the mighty power which He has
intrusted to His servants. The need for the work
to which Antony was called had long been heavily
felt, and now the time and the man had come by
the sweet and powerful agency of God's secret
Providence. 'Everything in the career of the Saint,
as far as we have hitherto traced it, had conspired
in its degree to produce the result which God had
intended from the first. The martyrs of Morocco,
the Canons Regular at Coimbra, the storms of the
Mediterranean, the sickness in Africa, the accidents
which had made Antony unknown at Assisi, his own
deep humility, the compassion of Father Gratian,the
solitude and humiliations of Montepaolo, and now
the inspiration which had guided the Superior at
Forli in his chance meeting between a handful of
Dominicans and Franciscans all had brought about
the counsel of God, and the Apostle of Italy, the
' Hammer of heretics,' was manifested and recognized
as soon as he opened his lips in humble obedience
to a man who knew nothing of his gifts.
The manner in which St. Antony was thus mani-
fested, as well as the manifestation itself, must have
made the Franciscans feel absolutely at ease as to
the will of God with regard to the disposal of the
treasure which they had so unexpectedly discovered.
Here, they knew, was a man who had most studiously
. V
46 ANTONY AT FORLI.
hidden himself from the applause of men, and had
sought to be unknown and despised far more in-
dustriously and successfully than most others to be
honoured and admired. God Himself had revealed
a saint as well as a great preacher. The Provincial
of Romagna seems to have been on the spot at the
time, and he instantly appointed Antony preacher
in his Province. He wrote also to inform St. Francis
of what had happened. St. Francis joyfully confirmed
the appointment, extending the field within which
Antony was to preach to all the Provinces of the
Order. The ' hidden life ' of our Saint was now
over. He never lost his love for retirement, for
prayer, for penance and fasting, but he never again
was allowed to give himself to them unreservedly.
He had a great work to do, and few years of life
to do it in, though he still lacked some years of
the age of which our Lord and Master had left
Nazareth to begin His own Public Life. We may
be sure that Antony's heart often reverted with
intense longing to that lonely hospice which had
been to him somewhat like the lonely peaks of
Quarantana to our Lord. And, wherever he went,
and however busily he was occupied during the
remainder of his life, he was still the humble priest
who had been raised so high in spiritual lore in the
grotto of Montepaolo.
BOOK THE SECOND.
EIGHT YEARS OF WORK.
CHAPTER I.
The Heretics in Romagna,
IT is not unnatural that there should be more spots
than one in the city of Forli for which the claim is
made that each is the exact scene of the first mar-
vellous sermon of St. Antony. The time was certainly
the Lent of 1222; and as it is said that the friars
were called to Forli on account of the ordinations, it
is probable that the day was at the close of the first
week of Lent, though ordinations are sometimes held
on the Saturday before Passion Sunday (Sitientes),
or on Holy Saturday itself. The tradition about the
ordinations seems to have given rise to other tradi-
tions, as that the Bishop and his Chapter were
present at the sermon, and that it was delivered from
a pulpit which was long preserved in the cathedral
of the city. But as the Bishop of Forli is known to
have been a devoted friend of the Friars Minor, it
is almost certain that he would hear of the great
treasure which they had discovered in Antony, as
E
50 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
soon as the discovery was made, and that he would at
once insist on the Saint's preaching in the cathedral.
It may therefore be perfectly true .that St. Antony
frequently occupied the pulpit in question, though it
may not have been there that he first manifested the
great gifts with which God had endowed him.
The short remainder of his life was full of very
great activity, broken by occasional seasons of retire-
ment and study. The Romagna was the first scene
of this activity. He spent six months in several of
its towns with wonderful success. From Forli he
went to Faenza, Imola, Rimini, and Bologna, and
adjacent villages and hamlets, gaining, in every place,
signal and innumerable victories over heresy and
wickedness of every kind, victories which were the
fruits of humility and prayer as well as of eloquence.
St. Bonaventure quotes the following prayer compo-
sed by him, which he used before preaching :
' O Light of the world, infinite God, Father of
eternity, Giver of wisdom and knowledge, and
ineffable Dispenser of every spiritual grace, Who
knowest all things before they are made, Who makest
the darkness and the light, put forth Thy hand and
touch my mouth, and make it as a sharp sword to ut-
ter eloquently Thy words. Make my tongue, O Lord,
as a chosen arrow, to declare faithfully Thy wonders ;
put Thy Spirit, O Lord, in my heart that I may per-
THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA. 51
ceive, in my soul that I may retain, and in my con-
science that I may meditate ; do Thou lovingly,
holily, mercifully, clemently, and gently inspire me
with Thy grace ; do Thou teach, guide, and strengthen
the comings in and the goings out of my senses and
my thoughts, and let Thy discipline instruct me even
to the end, and the counsel of the Most High help
me through Thine infinite wisdom' and mercy. Amen.'
From the very beginning, Antony's preaching was
confirmed by miracles ; nay, his preaching was itself
a wonderful miracle. Whether we suppose him to
have preached in Latin or Portuguese, it was nothing
short of miraculous that he was understood with
perfect ease by the most ignorant audience; and if,
as is expressly stated by several authors, he was in
the habit of preaching in Italian in Italy, and in
French in France, his perfect mastery of these two
languages is at least equally marvellous, for he had
never learnt the latter in any way, and, with regard
to the former, the only knowledge he had of it was
from the brief intercourse with six ignorant lay-
brothers, which broke in upon the long silence and
solitude of Montepaolo. The only explanation is
that he. had the gift of tongues. We shall find him
later on, at Rome, not only perfectly understood by
men of different nationalities, but heard by each
speaking in his own language, even as were the
52 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
Apostles at Pentecost. Moreover, another wonderful
circumstance attended St. Antony's preaching, of
which we shall by-and-bye find notable instances at
Padua and Brescia. This is, that however vast the
numbers to whom he was speaking, there was not
"a single person, however distant from him, to whom
his voice did not sound perfectly clear and distinct.
Romagna was, at this period, deeply tainted with
the heresy, whose followers are known in history by
the names of Waldenses, Albigenses, and Patareni.
History tells us enough of the miserable state of
the country from the frequent wars and invasions of
those times, the factions which set city against 'city,
and parties in the same city against each other, as
well as of the corruption of manners, the acts of
violence, the domestic feuds, and the unbridled
licence and profligacy of the wealthier and more
powerful classes. To all these plagues was, added
the most deadly of all the plague of a prevalent and
insidious heresy. ' Italy,' says the old Franciscan
chronicle, ' was all overturned and filled with con-
fusion by all the other nations, who came in to
blooden their barbarous swords in her body, invited
so to do by the Italians themselves, who called them
in to take part in their intestine feuds, and who were
all to be in the event their prey, as it turned out.
And thus there not only failed among them those
THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA. 53
sweet manners which used to make the Italians like
to angels on earth, and placed them above all nations
in courtesy and charity, but there died away also
in them that blessed Faith, for the love of which
they had renounced the empire of the world, placing
their necks under the most sweet yoke of Christ,
and of His Immaculate Holy Roman Catholic
Church. And as it happens so often that people
take their customs from the company they keep,
even the Italians drank of that horrible chalice of
.Heresy and Abomination, and by means of licence
of life, which was then at its highest point, heretics
began to multiply in the land.' l
The historians of the Church speak in the gravest
terms of the danger to religion and civilization which
existed at the beginning of the thirteenth century,
from the prevalence of a heresy which seems to us
so strange as that of the Albigenses. ' In the second
and third centuries of the Church,' says Bishop
Hefele, ' the question might have been asked which
would carry the day, Christianity or the dualism of
the Manichseans and Gnostics. A thousand years
later, the same question might again have been raised,
and the danger which then threatened the Christian
Church and civilization was more serious than at the
time of the earlier crisis. To find another danger
1 CyonicJte di S. Francesco, pt. i. 1. v. c. 18.
54 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
equally terrible, we must refer to the eighth century,
when Islamism, established in Spain and on the coast
of Africa, threatened to swallow up the whole West.
And yet this last peril was really not so great as that
of which we are about to treat, and to oppose it there
was not only the religious sentiment, but also that of
nationality. On the contrary, in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, the spirit of nationality was most
often on the same side with error, in the countries,
for instance, in which the debate arose, that is, among
the Slavs of the Greek Church, and in the countries
in which the conflict became most bitter, that is, in
the south of France. In the conflict with the
Cathari, there was no longer question of this or that
form of Christian dogma, any more than of this or
that organization of the Church. The questions were
not questions of confessions, such as agitate Europe
in our times ; but in a word, the battle was fought
on the ground of Christianity itself.' 2
The words which we have quoted were written
some years ago, and perhaps the recent manifestations
of the spirit of error in Europe may be considered as
warranting a more close parallel than is here admitted
between the danger to faith in the thirteenth century
and that which threatens it in the latter half of the
nineteenth. In our own country, as well as on the
2 Hefele, Hist, des Candles. French Translation, t. viii. p. 61.
THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA. 55
Continent, the question of the day has passed from
the ground of this or that particular doctrine of the
Creed to that of the truth of Christianity as a whole.
The great definition of the Fourth Lateran Council,
which was directed against the heretics of the days
of St. Antony, looks as much like a re-affirmation of
the ancient Creed, of the doctrine about God, the
Trinity in Unity, the Creation, the Incarnation, and
the other great truths which are the very essence of
Christianity itself, as the first chapter of the Vatican
Council. Yet, als the author already quoted says,
' almost every word is directed against the Cathari,'
and we may add, almost every word is denied by
the ' heretics ' of our own time. We need for the
present say. little more about the doctrines and
practices of the Cathari, except that in their prin-
ciples of dualism, which supposed a good and a bad
God, the latter of whom was the author of the mate-
rial world, their doctrines seem to have been identical
with those of the Manicha^ans so triumphantly van-
quished by St. Augustine. The name by which they
called themselves ' Cathari,' or the pure, appears
to point to a Byzantine origin. These mediceval
Puritans professed to imitate the simplicity of primi-
tive times, and, like the German reformers of the
sixteenth century, they found much favour in the eyes
of princes and nobles who coveted the wealth of the
5 6 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
Church, by inveighing against the degeneracy into
which a portion of the clergy had fallen. For a long
time this revived Manichseism had been confined to
Bulgaria and Hungary, till in the eleventh century
it appeared in Southern Germany and rapidly spread
its subtle poison over the north of Italy and the south
of France,, where it so deeply infected the diocese of
Albi, that the commonest designation of the heretics
became that of Albigenses. Missions had been
organized by the Holy See to combat the evil, but
it seemed invincible. St. Bernard himself could not
conquer it ;. Innocent III. aided by the Bishop of
Osma, and his young acolyte Dominic, seemed on
the road to a bloodless victory, when the murder
of the Papal Legate by a knight, who thus avenged
the excommunication of his master, the Count of
Toulouse, kindled the flames of war. Then came the
crusades against the Albigenses, and the triumph of
St. Dominic, St. Francis, and their sons. Antony
was one of the stoutest champions of the truth, and
Romagna, the first scene of his apostolic labours, was
also the first province healed of the plague. Antony
had not preached there three months before he gained
the title of the ' Hammer of the heretics.' The fame
of his preaching had preceded him to Rimini, where
the heresy was more rampant than in any other part
of Romagna. No heretic, it was said, could resist
THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
its power, and the teachers of the new doctrines
agreed not to listen to him, and persuaded or intimi-
dated the people into promising to follow their
example.
Accordingly, the first time that Antony appeared in
the pulpit, instead of being listened to by the eager
crowds he was accustomed to, almost everybody left
the church. The holy preacher, not the least dis-
composed, addressed the few who remained, and
the effect he produced was so great that the heretics
declared their cause to be lost if once this man got a
hearing, and determined to make away with him.
The plot came to Antony's knowledge, and he gave
himself up to fasting, prayer, and severe disciplines,
which he offered up for the pardon and conversion
of his enemies.
When he came from his retirement, he went straight
to the shores of the Adriatic, where the river Marec-
chia falls into the sea, and with a loud voice com-
manded the fishes to come and hear the word of God,
which was despised by men for whom He gave His
Son to die. The Saint had been followed by numbers
of persons curious to see what he was about to do ;
and now,hearingthis strange invitation, they crowded
to the water's edge, some mocking, some, perhaps,
half expecting the fishes to obey this preacher, of
whom such wonderful tales were told, and all watch-
58 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
ing the bright waters of the Adriatic to see what would
happen. Then the eye-witnesses declared there was
a great stir and movement in the sea and the river,
and shoals of every sort of fishes came swimming
obediently at the word of Antony, and arranged them-
selves in surprizing order and regularity according
to their kinds and sizes, the smallest nearest to the
water's edge, and the largest at 'the greatest distance
off, so that the sea glittered all over with their shining
scales, as they listened, motionless with lifted heads ;
and, says Mark of Lisbon, ' there could be seen no
fairer sight.' St. Antony's sernaon -to the fishes, as
recorded by the same chronicler, was as follows :
; ' My brothers, .the fishes, who are, as well as we,
the creatures of our common Creator, you are much
bound to praise your Creator, because from His hand
you have received your being and life. And for your
home He has given you this notle element of water,
fresh or salt, according to the needs of your nature
and support, and therein secret places in which to
hide ; He has willed it to be clear and transparent,
so that you may see what to seek, and what to avoid,
He has also given you fins and strength to go whither
you will. But most of all you should thank Him
because you alone, of all creatures, were saved in
the universal deluge, so that you have increased in
number beyond all others blessed by God. You
THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA. 59
were chosen, that in the belly of one of you the
Prophet Jonas should be safe for three days, and
then that you should replace him alive on dry land :
you paid the tax and tribute for our Lord Jesus
Christ, and His chief Apostle, Peter. You were
His food, both before He died and after His Resur-
rection. For these reasons, and many more which
do not now occur to me, you are much bound to
thank God.'
Meanwhile, the spectators were filled with marvel.
The fishes seemed to follow the discourse, to show
their satisfaction by the movement of their heads
and tails, and to manifest the wish to come nearer
to the preacher. The news spread rapidly, and
the crowd on the shore continued increasing till
there seemed to be as many men and women on land
as there were fishes in the sea. Then Antony, thank-
ing God that He was honoured, at least, by His
irrational creatures, made the sign of the cross over
the fishes, which, as though they had been waiting for
that blessing, dived under the water, .and disappeared.
Then, turning to the multitude, he bade them take to
heart the lesson of obedience taught by those dumb
creatures ; and going on to speak of the malice of
sin, and of heresy in particular, God so blessed his
words that there was hardly one present that was
not converted.
60 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
The readers of the life of St. Francis, and all who
are acquainted with the beautiful and simple spirit
in which he was accustomed to consider all the
creatures of God, animate or inanimate, as his
brothers and sisters who had come from the hands
of the great Father of all, will not be surprized to
find the Saint who was called his ' eldest son,'
addressing himself in this quaint and picturesque
manner to the lower order of God's creatures when
the Word of God was despised and shunned by the
heretics. The miracle of the fishes is in this sense
parallel to the miracle of St. Francis himself who>
preached to the birds at Bevagna. There is, how-
ever, another aspect of the miracle of the fishes, as
also of that which will be presently related, which
we know as the miracle of Bonvillo, to notice which
may not be derogatouy to the beautiful simplicity
of the incidents in themselves. This sermon of
St. Antony to the fishes, which seems at first sight a
simple expansion of the words of the Three Children :
Benedicite cete et omnia quas moventur in aquis Domino,
Benedicite volucres cceli- Domino ;
was also a refutation of one of the falsehoods of the
Albigensian sect, by whom the Unity of the God-
head, and the Christian doctrine of the Creation of
all things by God, and of His government over all
the world, were denied, very much as they are denied
THE HERETICS IN ROM AGN A. 61
by the anti- Christian teachers of bur own time. To
whatever extent the witnesses of this miracle re-
cognized in it the working of a power more than
human and natural, to the same extent was it to
them a proof of the Christian truth as taught by His
Church and denied by the heretics, that the God
Whose faith Antony preached was the God of all
creation. The common people who had been seduced
by the heretics probably did not know very much
of the tenets of the sect. They were attracted by
a show of severity of manners in the teachers, by
the organization of the sect, which in many respects
parodied that of the Catholic Church, while at the
same time the licence permitted to the mass of the
followers of the false religion was very convenient
for men and women who wished to lead a life of
pleasure and worldliness, without the restraints im-
posed by the Catholic Church and the necessity of
approaching the sacraments. The practical teaching
of the Cathari as to the indulgence which may safely
be allowed to human passions was by no means
ambiguous, and it was this practical teaching which
made them so popular, just as in our time the
shallowest and most frivolous of cavillers against the
truth of the Scripture narrative of Creation or the
authenticity of the Gospels are welcomed as prophets
by so many who are above all things desirous to
62 THE HERETICS IN ROMAGNA.
persuade themselves that they may violate with safety
the laws of morality and disobey their own conscience.
The practical result of the teaching was as easily and
infallibly divined by the mass of men in the case of
the Cathari as in that of the Apostles of modern
enlightenment. The common people, therefore,
would, only see in this miracle, and in that which
we shall immediately relate, an exercise of miraculous
power attesting the sanctity of Antony and the autho-
rity of his preaching. But if there were any present,
in either case, who held intelligently the doctrine
of the Cathari about God and His creatures, they
would have seen in both miracles the confutation of
those particular errors on which we have remarked.
CHAPTER II.
The conversion of Bonvillo.
THIS ' sermon to the fishes ' is the first famous miracle
recorded of St. Antony. It was noticed that in this,
as in other cases* when the object was to confirm
Catholic truth, he worked his miracles publicly, but
that when they were wrought out of charity, for the
help of some particular person, he was careful to
avoid all notice, and ; was in the habit of attributing
them to the faith of the person benefited, or to
the prayers which some one had been offering, to any-
thing, in short, rather than to merits of his own.
The conversion of nearly all the inhabitants of
Rimini soon followed : but there were a few inveterate
heretics who held out still. One of these was a man
named Bonvillo, who obstinately refused to be con-
vinced, and who was- in the habit of saying that all
these people had been converted by the sight of
four or five fishes accidentally remaining motionless
near the shore. Antony had more than once endea-
voured to conquer this heretic's determined refusal
64 THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO.
to believe in our Divine Lord's presence in the
Sacred Host. 'You get the better of me in words,'
he said, ' because you are more learned than I am,
but let us come to proofs : I promise to believe what
you say if you will show me some miracle worked
by this Sacrament of yours.' The Saint, by divine
inspiration, replied that, trusting in God, he accepted
the challenge. The audacious heretic went on to
say that he would give his mule no food for three
days, and that on the fourth he would be in the
square of the city bringing some oats for the animal.
Antony was to come to meet them with the Blessed
Sacrament, and if the animal left the oats to adore
It, ' then,' said Bonvillo, ' I will believe as you do.'
On the appointed day, after saying Mass, Antony,
followed by his religious brethren and all the principal
persons of the city carrying lighted candles, came
into the square, bearing the Blessed Sacrament.
Bonvillo was standing there with the mule, which
was walking restlessly round and round his master,
smelling at the oats which he had with him. No
sooner had Antony come close to them, than the
man threw the oats in a heap before the mule, which,
notwithstanding, as soon as Antony commanded it,
in the Name of the God Who was hidden in the
Sacred Host, to come and adore Him, recognized
the presence of its Creator, and approached with
THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO. 65
bent head, and knelt down, continuing in that attitude
of adoration till the Blessed Sacrament was carried
back into the church. Bonvillo immediately abjured
his heresy, and lived and died penitent.
These two wonderful miracles were the cause of
innumerable conversions. Such heretics as remained
obstinate, were, however, as is always the case, only
the more bitter in their hatred of the truth in conse-
quence of the wonders by which it was attested.
So it was with the Jews who could not deny our.
Lord's miracles, yet were not converted by them :
so it is with the enemies of His Church. These
heretics of Rimini invited Antony to a dinner, at
whichit was determined to poison him. He accepted
the invitation, thinking it a good opportunity for
trying to win them back to God. As he sat down
to table, the designs of his entertainers were revealed
to him, and he gently reproved them for their perfidy.
On this, they shamelessly replied that if he were
a true preacher of the Gospel he ought not to be
afraid to eat poisoned food, as Christ had expressly
promised that his faithful disciples should not be
hurt by any such thing. They had no idea, they
added, of harming him, but only of bringing honour
to .him by the miracle which would no doubt be
wrought in his favour. Antony asked them, whether,
if this were so, they would promise to submit to the
F
66 THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO.
Catholic Church, and when they answered that they
would, he committed himself fervently to God, made
the sign of the Cross over the poisoned meats, and
ate them without any ill effects. After this, the
most stubborn could hold out no longer ; and it was
commonly said that Antony found Rimini heretical,
and left it Catholic.
Antony's labours in Romagna were interrupted
for a short time by his going- to study ascetical
theology at Vercelli. Some writers consider that he
was sent there by St. Francis as a trial, but it seems
certain that he was moved to this step by his own
deep humility inspiring him with the wish to show
himself, to those who regarded him as a learned
theologian in the character of a lowly scholar who
required the instruction of a master. St. Francis
consented to his request : so rare a love of humilia-
tion was after his own heart, and he gladly embraced
the opportunity of setting so bright an example
before his children. That this was the case seems
proved by the short time he left Antony at Vercelli
far too short for acquiring proficiency in a subject
of which he was before ignorant.
The master under whom Antony placed himself
was a very distinguished person, Thomas, Canon
Regular of the Congregation of St. Victor at Paris,
from which city he was sent to the newly-built Abbey
THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO. 67
of St. Andrew at Vercelli, which had been erected
principally by money given by Henry III., the young
King of England, in expiation of his grandfather's
guilt in the murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury,
and of which Thomas died Abbot in 1246. Antony
was far more anxious to pass for an ignorant and
unlearned person than he was to make great progress
under his master. But he had here a harder task
than at Montepaolo, and Thomas was not deceived
by the humility of his scholar, who soon surpassed
all his fellow-students, including Adam de Marisco,
an Englishman, who had hitherto distanced all the
others in the race. This is Thomas's testimony: ' I
know Brother Antony, of the Order of Friars Minor,
very intimately ; he was not possessed of very great
human science, but most rich in purity of soul, and
mental goodwill : he desired to learn mystical theo-
logy, and his acquirements in it were very great.
Indeed I may say of him what is written of St. John
the Baptist : " he was a burning and a shining light:"
interiorly burning with the love of God, and shining
exteriorly by his bright example.'
Antony was recalled from Vercelli by St. Francis
in the spring of 1223, and sent to preach at Bologna.
A violent earthquake had just taken place there, whilst
St. Francis was preaching in the open air, and he
had availed himself of the impression it produced
68 THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO,
to stir up the people to penance and the fear of
God. Knowing the great fruits which followed
Antony's labours, he was very desirous that he should
carry on the work, and he did it so successfully that
the whole city turned to God in a fervent spirit of
contrition.
Immediately after Easter St. Francis gave a striking
proof of his high esteem for Antony by erecting a
chair of theology in Bologna, and appointing Antony
to fill it. What makes, this the more remarkable is
that when visiting that city in 1220, St. Francis for-
bade the study of theology which the Provincial had
established there, and when after the Saint's departure
he resumed it, Francis solemnly cursed him as a.
disobedient son. The Provincial fell sick shortly
after, and sent two friars to the Saint begging him
to revoke the curse. But the messenger received the
answer that it was too late, as God had confirmed
it in heaven. Death, soon after, fell on the Superior.
It has been inferred from the saying of St. Francis,
'I would rather have my sons pray than read;'
that he wished them to be ignorant. This was not
the case. But he certainly greatly feared their losing
their humility and union with God, which he valued
above all, and Antony was the first of his children
whom he made a . master of theology, feeling sure
that his scholars would not only advance in that
THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO. 69
study under his guidance, but make rapid progress
in the school of Christ.
The following is the letter in which he made known
his commands to Antony.
' To his dearest Brother Antony, Brother Francis
wishes health.
' It is my desire that you should teach the brothers
sacred theology, on condition that neither in you nor
them the spirit of holy prayer, conformable to the
rule we profess, be quenched. God speed you.'
It is certain that this authorization was not limited
to Bologna, for we find our Saint teaching theology
from this time wherever he went, which he certainly
did by holy obedience. It was a very considerable
addition to his labours for the remaining eight years
of his life, during the whole of which time his lectures
to his brethren were not allowed in any way to
diminish the frequency of his sermons both in
churches and in the open air. He took occasion to
excite the Bolognesi to increased fervour of penitence
from another earthquake which occurred on the
afternoon of Christmas Day, and which was so des-
tructive at Brescia that half the city was destroyed.
In the Lent of the following year St. Francis sent
Antony to preach at Vercelli, where his old master,
not yet Abbot of St. Andrew's, must have rejoiced
70 THE CONVERSION OF BONVILLO.
greatly in renewing their friendship and in hearing
the word of God from him of whom he had said,
while yet his scholar, that he was his master in
heavenly things, and that he looked upon him as
an angel. When Lent was over Antony received
orders from St. Francis to go to France, where he
was to labour for two years and a half.
. CHAPTER III.
Labours in France.
THE first scene of Antony's labours in France was
Montpellier. He was in the constant habit of
preaching during his journey thither from Vercelli,
and many were converted by his sermons. The new
heresy had perverted great numbers of the inhabi-
tants, and Antony chiefly devoted himself to combat-
ing and disproving its doctrines. His wonderful gift
of tongues was remarkably manifested in this city, as
well as that other miraculous gift by which his voice
was audible, without any effort on his part, to persons
at the greatest distance from him in the very large
audiences to which he was in the habit of preaching
in open places. He was most assiduous in teaching
theology to his brethren, and in the midst of all these
fatiguing occupations he composed his sermons on
the Psalms, a work full of quotations from the sacred
Scriptures according to the Greek, Syriac, and Chal-
daic readings, as well as from the writings of the
Fathers, all of which had been learnt at Santa Cruz,
72 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
and were brought forth from the stores of his inex-
haustible memory. This manuscript was the occasion
of a miracle, remarkable as an anticipation of one
of St. Antony's peculiar graces. It was stolen by a
novice, who escaped with it from the monastery,
Antony was not long before he missed it, and he
prayed earnestly that it might be recovered. It has
been, remarked that it was the only time when he,
who was to be the great finder of lost things in after
ages, asked a grace of the kind for himself. It was,
as we should expect, granted. The novice related
how he was just going to cross a bridge, when there
suddenly rose up before him a man of savage coun-
tenance, barring the way, threatening him with a
drawn sword, and sternly commanding him to
restore the book. He instantly turned back to the
monastery, and throwing himself at Antony's feet,
begged his forgiveness with many tears. He gained
a far greater grace than he asked, for by the prayers
of the Saint he persevered in religion, and died in
the odour of sanctity.
The Friars Minor at Montpellier were much
annoyed by the croaking of the frogs in a lake or
pool near their monastery. Antony, finding them a
great disturbance, gave them his blessing, and com-
manded them to be quiet. After this nothing more
was heard of them. The piece of water is still called
LABOURS IN FRANCE.
by St. Antony's name, and the people of the neigh-
bourhood say that when any of the frogs in it are
taken to another pool they begin croaking again ;
while, if others not belonging to it are thrown into
it, they become silent. He was preaching in the
Cathedral on Easter Day, when he suddenly remem-
bered that it was his turn to sing the Alleluias in the
Community Mass. He made a little pause to take
breath, as his hearers thought and at that moment
he appeared in choir and sang the Alleluias, as was
testified by eye-witnesses.
From Montpellier Antony was sent, after the Easter
of 1125, to Toulouse, a city, at that time, more deeply
tainted than any in France with the heresy of the
Albigenses. Here, again, his public preaching and
theological lectures went on vigorously, and in both
he waged war to the death with false doctrine, and
was the undaunted champion of Catholic truth.
Here it was, as many good authors tell us, that the
miracle worked at Rimini on Bonvillo's mule was
repeated : the same proposal being made by a heretic,
who had, most likely heard of that wonderful
event, and disbelieved it, with the same result of the
triumph of the truth, and the conversion of numerous
heretics. 1 It was during his labours in France, though
1 The name of the heretic in this story is Guialdo. It certainly
seems at first sight that the story is a repetition of that which
has been already related. On the other hand, it must be rem-
74 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
neither place nor year is known, that Antony was
favoured, on the Vigil of the Assumption, with a
vision of the Blessed Mother of God, At that time,
the Roman martyrology had not been approved by
the Church for universal use, and there were three
which were followed in different places, none of which
merited to be adopted by the Church. In all three,
the 15th of August was marked, indeed as the feast of
our Lady's Assumption, as to her soul, but the lan-
guage of doubt was used as to the exaltation of her
sacred body. This was done on the strength of two
passages, one from St. Augustine, and the other from
St. Jerome, which were afterwards proved to be
interpolations. In the 'martyrology which was in
common use in France, it was expressly said that the
Church preferred passing over the question in silence
to asserting a doubtful thing. These words, so offen-
sive to the ears of the true lovers of M ary , were omitted
in many churches, and in others it was expressly
added, that the Catholic Church holds and confesses
the glorification of the body of the Blessed Virgin,
as well as that of her soul.
embered that the miracle had a particular bearing on the heresy
of the Albigenses. On this account the challenge may have been
made in more places than one, and the ancient authors may have
been right in mentioning two distinct occasions on which the
miracle took place. There is the same remarkable repetition
about the miracle of St. Antony's saving his father's life.
LABOURS IN FRANCE. 75
Antony, it is scarcely necessary to say, firmly held
the true opinion on this point, and was in much per-
plexity and distress when the bell rang for Prime on
the Vigil of the Assumption. Should he appear in
choir, and listen to words so derogatory to the honour
of his Blessed Mother, or should he absent himself?
The first course seemed impossible to so loving a
child of Mary, and the last was extremely painful
to so careful an observer of every point of the Rule.
Filial affection triumphed, and his Mother herself
told him that it was well. He was kneeling in his
cell rapt in the contemplation of her glorious Assump-
tion, when she appeared to him with great brightness
and splendour, assured him of the truth of the mys-
tery, and bade him preach boldly the glorification of
that pure body in which God Himself had dwelt.
It is interesting to know that the manuscript exists
in which these words are written in the Saint's own
handwriting : Surge, Domine, in requiem tuam, ta, et
ana sanctificationis tuce ' That ark,' he goes on,
' which rested on the mountains of Armenia, that is,
above all the choirs of the angels.'
The Chapter of the Province of Narbonne was
held in the September of 1225. Antony was
elected Guardian of the monastery at Puy, an office
in which he showed himself a pattern of sanctity
and humility. It was his delight to perform the
76 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
meanest and most servile work ; his fasts and morti-
fications were redoubled, and when he took a brief
repose it was on a coarse sack filled with straw. At
the close of November he went to preach at a Synod
held at Bourges by the Apostolic Legate. On one
occasion, when he was to preach in a parish church,
the crowds who came to hear him were so great that
the clergy requested him to deliver his discourse in
the open air. Soon the sky became overcast, thunder
rolled, lightning flashed, and a violent rain threatened
every minute to pour down. The people were pre-
paring to go away, when Antony bade them remain
where they were and be quiet and attentive, assuring
them, in the Name of God, that no rain should touch
them. They believed his word, stayed till the end,
and then dispersed to their homes. No sooner had
they left the field in which Antony had been preach-
ing, than they found the roads soaked with rain and
covered with large hailstones. God had worked a
miracle to reward the zeal of the preacher and the
obedience of the people.
The bishops were assembled in Synod for the
purpose of reforming abuses, and of settling the
claims of Amaury de Montfort and Raymond of
Toulouse to the territories which had been wrested
from the latter in the war against the Albigenses.
There seems to have been a great want of the
LABOURS IN FRANCE. . 77
unanimity of spirit required for such a work.
Antony, by divine inspiration, presented himself to
the Fathers of the Synod, and exhorted them to
discharge fearlessly and diligently the work before
them. Then courageously turning to the Archbishop
of Bourges, with the words ' Ad te, Domine, loquor,'
he reproved him with the boldness of an apostle.
The old chronicles tell us that the Archbishop had
some doubts on certain articles of faith, and that
Antony spoke of them without showing to all his
audience that he was aware of the state of the mind of
the prelate himself. He pointed out the fault of his
incredulity with the greatest dexterity, and argued
for the truth with the utmost solidity and with many
authorities from Scripture and the Fathers. The
Archbishop listened with edifying humility, made his
confession to the fearless Friar, and ever afterwards
led a most exemplary life.
Antony was at Limoges in the Lent of 1226;
and here he was preaching on the Passion on Holy
Thursday, when suddenly he stopped, and at the
same instant he appeared among his brethren, and
read a lesson in Matins, after which he vanished
and finished his sermon. He returned to the Monas-
tery of Puy after Easter, and continued to win many
souls to God by his preaching. One day, while he was
thus engaged, a man, dressed as a courier, came into
78 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
the church and made his way to a lady with a letter
containing the intelligence that her son had been
assassinated. The mother wept and lamented;
there was great excitement in the congregation, and
Antony could not make himself heard. Then,
making a sign for silence, 'Lady,' he said, 'be at
rest ; you will soon see your son safe and well : this
courier is sent by the devil to hinder the preaching
of God's Word, and the glory that he sees He will
gain by it.' As he thus spoke, the courier disap-
peared with a cry of rage, and Antony took occasion
to warn his hearers of the treachery of the devil, and
to be always on their guard, as he is continually
assuming new disguises to surprise unwary souls.
The enemy of mankind was so infuriated by being
thus baffled by Antony, that he sought to bring dis-
credit upon him and his Order by representing the
Friars Minor as an offshoot of the Waldenses, who
affected the love of poverty, and were sometimes
called 'the poor men of Lyons.' But the purity of
Antony's life and doctrine were more powerful than
the slanders of the father of lies, and none of these
calumnies produced any effect.
At this time there was living a Puy at man of
very bad and dissipated life, who was a notary by
profession. Whenever Antony met him, he saluted
him with a profound reverence and with uncovered
LABOURS IN FRANCE. 79
head. The notary at first ascribed this to rustic
simplicity, and got out of his way whenever he
could, to avoid these signs of excessive respect
which made him appear ridiculous. But one day,
when he was unable to avoid him, he turned upon him
furiously, saying it was well for him that he was a
friar, as otherwise he would certainly run him through
for his insolence in making him a laughing-stock.
But Antony answered, 'My dearest brother, I do ,
but pay you the reverence that I feel ; earnestly
have I begged of God the grace of being allowed to
shed my blood for Him, but I am not worthy of it,
and He has not granted my desire. Shall I not, _
then, do all possible honour to you, who, as I know
by revelation from Him, will one day die a martyr
of our Lord Jesus Christ ? I beseech you, when
that glorious day shall come, remember me, a sinner
in your prayers.' Theman turned away with a laugh,
but the words were a prophecy. After a few years
he was divinely inspired to accompany his bishop on
a pilgrimage to the holy places. He completely
changed his life, and became a good and fervent
Christian. One day the bishop was conversing with
some Moors, who were boldly blaspheming the mys-
teries of the faith, and his answers to them were so
cold and cowardly, that his companion, unable to
restrain his indignation, reproved him for a tepidity
80 LABOURS IN FRANCE:
so unbecoming his sacred office. Then, turning to
the infidels, he bravely defended the Faith of Christ
to the best of his ability, telling them that their
prophet, Mahomet, was a foul impostor and a son of
perdition. The Moors seized him and beat him
savagely, and for three days he endured the most
cruel torture at their hands. On the fourth day, as
he was led out to die, he told his companions of
Antony's prophecy, bidding them, when they returned
to France, to make known its blessed fulfilment.
Antony had been guardian of the Monastery of
Puy just a year, when, in the autumn of 1226, the
Provincial Chapter met at Aries. He was present
at it, and preached to the assembled fathers on the
title of the Cross. While he was doing so, and
speaking with the greatest tenderness of the love
and the Wounds of his dying Lord, he saw before
him at the door of the church that great lover of
the Crucified, his father Francis, with his arms out-
spread in the form of a cross, and the stigmata in
his hands distinctly visible. He looked upon his
son with a bright and smiling face, and showed, by
his gestures and expressions, the joy with which he
heard him speak of the mysteries so dear to him and
of those sacred Wounds, the copy of which he was
privileged to bear in his body. So he stood for
some time, and then, giving his blessing to his chil-
LABOURS IN FRANCE. 81
dren, he disappeared. The only person who was
privileged to see the vision besides- Antony was a
very holy friar, named Fra Monaldo. All present
felt in their souls a strange and heavenly sweetness,
so that they doubted not that their holy father had
been among them. It was his last farewell. Francis
was then at Assisi, where, three weeks after, he died :
and it almost seemed as though, before his departure,
he wished to give this wonderful consolation to his
son, whom he had hardly seen since that Chapter of
Assisi, when he and all others had made no account
of him, and whom he was not to see again till the
day when he should give him a father's welcome, in
the light of the Beatific Vision, to the presence of
Him whose love had been their life. We have
the express testimony of St. Bonaventure, that
St. Francis himself related this miraculous visit.
At this Provincial Chapter our Saint was elected
' Custode ' of one of the districts into which the Pro-
vince of Narbonnese Gaul was divided, that of Lim-
oges. On his way he preached in the different towns
he passed through, and everywhere with abundance
of fruit. On one occasion, when great crowds were
assembled for the sermon, a platform had been erected
for him. Before beginning his sermon, he charged
the people not to be in the least alarmed at any-
thing that happened whilst he was preaching, as the
82 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
devil would certainly do all he could to disturb them,
but that his efforts would come to nothing. In a
few minutes, the platform on which Antony was
standing gave way and fell with [a great crash, but
no one was in the least hurt. The people, seeing
that he had the spirit of prophecy, set to work with
the utmost enthusiasm to repair it, and listened to
him with increased attention and respect.
Antony's sojourn at Brive was marked by many
miracles. One day when the scanty larder of the
monastery was completely bare, and the community
seemed likely to go dinnerless, he sent a messenger to
a lady who was very devoted to him and his Order,
begging her to give them some vegetables. The lady
told her maid to go out and cut some cabbages, but
the maid objected, as it was raining heavily. Her
mistress replied that she would go herself, and this
shamed the servant into obedience. She went into
the garden, and brought the cabbages to the friars
without a drop of rain having fallen upon her.
Antony had a particular liking for the little founda-
tion at Brive, perhaps on account of its very seclude
situation . There was a cave there which must have re-
minded him of Montepaolo, and which witnessed many
of his prayers and penances, and where he received
heavenly favours which no eye saw but that of God.
One evening, after Compline, the friars looked out
LABOURS IN FRANCE. 83
and saw some men doing mischief to the fields of a
neighbour who was very kind to them. They went to
tell Antony, who replied that no one was doing any
harm, and that what they saw was an artifice of the
devil to rob them of their spirit of recollection. In
the morning they saw that the fields were uninjured.
A novice in this monastery, named Fra Pietro, had
a temptation to return to the world. This was made
known to Antony, who, calling the novice apart,
breathed in his face, saying ' My son, receive the
spirit of fortitude.' The young man fell to the ground
in a swoon, and, on his recovery, exclaimed that he
' had been in heaven,' but Antony forbade his saying
more. The temptation never returned, and he made
an excellent religious. Antony also delivered a monk
in a monastery which he was visiting from a tempta-
tion against holy purity. This monk confided his
trouble to him, and earnestly besought him to change
habits with him. Antony did so, and the temptation
departed for ever.
Two miracles occurred during one of Antony's
sermons at Brive. A woman had left her baby in
its cradle asleep, and gone to hear him. On her
return, to her horror, the child was dead. She ran to
the Saint, imploring him to restore it to life ; and he
answered, ' Go home, my sister ; God will comfort
you.' On her return the child was alive and well.
84 LABOURS IN FRANCE.
Another woman, on returning from the same sermon,
found that her child had fallen into a cauldron of
boiling water. She lifted it out, and found it perfectly
unhurt. A lady at the same place, who bore a great
affection to the Order, was in the habit of giving the
friars money, which was her own, and alms which she
begged for them. Her husband treated her ill in
consequence, and one day he met her returning from
the monastery, and in his rage pulled out all her hair.
The poor woman made her trouble known to Antony,
who, with all his brethren, began praying for her very
earnestly, and immediately she had all her hair
restored to her. This miracle may be said to have
been the cause of another, the entire conversion of
her husband.
One beautiful story is told of a poor crazy man
who was in the habit of following Antony about when
he was preaching, and disturbing him by his mutter -
i ngs and cries. The Saint very gently begged him to
be quiet. ' I cannot,' said the poor man,' unless you
give me the cord you wear as a girdle.' Antony
immediately untied it, and coming down from the
pulpit, gave it to him. The man kissed it, and put it
on. And as he did so his reason was fully restored to
him, and throwing himself at the feet of the Saint, he
begged his forgiveness, and thanked God amidst the
'tears and praises of the people.
CHAPTER IV.
In Sicily and Italy.
ON the 4th of October, 1226, St. Francis departed to
his rest, and either in the December or January
following, Antony left France for Italy, for the pur-
pose of being present at the General Chapter to be
held in order to elect a successor to St. Francis, his
office in the district of Limoges entitling him to a
vote. On his way to Marseilles, he stopped to preach
in a village through which he was passing, and when
his sermon was finished he accepted the invitation
which was given to him and his companion by a poor
lady to take some refreshment at her house. ' Then,'
says the old chronicler, ' the Lord, desiring to confirm
him in His grace by means of somewhat of tribula-
tion, which might make him know how much He
loved him, caused that that lady, in order to honour
him the more, should borrow a most beautiful cup
of glass from a great lady who was her neighbour.
Antony's companion taking up this glass cup some-
what awkwardly, it fell from his hands and broke
86 IN SICILY AND ITALY.
into two pieces, and the wine was spilt on the table.
Now this anxious Martha, keeping her eyes upon
this, ran up in a moment, thinking of nothing but
the glass, leaving a flagon in the cellar where she
was drawing wine, but had as yet only filled that
beautiful cup, that they might begin their meal at
once, without waiting till the flagon was filled, in-
tending to draw more while they were eating. Then
going back to her cellar she found she had left the
butt of wine running all the time, without thinking
of it, and that all the wine had flowed out. Full
of consternation, she went back to the Saint and
told him what had happened. He in a moment
bowed down his head on his arms, praying to our
Lord, and as he did so the cup came together again
of itself, and as soon as that poor lady saw this,
she thought directly that as the glass had become
whole again, so also would the wine have gone back
again, and went from thence to the cellar : she found
the butt full and overflowing, and bubbling up as if
it had been new wine. So she was beside herself,
and full of astonishment at these miracles, and was
hardly allowed to finish her waiting upon the Saint,
who made his way off directly in order to avoid the
occasion of vainglory, leaving that household well
disposed to entertain for ever the servants of God,
believing, as is indeed the truth, that never are
IN SICILY AND ITALY. 87
goods diminished by almsgiving, but always increased
thereby.'
At Marseilles Antony embarked for Sicily, and in
the short time that he spent in that island he won
many souls to God, and his zeal was rewarded by the
foundation of houses of the Order in several places.
The name of St. Antony is fondly cherished by the
Sicilians, and their island is full of memorials of him.
At Cefalu a cypress planted by his hand was living
three hundred years after, and an orange-tree still
flourished there in the cloister, said to be of sovereign
efficacy in many disorders.
The Father Guardian at Messina, having to leave
his monastery to preach the Lent elsewhere, appointed
Antony to fill his place. There was no water near,
and after Office the friars had to fetch it from a long
distance. Antony had a very large well dug close
to the monastery, for which work he collected alms.
Everybody tried to dissuade him from it, as no one
expected any success, but water was found in abund-
ance, and in our own time it still works wonderful
cures. On his return the Guardian was very angry,
and scolded Antony for having offended against holy
poverty, as well as for having deprived the friars of
the merit they gained by their trouble in fetching the
water. He went so far as to imprison Antony for
some days, and to inflict a severe discipline upon
IN SICILY AND ITALY.
him. The place is now a chapel, and is visited on
St. Antony's day by the inhabitants, as well as the
refectory, in which some drops of the Saint's blood
are still shown. This strange severity of the Guar-
dian did but serve to increase the reverence in which
Antony was held, by giving him an opportunity of
exercising the virtues of humility and obedience.
When a father was wanted for the foundation at
Cefalu, he was sent there. A bell in the church-
tower is still called St. Antony's bell, which has great
power against storms and lightning.
While a monastery at a place called Tentine was
being built, a carter was so crushed by the falling of
a huge stone, that his body could hardly be recogniz-
ed as such. Antony came to the spot, and no sooner
had he said: f By the merits of Francis of Assisi,
and in the Name of Jesus Christ, return to life,' than
the man rose up well and sound. Antony's holy
life and miracles did wonders among the Sicilians,
and even bishops came to him for spiritual direction.
As usual, the devil sought to destroy God's work.
A man invited him to dinner on a Friday, and set
before him a capon. The Saint, without a word,
and without a change of countenance, blessed the
repast, and as he did so, the fowl was changed into
a fish. But the miracle was concealed from his
perfidious host, who immediately went to the bishop
IN SICILY AND ITALY. 89
and denounced him as a heretic. He sent for
Antony, and the man thinking to cover the Saint
with confusion, brought with him the dish from which
he had eaten : but the confusion fell to his own share,
when it was found to contain the skin and bones
of a fish. An invitation to dinner seems to have
been a favourite opportunity with the Sicilian heretics
for displaying their malice and perfidy. We read of
one, who, knowing Antony's courteous kindness on
such occasions, insulted him by having an owl
cooked, which he set before him, saying it was a
very fine capon, and asking him to cut it up. The
other guests were amusing themselves by exchanging
glances with their host expressive of their ridicule
of this simple friar who was so easily taken in ;
but when they looked up again at the dish, there
they saw in truth, an unmistakable capon. The
master of the house and all the company con-
fessed their malice and insolence, and abjured their
heresy.
Our Saint left Sicily after the Easter of 1227, and
reached Assisi just after Pentecost. At the General
Chapter he was elected Provincial of Romagna, the
scene of his early penance and solitude, and of his
first missionary labours. This Province embraced
almost the whole of Cisalpine Gaul, including Rimini,
Venetia, and Carniola, and he visited the whole of
go IN SICILY AND ITALY.
this large district, preaching continually, and gather-
ing abundant fruit.
The first city of his Province where he stayed
was Rimini, where so many wonderful miracles had
been worked by him before. Here, as usual, he
lectured on theology, which was much needed there,
for the heresy, which he had driven away on his
former visit, still lingered about its old haunts, and
sought like the evil spirit spoken of by our Lord,
to return into the house whence he came out, and
which had been swept and garnished by the evan-
gelical labours of Antony. It is marvellous that he
could have grounded his scholars in theological
science in so short a period, but, as has been truly
said, one of his miraculous gifts seems to have been
that of multiplying time, and he did the work of a
year in a month.
From Rimini Antony passed on to Ravenna,
Aquileia, and Trieste. At the last-named place he
made a short stay and founded a house of the Order,
which after the lapse of five centuries and a half,
still bore the name of ' St. Antony's cell.' Another
monastery, dedicated to St. Catharine, was founded
by him at Gorizia. At the city of Udine we find
him, for the first, and it would seem the only time,
received with insult by the common people, who
generally, like those of Judaea in our Lord's ministry,
IN SICILY AND ITALY. 91
' heard him gladly.' He had climbed into a tree
to preach, but being met with jeers and contempt,
he departed, shaking the dust from his feet. We
may believe that the sweet Saint who repaid the,
attempts on his life at Rimini by obtaining the
conversion of his enemies, was divinely inspired in
the case of Udine, for the inhabitants of that city
were struck with compunction after his leaving them,
and have since been noted for a special devotion to
him. In order to perpetuate the memory of their
fault it has always been their custom, in painting
St. Antony, to represent him preaching in a tree.
His next station was Gemona, where the great
fruit which followed his preaching induced him to
build a chapel in honour of our Lady, and also a
house of the Order. The work was entirely carried
on by alms, and one day Antony begged a labouring
man whom he met with his cart, to have the charity
to bring some stones in it for the new building.
The man replied that he could not do so, as he was
taking a dead body to the cemetery, pointing, as he
said so, to a young peasant who was lying in the
cart, but who was really alive and well. ' Do so,'
replied Antony, and the man drove on. When he
was out of ear-shot he went to the back of the
cart to laugh with his companion at the trick he
had played the friar, but he found, to his horror,
92 IN SICILY AND ITALY.
that the youth was really dead. He turned back,
full of shame and contrition, to confess his falsehood,
and entreat Antony to have pity on him. The
Saint went back with the poor man, exhorting him
on the way to thank God for having shown him his
fault ; then, making the sign of the Cross over the
young man, he restored him to life. St. Antony is
held in great devotion in the town of Gemona,
where there is a chapel dedicated to him.
CHAPTER V.
First Visit to Padua.
ANTONY next went, by way of Conegliano, Treviso,
and Venice, to Padua, where he arrived in the
November of 1227. The city was in a deplorable
state, racked with civil conflicts, and a prey to heresy
and vice. He set himself without delay to the work
of bringing the inhabitants to a sense of their
miserable condition, and as they were anxious to
see and hear the great preacher and wonder-worker
of whom such marvels were told, crowds flocked to
his sermons, and from the beginning they were
followed by numerous conversions, both among, the
heretics and grievous sinners. The fervour and
generosity of these first-fruits of his labours in Padua
were an immense consolation to the Saint. They put
themselves entirely under his direction, begging him
to give them rules for a penitent and devout life.
By way of seconding their pious desires more effectu-
ally, he advised them to find some place where they
might regularly assemble for his instructions and
94 FIRST VISIT TO PADUA.
help. They bought a piece of ground, and opened
a small church dedicated to our Lady ' della
Colomba,' which was also called by the people,
St. John the Evangelist's ' della Colombetta.' Hence
these penitents came to be styled ' Colombini.'
On the Feast of St. John, the 27th of December,
he here gave the members of the new Confraternity
a long grey habit and a cord, like that of the Friars
Minor, and here he used to meet them at stated
times, to hear their confessions and to animate them
to works of penance and virtue. When we remember
that at this time Antony had certainly not spent
two months in Padua, and that on his arrival he
found it steeped in heresy, and abandoned to vice,
the formation of this Confraternity in so short a
time seems little short of miraculous.
When St. Francis was at Padua, seven years before
this date, he founded two houses of the Order, one
for friars the other for nuns, outside the walls. The
Church was common to both houses, and the founda-
tion was known as the ' Arcella Vecchia.' One of the
first sisters received was a very young girl, belonging
to a noble family in Padua, Elena Enselmini, and
during Antony's two residences in Padua he was
her director. Her love of mortification and her
devotion to the Passion were intense, and her
patience and conformity to the Divine Will in her
FIRST VISIT TO PADUA, 95
long and acute sufferings both of mind and body
likened her more and more to her Divine Spouse,
Who, after her holy death, manifested her sanctity
by many miracles, and by the public veneration paid
her and approved by the Holy See.
Another of Antony's spiritual children was Blessed
Luca Belludi, also of a distinguished house in Padua,
who is believed to have entered the Order of Friars
Minor when St. Francis first visited the city. He
was then very young, but his holiness and love of
perfection were wonderful. As soon as St. Antony
arrived, he sought him out, and was his constant
companion and the loving imitator of his virtue
during the remainder of our Saint's life. After his
death Luca was the heir to many miraculous gifts,
and when he died, full of years and graces, he was
greatly venerated by his fellow- citizens, who, in
memory of his devoted affection, loved to call him
Fra Luca di Sant' Antonio.
The good citizens of Padua deserved the honour
they enjoyed of St. Antony bearing the name of their
city : for nowhere throughout Italy was he so greatly
loved and reverenced. They took especial delight
in his sermons, which they earnestly begged him to
write out. He did as they asked, and in this first
visit to Padua, which only lasted four months, he
wrote twenty-three sermons in Latin a considerable
9 6 FIRST VISIT TO PADUA.
addition to his labours as a preacher, director, and
confessor, besides the numberless other ways in which
he was always ready to spend and be spent for the
glory of God and the good of his neighbour. Of
these sermons thirteen are for the Sundays after
Pentecost, beginning from the twelfth, four for the
Sundays in Advent, one for the Sunday in the Octave
of Christmas, and three in honour of our Lady.
The Monastery of Arcella was a mile distant from
Padua, and it was inconvenient, and often impossible,
for Antony, with his multiplied labours, to get
there for the night. It often happened that when he
preached or heard confessions in the evening, the
city gates were closed before he had finished.
It was necessary for him, therefore, to find a lodging
in Padua, and there was no lack of candidates for the
honour of receiving him. The successful man was
a good citizen, who gave him a room where he could
be quite private and uninterrupted. He is generally
said to have been Tiso or Tisone, belonging to the
ancient family of the Counts of Camposampiero,
famous in the records of their time ; and he is called
in the ancient chronicles ' il borghese,' most likely
from the custom of giving that title to any powerful
family which was the chief of a fortified town or
' borgo.' Tiso loved and reverenced Antony greatly,
and when he became an inmate of his house he
FIRST VISIT TO PADUA. 97
closely observed every thing about one whom he saw
to be a great saint. One night, as he was passing
by the door of his room, he saw brilliant rays of
light streaming under the door, and on looking
through the key-hole he saw a little child of marvel-
lous beauty standing upon a book which lay upon the
table, and clinging with both arms' round Antony's
neck. Who was He ? But as he gazed, unable to
take his eyes away, and saw the flood of heavenly
light with which He was surrounded, and the ineffable
tenderness with which He embraced Antony, and in
return was caressed by him, and as he felt his own
soul filled with an ineffable sweetness and rapture
in watching the mutual endearments of the Saint
and his wondrous Visitor, Tiso knew with a certainty
that needed no further proof that it was indeed the
Divine Babe of Bethlehem Who was consoling His
favoured servant, and filling him with heavenly
delights. After a time, Tiso saw the Child point
towards the door and whisper into Antony's ear.
Then he knew that his secret was told, and that his
Lord, in the act of so wonderfully favouring His
beloved Antony, was not unmindful of His poor
servant outside the door, nor displeased with his
loving boldness. So Tiso watched on with deepening
joy and rapture, till the beautiful Child vanished,
and Antony came back to common life. Then he
H
g8 FIRST VISIT TO PADUA.
opened the door, and charged his friend, for the love
of Him Whom he had seen, to ' tell the vision to
no man,' so long as he was alive. Tiso promised ;
and it was not till after Antony's death that he re-
vealed what he had seen, and he could never speak
of it without shedding tears.
This favour is, perhaps, the most generally known
event in the Saint's life, and, although it rests on
the evidence of but one person, all the old chronicles
say that Tiso's high position and character, his holy
life, and the deep conviction and emotion with which
he mentioned it made him an unimpeachable witness.
The whole story, indeed, has such a character of
truthfulness in its simplicity and minute details, that
it commends itself to our belief on that ground also.
We are far from saying that every beautiful imagi-
nation carries with it its own evidence. But we may
surely believe that the very beauty of a story of
this sort forces on those who question it the choice
between admitting its truth on the evidence of the
eye-witness, or giving him credit for a creative
power for which the highest poets might well envy
him.
CHAPTER VI.
Some Miracles.
ANTONY preached the Lent in Padua both in 1228,
and during his second stay there in 1231. That
city of his predilection has preserved the memory
of the wonderful effects of his preaching on both
occasions ; and we may be sure that the zeal and
fervour with which he had been labouring in its
behalf would be doubly manifested and doubly
blessed in that season of man's abasement and
God's mercy. ' Grace is plentiful in Lent ;' and we
read that after some of his stirring calls to contri-
tion and amendment of life there were those 'pro-
cessions of penance ' which were so striking a feature
in St. Vincent Ferrer's ministry in the following
century. The silent streets of Padua would re-
sound at night with the strokes of the discipline
and the sighs and prayers of the penitents. The
town, which had . been a theatre of worldly and
sinful pleasures, had become a garden of piety and
virtue, families were reconciled, hereditary feuds
ioo SOME MIRACLES.
abandoned, women given up to a life of wickedness
renounced even amusements and personal vanities,
usurers brought their ill-gotten gains and ' laid them
at the Apostle's feet,' or, at his bidding, distributed
them in alms. Miracles, as usual, were the constant
accompaniment of his ministry. After one of his
sermons, a young man was so filled with compunction
that he threw himself at the feet of the Saint, intend-
ing to make confession of his sins, but as often as he
tried to speak his emotion overpowered him, and
his voice was inaudible from sobs. ' Go home, my
son,' said Antony, ' and write down your sins.' The
young man obeyed, and when, on returning to the
confessional, he gave him the paper, each sin as
it was read by Antony was obliterated, and at the
end he held in his hand a blank sheet, and confessor
and penitent joined in thanking God for so wonderful
a proof of the contrition of the sinner, and the for-
giveness of God.
A young man named Leonardo confessed that, in a
fit of ungovernable passion, he had kicked his mother.
Antony reproved him severely, and, in order to
impress on his mind how unnatural and shocking a
sin he had committed, told him that the foot which
had been lifted against the mother who bore him,
deserved to be cut off. He spoke so strongly and
emphatically that Leonardo really believed his words
SOME MIRACLES. 101
to express a command, and going home he took a
hatchet, and actually cut off his foot. His mother
found him fainting on the ground, and horrified at
the state he was in, rushed, when she knew the
truth, to Antony, whom she bitterly upbraided in
her despair. He gently explained matters, and went
back with her to the house. Then, kneeling down
by the young man, whose simple obedience and
wonderful courage greatly affected him, he bade him
be comforted, and make an act of firm faith and
confidence in God. Then he took up the foot, and
joining it to the leg, made the sign of the Cross, and
the two parts were perfectly re-united without wound
or scar.
One day he met a soldier running violently from
the city, and with such an expression of terror and
anguish on his face, that Antony stopped him, and
entreated him to tell him his trouble, and from whom
or what he was flying. The man threw himself at
Antony's feet, and confessed that in a fit of jealousy
he had stabbed his wife, who was remarkably beau-
tiful, and left her in a dying state. He was full of
grief, saying that he knew her to be perfectly innocent,
and laying all the blame on the unreasonable jealousy
of his character. Antony bade him rise up, and
return with him to Padua ; they found the poor
young woman in the agonies of death, but no sooner
102 SOME MIRACLES.
had Antony blessed her with the sign of the Cross,
than she rose up perfectly healed. And equally great
was the invisible miracle that had been worked, in
the husband's soul, for he was completely cured of
his jealousy, and lived in Christian harmony with his
wife ever after.
To this period of our Saint's life belongs one of
the most wonderful of his miracles, and one which
strikingly displays his faith, charity, and humility.
His father, Don Martin, was still living in Lisbon,
enjoying the favour of the King, and holding office
in the Court. A young nobleman, coming out of
the Cathedral, was set upon and murdered by a party
of assassins, who threw the body into Don Martin's
garden, which was immediately opposite. Very early
in the morning it was discovered there, by the traces
of blood on the wall, and Martin was apprehended
and put in prison. The danger of his father's position
was revealed to Antony in prayer. Full of faith in
his innocence, and in the power and mercy of God,
he continued some time longer praying about the
matter, and then went to the Superior of the Monas-
tery of Arcella, and applied for leave to absent
himself for a time from Padua. As Provincial, he
was not bound to ask permission from the Father
Guardian, but it was his way to embrace every
opportunity for the exercise of humility, and to be
SOME MIRACLES. 103
ingenious in making such opportunities. We shall
find Antony, on another occasion, choosing rather to
act by obedience than, as he might have done, by
his own authority. Having obtained leave to go, he
at once began his journey, without thinking of the
distance from Lisbon, of the difficulty of getting
there, the uncertainty of his arriving in time to save
his father's honour and life, or the steps to be taken
in order to do this. All those things were God's
affairs. He had shown him his father's danger, and
inspired him to go to his assistance, and when the
time came, all would be made clear. He went on
his way as quickly as he could, and praying earnestly.
Suddenly he found the reward of his faith and the an-
swer to his prayer he was miraculously transported
to Lisbon. Guided by the Spirit of Counsel, Whom
he incessantly invoked, Antony went straight to the
courts, and presented himself before the judges to
speak for his father. It must have been a strange
scene, when Antony stood before the judges, and
they looked at each other in astonishment, wondering
who this new comer might be, and feeling, perhaps
at once, the influence which his words never failed
to have. Still, where were his proofs ? What wit-
nesses could he call ? Then, calmly and fearlessly
Antony made answer that the murdered man should
be his witness, and without another word he went,
104 SOME MIRACLES.
followed by the judges and a wondering excited
crowd of by-standers, to the young man's grave,
which he commanded to be opened. The power
of God was present with him, for he was obeyed
without hesitation. Then Antony addressed the dead
man, charging him in the name of God to say
whether Martin de Bulloens was his murderer. The
corpse rose into a sitting posture, and with one hand
resting on the ground, and the other raised to heaven,
declared in a loud voice that Martin de Bulloens
was guiltless of his death. It is added that he then
turned to Antony, begging him to absolve him from
an excommunication under which he laboured, and
that as soon as his prayer was granted he again fell
back dead. Some writers also say that after hearing
the miraculous testimony of the corpse, the judges
urged Antony to declare who was the murderer, and
that he replied : ' I am come to clear the innocent,
not to denounce the guilty.' So saying, he left the
grave, but it is not certain whether he immediately
left Lisbon, or whether he remained the rest of the
day with his father. When Antony returned to the
monastery of Arcella Vecchia, he had been absent
one day and two nights.
It has already been remarked that either there are
two versions of this famous anecdote, or this was
not the only occasion on which God was pleased
SOME MIRACLES. 105
to make Antony the instrument of saving the
honour and the life of his father. The second
miracle is related in this place, although, according
to the most probable accounts, it did not take place
till nearly two years later, when the Saint was at
Milan. It is not known precisely what office Don
Martin held in the Portuguese Court, but it was one
of dignity and responsibility, and involved the
management of a considerable part of the royal
revenue. More confiding than business-like, he
seems to have given in the account of what he had
received and laid out, and paid over the balance to
his subordinate officials, without requiring any
acknowledgment from them. After the lapse of
several months, they came upon Don Martin for his
accounts : it was in vain for him to protest that he
had already given them in, and to remind his enemies
of the circumstances. A plot was on foot to ruin him,
and all declared that they had received no accounts,
while he had no proofs to give. He was standing
before his audacious accusers, stupefied by the blow
that had fallen upon him, and despairing of proving
his innocence, when suddenly his son stood by his
side and commanded his father's enemies instantly
to write a receipt for the money, mentioning the
time, the exact hour, and the place, where and when
they had received it, and describing the different
io6 SOME MIRACLES.
coins in which it had been paid, threatening them
with terrible punishments from God if they disobeyed
his warning. As soon as they had given the receipt
the Saint disappeared, and Martin returned home
rejoicing.
It is, perhaps, some confirmation of these mar-
vellous accounts that we find Antony held in the
greatest veneration, both in Lisbon generally, and
in his own family, immediately after his death. He
certainly never visited Portugal in the ordinary
course of his apostolical ministry, nor is it very
likely that his great achievements in France and
Italy would soon make their way to a region so
distant. But, as will be seen further on, the people
of Lisbon and the family of Martin de Bulloens
always considered that he belonged to them in a
special manner, though he was to be known in the
Church as the Saint of another city and of the family
of St. Francis.
CHAPTER VII.
Antony and Ezzelino.
THE favourite subject for Christian art in the life of
St. Antony of Padua is the exquisitely beautiful inci-
dent which we have already related of our Lord's
visiting and embracing him in the form of an infant.
Often, too, he is represented holding a lily, as an
emblem of his wonderful purity ; but there is another
subject, not so frequently chosen, representing a
scene in which the gentle Saint, whom we have
followed in solitary retirement, in miracles of charity,
in unwearied missionary labours, comes before us in
another character, that of the undaunted rebuker of
tyranny and oppression, the defender and advocate
of the helpless and oppressed.
The traditions which survive of his preaching add
this feature to the others of which his character, as it
has come to us, is made up. His sermons were
addressed to audiences of all sorts, and succeeded
with all. ' He distributed his learning,' says the old
chronicle, ' according to the needs of those who heard
io8 ANTONY AND EZZELINO.
him in such a manner that all were satisfied. Hence
his sermons were held by all to be so many miracles,
and the people were dying of desire to hear him, espe-
cially men of letters, on account of his grace and
eloquence of speech, as well as the subtlety and
vivacity of his intelligence, by means of which he so
marvellously gave the true meaning and number and
weight and value to the things of which he discoursed.
He had also a wonderful discretion, and ordinarily,
great pleasantness, and yet with great severity and
constancy did he reprove the great ones of this world, -
so that famous preachers who listened to him used to
tremble with fear, and were wonderfully astonished at
his having so great boldness. Many others went
away, in order not to hear these reprehensions, or
covered their faces when he uttered them. And yet
were they so seasoned by him with a certain fitting
quantity of salt, so to speak, and his wonderful virtue
of discretion, according to the opportunities of times,
places, and persons, that even when his teaching
appeared at first to have some asperity, nevertheless
in the end it was sweet and gentle and such as every
one could bear, and thus without any scandal he
frightened sinners, strengthened the weak, encoura-
ged the poor, and made the obstinate tremble."
The scene to which we refer is one of these bold
reprehensions. We see a young friar standing
ANTONY AND EZZELINO. 109
with uplifted hand and a face of grave reproof, while
kneeling at his feet, in an attitude of humble submis-
sion, and with a look of wondering awe, is a warrior
in full armour, his sword cast on the ground beside
him, and his girdle round his neck. The kneeling
knight is Ezzelino da Romano, commonly called the
tyrant of Padua, the same whose stern brow with
black shadowing hair, 1 surges up before us from the
red waves of that awful river of blood in Dante's
Seventh Circle, among those
Che diet nel sangue e nell' aver di piglio.
There was no greater or more powerful house in
the Marches of Treviso, in this and the preceding
century, than that of the Ezzelini. Foremost in
every chivalrous enterprize, brave, spirited, and
ambitious, their faults and virtues were those of
the mediaeval knights of their age and country, But
the last of the race, who comes into the story of
St. Antony, was a monster of crime and barbarity,
who, even in that age of iron-handed force, stands
out pre-eminent for ruthless cruelty and unscrupulous
ambition. He was born in 1194, and took the title,
da Romano, by which he is generally known, from the
fief of that name, conferred upon him by his worthy
ally, the excommunicated Emperor Frederic II.
1 Quella fronte c' ha '1 pel cosi nero ' (Inferno, canto xii.).
no . ANTONY AND EZZELINO.
He first attacked the city of Vicenza, and treated
its inhabitants with savage ferocity. Then, towards
the close of 1227, he fell upon Verona, and caused
himself to be created Captain-General of the place.
Like a destroying blast he and his soldiery rushed
on, and in the following year laid waste the country
round Padua with fire and sword. Ezzelino attacked
and made himself master of the fortified castle of
Fonte, belonging to the Counts of Sampiero, seized
upon the person of Count Giacopo's son William,
who was still a child, and threw him into prison,
The Padovani rose like one man against the invader.
There was a cry to arms throughout the city, an
army was speedily collected, and marched to make
reprisals on the castles of the Ezzelini.
Antony's heart bled for the trouble that had
fallen on his beloved city, and not only did he
grieve for that distress, but he saw the fruit of his
labours, the work of his Master, the salvation of
many souls, endangered by the tumult of excited
passions, the bloodshed and rapine, and the thousand
evils which war brings in its train. His indignation
against the author of all these calamities was
heightened by his personal affection for the Campo-
sampieri. The child whom Ezzelini had shut up
in prison was the nephew of his special friend Tiso,
in whose house, as will be remembered, Antony had
ANTONY AND EZZELINO. in
been favoured with the visit of our Divine Lord.
The tyrant was at this time at Bassano, and thither,
on the ayth of March, immediately after the Easter
festival, our Saint went to plead the cause of God
and His people with him. Antony stood before
Ezzelino in the simple majesty of holiness, full of
zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of the
poor sinner before him, and in words of fearless
energy reproved him for the ambition which made
him a young man in the flower of his age trample
on every consideration of justice and compassion,
shed the blood of his brethren, stir up feuds and
hatred where he found peace and harmony, and add
to these acts of savage cruelty the basest arts of
dissimulation and bad faith. He told him that God
would hold him answerable, not only for his" own
sins, but for every act of brutality and rapine
committed by his followers ; that now was the time,
when the voice of God's messenger was sounding in
his ears, to turn back from the path of guilty
ambition, to put an end to bloodshed, to give
peace to the land. He was to restore the innocent
child to liberty, and the castle of Fonte to its right-
ful owners. Was not his imperial fief enough for
him, and would not the praise of Christian modera-
tion be a fairer prize than any blood-bought triumph ?
Then he went on to threaten him with God's
H2 ANTONY AND EZZELINO.
vengeance if he turned away from this warning, and
to picture to him the life and death which would be
his lot his heart torn by the fear and hatred of
those he had wronged, days poisoned by jealousy
and suspicion, sin heaped upon sin, and the end of
all to die with curses ringing in his ears, despairing
of mercy, and lost for all eternity.
For some time Ezzelino strove to resist Antony's
words, and those who were present expected a burst
of furious anger from him,little used as he was to words
of counsel, far less of rebuke. But the outburst did
not come. They saw him cast aside his sword and
throw himself at the feet of the simple friar, with his
belt round his neck in token of submission and
humility, begging him to pray for him to the Lord
' that none of those things which had been spoken
might come upon him.'
Antony seems to have said no more to Ezzelino
at the time, but to have left him to listen to the
voice of conscience, whilst he himself went away to
commend the matter in earnest prayer to God. As
soon as he was gone the courtiers asked their lord
how it was he had allowed the friar to address such
language to him, and he is said to have replied thus :
' What could I do ? I tell you that while that friar
was speaking to me I saw his face all shining with
such a glory that it filled me with awe and terror,
ANTONY AND EZZELINO. 113
and I was conscious within myself of a feeling that
I cannot explain, which compelled me to take off
my belt and kneel down at his feet, as you saw
me do, like a criminal ; whatever he had told me
to do, I should have obeyed him, so terrified and
humiliated was L'
Wonderful as was the effect of Antony's words on
this ferocious tyrant, it was not lasting. In the imme-
diate object of his mission he was, as we shall see,
successful. But as regards his own soul, the miserable
man seems to have turned from what may have been
the last offer of grace, and to have continued his
course of brutality and sin the tyrant's life and death
with which Antony had threatened him if he did not
repent. Even before his bold visitor left Bassano,
Ezzelino had so far recovered from his awe as to
dare to make trial of his disinterestedness. He sent
some of his followers to offer him a valuable present,
and instructed them to kill him on the spot if he
accepted it, but if he refused it to resent nothing
that he said to them, however severe, in the way
of reproof. The messengers offered Antony their
master's gift with every mark of respect, begging
him, of his kindness and charity, to accept the present
which their lord sent by their hands, and to promise
to help him by his prayers. ' God forbid,' said the
Saint, ' that I should accept a gift all stained with
H4 ANTONY AND EZZELINO.
the blood of the innocent and of Christ's poor, which
loudly Aeries for vengeance to the throne of God,
and for which your master will have to give a strict
account to Him. Go back, and bid him not to abuse
His patience and provoke His wrath. Go back, I
say, with all speed, that the roof may not fall upon
you nor the earth swallow you up.'
The tyrant was struck with admiration when he
heard how his offer had.been spurned, and did justice
to the saintly, character of Antony. Although it was
against .his will that he had submitted to be rebuked
and humiliated by the servant of God, he always
held him -in high esteem; he obeyed him by restoring
the castle of Fonte to its rightful owners, releasing
Giacopo Camposampiero's little son, and making
peace with Padua, which would certainly have en-
dured still greater severities at his hands but for the
restraint imposed on him by his veneration for
Antony during the short remainder of the Saint's
life. Even after his death this veneration showed
itself; for when he seized upon Padua in 1237, and
spared neither Church nor priest in his sacrilegious
covetousness, he left untouched all the offerings at
St. Antony's shrine, laid no impediments in the way
of their continuance, and allowed the Friars Minor
to carry on the magnificent works which they had
undertaken in his honour. ;
ANTONY AND EZZELINO. 115
We may imagine the joy with which the Padovani
greeted Antony on his return from Bassano, and how
the love they had for him before would be deepened
by gratitude for the generosity with which he had
exposed himself to peril of death in braving the anger
of the tyrant Ezzelino, and for the great and solid
blessings he had won for them.
CHAPTER VIII.
Antony in ^Emilia.
ANTONY only gave himself a few days at Padua to
rejoice over the restoration of peace and to give
thanks for God's mercies, before he addressed himself
to continuing the visitation of his province. The
part which now claimed his care was that which is
Romagna proper, and which is also called ^Emiiia,
from Caius ^Emilius the Roman consul, who made
the great road from Rimini to Placentia.
Antony's first visit on this occasion was to Ferrara.
As usual, he travelled slowly, preaching frequently on
his journey, visiting his brethren whenever any houses
of the Order were near, and hunting out and attacking
heresy wherever he found it lurking. His labours
and miracles in Padua, and the success of his mission
to the tyrant, made him the object of enthusiastic
affection and reverence, and blessings greeted him
on all sides as the peacemaker and the saviour of
the country. Great numbers in Ferrara were con-
verted by his preaching, and miracles continued to
ANTONY IN EMILIA. 117
confirm his ministry. One of these is singularly
striking. A lady one day came to him in the deepest
distress, entreating him to help her by his powerful
prayers, and to remove from her husband's mind the
cruel and unjust doubts of her fidelity which he en-
tertained. The unhappy man was so overpowered
by jealousy that he had outraged his wife by telling
her that he did not believe he was the father of a
child to which she had lately given birth. He repeat-
edly threatened to kill both child and mother. Antony
consoled the poor wife with the kindest words, en-
couraged her to have great confidence in God, Who
is the Helper of the helpless, and promised to make
her trouble a matter of special prayer. After a few
days he met the husband walking in the street with
several friends, and they all stopped and began talking
together. As they were doing so the child's nurse
passed by with the baby in her arms, and the mother
also was at a little distance. Antony stopped the
nurse and began to notice and caress the child.
Then, full of faith in God's power and mercy, he
said : ' Tell me, dear child, which of these is your
father ? ' and the baby, turning towards its father and
fixing its eyes full upon him, replied in a clear and
distinct voice, first mentioning his name, ' This is
my father.' Then while all were silent from astonish-
ment, and the father overcome with shame and
n8 ANTONY IN JSMILIA.
delight, Antony placed the child in his arms, saying,
' Be at rest, you can no longer have any doubts
when your child's own lips have told you the truth.'
The man burst into tears, asked pardon for his
unworthy suspicions, and never again wronged his
wife by them. This miracle is represented in marble .
in the Chapel of St. Antony.
From Ferrara the Saint went to visit the hermitage
of Montepaolo and the different monasteries of
Romagna, to the great delight and edification of the
people, who remembered his preaching and the proofs
of his sanctity which they had witnessed when he
was with them six years before, and who now eagerly
pressed forward to hear him and to receive his bless-
ing. He revisited Bologna, where he first taught
theology, and where his brethren at Santa Maria
delle Pugliole, whom he had instructed in that divine
science, were now his successors in teaching it to
the clergy of the place. He was still there when
he received orders from the Minister General to go
and preach at Florence". He was received by his
brethren at Santa Croce, and was called upon to
preach almost immediately on his arrival. At that
time one of the vices most prevalent in Florence
was that of usury, and he attacked it with zeal and
energy. Whilst he was doing this a miracle took place,
for which we have the authority of St. Bonaventure,
ANTONY IN ^EMILIA.
and which is the subject of a picture in the Church
of St. Petronia at Bologna. A man of good family
and position, but a notorious usurer, died, and Antony
was asked to preach at his funeral. Early in the
morning of .the appointed day the Saint had a reve-
lation during his prayer that the soul of the unhappy
man was lost. Antony .took for his text the words,
' Where thy .treasure is, there shall .thy heart be
also,' and preached to a crowded audience on the
enormity of .the sin of usury. Never had he spoken
more powerfully or more fearlessly : many of those
who heard him must have felt his stern reproofs
come home to their own souls as he branded the
usurer as the worst enemy .of his fellow- creatures,
rejoicing in .their calamities, and welcoming times of
dearth, or tempests, or floods, as so many oppor-
tunities of enriching himself at the expense of -the
sufferers, feeding on the hardly .gained earnings, and
drinking the blood of the poor : ' Nay, more than
this,' he continued ; ' cruel as the usurer is to others,
he is far more so to himself. To. all he is a pitiless
enemy, but most of all to his own soul, since hardly
ever does such a one escape eternal torments. This
very man whom you are laying in the grave was one
of these miserable beings ; he was a miser, a usurer,
and now he is buried in hell, where he will be tor-
mented for ever and ever. Go to his house, and
120 ANTONY IN JEMILIA.
in the safe where he stored his money, the treasure
in which he delighted, you will find his heart.'
The excitement and horror produced by these
words may be imagined: without waiting for the
end of the sermon the people rushed to the house
of the dead man, compelled his friends to open
the safe, where, still warm and palpitating, his heart
was found. Not satisfied with this they returned to
the church and insisted on opening the breast of
the corpse,, which was seen to contain no heart. It
was declared unworthy of Christian burial, dragged
outside the city walls, and thrown into a place where
dead animals were buried. The effects, of this awful
revelation of God's judgements were seen in the
numerous conversions which followed, especially
among those addicted to the vice of usury. But
there were others less welcome to the Saint, for the
veneration conceived for him by the Florentines was
so great that he resolved, in his humility, rather to
suspend his labours among them for a time than to
continue receiving the universal homage which he
could not avoid so long as he remained in the city.
Accordingly he retired to Mount Alvernia in the
Apennines, a spot consecrated by the memory of
St. Francis and of the marvellous favours bestowed
on him there.
CHAPTER IX.
Alvernia and Assist.
LOCAL tradition still points out the site of the cave
said to have been occupied by St. Antony in the
rocky and wooded solitude of Alvernia, on which
has been built a small chapel or oratory. He re-
fused, out of humility, to inhabit the cave in which
St. Francis had received the sacred stigmata, but
his love for the great Saint made him choose another
as near to it as possible. The record of that time
of retirement and communion with God is only
known to Him. A time of heavenly refreshment
indeed it must have been, coming in the midst of
wearying labours and incessant activity, to fortify
and console him by unbroken intercourse with the
Divine Friend and Lover of his soul, that interchange
of descending grace and ascending answering love,
in the strength of which he was to go forth once
more and finish the short remainder of his pilgrimage
' to the Mount of God.' The Lent of 1229, which
fell early, was drawing on, when Antony returned
122 ALVERNIA AND ASSISI.
to Florence. On his way thither, he passed through
a city which is described as ' considerable,' and
which must have been Arezzo, as it is the only
town between Alvernia and Florence. The heretical
teachers had contrived .to insinuate themselves with
the inhabitants, and counted a great many of them
among the number of their secret adherents. Antony
stayed there to deliver a course of sermons against
the false doctrines. ,
A certain nobleman of Arezzo, ; to whom he was
providentially directed, was of so furious and un-
governable a disposition, that he seemed utterly
bereft of reason in his fits of passion. His wife,
who was a good and gentle woman, one day used
some incautious expressions which excited him to
madness ; and after subjecting her to the-most savage
ill-usage, even dragging her long hair out of her
head, he flung her from the window into the court.
The servants, hearing her cries, came to her assist-
ance, carried her in, and laid her, scarcely breathing,
on her bed. When his fit of rage was over, the
unhappy man was overpowered by remorse and
anguish. He was looking in despair at his ill-used
and apparently dying wife, when it suddenly struck
him that he had heard of the wonderful friar who
was preaching in the city, and who was said to
work marvellous miracles. He sought him out, and
ALVERNIA AND ASSISI. 123
throwing himself at his feet, confessed his guilt, and
implored him to return with him to the house and
help his innocent wife.
Antony made the sign of the cross over her, and
then knelt down by her bedside and began praying
fervently. As he prayed, every mark of violence
passed away. She regained strength and health ;
even her hair was miraculously restored to her head,
and she sprang up, giving thanks to God and His
servant. The husband's soul was healed at the same
time, and he .never again was guilty of a violent
word or action.
The Florentines welcomed Antony back amongst
them with the greatest joy and reverence, and he
remained with them through Lent, preaching con-
tinually and with much fruit. After Easter our Saint
left Florence and continued .the visitation of his
province, stopping at the different monasteries on
the way till he came to Milan. That city was torn
by the Guelph.and Ghibelline factions, and the latter,
or the Imperialist party, had fraternized with the
heretical Waldenses, who preached their pernicious
doctrines with greater boldness than elsewhere,
having so many supporters among the Ghibellines.
The civil arm was raised against the heretics as dis-
turbers of the public peace ; and Pope Gregory IX.
was aided in putting down the mischief by the
124 ALVERNIA AND ASSISI.
Government, for the Emperor Frederic II., now
for a time assisted the Church. The strongest
measures were enforced, and even those who har-
boured the offenders were made liable to heavy fines
for favouring the excommunicated.
Antony was at once engaged in the war against
heresy, in which he was a veteran soldier. He held
public disputations with many of its principal teach-
ers ; and his powerful defence of the Catholic Faith,
his clear explanations of its doctrines,, and his zeal
for the souls who> had beea reduced from it, won
back vast nurnbersy inspiring them with a hatred
not only of heresy, but of the unchristian spirit of
faction and party warfare so prevalent everywhere
in the Middle Ages v and so especially the bane and
curse of Italy.
From Milan Antony went to Vercelli, where, it
will be remembered, he had studied theology. He
took up his. abode in the monastery of his Order,
and had the happiness of a meeting with his old
master, Don Thomas, who had- now for two years
governed St. Andrew's- Monastery as Abbot. He
preached to the people,, and then went on to Varese,
the inhabitants of which city conceived the strongest
affection for him, His preaching, among them was
most effectual, and they insisted on his founding a
house of the Order in their town,, near- which there
ALVERNIA AND ASSIST. 125
is,, to this day, a well blessed by him. His next
halting-place was Cremona, where he made some
stay, and where his labours were rewarded by the
warm affection of the people.
Outside the gates was a little monastery near San
Guglielmo, which had been founded by St. Francis
nine years before on his return from the East. When
Antony visited Cremona, the community, which had
become too numerous, were about to move into a
more spacious home within the walls. The holy
founder had just been solemnly canonized by Pope
Gregory IX., and when Antony opened the new
church, he had the happiness of dedicating it to
St. Francis, and of giving the habit to seven young
men of the city, of whose vocation he was well
assured. Cremona is rich in holy wells. There is
one near the walls, which received the double bene-
diction of St. Francis and St. Dominic, and in the
garden belonging to the monastery there is another
blessed by St. Antony.
Stopping at Bergamo on the way, the Saint passed
on to Brescia. This city had been for some time
infested by heresy, and distracted by discord, its
usual companion. So long as a year ago, the holy
bishop, Blessed Guala, who belonged to the Domi-
nican Order, had earnestly entreated him to come
among them, firmly believing that he whose presence
126 ALVERNIA AND ASSISI.
had restored peace and unity to so many towns,
ravaged by .heresy and strife would bring the same
good gifts to Brescia. The hope was fulfilled : the
inhabitants, full of eagerness to hear him, came
in great numbers to his sermons, and it was wonder-
ful how quickly the false teachers lost ground and
credit. Antony's burning words and saintly charac-
ter were irresistible ; and Brescia was soon an altered
place. He was obliged to preach out of doors, as
no church could contain the crowds .who thronged
to hear him. It is said that more than thirty
thousand came at once. Certainly his success
here was a great triumph of the Cross: so deep
was the peace in which he left the city which had
been for years torn by all kinds of dissension and
tumult.
At Breno, in the neighbourhood of Brescia, there
still exists a memorial of Antony's labours, an in-
scription let into the wall at the back of the pulpit
in the church of St. Peter's Monastery which he
founded there. It is placed underneath a portrait of
the Saint, and is in these words : ' Hie divi Antonii
de Padua concionandi locus est magna veneratione
perpetuo tenendus.'
From Breno he went, by the lake of Garda, to
Trent where the Friars Minor had a house, and
thence to Verona, which seems to have been one
ALVERNIA AND ASSIST. 127
of the last strongholds of heresy. Its adherents there
bodily showed their colours, and openly adopted
the name of Manichaeans. At Verona, as at Milan,
faction was the ally of false doctrine, and the miser-
able feuds of Guelph and Ghibelline were kept up,
the former by the Count of Sanbonifazio, and the
latter by Ezzelino da Romano. It is true that at
this time Verona was outwardly at peace, and that .
the opposite parties were not in open hostility: but
the affairs of religion were in a state of confusion,
when Antony visited the city. It seems most likely
that he occupied himself with preaching and other
functions of his ministry, but he was suddenly
recalled to Padua, which is at. no great distance, to
superintend a new foundation there. This was the
restored Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, or ' Mater
Domini,' which had been built in the eleventh century
by John Belludi, a merchant, of Padua, who was the
ancestor of Antony's devoted companion, Luca, of
whom we have heard before. It had fallen into
decay and had just been rebuilt by Giacopo Corrado,
Bishop of Padua, in the very beginning of his episco-
pate. He determined to give it to the Friars Minor,
who, as we know, had the little Monastery of Arcella
without the walls. After concluding this business,
Antony resumed his provincial visitation, which he
completed at Mantua, where he remained till the
128 ALVERNIA AND ASSIST.
Easter of 1230. Immediately after the feast he set
out for Assisi, where the General Chapter was to be
held at Pentecost, at Sta. Maria degli Angeli.
Nine years had passed since he had first appeared
among the crowd of friars from all countries at the
Chapter of 1221, unknown and even outwardly
despised. And now the whole of the north of Italy
and the south of France venerated him as a Saint
and an Apostle. It was but little more than eight
years since he had been forced by obedience to
break the silence in which he had intended to
spend his life before the little community at Forli.
He was still young, and he looked even younger
than he was. Disease was already at work upon
his constitution, and his austerities as well as his
labours must have secretly worn away his strength.
But when the Chapter received him at the already
famous shrine of the Portiuncula, they must have
rejoiced to think that, brilliant as his career had
been, he was yet but at the outset of a long life
devoted to the glory of God.
BOOK THE THIRD.
THE LAST YEAR OF A SHORT LIFE.
CHAPTER I.
Some notes of Franciscan history.
THE General Chapter of the Franciscan Order which
was attended by St. Antony at Assisi in the spring of
1230, was a meeting of much importance in itself
and in its results as to our Saint's own movements.
It may be well in the present place to sum up some
of the chief events relating to the Order which had
occurred during the interval which separated it from
the death of St. Francis in October, 1226. At the
time of the death of the blessed Founder, the famous
Fra Elias of Cortona was governing the Order as
the Vicar of St. Francis. We find in the Franciscan
Chronicles a list of nine virtues which St. Francis
left in writing to his beloved disciple Ginepro, as
the virtues which he himself had been specially
inspired by God to practise. The sixth head of
this list tells us that he loved to be reprehended,
and gave infinite thanks to such as reproved him,
but that it was much against his will that he reproved
any one himself, although he was most zealous for
132 SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY.
the honour of God, the salvation of his neighbour,
and the observance of the rule ; and that it was on
this account that he renounced the office of General.
Fra Elias, though so different in spirit from his
great Founder, was yet a man of the highest ability
and dexterity, perfect in the management of business,
a general favourite, and at the time of which we are
speaking, not yet known as an advocate of any
relaxation in the observance of the rule. The
circular letter which he issued on the death of
St. Francis is given in the Chronicles, and is a well
written document, breathing the true Franciscan
spirit.
Many old writers, and among them the authors of
the Chronicles themselves, tell us that , Fra Elias
was elected Minister General of the Order in the
Chapter which was held some months after the death
of St. Francis, and to attend which St. Antony left
France. The truth is that Fra Elias was not elected
in that Chapter, and that it was perhaps the dis-
appointment of this seeming want of confidence
in him that first sowed in his heart the fatal seeds
of so much future evil. The successor of St. Francis
was Fra Giovanni Parenti, a religious eminent for
virtue and prudence. Honorius III., who had con-
firmed the Franciscan rule, and had always been a
devoted friend and admirer of its great Patriarch,
SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY. 133
died not long after him. The new Pope, Gregory IX.
was the Cardinal of Ostia who had been the Pro-
tector of the Order under Honorius, and who made
it his great duty and delight to advance in every
way the glory of St. Francis. It seems that the new
Pope was well acquainted with Fra Elias, and valued
him highly for the many great qualities which he
undoubtedly possessed. It may have been partly
to make up to him for the seeming slight which
had been put upon him, as well as from knowledge
of his extraordinary ability and aptitude for such a
business, that the Pope committed to his care the
building of. the magnificent monastery and church
which he intended to erect as a monument to
St. Francis and for the resting-place of his remains.
The glorious pile of Assisi, known as the Sacro
Convento, is due mainly to the munificence of
Gregory and to the skill and taste of Fra Elias,
and it was on this that he was occupied during the
years which immediately followed the death of his
blessed Father in Christ.
Meanwhile the whole country was full of the glory
with which it pleased God on His own part to
honour the Saint whom He had so lately taken to
Himself. The common opinion as to his sanctity
was too strong to be resisted, but the Pope, in order
to satisfy the prudence of some of the Cardinals
134 SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY.
ordered the evidence both of the virtues and of the
miracles of St. Francis to be carefully examined and
tested. The miracles multiplied so fast that the
Process was very soon over, and on July 16, 1228,
a year and nine months after the death of the Saint,
he was solemnly canonized by the Pope at Assisi
itself. The Bull is dated from St. John Lateran, the
26th of March of the same year, that is, on Easter
Day. The body of the Saint was then in the
Church of St. George at Assisi, and on the day of
the canonization the Pope himself laid the first stone
of the new and magnificent church which still exists.
The translation of the body of St. Francis to the
new church was solemnized on the eve of Pentecost,
May 25, 1230, arid was the first great business
accomplished by the General Chapter at which
St. Antony, as has been said, was present. The
upper church, which contains so many beautiful
frescoes now in a state of decay, was added after-
wards, though a part of the original plan. The
church in which St. Francis was interred is that
which is now called the lower church.
There was, however, a still more important and
a very difficult matter for the assembled Chapter
to decide. St. Francis had left behind him a docu-
ment which is known as his testament or will, in
which, among a number of very beautiful and
SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY. 135
characteristic sayings, he enjoined certain things
upon the members of his Order as to the strict
observance of poverty and obedience which were
not "contained in the original rule. This gave rise
to a question among the Franciscans, many of whom
were desirous that the testament should be observed,
though at the same time it was doubtful whether
its provisions were or could be made obligatory.
One of these provisions forebade any gloss or inter-
pretation of the letter of the rule, and another pro-
hibited all applications for privileges to the Holy See.
These were naturally matters as to which there would
be a diversity of opinion, and which could only be
finally settled by the highest authority in the Church.
It was therefore resolved that a deputation of mem-
bers of the Chapter should be sent to Rome to lay the
question before the Pope himself, so great a friend
to St. Francis in his lifetime and to the Order after
his death. It was as one of these deputies that
St. Antony was now to take his first journey to the
Eternal City.
At this Chapter Antony was relieved of his charge
as Provincial, and ordered by the Minister General,
Giovanni Parenti, to give himself up entirely to
preaching. The accounts which had been received
of the wonderful conversions and the abundant fruit
produced by his sermons led the General to believe
136 SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY.
that he could better promote the glory of God in this
way than in any other ; and we cannot doubt that
the miraculous powers so lavishly bestowed on
Antony were the occasion of its being expressly said
that he was thenceforth to be at liberty to go and
preach in any place to which the Spirit of God should
call him. It was also resolved, at the suggestion of
Rinaldo Conti, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, that he
was to have time at his disposal for writing his
sermons, so that he, being dead, might yet speak, and
labour for the glory of God and the good of his
neighbour even after his earthly life was over.
This, of course, could not be regularly done so long
as he filled the busy and onerous post of Pro-
vincial.
It was during this Chapter that Antony prophesied,
before its birth, the martyrdom of a child. A devout
lady of Assisi very earnestly begged that one of the
fathers might go to visit and console her, as the
time of her confinement was approaching, and great
fears were entertained for her life. Antony was sent
to her, and he bade her be of good courage, as both
she and the son she was about to bring into the
world would do well. He added, with the yearning
regret which never seems to have left him on this
subject, that the child would enter the Order of
Friars Minor, and happier than himself would win
SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY. 137
the martyr's crown, of which he had not been found
worthy.
The prophecy was fulfilled : after a childhood of
singular holiness this lady's son while very young
became a Friar Minor, and at the age of fifty was
sent into the East on a mission. Fra Filippo, such
was his name, was in the city of Azotus when it
was treacherously given into the hands of the Sultan ;
and the Christians', to the number of two thousand,
were condemned to death on their refusal to apos-
tatize from their holy Faith. Fearful that some of
them might be tempted by the dread of the torments
which awaited them to declare themselves Maho-
metans, he obtained permission to be the last to die.
The infidels granted his request the more readily as
they hoped that his constancy would not be proof
against the sight of the sufferings of his fellow-
Christians. But no sooner was this army of martyrs
led out to death, than the holy friar began at once
to animate them with words of burning zeal, bidding
them show themselves worthy soldiers of Christ, Who
had revealed to him the night before that that day
he should enter in the company of more than a
thousand martyrs into the glory of Paradise. One
after another, as Fra Filippo ceased not to encourage
and console them, the Christians came forward fear-
less and rejoicing, and bared their necks to the
138 SOME NOTES OF FRANCISCAN HISTORY.
executioner's scimitar. The Sultan, enraged at the
disappointment of his hopes, cried out that the
accursed blasphemer of the Prophet should be then
and there put to death with fearful torments ; and
before the eyes of the Christians who were still alive
his fingers were cut off, joint by joint, while he with
undaunted courage continued to address his com-
panions, whose constancy was only the more con-
firmed by his heroic conduct. Mad with fury, the
Sultan commanded him to be flayed alive, and his
tongue to be torn out. It was done ; but still,
bleeding, mutilated, and dumb, the glorious martyr,
by his looks and gestures, and above all by his bright
example, cheered them on to the victory now so
nearly won, till their bodies all lay dead on the battle-
field, and their souls as their Lord had promised,
went to celebrate their triumph in heaven. The
infidels, as an additional insult, left the corpses of
Fra Filippo and his companions lying many days
unburied in the place where they had been slain ;
but the heavenly fragrance which filled the air around
them bore witness to their sanctity, and filled even
the Saracens with wonder and reverence.
Antony met an old friend at Assisi, Adam de
Marisco, his fellow-student at Vercelli, who had been
the pride of Don Thomas's class till the young friar
from Rimini eclipsed them all, in spite of himself.
CHAPTER II.
Antony at Rome.
ON his arrival at Rome, Antony was appointed spokes-
man of the deputation, and he laid the matter before
the Pope, and stated the opinions and arguments on
each side with his usual modesty, force, and lucidity.
Gregory received the fathers very kindly, listened with
attention to their statement of the difficulty, and said
he would take time to consider it. It was three months
before he decided the question by a Bull dated from
Anagni, on the 28th of September, 1230. This Bull
is to be found in the Chronicles of the Order, and it
shows us what the points were as to which the dis-
cussion had arisen. The question of the obligation
of observing the testament of St. Francis is the first.
The others relate to certain passages in the rules, as
where it is declared that the Frati are obliged to
observe the Evangelical Counsels, and it is doubted
whether the obligation extends to all the Counsels,
or only those which are specially mentioned : or,
again, to the prohibition as to receiving money,
140 ANTONY AT ROME.
or having any property, even as a body, or the
rules as to the absolution of reserved cases, the ex-
amination and appointment of preachers, the faculty
of receiving members into the. Order, the voters for
the election of the Minister- General, and the rules
about not entering the convents of nuns. As
St. Francis had expressly forbidden any gloss or com-
mentary on his rule, it was necessary that the doubts
which naturally arose on subjects where the rule
seemed ambiguous should have to be settled by the
Pope. In the case of the testament of St. Francis,
the Pope declared that although he was convinced
of the piety of the intentions of St. Francis, as well
as of the desire of the Frati to be altogether con-
formed to his will, still, considering the danger to
souls, and the difficulties that might arise, the Frati
were not obliged to observe the testament, inasmuch
.as no such obligation could be laid on them without
their own consent, and especially that of their
Ministers, and also because no one had power to
bind his successor.
The Pope was much pleased at having Antony in
Rome. He conversed with him often and familiarly,
and the more he knew of him the greater was his
esteem for his deep theological learning and his
affection for his person. Indeed, it was said that he
loved him so much that nothing but his zeal for the
ANTONY AT ROME. 141
many souls whom our Saint's preaching and counsel
would save and benefit could have induced him to
part with him any more. He was very anxious that
Rome, too, as well as other places, should hear the
great preacher who had triumphed over heresy and
sin in so many other cities. He ordered Antony,
therefore, to preach before himself and the Sacred
College. Rome was crowded with foreigners at that
time, in consequence, as it seems, of the jubilee of the
Crusade which had just been proclaimed, which had
drawn strangers from all parts of Europe to the Holy
City. Whatever the reason was, we cannot but be
reminded of the great Pentecost at Jerusalem, when
we read the list quoted from the ancient manuscript
by the Bollandists, enumerating Greeks, Spaniards,
Germans, French, English, Scotch, Flemings, Swiss,
and Slavonians. The sequel makes the parallel more
remarkable.
These foreigners, then, crowded together to seethe
famous preacher ; to see him was all they expected,
for how could they hope to understand his language ?
Yet so it was : ' every man heard him speak in his
own tongue,' and he seemed to each one to speak it
with perfect facility and propriety. So far as our
records reach, St. Antony was the first to whom
this wonderful gift was ever granted since the days
of the Apostles. After him, it was bestowed on
I 4 2 ANTONY AT ROME.
St. Bernardine of Siena, at the Council of Florence,
on St. Louis Bertrand and St. Francis Solano in
America, and above all, most fully and gloriously on
St. Francis Xavier in the Indies, with whom this gift
seems to have been almost permanent. We can
hardly doubt, after what we have seen of Antony's
preaching in Italy, Carniola, and France, that the
same favour was habitual with him also.
In proportion to the wonder excited in Antony's
hearers, was the interior force with which his words
spoke to the soul of every man present. To each'
they brought home the conviction, the compunction,
the strength, that was needed by each, and the
Holy Father was so struck with admiration by his
profound knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, and
his theological learning, that he broke forth into the
well-known exclamation : ' This is the Ark of both
Testaments, and the storehouse of the Sacred
Scriptures.' 1 It may not be out of place to quote
here the words of the learned doctor, John Hay :
' Not without reason did the Pope give him the
title of " Ark of the Testaments," for the pages of
both Testaments were so clearly impressed on his
memory, that, like Esdras, he could, in case of
need, have perfectly restored the Sacred Scriptures
1 ' Area utriusque testamenti, et divinarum Scripturarum
armarium.'
ANTONY AT ROME. 143
from his memory, even if all manuscripts had been
destroyed. This is testified by those persons who had
long enjoyed daily intimacy and familiar intercourse
with him. Neither would he have lacked the power,
if the case required it, of explaining and interpreting
all the divine Scriptures with clearness and in their
manifold senses.
It must be again remembered that, necessary as the
perfect and deep knowledge of Sacred Scripture must
always be to any great preacher, there were particular
reasons in the mission of St. Antony, to convert the
heretics of his time, why he should have been armed
with an extraordinary grace of knowledge and inter-
pretation, and of the gift which we are told he so
constantly showed in his sermons, that of pointing out
the harmony and correspondence between the Old
Testament and the New. The revived Manichaeism
of the Albigenses made this gift specially appropriate
in him, inasmuch as one of the most specious tenets
of the sect was that which denied and rejected the
God of the Old Testament in favour, as it seemed, of
the God- of the New.
Gregory was even more impressed by the sanctity
of Antony, than by his extraordinary gifts and his
erudition. Some authors assert that he would fain
have kept him constantly with him, so that he might
take counsel with him in matters concerning the
144 ANTONY AT ROME.
government of the Church, but that he was baffled by
the humility of the Saint, who succeeded in escaping
from a position which would have brought with it so
much honour and consideration. The Pope did
actually keep Antony with him four months, during
which time he was in the habit of constantly convers-
ing with him, and he must have learned many wonder-
ful secrets of that blessed soul, which were, perhaps,
manifested to the Vicar of Christ by the Divine will,
in order that he might know, by personal experience,
the heroic virtues and supernatural gifts, which pro-
cured his canonization. It is impossible not to feel
that this visit of Antony to the Pope, who unhesi-
tatingly granted the petition for commencing the
process of his canonization, before he had been dead
a full month, was providentially arranged, and that
it was God's will that, as Gregory had known and
loved St. Francis, whom it was his happiness to raise
on the Altars of the Church, so, too, should it be with
the saintly founder's ' eldest son.'
At length, after mature deliberation, the Pope, as
has been said, gave his decision on the controverted
points. He was then residing at Anagni, where, as is
expressly mentioned in the Bull, he received Father
Parenti, the Franciscan General, who, having com-
pleted the business of the Chapter of Assisi, pre-
sented himself before the Supreme Pontiff, to accept
ANTONY AT ROME. 145
his decision concerning the affairs of his Order.
Then, at last, Gregory parted with Antony, charging
him, before dismissing him with the apostolic bene-
diction, to resume his labours of preaching whereso-
ever he should be inspired by the Holy Spirit to go,
and very earnestly recommending to him the request
of Cardinal Conti, and of many others, that he
would commit his sermons to writing.
Many good authorities tell us that St. Antony now
betook himself once again to the beloved solitude
of Alvernia. It was natural that as soon as he felt
himself free he should indulge for a time the over-
powering love for retirement and communion with
God which characterized him all through his life.
But he was not to remain long at Alvernia. It
was to Padua, the city he loved so well, and which
had so richly rewarded his labours by the abundance
of fruit he had gathered there, that Antony was
divinely inspired to return. It. was there, eight
months later, that his sacred ashes were to be laid.
September was nearly past when he turned his back
on Anagni, and, staff in hand, began his long journey,
and it was November when he reached the monastery
of Sta. Maria Maggiore in Padua. He may well
therefore have had time to pass a few precious
days on the lonely mountain side, sanctified by the
marvellous favours there bestowed upon St. Francis.
K
CHAPTER III.
Second visit to Padua.
ANTONY was welcomed by the Padovani with every
demonstration of love and gratitude. The memory
of his labours and miracles was fresh in- their hearts ;
and, above all, he was universally venerated as the
peacemaker who had risked his life and liberty for
his brethren by his fearless pleading with the tyrant
Ezzelino, and to whom they owed the rest and peace
which the city still enjoyed. He gave himself no
time to recruit after his long journey on foot from
Anagni, but at once began to preach to the people,
who thronged to hear him as eagerly as ever. One
of the earliest conversions which we hear of in this
second visit to Padua is very remarkable. There
were some woods at no great distance from the city,
which were the hiding-place of a band of robbers and
assassins, who were the terror of the country. Italy
was infested at this time with these banditti, who were
frequently disbanded soldiers, and in consequence
lived under a kind of discipline and organization of
SECOND VISIT TO PADUA. 147
their own, which made them still more formidable
than ordinary robbers. They were not afraid to
appear in the towns and villages ; and such was the
terror they inspired, that it was very seldom that they
were interfered with by the authorities. Twenty-two
of these men, having heard of the famous friar to
whose sermons all Padua was flocking, determined,
out of bravado, to disguise themselves, and go to
hear him. They had been told that, like another
Elias, he inflamed men's hearts by the fire of the
Spirit of God, and that no one could resist his words.
They found it to be true ; for as Antony spoke, they
seemed to see flames darting from his mouth, and to
feel their hearts pierced as with keen arrows. As he
went on, they saw that God must have revealed their
presence to him, for he described their crimes as
though he had seen them committed ; and after
having dwelt, in words which made them tremble, on
the punishment which would certainly fall on im-
penitent sinners in the next world, he invited them
with the tenderest charity to make their peace with
the God Whom they had offended, and to return to
the outstretched arms of His mercy. When the
sermon was over, they all went to Antony, weeping
and penitent, and told him who they were, why they
had come, and how his words had touched their
hearts. He received them with the utmost com-
I 4 8 SECOND VISIT TO PADUA.
passion and instructed them for confession, which
they all made with great humility and fervent resolu-
tion. In taking leave of them, Antony solemnly
warned them that if they returned to their former
sinful life, and abused the grace which God had so
wonderfully granted them, it would not again be
offered ; that they would fall into the hands of justice,
and die a public and shameful death. By far the
greater number persevered in leading a good life, and
died in excellent dispositions ; the few who went back
found that the Saint's words had been prophetic, for
they were all taken prisoners and executed. The
story was told by the last survivor of the band, who
died full of faith and confidence in God, after com-
pleting the penance which Antony had given him of
making twelve pilgrimages to the tombs of the
Apostles at Rome.
After Christmas Antony began a course of lectures
on the Christian Faith at Sta. Maria Maggiore. We
have seen how vigorously he attacked heresy on his
first coming to Padua, and how wonderful his success
had been in converting great numbers of its adherents.
But his vigilance never slumbered ; and he took this
opportunity, when he was explaining the Catholic
doctrines, to challenge the enemies of the Church,
and to pursue the evil into the secret lurking-places
where it still lingered. We have a striking proof of
SECOND VISIT TO PADUA. 14$
the triumph won by him in the city which lie found
so infected with heresy. Not three months after his
death Pope Gregory IX. addressed a Bull to the
authorities and citizens of Padua, in which he speaks
with high praise of their zeal for the truth, their hatred
of false doctrine, and their purity of manners. When
we remember that, though others had certainly
laboured there before Antony, the chief burthen and
heat of the day was borne by him, and that from his
hands the Lord of the harvest received His fairest
and fullest sheaves, we feel that even on his throne
in heaven his heart must have rejoiced at this praise
given by Christ's Vicar to his beloved Padovani, who
were, in the affectionate words of St. Paul to the
Thessalonjans, his ' hope and joy, and crown of
glory.'
Antony's charity was, as we know, not confined to
the spiritual needs of his children : he exercised it,
as we have so often seen, not only to relieve the
distress of an innocent wife, or bereaved mother, or
sick sufferer, but to help in what might be called an
inconvenience or annoyance, rather than a grief as
when he worked a wonderful miracle to repair the
borrowed cup, and to restore the wasted wine, and
even, as we shall see presently, to prevent a dress
from being soiled.
Debtors were a class of sufferers who were the
150 SECOND VISIT TO PADUA.
frequent subjects of his considerate charity. In
Padua, as elsewhere, the cruel absurdity prevailed of
imprisoning such persons, and so making it impos-
sible for them to help themselves. Antony appealed
to the government in their behalf, and we have the
result in a decree, issued immediately after his death,
in which it is declared that every debtor who gives
up to his creditors all that he possesses at the time,
shall thenceforward be free from molestation, and that
it is unlawful to arrest or imprison him. The decree
expressly states that this indulgence is granted at
Antony's request : Ad postulationem venerabilis Fvatvis
beati Antonii. We may remark by the way that the
title ' beatus,' here prefixed to his name, shows that
his culius began immediately after his death. A stone
is still to be seen in the town-hall of Padua bearing
an inscription which records this resolution in favour
of debtors a memorial of St. Antony's charity and
the gratitude of the Padovani.
It was about this time that Antony, being less
incessantly occupied with preaching than usual, set
about the work imposed upon him by the Bishop of
Ostia, of writing his Sermons on the festivals of the
saints. He died before the series was completed,
but he wrote out fifty-seven, from Christmas to the
Commemoration of St. Paul, and it is marvellous
how he found the time. For although he was not
SECOND VISIT TO PADUA. 151
preaching so continually as in Advent and Christmas,
yet, as we have seen, he was engaged in teaching
theology and lecturing on the Catholic doctrine, his
labours in the confessional were endless, he never
was known to refuse to hear a penitent, he constantly
visited the sick and afflicted, and, even in the matter
of preaching, his labours were only relaxed to be
resumed when Lent began, more energetically than
ever.
Antony's health had now been for some time failing.
His continual and extraordinary mortifications had
enfeebled his constitution, which was at the same time
tried by his public labours and fatiguing journeys.
Symptoms of the dropsy which brought him to the
grave had appeared some time before this, and being
neglected, the disease made rapid progress. And
yet he worked harder than ever in this last Lent of
his life, only a few months before he entered on his
rest. The tale of this Lent of 1231 tells us how-
faithfully his work was done. From morning till
night he laboured, never breaking his fast till late in
the evening, and then only with such a scanty allow-
ance of the coarsest food as was sufficient to support
him through the next day's toil. He was constantly
in the pulpit or the confessional, and the zeal of the
Padovani corresponded with his own. Never had
such a Lent been seen in Padua : crowds thronged
152 SECOND VISIT TO PADUA.
to confession, and it seemed as though no number of
priests would suffice for the needs of the people.
The fame of Antony's preaching drew the people
for miles round to hear him, and we read that the
roads presented the spectacle of a continual proces-
sion of persons of every age and condition ; soldiers,
merchants, noblemen, ladies of high rank and poor
labouring people, all anxious to share the blessings
which attended the ministrations of the holy friar.
It was a common thing for many to rise at midnight
and walk long distances with lighted torches to secure
a place in the church. Corrado, the good bishop of
Padua, went himself, and encouraged his clergy to
go, to hear Antony, and very soon it was found
necessary to abandon the churches and to erect a
pulpit in some open space outside the walls for
what church could hold thirty thousand persons ? It
was his practice to organize a religious procession,
or ' Stazione,' from the cathedral to the place where
he was to preach, and as soon as the time came for
forming it the market was deserted, the shops were
closed, the squares and houses left empty ; all
Padua was on it's way to the 'cathedral. As soon
as he mounted the pulpit there was dead silence
throughout his vast audience, a silence which could
hardly be said to be broken by the sighs and tears
which, as he went on, were drawn forth by his burning
SECOND VISIT TO PADUA. 153
words ; for it was one of the habitual miracles attend-
ing on Antony's preaching that none of these demon-
strations of feeling, so frequent and unrestrained in
an impulsive Italian crowd, were ever known either
to disturb the preacher or to hinder his being heard
with perfect ease by every person present. It was
found necessary to station guards round the pulpit,
who attended him to Sta. Maria Maggiore after the
sermon was over to protect him from the numbers
who pressed round him to kiss his hand or touch
his habit. Little indeed would have been left of the
latter but for these precautions, so eagerly did the
women try to cut pieces from it to be kept as precious
relics.
Besides these regular and stated occupations, there
were innumerable works of mercy and charity which
claimed his attention and seemed to multiply day
by day. There were the poor debtors to plead for
and to release from prison, their starving families to
beg for, the sick to visit, and the afflicted to console.
There were enemies to be reconciled, family disputes
to be settled, unlawful gains to be restored : Antony
was at everybody's beck and call, and never too busy
to listen and to help.
A time so rich in the conquests of grace could
not but rouse the powers of evil to do their utmost
to mar and hinder the work of God. Furious at
154 SECOND VISIT TO PADUA.
seeing so many souls snatched from his grasp, the
devil exerted all the arts of his malignity to blast
Antony's reputation and to stir up envious feelings
against him ; his life, even, was aimed at, but no
weapon prospered against him, and no calumnies
harmed him. At length Satan attacked him in person.
Once during this Lent, the Saint was taking a short
rest in sleep, when he felt his throat violently grasped
till he was nearly strangled. He made the sign of
the Cross, and, as well as he could, uttered the name
of Mary and recited the hymn, gloriosa Domina,
which was one of his favourite devotions. Immediately
his cell was flooded with brilliant light, by which he
saw the enemy of souls flying from the spot ; and
after giving thanks to God and our Lady for his
wonderful deliverance he calmly returned to rest.
A penitent of Antony's was one day prevented from
going to hear him preach by the duty of attending
on her sick husband. Her house was two miles from
the place appointed for that day's sermon, and the
intervening country was very woody, so that it was
quite impossible even to see the spot which had been
chosen. Nevertheless, it struck her that if God, to
Whom nothing is impossible, so pleased, He could
make the preacher audible, as had been the case
before, at any distance, and stepping out on the
balcony she listened attentively. Her faith was re-
SECOND VISIT TO PADUA. 155
warded, for she heard every word as clearly and easily
as if she had been close to the pulpit. Full of wonder,
she had her husband's bed moved to the window,
and the same miracle was worked in his case. They
could hardly believe their ears, and when their neigh-
bours returned home after the sermon they inquired
the subject of it and found that they had indeed been
enabled to hear it.
A lady was hurrying to the sermon one day , attended
by some of her servants, when her foot slipped and
she fell into a muddy ditch by the side of the path.
She was greatly distressed, for the dress she wore,
as an old writer says, was new and rich, and she
dreaded a. scolding from her husband, who had one
of the hot tempers which would seem to have been
the trial of so many wives in Antony's time ; but
when her servants lifted her up, there was not a
spot or stain on her clothes.
On another occasion, when the Saint was hastening
to escape from the prayers and blessings of his hearers,
a man carrying a little child in his arms passed through
the guards, and kneeling at Antony's feet implored
him to have compassion on his affliction. The little
girl, besides being subject to epileptic fits, was so
terribly deformed in her feet that she was unable
to stand, and could only crawl on her hands and
knees. The father begged Antony with many tears,
156 SECOND VISIT TO PADUA.
to make the sign of the Cross over the poor child,
and no sooner had he done so than she stood up and
began walking with the help of a stick. But before
they reached home she threw if away and ran into
the house, being perfectly cured of all her infirmities.
In the same way he healed the lame child of a
woman by the sign of the Cross, and in this instance
we are reminded of the faith of the Syrophenician,
and the delay by which our Lord tested it. Antony
tried to escape from the woman's entreaties that he
would make the sign of the Cross over the boy, but
the more he evaded her request the more earnestly
she pressed it, saying that she was sure that if he
would do as she begged him God would he ; al her
child. At length he yielded, and the cure' was in-
stantaneous. He charged her not to speak ,of the
miracle during his life, and assured her that her faith,
not his merits, had won .this grace.
CHAPTER IV.
Sermons of St. Antony.
IT is always a matter of regret when we possess but
slender means of becoming, as it were, personally and
intimately acquainted with the saints of the Church
whose lives we are studying. It must have occurred
more than once to the reader of a biography like the
present, that we should know more of St. Antony
as a man if some of his religious brethren had noted
down for us. more of his sayings, more records of his
personal habits, more characteristic anecdotes, if we
possessed a collection of his letters, or if his sermons
had come down to us in a form which might enable
us to discern more minutely and clearly the individual
features of his mind and heart. In some of these
ways many of the saints have become distinct and
familiar images in our minds. St. Francis himself is
revealed to us in many beautiful anecdotes and say-
ings : St. Chrysostom is known to us by his homilies
as a man, and not only as a preacher. St. Francis
-Xavier, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Teresa, are
I 5 8 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
painted for us in their letters. It is not so with
St. Antony of Padua. If we may trust the most
erudite and sagacious of his biographers, his sermons
have never yet been published as they exist in the
original manuscripts, and we may fairly suppose, from
the editions which we possess, that those original
manuscripts only contain the notes and heads, or what
we may call the bones of the discourses which he
delivered, or what, after having preached them, he
thought worthy of noting down as such. A careful
study of even these scanty and dry remains will .reveal
a great deal to a theological reader, who must, how-
ever, always remember that the centuries which
separate him from St. Antony, have been centuries
in which editors and compilers thought themselves at
liberty to adapt, arrange, omit, and even add freely
to, the materials which lay before them. We may,
however, perhaps trust an editor like the learned Pagi,
who in 1684, published St. Antony's Sermons on the
Saints, from an old manuscript of the century in which
the Saint lived. We may gather at least some notion
of his method by taking one of the sermons as it lies
before us in the volume published by Pagi. If it is a
correct representation of what St. Antony left behind
him, it is one of the sermons which occupied him
during his last period of .leisure at Camposampiero.
The sermon we select is one on the Annunciation
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 159
of our Blessed Lady. Under this head St. Antony
gives us, in fact, four sermons, and as all the four are
comprised in about thirty small pages of large print,
with an ample margin each page containing less
matter by at least a third than that now before the
reader's eye we may be pretty sure that we have
only the barest skeleton of what St Antony might
have preached in each case. The first sermon goes
through the Gospel of the day, which is, of course,
the history of the Annunciation, under four heads
or points, the Mission of Gabriel, the Annunciation
of the Incarnation, the Trouble of our Lady, and the
' Supervention ' of the Holy Ghost. Under the two
first heads and the last the third is omitted in the
body of the sermon rwe have notes either from
parallel passages in Scripture, the meaning of words
and names, the glosses of the Fathers, and the like
sources, which might be expanded at will by a prac-
tised preacher. Thus, ' Galilee ' is said to mean a
' wheel,' or ' migration,' and the human race is said
to be running from sin to sin, and ' migrating ' into
hell, from the slavery of sin to the damnation of hell,
but that the strength of God which is the meaning
of the word Gabriel, or ' God my strength ' was sent
to turn the rolling wheel to life, and make men
' migrate' from earth to heaven. Our Lady is com-
pared to the beautiful Rebecca of Genesis xxiv., and
160 ' SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
then we have heads of thought as to her beauty,
according to the words of the Canticles, Pulcva es,
arnica mea, suavis, et decora sicut Hierusalem ' She is
fair in her humility, dear in her charity, sweet in her
contemplation, and comely in her virginity, like the
heavenly Jerusalem in which God dwells,' as it is said
of our Lady, Qid cveamt me, vequiemt in tabevnaciilo
meo, that is, ' in my womb.' When he comes to the
words ' espoused to a man,' St. Antony gives from
Bede the three reasons why our Lord chose to be
born of one who was espoused. He goes on com-
menting in this way on the whole of the first part
of the Gospel. He thus puts the remarks on our
Lady's trouble under this head,'instead of separately,
and remarks ; on the beautiful mixture of prudence and
modesty which it shows.
The same method is pursued in the other points.
To read them as a sermon would be tiresome, but
they contain the germs of many sermons. ' Christ is
conceived in Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, crucified
on a hill in Jerusalem ; that is, He is conceived in
humility, born in charity, and crucified in elation.'
There are five persons in Scripture, he says, whose
names have been given before they were conceived.
Isaac, Samson, Josias, John Baptist, and our Lord.
These signify five classes of His elect, the charitable,
teachers whose life is as good as their teaching,
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 161
persons of devout prayer and mortification, penitents,
and good rulers of the Church. In each case the
name is made the foundation of the interpretation.
After this first sermon comes another, which is
called ' Moral,' in which the Gospel of the Annun-
ciation is explained of the conception of the spirit
of salvation in the soul. Our Lady is the faithful
soul, Gabriel the holy inspiration of grace, and so
on. Then there is an ' Allegorical Sermon,' in which
the circumstances of the vision of Elias on Mount
Horeb, the mighty wind, and the earthquake, and
the fire, and the whistling of a gentle air, are applied
to the Annunciation the salutation of the Angel is
the mighty wind, the trouble of our Lady is the earth-
quake, the fire is the coming of the Holy Ghost, and
the whisper is the consent of our Lady, in which ' the
Lord was,' because until she consented the Incarna-
tion did not take place. Here, as in many other
places, we find illustrations from natural facts, or
what are supposed to be such, very much as in the
sermonsand writingsof St. Francisde Sales. Speak-
ing of our Lady's trouble, he says that the shells
which receive the drops of dew and so ' conceive '
pearls, are shut up out of sudden fear and fright if
it should happen to lighten, because they fear that
their progeny may be defiled thereby. So the Blessed
Mary, who conceived the pearl of angels from the
1 62 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
dew of heaven here he quotes the text Rorat call
desuper was suddenly disturbed at the flashing light
of the angel, as it is sung by the Church Et
expavescit Vivgo de lumine. So we also, who desire in
the dew of grace to conceive the pearl of a holy
life, ought at once to be afraid at the bright light of
human praise, to repress and humble ourselves,
and to shut ourselves up and not go forth, lest
we lose by the favour of men what we have well
conceived.
The last sermon for this feast is on the same
passage of the Old Testament which has been applied
to the Annunciation in the second sermon. But in
this case the whole passage is applied directly to the
second coming of our Lord in the general judgment.
The four points, which correspond to those of the
third sermon, are. the wrath of the Judge, the sen-
tence of the damned, the fire of hell, and the ' gentle
whisper,' which invites the good to glory. As
Zacharias- says, Sibilabo eis, quia redemi eos. 1 'Then,
as Isidore says, the saints will know more fully what
good grace has conferred upon them, and what they
would have come to if the mercy of God had not
chosen them of His free bounty, and how true it is
that is said in the Psalms, " Mercy and judgment
will I sing to Thee, O Lord." This is most certainly
1 Zac. x. 8.
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 163
to be known, that no one will be delivered save by
undeserved mercy, and no one will be condemned
save by deserved judgment. Let us keep ourselves,
then, dearest, from the strong wind of pride, and the
earthquake of avarice and anger, from the fire of
luxury and gluttony, in which the Lord is not, and
let us be humbled in the gentle whisper of confession
and self-accusation, of meekness and peace, because
therein is the Lord, so that in the Day of Judgment
we may be worthy to hear the words, " Come, ye
blessed," by His gift, Who is blessed for evermore.
Amen.'
The above is a specimen, not indeed of the
sermons of St. Antony as they fell on the ears of
the multitudes who listened to him, but of the lines
of thought which he would follow, one at one time,
another at another, when he was preaching on the
particular mystery which furnishes him with his
subject in this instance. Any one acquainted with
the rich stores of Christian pulpit literature will see
at once how many of what certain writers call ' con-
ceptus pra?dicabiles ' are contained in the slight out-
line which we have given. The moral purpose
predominates throughout, and to this, all the alle-
gorical and mystical interpretations which are so
freely used are made subservient. It is obvious
also to remark how much the great use which
164 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
St. Antony makes of Sacred Scripture, especially of
the Old Testament, implies as to the knowledge of
the sacred text, and not merely of the substance of
Scripture, which must have been possessed by the
audiences to which such sermons were addressed.
We may very freely concede to the better Protes-
tants of our own time and country a general acquaint-
ance with the text of Scripture, which is one of their
best possessions. But it may be doubted whether
any modern preacher, either Catholic or Protestant,
would be followed in Scriptural allusions and quo-
tations so frequent and so familiar as those made
by St. Antony. And it is certain that the majority
of the sermons of our own time are very unlike in
this respect to those which he must have preached
in Italy, long before the invention of printing, and
when the possession of a copy 'of the Bible must
have been as difficult to ordinary Christians as that
of a complete copy of St. Augustine or St. Chry-
sostom is to us.
It can only be by the careful study of St. Antony's
sermons in the way which is here pointed out that
any fair idea can be formed of the position which
he occupied in the eyes of his contemporaries. Such
a study may at least enable us to understand the solid
foundation of learning and of argumentative power
which lay at the bottom of his success, although that
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 165
success was mainly due, not to learning or argumen-
tative power, but to the grace of the Apostolate and
Doctorate which he received from on high, and the
many very marvellous gifts by which that grace was
accompanied and supplemented. It was especially
and above all as a preacher that St. Antony was
distinguished. This, beyond all others, was the work
assigned to him in the order of God's Providence,
and it was by this that he gained his most glorious
victories over the enemy of souls, and laid so many
conquests at his Master's feet. His external miracles,
wonderful as they were, were by no means so nume-
rous as in the case of other saints, such as St. Francis
Xavier, St. Vincent Ferrer, and others ; indeed, it is
said by the writer of one ancient manuscript that
during his lifetime he was not celebrated for working
external miracles. But these words must certainly
be taken relatively, and are rather a witness to the
frequency of such miracles in the lives of other great
servants of God than anything else. If, we may say,
they were not numerous enough to be considered a
distinguishing characteristic of St. Antony, how fre-
quent, how habitual indeed, must they have been
with other saints, such, for example, as the two we
have mentioned ? We have seen that he often
avoided the occasions of working miracles, and
generally concealed or sought to conceal those
166 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
which he did work, sometimes by exacting a pro-
mise of secrecy from the persons benefited, some-
times by ascribing the favour granted entirely to
their faith and prayers. The most brilliant of his
miracles, if we may use the expression, those which
were worked publicly, and with circumstances which
called attention to them, so to speak, were in defence
of some great truth, as in the case of the mule of
Bonvillo, or for the discomfiture and conversion of
heretics, such as the eating of the poisoned meat,
on the changing of the fowl into a fish, and the
preaching to the fishes of the Adriatic : while, as to
the two loveliest incidents recorded in St. Antony's
life, we owe the knowledge of one to the fortunate
eaves- dropping of the good Count Tiso di Campo-
sampiero, and the other he himself made known
because (can it be doubted ? ) it was so signal a
witness to the glorious mystery of his Blessed
Mother's Assumption into heaven.
We know, on the authority of Antony's devoted
companion, Blessed Luca Belludi, that he frequently
worked miracles at his request, which he acknow-
ledges that he sometimes urged in order to be rid
of the importunity of those who appealed to him.
How many of these must have been worked in
behalf of poor and obscure persons, in the quiet,
unnoticed way which he was so fond of, which were
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 176
never heard of beyond the poor cottage or secluded
hamlet in which they took place !
There is one more remark to be made with regard
to the expression of the manuscript in question.
There can be little doubt that when the writer says
that St. Antony's external miracles were not cele-
brated ' in his lifetime,' he is contrasting that period
with the years following his death, during which the
miracles wrought at his tomb and by his intercession
were more numerous, perhaps, than in the case of
any other saint, so that to this day he is commonly
called ' the worker of miracles.' As though God
rewarded the humility of His servant both by con-
cealing his gifts while he lived, and revealing them
after his death.
We have already seen that St. Antony's preaching
was in itself miraculous, both from his gift of tongues
and the wonderful way in which his voice was heard
at great distances. There was another marvellous
power commonly exercised by him in the pulpit, the
prophetic insight by which he saw what would happen
to his hearers (as in the case of the twenty-two
robbers), and the illumination enabling him to divine
the peculiar temptations, sins, or needs of every indi-
vidual person he addressed. First one, then another,
would be cut to the heart by what seemed ' a shaft
at random sent,' or feel his soul stirred to its very
168 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
depths by some apparently chance allusion showing
a knowledge of facts and circumstances, which were
a secret between God and his conscience. Again
and again, at such times, persons would burst into
irrepressible weeping, and ' knowing what was done
in them fell down before him, and told him all the
truth.'
We have seen how, when Antony was preaching
his last Lent in Padua, the inhabitants left their shops
and offices, and the country people for miles round
their work, to hear him. Yet there was never an
instance known of a robbery committed or an
accident occurring in any of the houses thus left, as
they often were, empty and unprotected, nor of a
thief mixing with the densely-packed crowds who
were listening to him ; and this fact, which would be
remarkable in modern times, is doubly so in the
lawless and _distracted condition of Italy and France
in the thirteenth century. Never, we are told, was
he interrupted, even when preaching out of doors,
by the barking of dogs or the crying of children, or by
any sudden occurrence, except when such an inter-
ruption was to be an opportunity for a miracle, as in
the case of the poor madman, or when the malignity
of the devil was put forth and baffled, as in the case
of the courier with the letter, and of the platform
which was broken down. Neither did the sobs and
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 169
tears into which his penitent hearers continually
broke, ever disturb the preacher or prevent his being
perfectly audible. Sometimes, we read, the whole
audience would be swayed by the fervent appeals of
Antony, and in the universal excitement exclamations
would be heard on all sides' Ah, woe is me ; I
have done that very thing of which the holy friar is
speaking ! ' ' Alas ! never would I have done so, if
I had known it was so grievous a sin.' Persons
would turn to their neigbours, weeping, and each
exhort the other to go to confession, to make such a
pilgrimage or do such a pious work, to fast on such
and such days in honour of the Madonna ; and
through it all the voice of the preacher was as clearly
heard by all as though the dead silence which always
greeted his first appearance had lasted unbroken
through the sermon. We cannot help quoting the
description of one writer : ' The people crowded from
all parts, yet never was there any noise of so many
pressing and jostling each other : there was no sign
of levity, no laughing, nor talking, nor crying of
children : every one had his eyes fixed on the man
of God, and his ears strained to hearken, without any
weariness, nay, with the deepest devotion, as though
they were listening, not to a man, but to an angel
from heaven. In truth, such grace did God impart
to him, that he spoke with most eloquent tongue and
i66 SERMONS OF ST. 4NTONY.
which he did work, sometimes by exacting a pro-
mise of secrecy from the persons benefited, some-
times by ascribing the favour granted entirely to
their faith and prayers. The most brilliant of his
miracles, if we may use the expression, those which
were worked publicly, and with circumstances which
called attention to them, so to speak, were in defence
of some great truth, as in the case of the mule of
Bonvillo, or for the discomfiture and conversion of
heretics, such as the eating of the poisoned meat,
on the changing of the fowl into a fish, and the
preaching to the fishes of the Adriatic : while, as to
the two loveliest incidents recorded in St. Antony's
life, we owe the knowledge of one to the fortunate
eaves-dropping of the good Count Tiso di Campo-
sampiero, and the other he himself made known
because (can it be doubted ? ) it was so signal a
witness to the glorious mystery of his Blessed
Mother's Assumption into heaven.
We know, on the authority of Antony's devoted
companion, Blessed Luca Belludi, that he frequently
worked miracles at his request, which he acknow-
ledges that he sometimes urged in order to be rid
of the importunity of those who appealed to him.
How many of these must have been worked in
behalf of poor and obscure persons, in the quiet,
unnoticed way which he was so fond of, which were
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 176
never heard of beyond the poor cottage or secluded
hamlet in which they took place !
There is one more remark to be made with regard
to the expression of the manuscript in question.
There can be little doubt that when the writer says
that St. Antony's external miracles were not cele-
brated ' in his lifetime,' he is contrasting that period
with the years following his death, during which the
miracles wrought at his tomb and by his intercession
were more numerous, perhaps, than in the case of
any other saint, so that to this day he is commonly
called ' the worker of miracles.' As though God
rewarded the humility of His servant both by con-
cealing his gifts while he lived, and revealing them
after his death.
We have already seen that St. Antony's preaching
was in itself miraculous, both from his gift of tongues
and the wonderful way in which his voice was heard
at great distances. There was another marvellous
power commonly exercised by him in the pulpit, the
prophetic insight by which he saw what would happen
to his hearers (as in the case of the twenty-two
robbers), and the illumination enabling him to divine
the peculiar temptations, sins, or needs of every indi-
vidual person he addressed. First one, then another,
would be cut to the heart by what seemed ' a shaft
at random sent,' or feel his soul stirred to its very
168 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
depths by some apparently chance allusion showing
a knowledge of facts and circumstances, which were
a secret between God and his conscience. Again
and again, at such times, persons would burst into
irrepressible weeping, and ' knowing what was done
in them fell down before him, and told him all the
truth.'
We have seen how, when Antony was preaching
his last Lent in Padua, the inhabitants left their shops
and offices, and the country people for miles round
their work, to hear him. Yet there was never an
instance known of a robbery committed or an
accident occurring in any of the houses thus left, as
they often were, empty and unprotected, nor of a
thief mixing with the densely-packed crowds who
were listening to him ; and this fact, which would be
remarkable in modern times, is doubly so in the
lawless and distracted condition of Italy and France
in the thirteenth century. Never, we are told, was
he interrupted, even when preaching out of doors,
by the barking of dogs or the crying of children, or by
any sudden occurrence, except when such an inter-
ruption was to be an opportunity for a miracle, as in
the case of the poor madman, or when the malignity
of the devil was put forth and baffled, as in the case
of the courier with the letter, and of the platform
which was broken down. Neither did the sobs and
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 169
tears into which his penitent hearers continually
broke, ever disturb the preacher or prevent his being
perfectly audible. Sometimes, we read, the whole
audience would be swayed by the fervent appeals of
Antony, and in the universal excitement exclamations
would be heard on all sides ' Ah, woe is me ; I
have done that very thing of which the holy friar is
speaking ! ' ' Alas ! never would I have done so, if
I had known it was so grievous a sin.' Persons
would turn to their neigbours, weeping, and each
exhort the other to go to confession, to make such a
pilgrimage or do such a pious work, to fast on such
and such days in honour of the Madonna ; and
through it all the voice of the preacher was as clearly
heard by all as though the dead silence which always
greeted his first appearance had lasted unbroken
through the sermon. We cannot help quoting the
description of one writer : ' The people crowded from
all parts, yet never was there any noise of so many
pressing and jostling each other : there was no sign
of levity, no laughing, nor talking, nor crying of
children : every one had his eyes fixed on the man
of God, and his ears strained to hearken, without any
weariness, nay, with the deepest devotion, as though
they were listening, not to a man, but to an angel
from heaven. In truth, such grace did God impart
to him, that he spoke with most eloquent tongue and
170 SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY.
thrilling voice, like the note of a ringing trumpet, so
that he was perfectly heard and understood by all.'
Neither were the results of Antony's private ex-
hortations less wonderful. Once again let us hear an
author of the time : ' There were very many persons
who, in the lifetime of the man of God, came to the
friars, solemnly affirming that while they lay in bed
he had appeared to them, saying : ' Rise, Martin, or
Agnes,' or whatever the name might be ; ' and go to
such a father to confess this or that sin, which you
committed at such a time, and in such a place and
circumstances. And these were known to none save
God.'
It is much to be regretted that there are no
accounts extant of the conversions of individual
heretics which were effected in such vast numbers
by St. Antony. This was, as we know, his great and
favourite work ; and such was his knowledge of the
Scriptures and his power of applying them, his force
of reasoning and power of language, that Surio says:
' In his presence no heretic ever dared to open his
mouth in defence of his errors. Wonderfully did he
unmask their malice and perfidy, and prevent or
repel their assaults. . . . Many were the heretics and
favourers of heresy whom he brought back to the
Faith and to the allegiance of the Holy See.' We
can fancy few things more interesting and instructive
SERMONS OF ST. ANTONY. 171
than the story of these conversions would have been ;
but those were too turbulent times for such spiritual
annals, and we only know in general that, like
St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Peter Favre, his
method was to win the heart by his sweetness before
breaking down the pride of intellect as the ' hammer
of the heretics,' making himself all things to all men,
mixing with them, accepting their invitations, and
repaying their treacherous plots by miracles of love.
So, too, in his sermons, he was without mercy for
heresy and sin, but full of tenderness for the sinner.
There is one instance on record in which super-
natural effects were experienced by St. Antony himself
while listening to a preacher who is supposed with
good reason to have been the holy Benedictine abbot,
Blessed Giordano Forzate, who founded a double
monastery of St. Benedict in Padua. God had made
known to him that it was His will that he should
devote himself to preaching. When Antony was in
Padua, he was very old, and could do so but very
rarely. On this occasion he was speaking on some
words of St. Paul when our Saint was so filled with
spiritual sweetness and consolation, that he fell into
an ecstacy which lasted a long time, as was seen by
all present.
CHAPTER V.
i
The Last Month of Life.
ANTONY'S extraordinary labours had told greatly on
his enfeebled health, and soon after Easter he began
to think of suspending his preaching for a time and
retiring to some quiet place for rest and contempla-
tion. He had another reason for this resolution.
The devotion of the country people round Padua
had increased rather than fallen off, and they crowded
to hear him to the neglect of their necessary work in
the fields and vineyards. It would be better for him
to go away now for a time and resume his labours
after harvest, if he should live so long.
The extraordinary faculties granted to him at the
General Chapter, and confirmed by the Pope, gave
him perfect liberty in this matter, and he was free
to go when and where he pleased ; but as Antony
would not, when he was Provincial, leave Padua for
Lisbon, even though divinely inspired to do so, with-
out first asking leave of the Father Guardian in whose
monastery he was living, so now, too, he would not
THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE. 173
use the liberty he possessed, but wrote to consult
his Provincial and ask his permission to absent him-
self for a time. Antony wrote his letter and, leaving
it on the table, went to ask the Father Guardian to
despatch it by a messenger. When the man was
found the Saint returned to his cell for the letter,
but it was nowhere to be seen. Antony took this
for a sign that his proposed departure would not be
according to the will of God, and quietly told the
Superior that he had altered his mind and did not
require the messenger. In a few days, at the end
of the time in which a letter could have been de-
livered and a reply returned, the answer giving the
desired permission lay on his table. An angel had
been the messenger.
He left Padua immediately after Whit Tuesday,
May 13, and went as secretly as possible to Campo-
sampiero, where his old friend Count Tiso had built a
hermitage or house of retirement for the Friars Minor,
which he supported himself. Tiso was full of joy
at the meeting with Antony ; their mutual affection
had been strengthened in the intimacy of the time
when the Saint was his guest in Padua, and there
was between them the holy secret of the visit of the
Infant Jesus to his servant, as well as the tie of
gratitude, for the liberation of the little Count William
from the hands of the tyrant Ezzelino. Tiso would
174 THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE.
fain have received Antony into his palace, but this
could not be expected when the poor hermitage of
the friars was so near. Close ta the entrance grew
a very large walnut-tree, and Antony at once formed
the idea of living there during his time of retreat,
lifted up above all intercourse with men, and with
no companions but the birds, the ' little sisters ' of
his beloved St. Francis. Count Tiso insisted on him-
self making a cell in the tree for his friend : he twisted
the boughs together and roofed it with thatch, and
two little huts were prepared near it for the two friars,
Luca and Ruggiero, who came with him. Even in
this seclusion his charity to his neighbour did not
allow Antony an uninterrupted time of rest and
communion with God, for he continued to write
his sermons and often preached to the people who
from time to time, sought him in his solitude.
For some time the friends of Count Ricciardo San
Bonifazio had been using every means to procure his
release from the prison where he had been thrown
the year before by Ezzelino. As a last resource the
citizens of Padua appealed to Antony to appear once
more before the tyrant and try to induce him to
perform an act of justice which would incline to peace
great numbers who were now exasperated by the
aggressions of the Ghibelline party. Ill as he was
Antony could not resist an appeal from the Padovani
THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE. 175
in behalf of a prisoner, and with much pain and suf-
fering accomplished the journey to Verona, where
Ezzelino then was. It was a fruitless effort as regards
the release of Ricciardo. Ezzelino received his visitor
with every mark of respect, but pretended that reasons
of state absolutely prevented him from granting his
request, and Antony returned to Camposampiero.
He grew rapidly worse on the way from Verona,
and he is said to have had a revelation of his ap-
proaching death, and of the glory which he was to
enjoy both in heaven and on earth. On reaching
a hill which commands a view of the plain in which
Padua stands, he greeted the city in loving words
and gave it his blessing. Then, turning to Luca
Belludi, ' Great,' he said, ' shall be the glory with
which this spot is to be favoured and adorned.' He
did not explain the meaning of his prophecy, which
afterwards was made very clear when the chief scene
of his apostolate and the place where his holy relics
lay became famous throughout the world, and gave
its name to the stranger-saint who had loved it so
well, and at whose shrine, as age succeeded age,
such wonderful miracles were to be wrought.
Very weary in body, and with a soul longing for
the moment of eternal union with his God, Antony
reached Camposampiero. Once every day he came
down from his cell in the tree to dine with his
i.76 THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE.
brethren. But a length there came a day when he
fainted as he sat at table. At first the friars thought
he was in one of the ecstacies which were now fre-
quent with him, but when the truth was evident
they raised him in their arms and laid him on a
bed of vine-shoots. Knowing that the end was near,
he spoke some words of comfort to the weeping friars,
and begged Fra Ruggiero to have him removed to
Sta. Maria Maggiore, and thus relieve the religious of
Camposampiero. They all told hitn,with many tears,
that to have him with them was their greatest joy
and consolation ; but they knew that what he said
and did was inspired by God, and they were ready
to obey him in all things. A peasant was asked to
lend his cart, and laying the dying Saint on it as well
as they could they set out in sad procession for Pa-
dua. On the way they met two friars who, grieving
greatly to see his suffering state, implored him not to
go to Sta. Maria Maggiore, where he would certainly
be disturbed and fatigued by the visits of his friends
and penitents, but to allow himself to be taken to
Arcella, where, as we know, there was a little house
occupied by the friars who served the convent of
Franciscan nuns. There was only just time ; his
brethren lifted him in their arms and placed him
sitting in a chair, as the water, rising to his chest,
prevented his lying down. He made his last con-
THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE. 177
fession, recited the Seven Penitential Psalms with his
brethren, and then sang, all by himself, his favourite
hymn -
O Gloriosa Domina
Excelsa super sydera,
Qui te creavit provide
Lactasti sacro ubere.
Quod Eva tristis abstulit,
Tu reddis almo germine,
Intrent ut astra flebiles,
Coeli fenestra facta es.
Tu regis alti janua,
Et porta lucis fulgida.
Vitam datam per Virginem
Gentes redemptse, plaudite.
Gloria tibi, Domine,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna saecula.
When he had finished it he lifted his eyes to
heaven and kept them fixed there, while his whole
face beamed with a light and brightness strange to
see in a dying man. Fra Ruggiero, who was sup-
porting him in his arms, asked him what he saw,
and he answered very clearly, ' I see my God.' After
a while he spoke a few words of consolation to those
around him, and then begged to be anointed : ' I
have that unction within me,' he said, ' but let me
have it outwardly too.' His soul was bathed and
anointed by the Holy Spirit with His own oil of
gladness, but not the less did he desire that sacra-
M
178 THE LAST MONTH OF LIFE.
mental unction which is the solace of every dying
Christian. Then followed half an hour of such peace-
ful concentration and rest in God that it could not
be called agony ; and calmly, as though he were
sleeping, he gave up his blessed soul into the hands
of his Father.
It was on a Friday evening, the I3th of June, 1231 ,
that Antony's short life of not quite thirty-six years
ended. His portrait is drawn by contemporary au-
thors, who tell us that he was rather below the middle
height, and looked very much younger than he was.
He had the olive complexion of his countrymen,
brilliant eyes, and a countenance of remarkable sweet-
ness and cheerfulness. He was never known to laugh.,
but there was nothing austere in his gravity ; on
the contrary, his look was so bright and open that
all who saw him felt strangely drawn to love him.
His life of labour and mortification had worn and
wasted him, so that his complexion had become like
parchment, and his features drawn and sharpened ;
but no sooner was he dead than his hands and face
became wonderfully white, and he looked so beautiful
that all who saw him felt as though they were gazing
on a glorified body, while every limb continued per-
fectly flexible the whole time he was unburied.
That same evening, as Don Thomas, the Abbot
of St. Andrew's at Vercelli, was sitting in his room,
TPIE LAST MONTH OF LIFE. 179
his old scholar Antony came in and said to him,
' See, Father Abbot, I have left my little ass near
Padua and am going in haste to my own country ; '
and so saying he passed his hand under his chin,
caressingly, and cured him of an affection of the
throat from which he was suffering. As he disap-
peared through the door the Abbot hastily followed
him to beg him not to be in so great a hurry to
depart. But he saw nothing of him, and the persons
who were in the ante-chamber into which Antony
had seemed to pass declared that no one had entered
it. Don Thomas sent to the monastery of the Friars
Minor, inquiring whether he had been there, and
when he heard that nothing had been seen of his
beloved scholar and friend he felt sure of what was
soon proved by news from Padua, that Antony had
alluded to his mortal remains which he had just left
at Arcella, and that Paradise, not Portugal, was the
country to which he was bound.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
THE REWARD OF A FAITHFUL SERVANT.
CHAPTER I.
The Funeral of St. Antony.
ANTONY had died, as has been already said, almost
suddenly, and in a spot to which he had been carried
as it were by chance. The convent of Arcella was
inhabited by nuns of the enclosed Order, which
St. Francis had founded with the aid of St. Clare ; it
was small and in an exposed situation, at a distance
outside the walls of the city, and there were there but
a few friars whose duty it was to say Mass and act
as chaplains to the nuns. Their own instincts, and
their knowledge of the veneration in which Antony
was held, which was certain to show itself in the form
of great enthusiasm and excitement now that he was
gone, made them fear some tumult, such as actually
followed, and they determined to conceal Antony's
death for the present, till measures could be taken for
preventing the confusion and possible mischief which
might result from the rush of people who would
certainly force their way in as soon as the truth was
known.
184 THE FUNERAL OF ST. ANTONY.
Their idea was to keep things quiet, and to convey
the holy body secretly by night to Sta. Maria Maggiore,
in Padua. But it was the will of God that these pre-
cautions should not succeed, and that the death of
this great Saint should be made known immediately
and miraculously. Suddenly there were heard the
voices of children, who formed themselves into parties
all through the city, and went about weeping and
crying aloud : ' Our Father, St. Antony, is dead ! '
Startled and terrified, the people of Padua, who knew
nothing of the sudden turn taken by his illness, nor of
his removal from Camposampiero to Arcella, hastened
thither with all speed.
Then followed one of those scenes of curious con-
fusion, which can only be explained by the strong
faith of an otherwise undisciplined people. The
nuns and friars at Arcella were bent on keeping the
treasure they possessed, and broke off in the midst
of their lamentations for their loss to plan how they
might do so. One of the most spirited of the sisters
suggested an immediate petition to the nobles and
influential persons for their support and sanction
in begging the community of Sta. Maria Maggiore to
leave the body of St. Antony with them. The pro-
posal was approved by all, and a deputation of the
friars was immediately sent to Padua. They were
favourably received by many of the principal persons
THE FUNERAL OF ST. ANTONY. 185
in the city, who promised to do all they could to for-
ward the wishes of the nuns. Foremost among those
who offered their assistance were the noble families
inhabiting the quarter called Capodiponte, on the
north side of Padua, which was that nearest to
Arcella. These good people of Capodiponte des-
patched their youngest and strongest men to form a
guard round the little monastery. But by this time
a vast crowd had assembled outside, filling the air
with sobs and lamentations, and exclaiming, ' Whi-
ther have you gone, loving Father of Padua ? Have
you really gone away, and left behind the children
who repented and were born again to Christ through
you ? Where shall we find another to preach to us,
orphans, with such patience and charity ? '
With the crowd carne the friars from Sta. Maria to
convey the sacred remains to their church. They
asserted, with good reason, that the Saint had always
especially loved their monastery, and that when he
felt his last hour approaching, he had expressly desir-
ed to be carried thither. The Capodiponte men,
however, had the right of the strongest, and replied
by doubling the guard. Then the friars appealed to
the bishop, who summoned his canons and clergy,
laid the case before them, and asked their opinion.
The sisters of Arcella had secured some advocates
among them, but the friars had the majority of the
1 86 THE FUNERAL OF ST. ANTONY.
clergy and the bishop on their side. The question
was decided in favour of the church of Sta. Maria
Maggiore. Still the determined men of Capodiponte
remained quite unmoved. They got their partisans in
Padua to join them, and vowed that they would die
at their post rather than allow the body to be removed.
The more reasonable of them at length consented to
wait quietly for the arrival of the Provincial. Night
came on, and the gates of Arcella were locked and
barred. The people, determined to get in, three
times broke the bars and drove away the guards. But
no sooner had they done this, than they were struck
blind and helpless, and stood without groping and
unable to move. From the first dawn of day people
began to press into the monastery to touch, or at
least to look upon the Saint, and those who were
unable to get in fastened rings, girdles, collars, and
other such things, on long poles, which they pushed
through doors and windows to be laid for a moment
on the sacred body.
The friars began to fear that the great heat of the
weather would make the body decompose before the
Provincial arrived, and so placed it in a case and put
it underground. Hardly had they done so when
some one cried out that the body had been removed,
and the excited multitude attacked the friars with
knives and sticks in their cells, and were only satisfied
THE FUNERAL OF ST. ANTONY. 187
when the earth was removed and the sacred body
shown to be still there.
At length the Provincial appeared. He skilfully
appeased the unmanageable men of Capodiponte by
appointing them guardians of the monastery where
the Saint's body lay. He insisted on the authorities
protecting his religious from being insulted or an-
noyed, and next day appeared at a general meeting
of all the clergy which was called by the bishop
to discuss once more the claims of the friars of
Sta. Maria Maggiore. The matter was decided by
the Provincial, who represented that there was no
doubt that Antony had wished to be buried there,
and that it rested with him, as his Superior, to grant
that wish : he therefore respectfully claimed the body
of the Saint as belonging to him. The bishop then
gave sentence that it should be done as the Provincial
desired, bade the clergy assemble at Arcella, the
following day, and requested the Podesta also to be
present, for the removal of the sacred body to the
church of Sta. Maria. It was thought well to make
a bridge of boats across the river, so as to avoid
passing through Capodiponte, but the people of that
quarter destroyed the bridge as soon as it was made.
The whole city was in commotion, and the outrage
was regarded as a reproach to all Padua and an insult
to their beloved Saint. The poor nuns, whose petition
188 THE FUNERAL OF ST. ANTONY.
had been the spark which had kindled the fire, were
now full of distress, and expressed their perfect wil-
lingness that the body should be removed. Some
rioters were taken into custody, and peace was .
restored.
On the 1 8th of June, the fifth day after the Saint's
death, the body was solemnly conveyed from Arcella
to Sta. Maria, in the presence of the bishop and
clergy, the civil authorities of Padua, and a vast
crowd of the inhabitants. It was more like a triumph
than a funeral. The noblest of the Padovani took it
in turns to carry the bier. Those who followed it
, carried lighted candles, and the road was lined the
whole way with hundreds of mourners bewailing their
loss, yet rejoicing in the honours paid to their dear
Saint. The bier was brought into the church of
Sta. Maria, where pontifical Mass was celebrated by
the bishop, and after the usual rites the body was
laid in a marble shrine supported on four columns
which had been marvellously discovered. 1 Then
there burst out, as it were, a great blaze of miraculous
power, the blind, the deaf, the maimed, the sick, were
healed instantly on touching the shrine : and even
others who could not get into the church for the
crowd, were cured, outside the walls, in the presence
of the multitude.
1 This shrine now contains the body of Blessed Luca Belludi.
CHAPTER II.
Canonization.
THERE is no reason for doubting that the wonderful
outburst of devotion to St. Antony which followed
immediately on his funeral was directly produced by
the multitude and splendour of the miracles wrought
by his intercession. Padua became at once the scene
of one pious procession after another. The first to
pay this homage to the Saint were the inhabitants of
Capodiponte, the very people whose ill-regulated
zeal and tumultous proceedings at Arcella have been
already mentioned. They now came with deep com-
punction and fervent devotion, noble knights and
ladies, barefoot, and with every mark of penitence
and humility, to kneel, the first of thousands of
pilgrims, at St. Antony's tomb. The procession was
headed by the parochial clergy, also barefoot, and
carrying the cross and banners; at a little distance,
from the church it was met by the community of
Sta. Maria, eager to welcome their former adversaries
with every demonstration of affection and respect.
igo CANONIZATION.
The example of Capodiponte was followed by
all classes, and not a day passed for some time
without its special appointed procession visiting the
tomb, and bringing to it their prayers and gifts and
votive offerings. One day the bishop and his clergy
came, on another the religious orders of the city, then
those of all the diocese ; and one of the most edifying
processions must have been that of the professors
and students of the University, who walked barefoot,
and singing litanies, to implore the intercession of
the Saint. They brought as an offering a candle of
such an enormous size, that a large piece had to be
cut off before it could be set up in the church. This
became a favourite devotion. Some of the candles
were so large that it took sixteen men to carry one,
and others were brought on carts. Some were deco-
rated in the most artistic way with the richest orna-
mentation of lilies, grapes, and leaves, all wrought in
wax, and we even read of branched candlesticks to
hold these enormous candles, formed of the same
material. The people watched round the Church in
parties which relieved each other at stated times, and
all this went on without diminution through summer's
heat and winter's cold, procession following proces-
sion by day and by night, singing hymns to the glory
of God who had so honoured His servant. The
fame of these devotions and of the continual miracles
CANONIZATION. 191
which attended them spread rapidly, and not Italy
only, but Hungary and Germany soon sent their
contingents of pilgrims, while the confessionals were
besieged by penitents. It was said that those who
presented themselves to be healed of their bodily
infirmities whilst their souls were stained with sin,
received no benefit, but that when they returned,
after confession and absolution, they obtained the
graces they sought.
The day on which the body of the Saint was
brought into Padua was a Tuesday ; and it is a well-
attested fact that in no single instance did any sufferer
who invoked his aid on that day fail to be cured.
From that time Tuesday has been especially dedir
cated to him. Many remarkable cases are on record
of signal graces granted to persons who particularly
venerated St. Antony on that day ; and it has become
a custom among those devout to him to honour him
during nine successive Tuesdays.
The unexampled rapidity with which the worship
of the Saint had been established, and the number
of miracles continually wrought at his tomb, inspired
the inhabitants of Padua with the strongest desire
that the whole Church of God should join in this
worship, and share the blessings of his protection.
A month had not passed since Antony's death, before
a deputation was sent to Rome, representing the
IQ2 CANONIZATION.
bishop, clergy, authorities, and all the citizens of
Padua, praying earnestly that the process of his
canonization might be begun. The late events in
that city were known at Rome, and we may imagine
how gladly Pope Gregory would receive such a peti-
tion. He appointed the Bishop of Padua, Giordano
Forzate the Prior of St. Benedict's, and Fra Giovanni
da Vicenza, Prior of St. Augustine's, of the Order of
St. Dominic, to examine into the miracles and draw
up the process. The deputation returned to Padua,
and the cause was- immediately begun. When com-
pletedj two more petitions were addressed to the
Holy See praying that Antony might be inscribed in
the calendar of the saints : the bishop and chapter,
the Friars Minor, the civil authorities, all sent repre-
sentatives; and the professors and students of the
University wrote a separate letter to the Pope on
their own account, attesting that they had been eye-
witnesses of numerous miracles worked by the Saint.
The petitions were strengthened by the recommenda-
tion of two powerful persons, Odo, Cardinal of Mont-
ferrat, and Jacopo, Bishop elect of Palestina, both
legates Apostolic in the Marches of Treviso, who,
being in Padua at the time, were deeply impressed
with the honour paid to the Saint, and the miracles
worked at his tomb.
It was determined in Consistory that the revision
CA NONIZA TION. 193
of the process and the examination of the miracles
should be committed to the Cardinal Bishop of
Sabina, and matters seemed advancing favourably
when an unexpected difficulty arose. Some of the
most learned and venerable of the Cardinals dis-
approved of the canonization of the servant of God
before a year had elapsed from the ,time of his death,
and they absolutely refused to agree to it. But this
hesitation on their part issued in the greater glory of
St. Antony, God Himself interposing to remove all
doubt from their minds. In a dream, one of these
Cardinals saw the ceremony of the 'consecration of a
church and an altar : the Pope and the Cardinals
himself among them were present. When the proper
time arrived, the Pope asked for the relics which were
to be placed, as usual, under the altar : all the
Cardinals replied that there were none. Then he
looked round, and saw lying on one side the body
of a person lately dead, wrapped in grave-clothes.
' There are the relics,' said the Pope ; ' bring them
to me.' But the Cardinals replied that they were not
relics. ' Let us see, then,' said the Pope ; and
uncovering the body, it was found to be incorrupt
and fragrant, and everyone present eagerly strove to
provide himself with a portion of these new relics.
The Cardinal awoke, and told his dream to the others.
As he was leaving his house to go to the Pope, he met
N
IQ4 CANONIZATION.
the Ambassadors of Padua, and turning to his com-
panions, exclaimed : ' This is our dream and its
interpretation.'
The dissentient Cardinals being now warm advo-
cates of the cause, things went on without further
hindrance, and on the Feast of Pentecost, which fell
on the soth of May, 1232, the canonization took place.
The Roman Court was then residing at Spoleto, and
it was in the Cathedral of that city that the function
was performed. There, with hands and eyes raised
to heaven,and his face beaming with joy and thankful-
ness, Pope Gregory IX. declared that, to the honour
and praise of the Most Holy Trinity, and the greater
exaltation of the Catholic Church, he inscribed the
blessed Father Antony in the Catalogue of the Saints,
and ordered that the I3th of June should be cele-
brated throughout the world as his feast.
At the moment when the Holy Father pronounced
this sentence, all the church bells in Lisbon began
ringing of themselves, to the great wonder of the
inhabitants ; who, however, the writers of the time
say, were immediately after conscious of a mysteri-
ous thrill of gladness which prepared them for some
happy event which was thus miraculously announced.
The old traditions of the city say that Antony's
mother was still living, and that she enjoyed the
happiness of worshipping her son on the altars of
CANONIZATION. 1-95
the Church before rejoining him in heaven. His
father seems to have been dead. Several members
of his family are known to have been alive, among
them an aunt who was one'of the Regular Canonesses
of Coimbra, and who had so strong a devotion to
her nephew that it became a common saying that
to obtain a favour of St. Antony it was a sure way
to get his aunt to ask for it.
On the return of the Ambassadors to Padua with
their welcome tidings, the first thought of all the
citizens was to prepare for the celebration of the
first feast of their beloved Saint, which was so close
at hand. That thirteenth of June was a happy day
for the good Padovani, who must often have thought
of his farewell blessing to the city he loved so well,
and of his prophecy of its future glory, the fulfilment
of which was even then beginning. 1 But he had also
often foretold that a time of trial and disaster was in
store, and six years after his death the storm burst
over Padua. The Emperor Frederic II. was greatly
incensed by the revolt of most of the Italian cities
from which he claimed allegiance, and in 1237 pre-
pared to lead a powerful army from Germany to punish
and reduce them to obedience. Ezzelino da Romano
1 Four years later it was decreed that all the shops should be
shut in Padua on the feast of St. Antony, as on Sundays and
feasts of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin.
ig6 CANONIZATION.
saw the opportunity for advancing his own ambitious
designs, and, masking them under a pretended zeal
for the imperial cause, he met the Emperor at
Augsburg, and suggested his crossing the Alps and
attacking the cities of Lombardy, while he himself
should lead his troops against those in the March of
Treviso. Frederic agreed, and Ezzelino at once
fell upon Padua, always the object of his desires,
asserting, indeed, that his only object was to punish
the Guelph party, and reduce them to obedience to
the Emperor, but in reality with very distinct views
of usurpation. In a few months he was master of
the place, which he treated with that savage ferocity
that earned him the title of ' tyrant of Padua.' The
details of his cruelty do not fall within our province ;
they remind us of the worst horrors of Imperial
Rome, and many of them would be incredible if they
did not rest on undoubted authority. It was calcu-
lated that he had twelve thousand persons killed,
many of them by fearful tortures, in Padua, and more
than thirty thousand throughout the March. The
priests were indefatigable in consoling and encoura-
ging the victims of his tyranny, and the Friars Minor
were foremost in the good work. Ezzelino punished
them by imprisonment or banishment, one notable
exception being Fra Luca Belludi, St. Antony's
devoted friend and companion.
CANONIZATION. 197
Day and night the Padovani knelt at the shrine of
their Saint, and implored him to save his city and
punish the oppressor, and none prayed more fervently
than Fra Luca and another holy friar of the Order,
named Bartolomeo Corradini, who, according to
some accounts, was at this time Guardian of Sta.
Maria Maggiore. One night, as he was praying at
St. Antony's shrine, he distinctly heard a voice
proceed from it, saying : ' Fear nothing, Fra Bar-
tolomeo ; be comforted and give thanks to God, for
I promise you that on the octave of my feast this
city shall be delivered from her oppressor.'
Meanwhile, Pope Alexander IV. had despatched
his legate to Venice to urge the Signoria to join the
forces of the Republic with his, and march against
Ezzelino's nephew and lieutenant, Ansidisio. The
combined armies attacked and completely defeated
him at the gates of Padua on the 2oth of June, the
Octave of St. Antony's Feast, which fell that year on
a Tuesday. Ezzelino died a miserable and hopeless
death three years afterwards.
CHAPTER III.
The Protector of Padua.
THE body of St. Antony remained in the marble
shrine in the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore till the
year 1263, when it was translated by St. Bonaventure
to the high altar of the new church built by the
Friars Minor in his honour. The Seraphic Doctor,
who was then Master of Theology in the University
of Paris and General of the Order, had come to
Padua to visit the shrine of St. Antony, and he made
the translation in order to promote an increase of
devotion to him. On opening the shrine the bones
were found to be disjointed, and the flesh was a
mass of dust ; but the skin of the head, the hair and
teeth, were perfect, and the tongue was incorrupt
and of the natural colour. St. Bonaventure reverently
removed it, and kissing it devoutly, exclaimed in a
transport of devotion : ' O blessed tongue, which
always didst bless the Lord, and cause others to
bless Him, now does it appear plainly how highly
thou wert esteemed by God ! ' He then commanded
PROTECTOR OF PADUA. 199
it to be placed by itself in a separate reliquary of
great value and beauty.
Before going on to the second translation, it may
be well to relate in this place a very beautiful anec-
dote in honour of this precious relic. Father Ignatius
Martini, a Portuguese Jesuit, in the seventeenth
century, before returning from Italy to his native
country, visited Padua to venerate the relics of
St. Antony. He was a celebrated and very popular
preacher. The admiration which his eloquence excited
had so intoxicated him that, instead of applying
himself to excite a hatred of vice and love of virtue
in his hearers, his main study was to gratify them
and to gain applause for himself by his grace of
language and manner. But no sooner had his lips
touched the reliquary containing St. Antony's tongue,
than he felt his soul suddenly and deeply smitten
with compunction for the vain use which he had made
of his own tongue, and then and there, kissing the
relic again and again, and bathing it with his tears,
he vowed that thenceforward that blessed tongue
by which so much glory had been rendered to God
in the conversions which its words had effected,
should be the model by which his own should be
regulated. On reaching Lisbon, he gave himself up
to the lowly office of teaching the Christian doctrine
to children, whom he was in the habit of going
200 PROTECTOR OF PADUA.
about to collect together, with a little cane in his
hand. At first the task inspired him with such
repugnance and so keen a sense of humiliation, that
his hand trembled till he could scarcely hold the
cane, and while teaching his rude class of poor
ignorant children he was haunted by the remembrance
of the days when he preached before the Portuguese
Court, and the noble and learned hung upon his
eloquent words. But he persevered ; and before
long ,the progress made by his scholars was so
wonderful that not children only, but grown persons
crowded to his catechizing, and numerous conversions
were the fruit of his labours. In order to win the
people from the practice of singing songs offensive
to Christian modesty, he used to compose sacred
Canticles, which he distributed on all sides, and God
was pleased to show how pleasing this pious industry
was to Him, by sending an Angel to tell him with
what words to finish one of his verses. When he
was dying he begged that his catechist's cane might
be buried with him. This was done ; and many
years after, the cane and the hand which held it
were found to be incorrupt, and the King and all
his Court came to kiss them and to honour him as a
saint.
In 1310 a second translation to a chapel which
had been built for the express purpose was made, on
PROTECTOR OF PADUA. 201
the octave of the Saint, when the Friars Minor
were holding their General Chapter in Padua.
This chapel, however, did not satisfy the devotion
of the friars, and they took measures for the building
of one far surpassing it in magnificence, and hither
the relics of the Saint were solemnly translated in
1350, by Guy of Montfort, Cardinal of St. Cecilia
and Apostolic Legate,, whose life had been preserved
by St. Antony's intercession, and who made a pilgri-
mage of thanksgiving to his shrine. The new chapel
was just completed, and to give additional solemnity
to the ceremony, the Archbishop of Aquileia sum-
moned a provincial synod at Padua. The function
took place on the i5th of February. The relics
were inclosed in a silver urn, which was the offering
of the Cardinal Legate, and placed in the marble
shrine on which the altar rests. Besides the incorrupt
tongue of the Saint, a great many separate bones,
including those removed by St. Bonaventure in
extracting it, were placed by the Cardinal in different
reliquaries, which were kept in the sacristy till the
20th .of June, 1745, when they were all solemnly
translated to the chapel where they are now venerated,
by Cardinal Rezzonico, then Bishop of Padua, and
afterwards Pope Clement XIII.
By a decree of the General Chapter held at Lyons
in 1351, the I5th of February was appointed to
202 PROTECTOR OF PADUA.
be kept throughout the Order in commemoration of
the translation made by St. Bonaventure, to which
the others were afterwards added. The sanctuary
in which the relics of St. Antony repose, indeed
his church also, and all things associated with
him are very dear to the Padovani. When the fire
of 1749, which has been mentioned, occurred,
although the altar of the Saint was quite uninjured,
yet the grief of the citizens was intense. Every
one felt it as a personal affliction, and all classes
vied with each other in contributing to the restora-
tion of the church.
When the flames were raging fiercely, crowds of
persons were seen, heedless of their danger, climbing
on the roof, and walking in the burning building;
often blazing beams fell upon them, or they them-
selves fell among the scorching ashes, and yet in no
single instance was any one hurt. Well and lovingly
did the dear Saint of Padua return the fearless
affection of his ' divoti :' they were busying them-
selves with trying to save his church, and he was
busied in protecting their lives.
Many instances might be given of the singular
and special protection with which this great Saint
has repeatedly favoured his devout clients. We give
one, both because it is very remarkable in itself, and
because it is an illustration of the point we are
PROTECTOR OF PADUA. 203
speaking of the rich return St. Antony makes for
the faithful devotion of his much loved city.
In the August of 1756 Italy was visited by a
terrible storm of wind, which burst over Padua at
mid-day, and besides doing a great deal of damage
elsewhere, carried off the thick leaden roof of the
City Hall, perhaps one of the largest buildings in
Europe. The hall was full of people, yet the falling
masses injured no one either there or in the adjoin-
ing squares. What proves the safety of so many
persons to have been miraculous, is that an enormous
piece of the roof descended slowly into the hall,
where it remained propped against one of the walls,
as though it had been placed there by some unseen
hand.
Cardinal Rezzonico, who had so magnificently
displayed his gratitude to St. Antony, now joined
with him in care for the city of his predilection.
His alms were profuse, and blessings were poured
upon him by the religious communities and the poor
of Padua, whom he assisted in immense numbers.
For three successive days he walked at the head of
a procession to the altar of the Saint, jand there
celebrated Mass in thanksgiving for the wonderful
deliverance of the city. It was resolved, to com-
memorate the mercy of God on this occasion, that
on every anniversary of the event the Blessed Sacra-
204 PROTECTOR OF PADUA.
ment should be exposed for adoration till evening ;
that at noon all the churches' bells should ring
as on a festival, and that then the Miserere, the
Litany of the Saints, and the Te Deum should be
sung.
CHAPTER IV.
Miracles.
No age in the life of the Church is left destitute by
the Providence of God of that witness of miraculous
power which our Lord has so distinctly promised
to her, though there are never wanting, on the other
hand, men who profess to believe in Him and yet
question the fulfilment of His promise, arguing, in
order to shelter their own incredulity, on principles
of reasoning which directly tend to contradict, not
only the truth of His recorded words, but also the
veracity of the whole Gospel history. Catholics are
well aware that our own time forms no exception
to the general rule, either as to the display of
miraculous power on the part of God working
through His Saints, or the counter display of scof-
fing contradiction on the part of unbelievers, and of
unreasonable, though, happily, not scoffing, contra-
diction on the part of many who still claim to be
Christians. It is indeed true that the belief in
miracles, whether modern or ancient, is fast becom-
206 MIRACLES.
ing an acknowledged test by which the believers in
Supernatural Revelation are to be distinguished from
infidels, and we may hope that this truth may help
to open the eyes of at least some of those excellent
men who are so vainly trying to defend Christianity
without acknowledging the Church and the perma-
nence of her note of sanctity. Be that as it may,
the present is no time for Catholics to hold back
in the slightest degree from the full avowal of their
belief in the miracles of the Saints. On the con-
trary, the truest wisdom and charity seem to require
that the marvels of God's power and mercy should
be proclaimed with even unusual loudness, and the
continual faithfulness of our Lord to His promises
vindicated more conspicuously, in proportion to the
boldness and unreasonableness with which it is
gainsay ed.
It would, however, be utterly impossible to com-
press within any reasonable space an account of the
miracles which are recorded as the fruit of the inter-
cession of St. Antony of Padua. It has already
been said that he has become famous, even among
the most famous of the Saints, for mercies of this
kind. It cannot be doubted that the splendour and
number of his miracles, more than anything else,
brought on him that singular honour of having been
canonized within a year, so that the first anniversary
MIRACLES. 207
of his death was kept as the feast of a saint duly
raised to the altars of the Church by the Supreme
Pontiff. The Chronicles of St. Francis tell us that
in the interval between his death and canonization
as many as forty-five miracles were judicially proved,
besides those which took place while he was alive.
Of these forty-five two were instances in which the
dead had been raised to life, and the number given
is exclusive of a great number of cures of fever
and the like, which seem not to have been consider-
ed, like the others, as miracles of the most difficult
class. The Chronicles add a number of other miracles
as having occurred subsequently to the canonization,
among which is a beautiful anecdote of a nephew
of the Saint, which shows us that his aunt was
not the only member of his family who had great
confidence in his intercession. One of his sisters
was married in Lisbon, and had a child named
Apparizio, who went out one day in a boat with
some other boys, and was drowned, the boat
having been capsized by a violent gust of wind.
The child's body was found after some hours, and
was then brought home. His mother would not
allow it to be buried, and kept it with her till the
third day, when the relations insisted on its burial,
fearing that corruption had already begun. But she
declared that they should never bury her child till
208 MIRACLES.
they buried her with him, and then she began to
pray to her holy brother, vowing her son to him if
he would obtain from God the restoration of his
life. The child came to life again as soon as the
vow was made, and afterwards fulfilled his mother's
promise by entering the Franciscan Order, in which
he lived and died holily.
Mention has already been made of the translation
of the body of St. Antony in the time of St. Bona-
venture, and as this translation took place little more
than thirty years after the death of the Saint, it is a
satisfactory proof that the devotion to him had been
kept alive by a continual series of splendid miracles.
St. Bonaventure is the author of the famous ' Respon-
sory ' of St. Antony which goes by the name of the
' miraculous Responsory,' and which is recited to the
present day by those who invoke his intercession.
It turns entirely on the various kinds of miracles for
which the Saint was famous. The devout clients of
St. Antony are accustomed to prefix to it the versicle
and responsory of the Holy Ghost, Emitte Spiritnm
tuum et creabuntur, Et nnovabis faciem terra, as well
as those of our Lady, Ova pro nobis Sancta Dei
Genitrix, Ut digni efficiamuv promissionibus Christi,
to which is sometimes added the hymn, Gloriosa
Domina, as having been so favourite a devotion with
St. Antony himself. Then is used the Responsory of
MIRACLES. 209
the Saint which, as has been said, is the work of
St. Bonaventure, almost a contemporary
Si quaeris miracula,
Mors, error, calamitas,
Daemon, lepra, fugiunt,
surgunt sani :
Cedunt mare, vincula,
Membra, resque perditas
Petunt et accipiunt
Juvenes et cani :
Pereunt pericula,
Cessat et necessitas,
Narrent hi qui sentivmt,
Dicant Paduani :
Cedunt mare, vincula, etc.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto,
Cedunt mare, vincula, etc.
The repetition of the stanza which begins Cedunt
mare, vincula, is apparently the consequence of the
numberless cases in which St. Antony has afforded a
special aid in the recovery of what has been lost. 1
This Responsory certainly proves that in the time
of St. Bonaventure, that is, in little more than a
1 The Bollandists give another Responsory of St. Antony
which is also attributed to St. Bonaventure, in which spiritual
graces are chiefly sought
O proles Hispanise, Pavor Infidelium,
Nova lux Italise, nobile depositum
Urbis Paduanae :
Fer, Antoni, gratia? Christi patrocinium :
Ne prolapsis venias tempus, breve creditum,
Defluat inane.
O
210 MIRACLES.
quarter of a century after his own death, St. Antony
was already famousfor wonderful miracles of all sorts,
and that he was already well known in connection
with the particular gift spoken of above. Nearly
thirty folio pages of the Bollandist volume to which
we have referred are filled with miracles of all kinds,
which the writers have selected from various sources
to illustrate this part of their work. Azevedo, the
author who has been chiefly followed in the present
work, devotes an entire book of four chapters to
some of the miracles which have been selected by the
Bollandists as most authentic. He classes them
under the heads which are enumerated in the first
Responsory of St. Bonaventure, and is thus able to
give some idea of the universal range of this kind
of evidence to the sanctity and mercifulness of
St. Antony. We can only attempt the very briefest
account of what is in itself only an epitome.
Under the head of 'death,' Azevedo gives about
a dozen cases. One of these is the restoration to
life of the nephew of St. Antony himself, which has
been already -mentioned. Another is a case in which
a gentleman had obtained a son by prayer from
St. Antony, making a vow to visit his tomb every
year out of gratitude. One year when he was absent
on this pilgrimage, his son was drowned with nine
other boys in a mill course, from which the water
MIRACLES, 211
had been turned off and then suddenly let on again.
The father returned soon after the accident, and was
complaining to the Saint in an excess of grief, when
the voices of the children were heard outside the
door, and they all appeared unhurt. In two other
cases the persons restored to life were princesses of
Spain, whose mother had been inconsolable at their
loss. In other cases wives whose husbands were
jealous were saved from death. In others St. Antony
appeared in the company of St. Francis, either to
help people to die happily, or to restore them to
health when there was no hope of life.
Under the head of ' error,' Azevedo gives the
miraculous conversions of a Lutheran, a Calvinist,
a Turkish lady, and an Indian prince. Under the
title ' calamity,' we have several stories, which re-
semble to some extent the miracle by which
St. Antony relieved his own father during his life-
time, of persons who were sued for debts which
they had really paid, but without preserving the
certificate of payment, and in whose aid miracles
were wrought by the Saint. There is a very striking
story of an innocent man condemned to death as a
coiner of false money, in whose case the proofs of
his innocence were laid before the Viceroy at Naples
by a young Franciscan friar, who entered his room
at a time when all entrance was strictly forbidden,
212 MIRACLES.
when no one saw him come and go except the
Viceroy, and when no friar had been out of the
monastery in the city. There is another story in
which St. Francis and St. Antony appear to a
persecuted and ill-treated wife who was about to
put an end to herself in despair, and whose husband
is reclaimed from his unfaithful life and cruel treat-
ment of her by the threats of the same two Saints.
In the same way there are a number of beautiful
anecdotes in which the devil has been bereft of his
expected prey, and in which all kinds of disease
under the name of ' lepra ' have been cured. The
head ' ^Egri surgunt sani,' is also abundant. St. An-
tony's miracles in deliverance from dangers at sea are
numerous. The story of Beatrice de Silva is among
the illustrations of deliverance from prison. She
was a maid of honour to Elisabeth, a princess of
Portugal, who married John II. of Castile in 1441.
She was extremely beautiful, and the Queen suspected
her of being beloved by the King. Beatrice was
imprisoned and almost starved, when she vowed
to our Lady perpetual virginity, and was set free in
three days. She fled to Toledo, and on the way
fell in with two friars, whom she thought at first
were sent to bid her prepare for death ; but it turned
out that one of them was St. Antony, who assured
her that she was to live and become a mother to
MIRACLES. 213
many religious virgins. She became a Dominican
nun, and, many years afterwards, was the foundress
of a new congregation called after the Immaculate
Conception.
When we come to the head which refers to the
recovery of limbs and of things that have been lost,
we enter on a vast sea without a shore, as Azevedo
says. The famous Ambrosius Catharinus is one of
a number of persons who have lost their manuscripts
and recovered them by the intercession of the Saint.
He had no sooner promised to make mention of
the favour in the book which he had lost, if it were
recovered by the Saint, than an unknown person
came up to him and asked him if he had lost any
manuscript. Under this head we. find more than
one amusing anecdote. A sacristan had lost a
valuable thurible, and went to mention his loss to
the man who had stolen it. The thief proposed
that they should go together to hear a Mass in
honour of St. Antony at the friars' church hard by,
and pray the Saint to reveal to them the offender.
While they were hearing this Mass, he took his
handkerchief from his pocket, without remembering
that a piece of the chain of the missing thurible
was also there. The chain dropped out, and the
thief's prayer was granted to his own discomfiture.
Our own King Charles II. is one of the many persons
2i 4 MIRACLES.
quoted as having recovered money which he had
lost, through the intercession of the Saint.
But we must of necessity stop somewhere, and
what has been already said may be enough to give
the reader some idea of the number of miracles of
St. Antony which have been recorded only a small
percentage, it may fairly be presumed, of those which
have occurred. The collection has not been made,
it may be observed, with a view to the canonization
of the Saint, which took place so soon after his
death, and it is perhaps to this that we owe the
comparative picturesqueness and even the romantic
character of many of the anecdotes, whereas the
extreme strictness of the modern Processes of Canoni-
zation renders it necessary to select those cases only
in which the supernatural character of the result is
most indisputable, as, for instance, the cases of
sudden cure of diseases, tumours, cancers, and the
like as to which medical science is able to affirm
without the least fear of mistake that no human
agency can produce the effect in question. More-
over, any Catholic acquainted with the countries in
which the devotion to St. Antony is most flourishing
will be well aware that it is to this day fostered by
frequent and wonderful interpositions of this gentle
Saint on behalf of his devotees. And a visit to the
place where his bones rest and to the city which
MIRACLES. 215
still glories in their possession and in its own con-
nection with him, would very soon convince the
most sceptical as to the continued exercise of the
power which has been imparted to his prayers, and
that the words which St. Bonaventure wrote six
centuries ago are still true in our own time,
Narrent hi qui sentiunt, dicant Paduani.
Not, indeed, to Padua alone, but to the whole of
Catholic Europe except perhaps some countries in
which the blight of heretical domination has to some
extent dimmed the accidental glories of the Faith
without impairing its essential hold on the hearts of
the population -is the name of the great preacher of
the thirteenth century a household word. It is inter-
esting to find him a favourite saint with many of those
who have had somewhat of the same work with his
to perform, the missionaries and great preachers of
later times. Azevedo, following the Bollandists,
has a great number of miracles wrought by his
intercession at the prayer of the famous Father
Coinage of the Society of Jesus, and the instances
of such devotion are not uncommon. St. Antony
seems to stand at the head of the great band of
preacher saints of the Order of St. Francis the
band of which St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John
Capistrano are the most illustrious ornaments
216 MIRACLES.
much as St. Francis Xavier stands at the head
of the Jesuit missionaries, and St. Hyacinth and
St. Vincent Ferrer at the head of those of the Order
of St. Dominic. Such men belong in a particular
manner, which is not shared by the other saints,
to the Apostolic choir, and it is not marvellous
if they share in so many ways the special gifts
of the Apostles. They are given to the Church
from time to time, as God sees fit to revive and
exalt her ,after some great trial, or in order that
she may achieve some new triumph. Different as
are their characters, the fields of their labours, and
even, as may be said, the peculiar hues of their
beautiful sanctity, they are yet alike in their deep
humility, their loving charity, the splendour of their
gifts, the marvellous powers committed to them, the
immense success of their labours, the permanence
of their work, and the surpassing glory of their
reward.
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