Saint Anthony: Ancedotes Proving the Miraculous Power of St. Anthony

Ingersoll B. Lockwood

• Publisher: Brunauer Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781528761802
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

PART I.

MIRACLES WORKED DURING THE LIFE OF ST. ANTHONY.

1.—The Miracle of Tongues.

AMONG the saints of the Church few are better known than the great St. Anthony of Padua.

Endowed with great natural gifts, enjoying excellent health, a powerful voice, combined with greal eloquence, an admirable delivery, a perfect knowledge of the Scriptures and theology, he was, soon after his ordination, sent to preach in France, Italy and Portugal.

Although in his youth he had never spoken anything but Portuguese, he, like the apostles after Pentecost, received that wonderful gift of tongues, which not only enabled him to preach even with eloquence in French and Italian, but to make himself understood by people from all parts of the world.

An instance of this may be given: When ordered by the Holy See to preach the Lenten sermons at Rome he was perfectly understood by the immense multitude from all nations, whom the renown of his great sanctity and marvellous gifts had attracted. This same gift was of most frequent occurrence during his missionary career.

2.—Dumb Animals Obey the Saint.

There was near the monastery of the Friars Minor, at Montpellier, a large pool filled with frogs, whose perpetual croakings greatly disturbed the saint and his community. At last, wearied by this perpetual noise, he determined to put an end to it, and going to the pond, after blessing it, ordered the frogs to stop their croaking, which at once ceased, and the pond from that time was called St. Anthony’s Pond.

But stranger still, if a frog was taken out of this pond and placed in another, it instantly recovered its power of croaking, while it was just the reverse were a strange frog put into St. Anthony’s Pond.

3.—The Sermon to the Fishes at Rimini.

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries Europe had much to suffer from various heresies, more especially from that of the Albigenses, which infested the south of France and north of Italy.

God, ever watchful over His spouse, the Church, soon raised up two great men, St. Francis and St. Dominic, who, with their sons, came to her assistance.

St. Anthony of Padua, on account of his great sanctity and learning, was chosen by his superiors to be one of the first to enter the battlefield. Rimini, in Romagna, in spite of all the endeavors of the Holy See and of its own saintly bishop, continued to remain the hotbed of heresy, and here it was St. Anthony began his arduous task of conversion.

The heretics, on hearing who was to enter the lists against them, were filled with dismay, but instigated by the evil one, resolved at any cost to face their enemy.

The saint on his arrival met with the reverse of a cordial reception; the church in which he was to begin his labors was empty, save for a few old men and women; but his longing for the glory of God and salvation of souls was too great to make him hesitate for a moment. He therefore ascended the pulpit, and preached with such earnestness and zeal that the heretics, on hearing about it, determined to leave nothing undone to get rid of one who was so dangerous an opponent.

This great servant of God, being informed of their intentions, withdrew to a remote part of the city, to prepare himself by prayer, fasting and penance for the encounter, imploring at the same time the mercy of God on this poor benighted people.

His enemies had, however, not lost sight of him, and on seeing him leave his retreat, some of them followed him to the place where the river Marecchia empties itself into the Adriatic. Here the saint stopped, and in a loud voice commanded the fishes of the sea and river to come forth and listen to the word of God, saying: “Come, ye senseless fishes of the deep, and by your attention to the word of your God and mine, put to shame these men, who in their blindness and hardness of heart refuse to hear it.”

The words were barely out of the saint’s mouth before a great commotion was noticed in the sea. Thousands of fishes of every size and species were seen to come in the greatest order to its surface, the smaller ones placing themselves in front, and the larger ones behind. Then began one of the most extraordinary sermons ever preached. The saint addressed them as if they were beings endowed with reason.

“Oh! ye fishes of the deep, praise and thank your God and Creator for the unspeakable blessings He has lavished on you, favoring you above all dumb animals. See and admire the beautiful home He, in His infinite goodness, has prepared for you; look at those crystal waters, in which it is so easy for you to find a refuge against the storm and the enemy. Not only has He provided for all your wants, but He has made you prolific above all other creatures. You alone have been exempted from the dominion of your fellow beings and from His wrath at the time of the deluge. To you it has been given to save His prophet Jonas; to cure His blind servant Tobias; to be the food of the penitent; to procure for the Saviour of mankind and His disciples the tribute money due to Cæsar; it was after His Resurrection by eating of your flesh He proved He was truly risen from the dead; it was over your heads He walked on the sea, and after the great draught of fishes, He called His apostles ‘fishers of men.’ ”

The fishes seemed to be filled with admiration, and anxious not to lose one of his words, their numbers ever increasing, marking their approval by the lifting up and down of their heads, the opening of their mouths, but not one of them thought of leaving the spot till the saint had blessed them, and ordered them to return to their homes below, when they immediately disappeared. But the commotion of the waters continued for some time after. In the meantime, so deep had been the impression made upon the bystanders, eye-witnesses of this remarkable scene, that many hastened back to the city, imploring their friends to come and see the miracle; others burst into tears, and kneeling at the feet of the saint, implored forgiveness, while only a few remained obdurate in their heresy.

St. Anthony, availing himself of this opportunity, at the close of the sermon to the fishes addressed the immense multitude now gathered together, exhorting them to repentance, rebuking them for their unbelief and ingratitude, pointing out to them the heinousness of sin, and showing them what a lesson of obedience the fishes had just given them.

It was through this sermon that Rimini was purged from heresy.

4.—Why St. Anthony is Invoked for Lost and Mislaid Things.

The following incident in the life of St. Anthony accounts for his being invoked for lost and mislaid articles:

During his stay at the Franciscan monastery at Montpellier St. Anthony was not only engaged in preaching, but also in teaching theology to his younger brethren. It was here a most extraordinary adventure happened to one of his novices. The latter, weary of the monastic life, suddenly left the monastery, taking with him a book of psalms, copied and annotated by the saint for the benefit of his pupils.

The loss of this book was deeply felt by St. Anthony, as books at that time were only written, the art of printing being unknown, an ordinary book costing at least a hundred dollars of our money.

In the year 1240 the monks at Camaldoli paid as much as two hundred gold ducats for an illuminated missal. (See History of Pope Innocent III, volume iv.) Whole fortunes sometimes were spent in the purchase of a single book.

What pained the saint even more than the loss of a work invaluable to him, was the outrage committed against God, and the spiritual danger threatening the culprit. The saint, with his usual trust in God, at once betook himself to prayer, humbly imploring the divine mercy on the unhappy youth, and at the same time asking for the restitution of his book. His prayer was barely finished before it was heard. Just at that moment, as the thief was about to cross a bridge, the devil, in the shape of a hideous negro, appeared before him with an axe in his hand, threatening at once to kill him and trample him under foot if he did not immediately retrace his steps. The novice, terrified at the sight of the monster, hastened to obey, and falling at the feet of the servant of God, not only gave back the book, but implored forgiveness, begging to be readmitted into the monastery.

The saint, full of gratitude to God, readily forgave the culprit, warning him at the same time against the snares of the devil and encouraging him to persevere in his holy vocation. The stolen book has been for years preserved in the Franciscan monastery at Bologna.

5.—A Messenger from Hell Unmasked.

While the saint was preaching at Puy a messenger suddenly appeared in the midst of the congregation, calling out to a lady in a loud voice that her son had been foully murdered by his enemies. Anthony, who easily discovered who the messenger was, commanded silence by a motion of his hand, and, after consoling the lady by telling her that her son was never in better health in his life and that she would shortly see him, added that the supposed messenger was no other than the evil one, who had only come in the hopes of disturbing the sermon and marring its effects. This proved perfectly true, as the pretended messenger at once vanished. The saintly preacher then availed himself of the opportunity thus presented to him to warn his hearers against the artifices of the evil one.

6.—The Consoler of Mothers.

Whilst at Brives God glorified His servant by making him work many miracles.

A poor woman had gone to hear the saint preach, leaving her child alone, with no one to take care of him. During her absence the little one fell into a caldron of boiling water, and on her return she found him playing unhurt in his dangerous bath.

But a greater miracle than that was worked on another occasion. A mother having left her infant at home by itself, in order to go and hear the sermon, found him on her return dead in his cradle. In the midst of her grief she rushed back to the church and informed the saint of what had taken place. “Go home,” he replied, “your son liveth,” making use of the same words as Our Lord did when the father asked Him to cure his son. Full of confidence in St. Anthony, she hastened back, and to her great joy, found the baby up and playing with his little companions.

7.—The Rain Respects the Friend of the Saints.

It happened one day that the cook of the monastery at which the saint was staying had nothing to give the brethren to eat, and went and told Anthony of his difficulty. The saint at once went to see a pious lady he knew, begging her to have compassion on his brethren and send them a few cabbages. So great was the veneration in which he was held that she immediately, in spite of the inclemency of the weather, for it was pouring rain, ordered her servant to go into the garden and cut as many vegetables as the monks would require. The maid obeyed and took them to the convent. Notwithstanding the drenching rain, she returned home perfectly dry, and, full of admiration, said to her mistress: “When you want something done for Father Anthony or the other monks, do, pray, send me; I would not care if the weather was a thousand times worse than to-day; see, there is not a drop of rain on my clothes and my shoes are not even damp.”

The lady, full of admiration, earnestly recommended the monks to the care of her only brother, a canon at Noblet, entreating him to assist them, as far as lay in his power, and to rest assured that God would reward him a hundredfold for his charity.

8.—An Extraordinary Prophecy.

While the saint was at his monastery at Puy he used sometimes to meet a lawyer, who led a very bad and profligate life. Every time they met the saint would uncover his head and bow most respectfully to him. Thinking the servant of God was only laughing at him, the lawyer one day turned round and said to him: “If I did not fear the judgment of God I would soon make you repent of insulting one who has never injured you, by thrusting my sword through your body.” The saint replied that, far from having any intention of insulting him, he only bowed through a feeling of deep love and respect, for in thus saluting him he was saluting one who was to be a glorious martyr, and begged of him, when undergoing his tortures, not to forget him in his prayers. The lawyer for the time being laughed at what seemed to him to be a most unlikely thing. Strange to say, the prophecy was shortly afterwards fulfilled. A bishop started for Palestine, with the intention of converting the Saracens, and urged on by a secret impulse from heaven, the lawyer followed him. On his arrival he was suddenly filled with such a desire to convert the infidels that he himself at once began to preach the truths of the Christian religion to them and point out the wickedness of Mahometanism, which so enraged these fanatics that after making him a prisoner and torturing him for three days, they put him to death. When about to die he revealed to those present how the saintly Father Anthony had predicted his martyrdom, declaring at the same time that a great prophet had risen in their midst.

9.—St. Anthony the Consoler of Persecuted Women.

St. Anthony always took a great interest in women in distress, or persecuted, and they therefore look on him as their special protector.

Among those who, owing to the sanctity of the Franciscans, held them in great veneration and aided them in their daily wants, was a lady who suffered much from a jealous and irritable husband. One evening, after finishing some work and making some purchases for the Brothers, finding it too late to take them to the monastery that night, she took them home with her. This so greatly roused the anger and jealousy of her husband that, not content with loading her with reproaches, he pulled almost all her hair off her head. The poor woman was naturally greatly hurt at such treatment, but full of confidence in her good Father Anthony, after carefully gathering up all her hair, she wrote, begging of him to call on her the next day. Her trust in the saint was not misplaced. After hearing her story he immediately on his return to his monastery, summoned his community together and begged of ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Preface
• Contents
• Part I. Miracles Worked During the Life of St. Anthony.
• Part II. Miracles Worked after the Death of St. Anthony.
• Part III. Petitions Granted in More Morden Times.
• Part IV. Devotions and Prayers to St. Anthony.