St. Anthony, Hammer of Heretics
Saturday, June 13th Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Today is the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a Doctor of the Church known as the Hammer of Heretics for his powerful preaching. In the new liturgical calendar, today is also the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but I will write about this beautiful and important devotion on its traditional feast day in August so as to focus on St. Anthony today.
St. Anthony was born in 1195 to a noble Portuguese family. He was baptized Fernando but took the name Anthony when he entered the Order of St. Augustine at the age of fifteen. After venerating the remains of five Franciscans who had just been martyred for their faith, St. Anthony decided to leave the Augustinian Order and become a Franciscan. He received permission to travel to Morocco and preach the Gospel where the Franciscan martyrs had just given their lives for Christ, but his health required him to return home soon after arriving.
St. Anthony was then sent to preach throughout Italy and France, making some 400 trips throughout his short life. He chose to visit areas with a large presence of heretics in order to show them, through his preaching, the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christianity. St. Anthony died at the age of 36, but he was already being hailed as a saint by thousands of people who had heard his preaching and received the sacraments from him.
Perhaps St. Anthony’s most famous legacy pertains to finding lost objects. According to a pious legend, St. Anthony owned a book of the Psalms in which he had written notes for use in his preaching and to help form young religious. One day, a novice stole the book and fled from the monastery. St. Anthony was distressed at having lost his book, so he prayed not only for its return but also for God’s mercy on the young man who stole it.
While running away from the monastery with the stolen book, the novice met the devil in the form of a monster. The devil told the novice to return the stolen book immediately, or else the monster would drown him in the river. The terrified novice returned the book, apologized to St. Anthony, and resumed his life in the monastery with a repentant heart.
The Gospel reading for today’s Feast of St. Anthony fittingly recounts how Our Lord sent the seventy-two disciples to preach the Gospel, a commission that St. Anthony of Padua truly answered in his own life. As a sign of his eternal reward for so tirelessly working to spread the Gospel, St. Anthony’s tongue and lower jawbone remain incorrupt, a visible reminder to the faithful of the promise that awaits us all if we remain faithful to Christ’s teachings and seek to lead others to Him. On this Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, may he pray for us, that we might tirelessly devote ourselves to the unique callings God has given us, in order to attain Heaven for ourselves and also lead many others to salvation as well.
St. Anthony of Padua, ora pro nobis!
The Gospel keeps restoring dignity to the weary. God has a special tenderness for people who are tired and still trying.