The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Anthony of Padua, Saint

ANTHONY OF PADUA, Saint: b. Lisbon, 15 Aug. 1195; d. Padua, 13 June 1231. Shortly after his ordination to the priesthood he was deeply stirred by the recital of the cruel martyrdom of five Franciscan missionaries whose bodies had just been brought from Morocco to Coimbra, where Anthony was then living. Having entered the Franciscan order, he soon started for Africa in the hope of being permitted to die for Christ. He had scarcely landed when illness obliged him to leave. Hearing about the general council of his order which was going on, he started for Assisi, where he met Saint Francis, the founder of the order. His profound knowledge of sacred things, joined to his sanctity, caused him to be made the first teacher in the Franciscan order and later on the provincial of all the convents of the order in upper Italy. His feast is celebrated 13 June. Consult Coleridge, S. J., ‘Life and Works’; Meyer, ‘Leben des H. Antonius’; Lepitre, ‘Saint Anthony of Padua,’ translated by E. Guest (1903).