Part 2
FERNANDO BECOMES ANTONIO,
SEEKS MARTYRDOM AND SEES ST. FRANCIS
 

FERNANDO BECOMES ANTONIO

Not far from the Monastery of Santa Cruz, at Olivares, stood the Franciscan Abbey of the Olives. This holy house was small and poor. It was named in honor of St. Anthony of the Desert; his poverty, his frugality, his sobriety were patterns for the frati who dwelt there. They lived upon the tribute gathered by the humble supplicants who went forth daily asking alms of the faithful. Often they had knocked at Fernando's door; often he had shared his bread and his wine with them; and he was beginning to feel a personal interest in them when the five friars who were afterward Martyred in Morocco sought the hospitality of Santa Cruz, where he soon grew to know them intimately.

The Martyrdom of the friars, the transportation of their relics to Portugal, and the shrine prepared for them at Santa Cruz, the knowledge he had gained of the origin and development of the Franciscan Order, inspired Fernando with a longing to become himself a follower of St. Francis.

Now the solitude he had sought and found in the cloister at Santa Cruz began to pale. He feared he was wasting his life; he felt that his energy and enthusiasm should be placed at the disposal of those who were in crying need; and surely there were many such. He would even follow in the footsteps of the five friars; he also would offer his body to be martyred for Christ's sake and for love of his fellow men. Therefore when the Brother Questor, whose duty it was to ask alms for the needs of the Convent at Olivares, came to Santa Cruz, Fernando talked long and earnestly with him concerning the rule of his Order and the wonderful founder thereof.

This Brother Questor and Fernando were in close sympathy. One day when Fernando was saying Mass the Brother Questor died. At that moment Fernando, dissolved in ecstasy, saw his soul in its flight through Purgatory, ascending dove-like into the realms of bliss. It may have been this vision, or it may have been the glorious sacrifice of the Martyr friars, or the poverty and devotion of the brotherhood, that inspired Fernando with the desire to become one of them; we know not what was the primal cause, but we know that with difficulty he obtained leave of the prior of Santa Cruz to detach himself from the Augustinians and join the followers of St. Francis.

He had won the respect, the love, the esteem, the admiration of his associates at Santa Cruz; they would fain not part with him. One said to him, half in jest and half in earnest: "Go thy way; thou wilt surely become a Saint." Fernando replied: "When they tell thee I am a Saint, then bless thou the Lord."

In applying for admission to the Franciscan ranks, Fernando had said: "With all the ardor of my soul do I desire to take the holy habit of your Order; and I am ready to do so upon one condition-----that, after clothing me with the garb of penance, you send me to the Saracens, so that I also may deserve to participate in the crown of your holy Martyrs."

Then he put off the white robe of the Augustinians and donned the brown garb of the impoverished Franciscans; took unto himself the name of Antonio, the patron of the hermitage of Olivares; and, without one adieu, joyfully vanished from the knowledge of all those who had known and loved him in the flesh.

ANTHONY SEEKS MARTYRDOM

Not all who seek shall find. Antonio, or Anthony, was permitted to go to Morocco, where he hoped to end his days in an effort toward the conversion of the Moslems. What dreams were his, what hopes, what aspirations! He was now in very truth following in the footsteps of the five friars who were his first inspiration. He was in a land whose history was made glorious by Tertullian, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius, great pontiffs, and learned doctors. The day of its prosperity was over and gone. Its flourishing churches had fallen to decay, and the arrogance of the infidel made it unsafe for a Christian to pace the narrow streets of those white-walled cities unattended.

Under an ever-cloudless sky, in the glare of the fierce sunshine and the heat of the desert dust, Anthony was stricken down with fever. Filippo of Spain, a young lay-brother who had attached himself to his person, watched with Anthony the whole winter. Not once did the would-be Martyr have the opportunity of exposing himself to the fury of the African fanatics. He was utterly prostrated; his life seemed to be slowly ebbing away. Evidently his efforts as a missioner in Morocco were doomed. The fact could not be kept a secret; and accordingly Anthony and Filippo were recalled to Portugal by their superiors, after an absence of but four months.

They dutifully embarked, though their hearts were heavy with disappointment. The Martyr's palm might wither in the desert; it was evidently not reserved for them. Neither were they destined to return to Portugal. A white squall struck their vessel, and it was cast upon the Sicilian shore. Anthony and Filippo landed at Taormina, and at once made their way to Messina, where there was a convent of the Friars Minor. Here for two months the young friars reposed; here health and strength returned to Anthony, and he entered upon a new lease of life. Here, in the convent garden, he planted a lemon tree that flourishes to this hour; for, like the orange tree planted by St. Dominic at Santa Sabina on the Aventine, time can not wither it; and every succeeding year bud, blossom and fruit give testimony to its eternal youth.

About this time the official notice of the convocation of the fourth general chapter of the Franciscan Order reached Messina. Anthony, Filippo, and certain of the Sicilian friars resolved to go to Assisi; and it was Anthony's desire to place himself at the disposal of the holy founder. In doing the will of St. Francis he felt that he could make no error; and that it was the providence of God alone that had recalled him from Africa, shipwrecked him upon the Sicilian coast, and was now about to bring him into the presence of the seraphic Father whose child he had become.

Having celebrated the Easter festivities at Messina, Anthony, accompanied by Filippo and the Sicilian frati, set forth on his pilgrimage to Assisi.

ANTHONY AND ST. FRANCIS

The fourth general chapter of the Franciscan Order opened at Portiuncula on May 30, 1221. This chapter was a marvelous manifestation of the influence exercised by St. Francis over his followers. It was an all-powerful influence, and it was ever increasing; time alone was necessary to enable it to expand and spread unto the very ends of the earth.

St. Francis, a year previous, had resigned his office of Minister-General. He had, in a certain sense, completed his mission. His Order was well established, was in the most flourishing condition; recruits were constantly approaching him, and at his feet offering the labor of their lives. His wish was law: no one questioned it. His will was their wisdom, his word was final. This stupendous organization, the inspiration and the accomplishment of one mind, had yet a price to be paid for it, and a high price it proved to be: it was no less than the life of the holy founder.

Hoping to find a little much-needed rest, St. Francis shifted the burden of responsibility upon the shoulders of Peter of Catania; but the death of Peter himself within the year compelled the enfeebled Francis once more to assume the reins of government. He conferred upon Brother Elias the office of Vicar-General, and thus Brother Elias became the mouthpiece of the founder. He was literally a mouthpiece; for, owing to his physical debility, the voice of the Saint could scarcely be raised above a whisper. The voice of Elias was indeed as the voice of Francis, and was listened to by all in unquestioning silence and obedience.

This is what Anthony beheld as he stood in the multitude assembled at Portiuncula: more than two thousand friars gathered together from every part of Europe. They were presided over by Cardinal Ranerio Capaccio; but St. Francis was the magnet that drew them thither, the power that swayed them as one man, whose burning and sole desire was to do the will of their seraphic Father.

As the fruit of his husbandry, Francis could proudly point to Silvester the contemplative; Giles the ecstatic: Thomas of Celano, the noble singer of the Stabat Mater; John of Piana; Carpino, and many another-----all these bearing the marks of suffering, but all brave and steadfast warriors for the faith. Here they were, bowing at the knee of the patriarch, humbly waiting his will. And he, pale and emaciated, sinking under a prostration that threatened to terminate his life at any moment, the patron of humility and zeal and love-----when he, in a faint whisper, proposed a mission to Germany, eighty friars sprang to their feet and shouted with enthusiasm that they were ready to do his will there as anywhere and everywhere.

Unnoticed in this great throng, ravished by the spectacle of the Saint and his disciples, trembling with profound emotion, and faint for the fire of love that was consuming him, stood a youth of six and twenty, who was one day to become the most famous of the followers of St. Francis. Yet not one eye was turned upon him in kindness or in curiosity; not one word was spoken to him: he was utterly unnoticed and ignored.

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