Part 4
ANTHONY THE PREACHER, LECTOR, AND
FATHER OF "MYSTIC THEOLOGY"
 

ANTHONY THE PREACHER

For a little time only was Anthony permitted to remain in comfortable and peaceful obscurity. Solitude and silence he always loved; but, alas, he was no longer to enjoy them uninterruptedly. In Ember week-----March 19, 1222, according to the historian Azzoguidi-----the ceremony of ordination called to Forli a number of religious, both Friars Minor and Friar Preachers, who were to receive Holy Orders. Father Gratian and Anthony were also present, but neither in the least suspected the surprise that was in store for all.

Father Gratian, who had not failed to note the edifying fervor of the young priest, as well as the gleams of uncommon intelligence which Anthony was not always able to disguise, was glad to have this opportunity of calling the hermit of Monte Paolo from his vigils to attend the functions at Forli. Father Gratian had been requested by the bishop of the province to deliver to the candidates for ordination the customary address on the sublimity of the priestly office. This honor he courteously offered to the sons of St. Benedict-----many of whom were present-----but they, being unprepared, refused to speak on so solemn an occasion. It began to look as if the ceremonies were likely to be interrupted.

Suddenly, as if by intuition, Father Gratian turned to Anthony and desired him to exhort the candidates. The simplicity and beauty of his language and the grace of his manner were greatly in his favor; but he had never yet spoken in public, and since he had become a Friar Minor he had opened no book save only his breviary and the Psalms. Therefore he modestly pleaded his inexperience and his inability; he confessed that he was fitter to serve in the refectory than to preach to the learned who were present. He was covered with confusion, and heartily wished himself back again in his grotto at Monte Paolo. The superior was inflexible; and, rejecting all excuses, he directed Anthony to preach out of obedience, and gave him for a text: "Christ became for us obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."

The young priest arose, trembling with humility; in a low voice, the beauty of which had been often commented upon, he addressed the Franciscans and Dominicans, who were filled with curiosity and expectation. As he proceeded, his voice gathered volume and his speech fire; his cheek flushed with fervor; his body swayed as a reed in the wind; his wrapped gaze seemed fixed upon a Heaven invisible to others, and he spoke as one Divinely inspired. His hour of triumph had come at last, unsought and uninvited.

Is it any wonder that all present were astonished beyond measure, and that they looked upon this maiden effort of the novice as little short of miraculous? It is true that his whole life had been a kind of preparation for the pulpit, but an involuntary and unconscious one. His range of experience had been large; every emotion of the heart he had sounded to its depths; in his solitary hours of abstraction he had, in spirit, again and again communed with the martyrs of Morocco and the Canons Regular of Coimbra. He was storm-tossed in the Mediterranean; prostrated upon a bed of pain in Africa; an obscure and unobserved pilgrim at Assisi; an humble servitor and solitary at Monte Paolo.

Now all returned to him like a flash in brilliant and luminous retrospection; and with all else came knowledge-----a revival of knowledge-----his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and of the consecrated writings of the Fathers, together with his own voluminous comments thereon, and a world of wisdom withal-----of wisdom not of this world only.

In a torrent of eloquence that thrilled and amazed his listeners, he developed his discourse with the skill of a logician, the art of an orator, the charm of one predestined to the pulpit; and brought his last period to a conclusion amidst a chorus of enthusiastic approbation. On the instant he found himself conspicuous in a life of publicity-----the life he had sought in vain to fly from. Now, in deed and in very truth, his inner life was ended: he was henceforth to be known as Anthony the Preacher.

ANTHONY THE LECTOR

The Provincial of Romagna, who was present when Anthony delivered his first sermon, at once appointed the young apostle a preacher in his province; and St. Francis, hearing of the extraordinary effect produced by the sermon, not only confirmed the Provincial's appointment, but greatly enlarged Anthony's sphere of usefulness by giving him leave to preach anywhere and everywhere, whenever an opportunity offered. And yet to preach only was not his mission. 

St. Francis desired that Anthony should apply himself to the study of theology, in order that he might speak with more confidence and authority, and likewise be able to instruct other of his brethren. Neither St. Francis nor any one else was aware of the nature and extent of Anthony's learning; and he was therefore sent to Vercelli to study theology in the Monastery of St. Andrew, of the Canons Regular, then under the discipline of Abbot Thomas, the greatest living doctor in all Italy. Thomas was one of the Canons Regular whom Mgr. Sessa, Bishop of Vercelli, had called from the Monastery of St. Vincent of Paris to that of St. Andrew of Vercilli, on account of their many virtues and accomplishments.

We may readily imagine the rapid progress so holy a religious as Anthony must have made at St. Andrew's-----he who had already enjoyed the hidden treasures of Heaven. A companion in his studies was Adam de Marisco, of Somerset, diocese of Bath, England; afterward Doctor of the University of Oxford, and finally Bishop of Ely-----a man famous for piety and learning.

These young men were received by Abbot Thomas with the utmost tenderness, and in them he found pupils devoted to their studies, of intense application and surpassing intelligence. Anthony was still living under the rule of his Order; for St. Francis had obtained from the Bishop of Vercelli a convent situated near the ancient Church of St. Matthew; and here he dwelt, going at appointed hours to class at St. Andrew's.

Franciscan historians assure us that, though Anthony applied himself most diligently to his studies, he did not fail to preach the Lenten sermons in Milan and other places near at hand; and that on these occasions his lucid exposition of the Scriptures astonished and delighted his hearers. Even in the classroom he was a marvel. One of his teachers says that while explaining to his pupils a work on the "Celestial Hierarchy," Anthony spoke concerning the different orders of celestial spirits with great precision and wonderful intelligence; and it seemed to all who heard him as if he were in the very presence of that hierarchy.

So rapid was Anthony's progress in his studies, so comprehensive his grasp, and so felicitous his treatment of every theme under consideration, that his classmates with one accord urgently begged that he would impart to them something of the knowledge that seemed his birthright. He hesitated; they persistently implored. Anthony knew that the rule of the Order was founded upon poverty, humility, the scorn of all things worldly; and he feared that a show of learning might be considered scandalous rather than edifying. Holiness and humility come first of all; science and the polite accomplishments should follow in their course.

That he might observe to the letter the holy rule and give no cause for scandal, Anthony wrote to St. Francis asking his will in the matter. Now, there is not the shadow of a doubt that St. Francis had the good-----the best good-----of the Order at heart; that for this reason he desired gradually to work certain reforms; that he feared a tendency on the part of his followers to an over-interest in the affairs of this life to the neglect of those of the life which is to come. So he wrote to Anthony. The letter has  fortunately been preserved in "The Chronicles of the Twenty-Four Generals." It runs as follows:

"To his dear Brother Anthony, Brother Francis sends greeting in the Lord.
"It is my wish that thou teach the brethren sacred theology; yet in such a manner as not to extinguish in thyself and others the spirit of prayer and devotion, according as it is prescribed in the rule.

"The Lord spare thee!

"BROTHER FRANCIS."

In his lectures Anthony avoided dry speculation; he brought youthful enthusiasm, coupled with the purest and loftiest mysticism, to bear upon the minds and hearts of his pupils. "To know, to love!" this was his teaching. To know, so that one may love highly and holily; to love, so that one may acquire the knowledge that is born of ardor, devotion, self-sacrifice, singleness of purpose-----the flower and the fruit of love.

ANTHONY-----THE FATHER OF MYSTIC THEOLOGY

St. Francis was the inspirer and St. Bonaventure the most illustrious representative of the mystic school of theology; but Thomas Gallo, Pope Gregory IX, and St. Bonaventure himself, have styled Anthony the father of the school.

Many were the titles conferred upon the inspired gospeller. Cardinal Guy de Montfort, being dangerously ill, was miraculously healed through the intercession of St. Anthony; and he therefore made a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Saint at Padua, and left at that shrine a splendid reliquary, embellished with verses wherein the Saint is hailed as the "star of Spain, pearl of poverty, father of science, model of purity, light of Italy, doctor of Divine truth, and glory of Padua."

This father of mystic theology and founder of the mystic school of the Middle Ages was from the very beginning a wonder-worker. His preaching was nearly always confirmed by miracles; the very sermon itself was in some senses miraculous. He must have possessed the gift of tongues. 

While in Italy he preached in Italian; yet all the knowledge he possessed of that mellifluous tongue he got during his brief intercourse with the six illiterate lay-brothers at the hospice in the solitude of Monte Paolo. While in France he preached in French, though he had never studied the language. Perhaps more remarkable still is the fact that the simple-minded and the most ignorant listeners were capable of fully comprehending all he said; and his voice, though gentle and sweet, was distinctly heard at a very extraordinary distance from the speaker.

In that charming volume, "The Little Flowers of St. Francis," it is quaintly recorded: "That marvelous vessel of the Holy Ghost, St. Anthony of Padua, one of the chosen disciples and companions of St. Francis, who was called of St. Francis his Vicar, once preached in the Consistory before the Pope and his Cardinals; in which Consistory there were men of divers nations-----namely, Greeks, Latins, French, Germans, Slavs, and English, and men speaking other divers tongues. Fired by the Holy Ghost, so efficaciously, so devoutly, so subtly, so sweetly, so clearly, and so plainly, did Anthony set forth the word of God, that all they which were present at the Consistory, of whatsoever divers tongues they were, clearly understood all his words distinctly, even as he had spoken in the languages of each man among them. And they all were struck dumb with amaze; and it seemed as if that ancient miracle of the Apostles had been renewed, when at the time of the Pentecost they spoke by virtue of the Holy Ghost in every tongue. And they said one to another, with admiration and awe: 'Is not he who preaches come out of Spain? And how do we hear in his discourse every man of us the speech of his own land?' Likewise the Pope, considering and marveling at the profundity of his words, said: 'Verily, this man is the Ark of the Covenant and the vehicle of the Holy Ghost.' "

Anthony appeared in a most opportune moment. The Church was sorely in need of him. St. Dominic had gone to his reward; the labors of St. Francis were at an end: he could only guide and encourage by his advice and his approval; and, at intervals, instill new life into his children and confer a benediction upon them by appearing, if but for a moment, in their midst. The honor and the glory that had been shared by St. Francis and St. Dominic were his now; for to Anthony fell the lot of continuing the work of these two illustrious patriarchs.

London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1887.

Continued Next Page.

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