Who was Saint Anthony of Padua really? The saint, known above all for his miracles and venerated throughout the world as the protector of homes, families, pregnant women, travelers, animals... is actually much more. Let's discover him together!  

The early years in Lisbon 

Anthony is born in Portugal, in Lisbon, in 1195. He is the son of the nobleman Martino de' Buglioni and Lady Maria Taveira. He is baptized with the name Ferdinand. He attends the cathedral school until the age of 15 under the guidance of the canons. To live the evangelical ideal without compromise, he enters the Augustinian monastery of São Vicente, outside Lisbon's walls. 
He lives here for about two years. Then, to avoid the distractions caused by the constant visits of friends and acquaintances from the city, he asks to move elsewhere, still within the Augustinian Order. With the permission of his superiors, he moves to Coimbra, at that time the capital of Portugal, where another abbey of Augustinian canons stands. 

In Coimbra

He resides in the monastery of Santa Cruz and remains there for eight years, deepening his religious formation and devoting himself to the study of theology as it was practiced at the time, namely through reading and meditating on Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Fathers—Saint Augustine above all—and the most prestigious commentaries, such as those of Peter Lombard. Among the Augustinians, he acquires a very rich cultural background, especially in biblical and patristic studies. After completing his studies, he is ordained a priest at just 25 years of age.

The Franciscan choice 

At that time, life in the Augustinian community of Coimbra is troubled by internal tensions. In these circumstances, Ferdinand hears about the first Franciscans to arrive in Portuguese lands and is captivated by them, especially when the mortal remains of five friars martyred in Marrakesh (Morocco) are brought to Coimbra and placed in the Augustinian church of Santa Cruz (where they are still preserved and venerated). 
Toward the end of summer 1220, Ferdinand asks for and obtains permission to leave the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine and embrace the Franciscan ideal. 

Anthony the missionary

Anthony moves to the Friars Minor's hermitage in Olivais, near Coimbra. On this occasion, he also abandons his old baptismal name and takes the name Anthony.
Meanwhile, a strong vocation to missionary work and, in particular, to martyrdom was growing within him, and with this ideal he set out for Morocco. He left in the autumn of 1220, but remained in the mission land only briefly because, stricken by a serious and unspecified illness, he was forced to rest and could not preach. After some time - since he did not recover - he had no choice but to surrender to God's will and return to Portugal. During the journey, a storm drove the ship on which he was traveling onto the eastern coast of Sicily. During his convalescence, he learned from the friars of Messina that Francis was summoning all the friars to the Porziuncola in Assisi for the famous «Chapter of Mats». He then decided to go to Assisi to finally meet Francis. 

At the Porziuncola

More than three thousand friars gathered, having come from every part of the world. Anthony was a simple Portuguese friar, unknown even to Francis, whose humility he admired. Here Anthony met Brother Graziano, provincial minister of Romagna, who welcomed him and invited him to go to the hermitage of Montepaolo, near Forlì, to devote himself to prayer, meditation, and humble service to his fellow friars.

Preacher in Italy and France 

In September 1222, priestly ordinations of Dominican and Franciscan religious were held in Forlì. The preacher failed to appear. The provincial minister then ordered Anthony to replace him. He was forced to improvise a speech that revealed his oratorical gifts and his profound knowledge of Sacred Scripture. 
From that day on, Anthony received his appointment as a preacher and was sent along the roads of northern Italy and southern France (1224-1227) to inspire, through his preaching of the Gospel, populations often confused by the widespread heretical movements of the time.
When preaching, Anthony used to employ simple language and vivid images; thanks to his ability to summarize, listeners were able to remember well what they had heard. The starting point was always the word of God, essential nourishment, but he immediately pointed to the grace of the sacraments, aware of human weakness. He said: «Jesus Christ feeds us every day with the teaching of the Gospel and with the sacraments of the Church».
Toward the end of 1223, Antonio was also invited to teach theology, for which he received the personal approval of Saint Francis. 

Provincial Minister

As was customary in the Franciscan tradition, Antonio spent periods of varying length in solitude. He withdrew to the Order’s hermitages or to small natural caves so that he could devote himself more intensely to prayer, which he perceived as “an elevation of the heart to God,” an intimate conversation between the lover and the beloved. Indeed, he used to say that the first thing to do in prayer was “to ask God for God.” But because of the talents he demonstrated in putting at the service of the Kingdom of God, Antonio was also appointed Provincial Minister (that is, leader of the Franciscan fraternities) of northern Italy, most likely during the three-year period from 1227 to 1230. The position involved visiting numerous convents in northern Italy.

Antonio in Padua

Antonio stays in Padua, in the small convent built next to the church of Santa Maria Mater Domini, during two relatively short periods close together: the first, between 1229 and 1230; the second, between 1230 and 1231, during which he dies prematurely. From Padua, he continues his work as a much-loved and widely followed preacher. He preaches and reconciles people, defending the weakest. He preaches against the abuse of usury and life imprisonment for those unable to settle their debts. Thanks to his interventions and teachings, we know that in a city statute concerning insolvent debtors, dated March 17, 1231, the podestà of Padua, Stefano Badoer, established that an innocent insolvent debtor, once having surrendered his assets in exchange, should no longer be imprisoned. 

Death

Exhausted by fatigue and illness, Antonio moves to the hermitage of Camposampiero, a few kilometers from Padua. He asks for a simple shelter to be built for him in a walnut tree, where he spends his days contemplating God and speaking with the humble people of the rural village. It is during this stay that Jesus, appearing as a child, visits him and speaks with him. 
On June 13, 1231, Anthony fell ill. Placed on a cart drawn by oxen, he was transported to Padua, where he himself asked to be allowed to die. Upon reaching Arcella, a village on the outskirts of the city, he murmured the words “I see my Lord” and died at about 36 years of age. 
One year after his death, the devotion of the people of Padua and the fame of the many miracles he had performed persuaded Pope Gregory IX to quickly ratify his canonization and proclaim him a Saint on May 30, 1232, just 11 months after his death.
In 1946, the Church proclaimed Saint Anthony of Padua a “doctor of the universal Church,” with the title of Doctor evangelicus.

The iconography of Anthony and his symbols

His image as a young man, with a luminous gaze, a tonsure, and a dark habit, is present in almost every church. The image of Saint Anthony that we all have in mind is that of the friar holding the Christ Child in his arms and a lily in his hand. Other symbols also accompany him in different depictions, such as bread or a book.
The oldest image, and the one closest to reality, depicts the Saint holding a book, symbolizing his knowledge, doctrine, preaching, and teaching, always inspired by the Book par excellence: the Bible.
The Christ Child recalls the vision Anthony had at Camposampiero. It also expresses his attachment to Christ’s humanity and his intimacy with God.
When bread is also present, it recalls the Saint’s charity toward the poor.
His indispensable attribute is the pure white lily, so much so that the flower is known specifically as “Saint Anthony’s lily.” This intensely fragrant flower, which since ancient times has been associated with the splendor of the rose and appears very often in ancient classical sources as well as in the Bible, represents the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation, and thus symbolizes the Incarnation of Christ; it blooms on Joseph’s staff and distinguishes many other saints, such as Saint Louis and Catherine of Siena. It is a flower that also symbolizes purity, nobility of spirit, and the fight against evil.
Sometimes the Saint is also depicted holding a flame, a sign of his love for God and his fellow human beings.