Celebrating St, Antony - the Preacher par excellence
13th June, 2017
Is 61: 1-3; Lk 10: 1-9
St. Antony is considered a preacher par excellence - his tongue that remains as a relic even today bears testimony to this fact. It is not only his eloquence that sets him apart as a preacher, but the quality of his preaching came from the corresponding life that he lived! It is so interesting to note that he lived along side another giant of a saint - St. Francis of Assisi, who was born 13 years before him. Though the two initially did not know each other, there were moments when they entered each other's life and left mutually edifying indelible marks.
The Learned Preacher - the Augustinian Fernando
Born in 1195, Fernando Martins was his baptism name and he joined the Augustinian Monks when he was just 15, at a monastery close to his place in Lisbon. After two years there, he asked to be transferred as his friends and relatives were often visiting him there whereas he wanted to live a life of rigorous solitude, though the Diviine Providence was planning something greater. He was transferred to Coimbra and there he studied theology and was ordained a priest. He was a learned preacher when saw five Franciscan friars' dead body arriving at a neighbouring Franciscan friary, martyred at Morocco.
The Ardent Preacher - the Franciscan Anthony
His zeal to be a missionary flagged in him and he asked to change his habit into that of a Franciscan, because his longing to be a preacher by life was reflected in their way of living. The Franciscans there, were taking care of the Church of St. Anthony of Egypt, whose name Fernando took for himself as he became one among them. Anthony would often say, the best way of preaching is preaching by your virtues! And that is what he was aiming at when he asked to become a Franciscan and he wanted to go to Morocco. It happened exactly so, but it did not last long. Within a few months he got too ill and had to be sent back to Portugal, where he never reached. On the way due to a shipwreck he landed in Sicily.
The Humble Preacher - the Provincial Anthony
In Sicily, the Franciscan friars nursed him back to health but they did not know him much. From what they saw, he was a simply friar and they placed him in a small responsibility of assisting the Provincial on his journeys. In one such journeys, when the Provincial had gone for an Ordination of some Franciscans and Dominicans, there was a mishap - that no one was prepared with a sermon. When asked on the spot to preach, everyone declined and the Provincial ordered Anthony to say just a few words - that was the beginning of the change! Every one there was amazed at the knowledge, the power and the sanctity that emanated from every word that Anthony uttered. Francis of Assisi, the founder heard of this incident and was impressed at the fact that such a learned man remained hidden all this while. Francis was looking for such a humble model to be convinced that learning and humility could go together. In 1224, he placed him responsible for teaching theology to his young friars in formation. And soon Anthony was asked to go to Northern Italy for the ministry of Preaching. And by 1226 he became the Provincial of Northern Italy.
He lived just 35 years, as he died in 1231, but had accomplished great feats for the Lord within the short while. That is why it took less than a year for the Church to make him a saint - he was canonised already by May 1232. The sanctity was so visible, already when he lived and after his death through numerous miracles. A Preacher par excellence, because of his humility and holiness, St. Anthony challenges us to preach by our virtues wherever we are. St. Anthony, Pray for us!
