Saint Anthony of Padua (June 13)
The gospel call to leave everything
and follow Christ was the rule of Saint Anthony of Padua’s life. Over and over
again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony
responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more
completely.
His journey as the servant of God
began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon,
giving up a future of wealth and power to be a servant of God. Later when the
bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where
he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of
those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News.
So Anthony entered the Franciscan
Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from
achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage
where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing
menial tasks.
The call of God came again at an
ordination where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthony
hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of
reading sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity, and obedience
had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon
was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the
Spirit’s power to give people words.
Recognized as a great man of prayer
and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to
teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach
to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and
theology to convert and reassure those who had been misled by their denial of
Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments..
After he led the friars in northern
Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He
resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers.
In the spring of 1231 Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero where he
had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for
death.
On June 13, he became very ill and
asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last
sacraments. Anthony was canonized less than a year later and named a Doctor of
the Church in 1946.
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