ANTONIO DI PADOVA, SANTO - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. I, p. 928

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

ANTONIO OF PADUA, Saint. — Franciscan, renowned preacher, Doctor of the Church; called of Padua because he died there.

1. SOURCES FOR HIS LIFE

Besides the works of A., the following are to be noted: 1) *Legenda prima* or *Assidua*, written in Italy by an unidentified Franciscan friar in 1232 or 1233; although incomplete, it is not without value and was the source of all the others. It received various additions in the manuscripts of Padua, Lucerne, Paris, and Ancona. The best edition remains that of L. de Kerval, *Sancti Antonii de Padua vitae duae*, Paris 1904. 2) *Legenda secunda* or *Anonyma* (ed. *Acta SS. Uniti*, II, Antwerp 1742, pp. 705-718); attributed to Fr. Giuliano of Spira and written around 1233-35. 3) *Dialogus de gestis ss. Fratrum Minorum* (ed. F. Delorme, Quaracchi 1943): of uncertain authorship, written around 1245. 4) *Legenda Ravunudina* (ed. A. M. Iosa, Bologna 1883); written in 1293 in Padua by Fr. Pietro Raimondi of S. Romano of Toulouse. The last three legends depend on the *Assidua* and add little or nothing new. 5) *Legenda florentina* (most recent ed. in *Studi francescani*, 4 [1932], pp. 490-96): of unknown authorship from the second half of the 13th century. 6) *Legenda Rigaldina* (ed. F. M. D'Araules [Delorme], Bordeaux-Brive 1899, Italian version by T. (Mengoni) da Soci, Quaracchi 1902): written by Fr. Giovanni Rigaldi between 1293 and 1317. It is the most important after the *Assidua* because it partly fills the gap in the latter regarding A.’s apostolate in France. 7) *Legenda Benignitas* (ed. Kerval, op. cit.); dating from the early 14th century, only fragments of it survive. The *Assidua*, *Benignitas*, and *Rigaldina* legends are also published by F. Concini, *Leggende di s. A. d. P.*, Padua 1930; 2nd ed. under the title, *Le fonti della biografia antoniana*, ibid. 1931; the *Assidua* and *Benignitas* by R. Cessi, *Legende Antoniane*, Milan 1936. 8) *Liber Miraculorum* (ed. *Analecta franciscana*, 3 [1897], pp. 121-58): written around 1350, it provides the first chronology of A.’s life.

2. LIFE

Born around 1195 in Lisbon, of a family of minor nobility, he was baptized with the name Fernando. Educated in the school of the Cathedral, which stood near his family home, after passing through the unrestrainedness of youth, he entered the Augustinian Canons Regular, who had their monastery of S. Vincenzo near the city walls. After two years, he asked and obtained permission to transfer to another Augustinian monastery, S. Croce in Coimbra, where he remained for nine years and received his scientific formation in one of the two best cultural institutions of Portugal at that time. There he learned dialectics and, above all, theology, acquiring a great mastery of Holy Scripture. It was probably at this time, according to the most reliable opinion, that he was also ordained to the priesthood. The heroic climate of the triumphs of the Cross over the crescent and the echo of the Lateran Council (1215) spurred him to apostolate. Upon seeing the relics of the five protomartyrs of the Franciscans, killed on 16 January 1220 for the faith in Morocco, he decided to enter the Order of Friars Minor precisely to preach to the Saracens and to seek martyrdom there. In the autumn of 1220, he set out for Morocco, but upon arrival he fell ill and had to remain there all winter. During the return journey to his homeland, the winds drove the ship on which A. was traveling to the shores of Sicily, from where the Saint went to the Porziuncola for the General Chapter of Pentecost 1221. There he saw and heard St. Francis. After the friars had departed and he was left almost alone, A. asked and obtained from the Provincial Minister of Romagna, Fr. Graziano, to go to his province; there he was assigned to the hermitage of Montepaolo near Forlì, where he led an ascetic life and practiced severe penances. Invited to speak on the occasion of a sacred ordination in Forlì, A. revealed the hidden treasure of his doctrine. From then on, he was destined for an active life, which he carried out in preaching, teaching, governing his brethren, and composing his writings. He first preached in Upper Italy, where at Rimini he converted the heretic Bonillo. He was the first among the Friars Minor to teach theology to his brethren, having received permission from St. Francis himself.

Going to southern France around 1225, he preached, according to the testimony of Fr. Giovanni Rigaldi, in various cities, including Bourges, Limoges, Saint-Julien, Brive, and Arles; he was Custodian of Limoges; he taught in Montpellier, Toulouse, and Puy-en-Velay. Returning to Italy after Easter 1227, at the General Chapter of that year he was elected Provincial Minister of Upper Italy, as attested also by Fr. Luca of Padua. At this time, he visited the friars, preached, and wrote his *Sermones dominicales*. Perhaps around Easter 1228, sent to Rome to handle affairs of the Order at the Roman Curia, he preached in the presence of the cardinals and Pope Gregory IX, who called him the “Ark of the Testament and repository of the Holy Scriptures.” At the General Chapter of 1230, he was relieved of his office as Minister and was able to devote himself more freely to the ministry of the word and to composing the *Sermones de Sanctis*, as requested by the Cardinal of Ostia, Rolando de’ Conti, later Alexander IV. The year 1231 marks the apex of A.’s apostolic triumphs, which now took on a distinctly social character. He preached with great fruit during Lent and, after unsuccessfully interceding for the liberation of the Count of S. Bonifacio and other Guelph leaders from Ezzelino da Romano, he devoted himself to evangelizing the countryside until the harvest. He then retired to Camposampiero, 19 km from Padua, to the home of his friend Tiso, where, struck by an attack of dropsy, he ordered that he be taken to Padua. As he was making his way toward the city, his condition worsened along the way, and he was forced to stop at Arcella near Padua, where he received the Sacraments and died on 13 June 1231. He was canonized by Gregory IX at Spoleto on 30 May 1232, barely eleven months after his death.

3. CULT

The miracles worked during his life, but especially after his death, earned A. the title of thaumaturge and greatly contributed to the spread of his cult. Initially, this cult was almost exclusively confined to Padua and the Franciscan Order, where he enjoyed liturgical veneration as a Doctor, a practice that from the 13th century onward spread more or less intensely throughout the Church until the reform of the Roman Breviary and Missal by St. Pius V in 1570. From the 16th century onward, A.’s cult expanded ever more universally, as it is today. The liturgical cult as a Doctor was confirmed and extended to the whole Church by Pius XII with the brief *Exulta, Lusitania felix*, on 16 January 1946. Feast day: 13 June.

In 1263, in the presence of St. Bonaventure, the translation of A. took place (cf. B. Gonzati, *La Basilica di S. Antonio da Padova descritta ed illustrata*, 2 vols., Padua 1852).

Bibl.: Besides the introductions to the official editions, the following may be consulted: Angelico da Vicenza, *La vita di s. A. di P.*, Bassano 1748; Sicco Polentone, *S. A. de Padua vita*, published by A. Azzoguidi in the introduction, *A. S. A. Patav. sermones in Psalmos*, Bologna 1757; E. de Azevedo, *Vita del taumaturgo portoghese, A. di Pad.*, 1st ed., Venice 1788, 7th ed., 11th ed., 13th ed., 12th ed., 13th ed., 14th ed., 15th ed., 16th ed., 17th ed., 18th ed., 19th ed., 20th ed., 21st ed., 22nd ed., 23rd ed., 24th ed., 25th ed., 26th ed., 27th ed., 28th ed., 29th ed., 30th ed., 31st ed., 32nd ed., 33rd ed., 34th ed., 35th ed., 36th ed., 37th ed., 38th ed., 39th ed., 40th ed., 41st ed., 42nd ed., 43rd ed., 44th ed., 45th ed., 46th ed., 47th ed., 48th ed., 49th ed., 50th ed., 51st ed., 52nd ed., 53rd ed., 54th ed., 55th ed., 56th ed., 57th ed., 58th ed., 59th ed., 60th ed., 61st ed., 62nd ed., 63rd ed., 64th ed., 65th ed., 66th ed., 67th ed., 68th ed., 69th ed., 70th ed., 71st ed., 72nd ed., 73rd ed., 74th ed., 75th ed., 76th ed., 77th ed., 78th ed., 79th ed., 80th ed., 81st ed., 82nd ed., 83rd ed., 84th ed., 85th ed., 86th ed., 87th ed., 88th ed., 89th ed., 90th ed., 91st ed., 92nd ed., 93rd ed., 94th ed., 95th ed., 96th 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Of particular importance in our Doctor is his treatment of the Sacrament of Penance.

A. also reveals himself as an ascetic and a profound mystic, and with sure hand and personal experience he traces the path of Christian perfection. Having inculcated the necessity of penance, he especially recommends faith, humility, poverty, chastity, love of God and of the Church, compassion for the poor, and insists on the spirit of prayer. He bases the contemplative life especially on the latter and proclaims the superiority of this life over the active, although he holds that superiority lies in a harmony between the two. His writings reveal a tender devotion to the humility of Christ, considered as the King of Glory, yet humbled for our sake; he often speaks also of the Eucharist and especially recommends devotion to the Passion of the Savior and particularly to Mary.

A. is a mystical author worthy of consideration. Practical and effective, he generally follows Western mysticism, whose exponents are St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and St. Bernard. He is not at all influenced by the pseudo-Dionysius, but depends in some respects on Richard of St. Victor. His mysticism displays a personal note and is not lacking in originality. He has excellently treated almost all the essential questions of mysticism. Indeed, he admits, besides passive contemplation, a true active contemplation. The primary object of passive contemplation is God, the secondary object the Church and especially the Humanity of Christ. Contemplation pertains to the intellect and the will, but A. gives primacy to the latter. Passive contemplation is a permanent state, yet a passing grace. The principal effect of contemplation is the love of God.

Preceding St. John of the Cross, he perfectly describes the three signs of the mystical night of the senses. A. also believes that all the faithful are called to infused contemplation in general and urges them to aspire to II.
A. is finally a great master of sacred oratory. His sermons are an explanation of the Sunday Gospels harmonized with the stories of the Old Testament, the Introit and the Epistle of the Sunday Masses, according to the scheme of the solemn sermon in use in the thirteenth century, so as to serve preachers and especially the Friars Minor as immediate and remote preparation for preaching. His preaching is apologetic with heretics, moral and social with all the faithful. After the Bible and the Church Fathers he turns to nature and is original in his application of his knowledge of natural sciences; his sermons abound with vivid sketches drawn from real life; his language is lively, imaginative, often sculptural, and this partly explains the triumphs of his preaching.

BIBL.: S. Licita, I sermoni di s. A. di P., in La Verna, 4 (1906-1907), pp. 449-58, 519-25, 649-50, 711-16; 5 (1907-1908), pp. 73-85, 166-71, 205-13, 289-90, 335-44; A. Kleinhans, De concordantiis biblicis s. Antonio Patav. aliisque fratribus Minorum saeculi XIII attribuitis, in Antonianum, 6 (1931), pp. 273-326; G. Cantini, De fontibus sermonum s. A. qui in editione Locatelli continentur, in Antonianum, 6 (1931), pp. 327-80; A. Callebaut, Les sermons sur les Psaumes, imprimés sous le nom de St Antoine, restitués au card. Jean d'Abbeville, in Archiv. franc. histor., 25 (1932), pp. 161-74; G. Bellincini, La parola e l'anima del Santo di Padova, Padova 1932; J. Heericks, S. A. Patav. auctor mysticus, in Antonianum, 7 (1932), pp. 39-76, 167-200; id., Les sources de la théologie mystique de s. A. de Pad., in Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique, 13 (1932), pp. 225-56; id., La mistica di s. A. da P., in Studi franc., 5 (1933), pp. 39-60; id., De sermonibus dominicalibus et in festivitatibus s. Antonio Patav., in Antonianum, 9 (1934), pp. 3-36; D. Scaramuzzi, La figura intellettuale di s. A. di P., Roma 1934; G. Cantini, La tecnica e l'indole del sermone medievale ed i sermoni di s. A. di P., in Studi franc., 6 (1934), pp. 60-80, 195-224; S. A. Dottore della Chiesa (Atti delle settimane antoniane tenute a Roma e a Padova nel 1946), Roma 1948; the sixteen papers in this collection are almost all of great importance; we note three of the most notable: C. Balié, S. A. Dottore evangelico, pp. 5-30; id., Gli scritti di s. A., pp. 297-330; G. Abate, S. A. Maestro di sacra Teologia, pp. 265-94.

S. A. IN FOLKLORE AND POPULAR POETRY. — The popular cult of the saint is manifested above all in the very lively and widespread belief in his extraordinary miraculous power and in the pilgrimage, with particular signs of devotion, to his church in Padua. Due to an exchange resulting from the identity of name, some expressions of popular devotion originally dedicated to St. Anthony the Abbot are transferred to him. A little song in quatrains of octonaries, widely diffused throughout Italy, especially by means of printed sheets, and entitled *Storia di s. A. di P.*, is very popular; it tells how in six hours he departed in spirit from Padua while preaching, went to Lisbon where he freed his innocent father condemned to death, and raised a dead man, etc. Pitrè demonstrated its original Sicilian composition and supposed it to be a translation of Spanish and Portuguese variants. There are also a few octaves that narrate the miracles of the saint, but they are of little popularity and of minimal literary value.

BIBL.: P. B. Kleinschmidt, *Antonius von Padua in Leben und Kunst, Kult und Volkstum*, Düsseldorf 1930; G. Pitrè, in Archiv. trad. popol., 4 (1929), pp. 78-86, 343, 573; 11 (1936), p. 422. Paolo Toschi

6. Iconography

Always represented in the Franciscan habit, his principal attributes are a book (from the earliest times), a flame (first appearing in an fresco by Agnolo Gaddi in 1394), sometimes replaced by a heart (from the mid-15th century), the lily (symbol of virginity, from 1440 onwards), and the Child Jesus, a remembrance of a vision of the saint, widely preferred by Spanish (Ribera, Murillo) and German artists of the Baroque period as well as in popular prints. To the oldest images of St. A. (panels by Bonaventura Berlinghieri in Florence, Accademia; by Margaritone d'Arezzo in Perugia, Pinacoteca; and of the Giottesque school in Padua, Basilica of St. A.) succeed those by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Cosimo Tura. No less frequent are the representations in which St. A., often united with other Franciscan saints, participates in sacred conversations before the Madonna enthroned (as in works by the Blessed Angelico and the Pordenone). Besides the 14th-century stained glass depictions of St. Francis in Assisi, mention should be made of the numerous cyclical representations inspired by the rich episodes of the saint’s legend: among these, important are the bronze bas-reliefs by Donatello on the high altar of the Basilica of the Santo in Padua, and the marble reliefs of the ark by Antonio and Tullio Lombardo, I. Sansovino, and others.

BIBL.: K. Künstle, *Iconographie der Christlichen Kunst*, II. *Iconographie der Heiligen*, Freiburg in Br. 1926, pp. 72-89; I. Errera, s. V. in *Répertoire abrégé d'iconographie*, I. *Vetere*, 1929, pp. 194-201; Beda Kleinschmidt, *Der h. Antonius*, Düsseldorf 1931; I. Braun, *Tracht und Attribute der Heiligen in der deutschen Kunst*, Stuttgart 1941, pp. 96-99. Kurt Rahe

7. The Work of the Bread of St Anthony – Alms offered in honour of the Saint to beg for his protection and distributed to the poor, mainly in the form of bread. Considered in general terms, the work dates back to the earliest period of the cult paid to him and took its origin from the miracle performed in favour of a 20-month-old child named Tommasino, who had died by drowning in a tub. The mother promised the Saint that, if he restored her son to life, she would give as much grain for the poor as the child weighed (Delorme-J. Rigault, pp. 152). The practice of such offerings subsequently spread widely, to the extent that there existed in the liturgy a special *benedictio ad pondus pueri*, with which parents were accustomed to invoke upon their children the protection of Anthony, offering to the poor, in his honour, as much grain as the child weighed. However, the work, in the form in which it now exists—namely, the distribution of money to be converted into bread as thanksgiving for favours received—did not begin until the 19th century. We see it arising in 1887 in Messina at the orphanages of Canon Annibale M. di Francia, following a grace obtained in favour of the family of Signora Susanna Consiglio. Moreover, independently, on 12 March 1890, it arose in Toulon through the efforts of Mademoiselle Luisa Bouffier, in gratitude for a prayer answered; when made known by Don Antonio Locatelli of Padua, he recommended and spread it in his *Bollettino dell’Associazione Universale Antoniana*, and from as early as 1886 he converted into bread, to be distributed every Saturday to the poor, the proceeds of the Tipografia e Libreria Antoniana. In our own day, it may be said that the Work of the Bread of St Anthony flourishes in every church. — See Pl. CXXIII.

BIBL.: E. Jouve, *L’arrière-boutique de s. A. à Toulon et le pain des pauvres. Récit d’un témoin*, 2nd ed., Paris 1897; F. M. Delorme-J. Rigault, *La vie de s. A. de Padoue*, Bordeaux 1899; V. SACCHIETTI, GIULIO, *A. di P.*, Milan 1925, pp. 552-556; F. Conconi, *Don Ant. Locatelli fondatore dell’Associazione Universale Antoniana e dell’Opera del pane dei poveri*, Padua 1938, p. 64; F. Vitale, *Il can. Annibale M. di Francia nella vita e nell’opera*, Messina 1939, pp. 182-187; P. B., *L’origine del pane di s. Antonio*, Pescatori, *L’Osservatore Romano*, 15 June 1941. Celestino Tosore