Founder of Christian monasticism. The chief source of information on
St. Anthony is a Greek Life attributed to St. Athanasius, to be found in
any edition of his works. A note of the controversy concerning this
Life is given at the end of this article; here it will suffice to say
that now it is received with practical unanimity by scholars as a
substantially historical record, and as a probably authentic work of St.
Athanasius. Valuable subsidiary information is supplied by secondary
sources: the "Apophthegmata", chiefly those collected under Anthony's
name (at the head of Cotelier's alphabetical collection, P.G. LXV, 7]);
Cassian, especially Coll. II; Palladius, "Historica Lausiaca", 3,4,21,22
(ed. Butler). All this matter may probably be accepted as substantially
authentic, whereas what is related concerning St. Anthony in St.
Jerome's Life of St. Paul the Hermit" cannot be used for historical
purposes.
Anthony was born at Coma, near Heracleopolis Magna in Fayum,
about the middle of the third century. He was the son of well-to-do
parents, and on their death, in his twentieth year, he inherited their
possessions. He had a desire to imitate the life of the Apostles and the
early Christians, and one day, on hearing in the church the Gospel
words, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast", he received
them as spoken to himself, disposed of all his property and goods, and
devoted himself exclusively to religious exercises. Long before this it
had been usual for Christians to practice asceticism, abstain from
marriage and exercising themselves in self-denial, fasting, prayer, and
works of piety; but this they had done in the midst of their families,
and without leaving house or home. Later on, in Egypt, such ascetics
lived in huts, in the outskirts of the towns and villages, and this was
the common practice about 270, when Anthony withdrew from the world. He
began his career by practising the ascetical life in this fashion
without leaving his native place. He used to visit the various ascetics,
study their lives, and try to learn from each of them the virtue in
which he seemed to excel. Then he took up his abode in one of the tombs,
near his native village, and there it was that the Life records those
strange conflicts with demons in the shape of wild beasts, who inflicted
blows upon him, and sometimes left him nearly dead. After fifteen years
of this life, at the age of thirty-five, Anthony determined to withdraw
from the habitations of men and retire in absolute solitude. He crossed
the Nile, and on a mountain near the east bank, then called Pispir, now
Der el Memum, he found an old fort into which he shut himself, and
lived there for twenty years without seeing the face of man, food being
thrown to him over the wall. He was at times visited by pilgrims, whom
he refused to see; but gradually a number of would-be disciples
established themselves in caves and in huts around the mountain, Thus a
colony of ascetics was formed, who begged Anthony to come forth and be
their guide in the spiritual life. At length, about the year 305, he
yielded to their importunities an emerged from his retreat, and, to the
surprise of all, he appeared to be as when he had gone in, not
emaciated, but vigorous in body and mind. For five or six years he
devoted himself to the instruction and organization of the great body of
monks that had grown up around him; but hen he once again withdrew into
the inner desert that lay between the Nile and the Red Sea, near the
shore of which he fixed his abode on a mountain where still stands the
monastery that bears his name, Der Mar Antonios. Here he spent the last
forty-five years of his life, in a seclusion, not so strict as Pispir,
for he freely saw those who came to visit him, and he used to cross the
desert to Pispir with considerable frequency. The Life says that on two
occasions he went to Alexandria, once after he came forth from the fort
at Pispir, to strengthen the Christian martyrs in the persecution of
311, and once at the close of his life (c. 350), to preach against the
Arians. The Life says he dies at the age of a hundred and five, and St.
Jerome places his death in 356-357. All the chronology is based on the
hypothesis that this date and the figures in the Life are correct. At
his own request his grave was kept secret by the two disciples who
buried him, lest his body should become an object of reverence.
Of his writings, the most authentic formulation of his teaching
is without doubt that which is contained in the various sayings and
discourses put into his mouth in the Life, especially the long ascetic
sermons (16-43) spoken on his coming forth from the fort at Pispir. It
is an instruction on the duties of the spiritual life, in which the
warfare with demons occupies the chief place. Though probably not an
actual discourse spoken on any single occasion, it can hardly be a mere
invention of the biographer, and doubtless reproduces St. Anthony's
actual doctrine, brought together and co-ordinated. It is likely that
many of the sayings attributed to him in the "Apophthegmata" really go
back to him, and the same may be said of the stories told of him in
Cassian and Palladius. There is a homogeneity about these records, and a
certain dignity and spiritual elevation that seem to mark them with the
stamp of truth, and to justify the belief that the picture they give us
of St Anthony's personality, character, and teaching is essentially
authentic. A different verdict has to be passed on the writings that go
under his name, to be found in P.G., XL. The Sermons and twenty Epistles
from the Arabic are by common consent pronounced wholly spurious. St
Jerome (De Viris Ill., lxxxviii) knew seven epistles translated from the
Coptic into Greek; the Greek appears to be lost, but a Latin version
exists (ibid.), and Coptic fragments exist of three of these letters,
agreeing closely with the Latin; they may be authentic, but it would be
premature to decide. Better is the position of a Greek letter to
Theodore, preserved in the "Epistola Ammonis ad Theophilum", sect. 20,
and said to be a translation of a Coptic original; there seems to be no
sufficient ground for doubting that it really was written by Anthony
(see Butler, Lausiac History of Palladius, Part I,223). The authorities
are agreed that St Anthony knew no Greek and spoke only Coptic. There
exists a monastic Rule that bears St Anthony's name, preserved in Latin
and Arabic forms (P.G., XL, 1065). While it cannot be received as having
been actually composed by Anthony, it probably in large measure goes
back to him, being for the most part made up out of the utterances
attributed to him in the Life and the "Apophthegmata"; it contains,
however, an element derived from the spuria and also from the "Pachomian
Rules". It was compiled at an early date, and had a great vogue in
Egypt the East. At this day it is the rule followed by the Uniat Monks
of Syria and Armenia, of whom the Maronites, with sixty monasteries and
1,100 monks, are the most important; it is followed also by the scanty
remnants of Coptic monachism.
It will be proper to define St. Anthony's place, and to explain
his influence in the history of Christian monachism. He probably was not
the first Christian hermit; it is more reasonable to believe that,
however little historical St Jerome's "Vita Pauli" may be, some kernel o
fact underlies the story (Butler, op. cit., Pat I, 231,232), but Paul's
existence was wholly unknown unknown till long after Anthony has become
the recognized leader of Christian hermits. Nor was St Anthony a great
legislator and organizer of monks, like his younger contemporary
Pachomius: for, though Pachomius's first foundations were probably some
ten or fifteen years later than Anthony's coming forth from his retreat
at Pispir, it cannot be shown that Pachomius was directly influenced by
Anthony, indeed his institute ran on quite different lines. And yet it
is abundantly evident that from the middle of the fourth century
throughout Egypt, as elsewhere, and among the Pachomian monks
themselves, St Anthony was looked upon as the founder and father of
Christian monachism. This great position was no doubt due to his
commanding personality and high character, qualities that stand out
clearly in all the records of him that have come down. The best study of
his character is Newman's in the "Church of the Fathers" (reprinted in
"Historical Sketches"). The following is his estimate: "His doctrine
surely was pure and unimpeachable; and his temper is high and heavenly,
without cowardice, without gloom, without formality, without
self-complacency. Superstition is abject and crouching, it is full of
thoughts of guilt; it distrusts God, and dreads the powers of evil.
Anthony at least had nothing of this, being full of confidence, divine
peace, cheerfulness, and valorousness, be he (as some men may judge)
ever so much an enthusiast" (op.cit., Anthony in Conflict). Full of
enthusiasm he was, but it did not make him fanatical or morose; his
urbanity and gentleness, his moderation and sense stand out in many of
the stories related of him. Abbot Moses in Cassian (Coll. II) says he
had heard Anthony maintaining that of all virtues discretion was the
most essential for attaining perfection; and the little known story of
Eulogius and the Cripple, preserved in the Lausiac History (xxi),
illustrates the kind of advice and direction he gave to those who sought
his guidance.
The monasticism established under St Anthony's direct influence
became the norm in Northern Egypt, from Lycopolis (Asyut) to the
Mediterranean. In contradistinction to the fully coenobitical system,
established by Pachomius in the South, it continued to be of a
semi-eremetical character, the monks living commonly in separate cells
or huts, and coming together only occasionally for church services; they
were left very much to their own devices, and the life they lived was
not a community life according to rule, as now understood (see Butler,
op. cit., Part I, 233-238). This was the form of monastic life in the
deserts of Nitria and Scete, as portrayed by Palladius and Cassian. Such
groups of semi-independent hermitages were later on called Lauras, and
have always existed in the East alongside of the Basilian monasteries;
in the West St Anthony's monachism is in some measure represented by the
Carthusians. Such was St Anthony's life and character, and such his
role in Christian history. He is justly recognized as the father not
only of monasticism, strictly so called, but of the technical religious
life in every shape and form. Few names have exercised on the human race
an influence more deep and lasting, more widespread, or on the whole
more beneficent.
It remains to say a word on the controversy carried on during the
present generation concerning St Anthony and the Life. In 1877
Weingarten denied the Athanasian authorship and the historical character
of the Life, which he pronounced to be a mere romance; he held that up
to 340 there were no Christian monks, and that therefore the dates of
the "real" Anthony had to be shifted nearly a century. Some imitators in
England went still further and questioned, even denied, that St Anthony
had ever existed. To anyone conversant with the literature of monastic
Egypt, the notion that the fictitious hero of a novel could ever have
come to occupy Anthony's position position in monastic history can
appear nothing less than a fantastic paradox. As a matter of fact these
theories are abandoned on all hands; the Life is received as certainly
historical in substances, and as probably by Athanasius, and the
traditional account of monastic origins is reinstated in its great
outlines. The episode is now chiefly of interest as a curious example of
a theory that was broached and became the fashion, and then was
completely abandoned, all within a single generation. (on the
controversy see Butler, op.cit. Part I, 215-228, Part II, ix-xi).
E. C. BUTLER (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Among the women saints of Ireland, St. Ita holds the most prominent place after St. Brigid. She is sometimes called Deirdre.
At the name of Mary, the angels rejoice and the demons scramble.
Sava,
born in 1174, was the youngest of the three sons of Stephen I, founder
of the Nemanyde dynasty, of the independent Serbian State. At the age of
seventeen he became a monk on Mount Athos, on the Greek peninsula.
Abdicating the throne in 1196, his father joined him and together they
established the thriving monastery of Khilandari.
When
Marguerite was thirty-four, she was invited by the visiting governor of
the French settlement in Canada to start a school at Ville-Marie, today
Montreal. She generously accepted and traveled to the French colony
then numbering two hundred people. Ville-Marie also had a hospital and a
Jesuit mission chapel.
Eventually,
he retired as a hermit to a cave on a mountain near Bethlehem, but his
sanctity and miracles attracted many who wished to serve God under his
direction. A spacious monastery was built on a place called Cathismus,
which became a haven of saints in the desert.
St.
Peter Orseolo’s is an unusual life. He was born in 928 of a prominent
Venetian family. At twenty he was appointed to the command of the city’s
fleet and defeated the Dalmatian pirates who infested the Adriatic Sea.
Then will come the period of the Western discoveries in which the benefits of Thy Redemption will reach new lands.
All
of these isolated people, scattered across the globe, ignorant of each
other, now gather around Thee with the Three Kings to offer Thee a
gift and a prayer.
André
Bessette was born in 1845 in the province of Quebec, Canada, the eighth
of ten children. An orphan at twelve, he was taken in by an aunt and
uncle. Set to various trades, he was unable to hold a job for very long
because of his frail health. For thirteen years he worked at various
occupations: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith, and once at a factory in the
United States during the Civil War.
John
Nepomucene Neumann was born on March 28, 1811 in Prachatitz, in the
Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in the Czech
Republic. He received the sacrament of Baptism the same day.
In
1852 Fr. John Neumann was consecrated the fourth Bishop of
Philadelphia. His ease with languages, of which he would come to know as
many as eight, endeared him to the many immigrants arriving in the
city. He not only tended to immigrants in his native German, but
speaking fluent Italian as well, he personally ministered to Italian
newcomers in his private chapel, and went on to establish the first
ethnic church for Italians in the country. For the Irish, he studied
enough Gaelic to be able to hear the confessions of those who spoke no
English, an act of charity which the Irish government officially
recognized by a posthumous award.
Pius
IX read the declaration defining the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception, John Neumann held the book from which the pope read. Thus,
his 5' 2" frame became the podium upon which rested the illustrious
document describing the future patroness of the United States: the
Immaculate Conception.
He received the sacrament of Baptism the same day.
Elizabeth
Ann Bayley Seton is America’s first beatified and canonized saint. The
second child of a socially prominent New York City family, she was born
on August 28, 1774, two years before the Declaration of Independence. By
birth and marriage she was linked to the most illustrious families of
New York.
While
staying with her husband’s business partner’s family in Italy,
Elizabeth was introduced to the Catholic Faith and closely observed the
Filicchi family’s religious practices within the intimacy of their
family home. She was especially attracted to the Holy Eucharist, the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and the fact that the apostolic succession could be
traced back to the apostles and to Christ. Imperceptibly drawn to all
that she witnessed first hand, she here began a process of conversion
that ultimately led to her being received into the Catholic Church by
the pastor of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in New York City on
March 14, 1805.
Several
saints honored the Holy Name of Jesus, but the devotion became
widespread in the fifteenth century through St. Bernardine of Siena who,
when preaching, held in his hand a plaque with the logo “IHS”
surrounded by rays. The monogram is taken from the first three letters
of the Greek spelling of the name of Jesus: IHSOYS. It is also customary
though not historical to interpret “IHS” as Iesu Hominum Salvator, Jesus Savior of Mankind.
Persons
who had prominent roles in the history of salvation received their
names from God. These names have a direct connection with whom they are
and what their mission is. Thus, Adam means “man of the earth”; Eve
means “mother of the living”; Peter means “rock”.
St.
Basil was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia - today, southeastern Turkey -
in 329 A.D. of a family of saints. His grandfather died a martyr in the
Roman persecution, and his grandmother, mother, sister and two brothers
are all canonized saints.
Basil
was becoming famous as a teacher when he decided to leave the world. He
lived for a while as a hermit then founded what was probably the first
monastery in Asia Minor. His monastic principles have influenced Eastern
monasticism to this day. He was a gifted orator, and his writings place
him among the great teachers of the Church.
has expounded the truth to the whole earth.” He died on January 1, 379.
The
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is an ancient feast first celebrated
in the East before it was in the West. By the 7th century this feast was
already celebrated in Rome. In the 13th and 14th centuries the feast of
the Circumcision of Christ replaced the Marian feast and was expanded
to the whole Roman Catholic Church when, in 1570, Pope St. Pius V
promulgated the Roman Missal.