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Saint Anthony of
Padua is the most loved and admired saint. His work was in Italy, He was
born in Portugal. He first joined the Augustinian Order. When he was 26
years, he joined the Franciscan Order in 1221. After the death of the St.
Bernard, St. Peter, St. Otto, St. Accursius, and St. Adjutus, who shed
their blood for the Catholic Faith in the year 1220, Anthony became a
Franciscan. St. Anthony became a Franciscan in the hope of shedding his
own blood and becoming a martyr. He lived 10 years after joining the
Franciscan Order.
Anthony was born in a wealthy family. They wanted him to be a great
nobleman, but for the sake of Christ he became a poor Franciscan Priest.
When the remains of Saint Bernard and his companions, the first Franciscan
martyrs, were brought to be buried in his church, Anthony left his order,
entered the Friars Minor, and went to Morocco to evangelize.
When Anthony was
shipwrecked at Sicily, he joined some other brothers who were going to
Portiuncula. Leaving only to attend Mass and to sweep the nearby
monastery, Anthony lived in a cave at San Paolo. One day when a scheduled
speaker failed to appear, the brothers asked Anthony to speak.. He
impressed them so much that he was thereafter constantly traveling, evangelizing, preaching, and teaching theology throughout Italy and
France.
Anthony spoke many languages. As a gifted speaker, he attracted crowds
everywhere he went. Legend says that even the fish loved to listen to
Anthony.
So simple and resounding was his teaching of the Catholic Faith, so that
even the most uneducated and innocent might understand it, that he was
made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946.
Saint Anthony was
only 36 years old when he died. He is called the “hammer of the Heretics”
His great protection against their lies and deceits in the matter of
Christian doctrine was to utter, simply and innocently, the Holy Name of
Mary. When St. Anthony of Padua found he was preaching the true Gospel of
the Catholic Church to heretics who would not listen to him, he then went
out and preached it to the fishes. This was not, as some say, for the
instruction of the fishes, but rather for the glory of God, the delight of
the angels, and the easing of his own heart.
With his mind and
his heart, at every moment St. Anthony professed his Faith.
Wonder worker. One of the most beloved of saints, his images and statues
are found everywhere.
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