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Anthony of Padua
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Biography
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Next to Mary, St. Anthony is perhaps the most often invoked of all saints. Although the Italian city of Padua claims him by reason of his death there, Lisbon claims him by reason of his birth, for Anthony was Portuguese by nationality.
Born Ferdinand de Bulhoes, he was the son of a nobleman, who sent him to Lisbon's cathedral school. Talented, but also very devout by nature, the lad joined the Augustinian Canons when only 15. But he found that their monastery was too close to Lisbon for his own spiritual good. At his request, therefore, he was transferred to the Augustinian house at Coimbra. There he devoted himself intensively to prayer and study.
In 1220, Don Pedro of Portugal brought back from Morocco the remains of several Franciscan missionaries who had lately been martyred by the Moors. Deeply moved, Fernando began to wish that he, too, might die for Christ. He therefore joined the new Franciscan order. (It had received papal approval only eleven years before.) Given the religious name of Anthony or Antony, he was soon permitted to sail for Morocco in order to preach to the Muslim Moors.
Martyr he would not become, however. God had other plans. Soon after his arrival in Africa Anthony was stricken with a prolonged illness, which necessitated his recall to Portugal after only a few months. He did not even reach Lisbon. Adverse winds blew his ship far off course, so that it finally docked at Messina in Sicily! Learning at Messina that an important assembly of the Friars Minor was about to take place in Assisi, Anthony set out for there and arrived in time for the meeting, which opened on May 30, 1221. St. Francis of Assisi was on hand, although he had just resigned the headship of the order. The meeting concluded with the reassignment of the friars. Anthony was officially transferred from the Portuguese to the Italian province of the Franciscans and sent to a little friary in out-of-the-way Forli.
The Italian friars did not yet know the talents of this quiet Portuguese newcomer. However, not long after his arrival in Forli, he was called upon to substitute as preacher at an ordination ceremony. Yielding out of obedience, Anthony preached a sermon that so thrilled the audience that his superiors sent him out to preach throughout northern Italy and southern France. He quickly achieved an enviable reputation as a missionary, particularly because of his ability to convert some of the brightest of the Albigensian heretics who were operating in the regions assigned to him.
Anthony's career was now cut out for him: it would not be martyrdom but oracular preaching. Though not physically pre-possessing (he was short and pudgy), he had skill, learning, charisma, and the power to work miracles that enabled him to convert the most hardened souls. Pope Gregory IX would call him "Treasury of Holy Scripture" because of his strongly biblical preaching. Assigned thereafter to residence in Padua, he toured the country, evangelizing, serving as an arbitrator, and defending the poor even against political bigwigs. In fact, this tireless apostolic work undermined his frail health, and he died at the early age of 39.
Inevitably, stories and legends clustered around this much-loved friar. For instance, when he was preaching conversion to a heretical group at Rimini, and they would not listen, he was inspired to preach to the fish in the nearby river. The longer he preached, the more the fish gathered, giving every sign of understanding him. Impressed by this wonder, the heretics had a change of heart. On another occasion his host saw Anthony in rapture, holding the Christchild in his arms. Pictures and statues of the saint usually depict this moment of his life. Still another story says that a novice made off one time with the saint's psalmbook. Anthony prayed for its return. The guilty novice thereupon experienced such a frightening apparition that he hastened to bring back the purloined book. Perhaps St. Anthony's skill in retrieving lost objects is based on this recollection.
But Anthony of Padua/Lisbon was not merely a spiritual clone of St. Francis of Assisi and a charismatic preacher. He was also a brilliant theologian, the first in the Franciscan order. In testimony of this brilliance, Pope Pius XII, in 1946, declared Anthony a doctor of the Church, and bestowed on him the title "Doctor Evangelicus", "Evangelic Doctor."
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Prayers
- Behold, the Cross of the Lord! Begone, all evil powers! The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Root of David, has conquered! Alleluia, Alleluia!
- O God, send forth your Holy Spirit into my heart that I may perceive, into my mind that I may remember, and into my soul that I may meditate. Inspire me to speak with piety, holiness, tenderness and mercy. Teach, guide and direct my thoughts and senses from beginning to end. May your grace ever help and correct me, and may I be strengthened now with wisdom from on high, for the sake of your infinite mercy. Amen.
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The Apostle Andrew
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Biography
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The New Testament gives us the names of the twelve apostles, but tells us little about their lives. Peter, James and John were closest to Jesus, so they are given fuller mention. Next in prominence, and named fourth on the apostles' list, is Andrew. He was notable for first introducing the other apostles to our Lord.
Andrew (the name means “manly” in Greek) was a fisherman born in Galilee at Bethsaida but working out of Capharnaum, where he lived with his brother Simon, also a fisherman. Their father's name was John (Jonah). The family were devout Jews.
When Jesus' cousin John the Baptist began to preach repentance in the Jordan Valley, Andrew and John, the future apostles, hastened down to hear him. They were among the listening crowds on that memorable day when Jesus made His first public appearance. “Look,” said the Baptizer, pointing to Christ, “This is the Lamb of God.” Piqued with curiosity, Andrew and John followed Jesus after His baptism. “What are you looking for?” he asked the pair. “Rabbi,” they replied, “where do you stay?” “Come and see,” Jesus answered. They went with Him and spent the rest of the afternoon in His company. They were enthralled by what He said.
Andrew at once went home and told his brother Simon, “We have found the Messiah!” So Simon returned with Andrew. As soon as Jesus saw Andrew's brother, He said, “You are Simon, son of Jonah; your name shall be Cephas (which is rendered `Peter')” (John 1:42). Thus it was St. Andrew who introduced to Christ Simon Peter, the rock on which He would build His Church.
Details are lacking about St. Andrew's apostolate after the Resurrection. He seems to have worked mostly in Asia Minor and Greece. It is fairly well agreed that he was crucified as a martyr at Patras, the seaport of Athens on the Adriatic coast. A later tradition states that his cross was shaped like an “X” rather than a “T”. This “decussate” form of scaffold has since then been called the “St. Andrew's Cross.”
The apostle's relics were enshrined in Constantinople until 1204, when some crusaders from the West piously stole them and re-enshrined them at Amalfi, Italy. The explanation of how this apostle became patron of Scotland is legendary. Nonetheless, the premier diocese of Scotland is still called “St. Andrew's and Edinburgh”, and the royal princes of England are always given “Andrew” as one of their baptismal names.
Nevertheless, St. Andrew remains popular, especially among those who follow the Byzantine Rite. The Greeks accept the less-warranted assertion that St. Andrew established the diocese of Constantinople. Russia, likewise, venerates him as its patron saint.
Greek-Rite Christians call St. Andrew “The Protoclete,” i.e., the “First-Called.” It is an appropriate title for the first of the twelve men invited by Jesus to “come and see.”
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Prayers
- O Glorious Saint Andrew, you were the first to recognize and follow the Lamb of God. With your friend Saint John you remained with Jesus for that first day, for your entire life, and now throughout eternity.
As you led your brother Saint Peter to Christ and many others after him, draw us also to him. Teach us to lead others to Christ solely out of love for him and dedication in his service. Help us to learn the lesson of the Cross and to carry our daily crosses without complaint so that they may carry us to Jesus.
- Brother of Simon Peter, you heard John the Baptist say: "Behold the Lamb of God," and you chose to follow Jesus. Leaving your nets, you became a successful fisher of souls. Lover of the Crucified Christ, you too were crucified like him. Teach us to live and suffer for him and to win many souls for Christ.
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The Apostle Peter
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Biography
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Peter, of course, was Simon-bar-Jonah, the Galilean singled out by Jesus to be the founder of His church. To emphasize Simon's foundational role, our Lord even gave him the surname of KEPHAS, that is (in Greek) "Petros," "the Rock." Peter had many human faults, but the Savior knew that this impulsive Jewish fisherman was at heart a man of utter good will and devotion. The scriptures testify not only to his being selected as the leader, but to the recognition of that fact by Jesus' followers.
The bible says little about St. Peter's subsequent career. Most likely he was in Rome around 67 AD when he wrote his first epistle, which ends, "The Church that is in Babylon . . . sends you greeting." Ancient Babylon (in Mesopotamia) was all but a ruin that year, but Rome was often called "Babylon" because of its size and wickedness. There are plenty of early non-scriptural references to the tradition of Peter's having come to the Eternal City. Only after the Protestant Reformation did religious publicists, eager to discount the papacy, call into question St. Peter's Roman residence.
In recent years excavations beneath the great basilica of St. Peter have confirmed the old literary testimonies to St. Peter's presence in Rome. While the bones discovered may or may not be his (one bone looks much like another), archeologists have certainly identified Peter's ancient tomb, with prayers to him inscribed on the adjacent walls.
These discoveries confirm the old tradition that the Prince of the Apostles was in Rome at least under Emperor Nero (64-68 AD) and that he was crucified there as a Christian, on a cross that was planted upside down by his own request because he felt unworthy to die in exactly the same way as the Christ whom he had feared to follow to Calvary.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Prayers
- O Glorious Saint Peter, because of your vibrant and generous faith, sincere humility and flaming love our Lord honored you with singular privileges and especially leadership of the whole Church. Obtain for us the grace of a living faith, a sincere loyalty to the Church, acceptance of all her teaching, and obedience to all her precepts. Let us thus enjoy an undisturbed peace on earth and everlasting happiness in heaven.
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Benno of Meissen
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Biography
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Born to the Saxon nobility; as an adult he was heavily involved in the power politics of his day. Educated in the abbey of Saint Michael,
Hildesheim, Germany. Priest. Canon at the imperial chapel at Gozlar, Hanover. Chaplain to Emperor Henry III. Bishop of Meissen in 1066.
Participated in the synod of Forcheim in 1078. Spent a year in prison for backing the nobility and Pope Gregory VII against emperor Henry
IV over lay investiture and the control of the Church by the State. At one point he was summoned to Rome; he ordered the canons to lock the
cathedral while he was gone in case emperor Henry tried to occupy it. Henry did, and threw the keys of the cathedral into the river as a
symbol to show no one could lock the church against him. When Benno returned, he went to the river and found the key; legend says it was
protected by a fish. Following the death of Pope Gregory VII, Benno pledged his allegiance to the anti-pope Guibert, but in 1097 he returned
to support of the lawful Pope Urban II. Even with all the polical involvement and turmoil, Benno never lost sight of his calling as a
diocesan bishop. He visited parishes, preached and conducted Mass, enforced discipline among his clergy, and fought simony any place he
found it. He was an accomplished musician, supported music and chant in the churches and monasteries, and wrote on the Gospels. In his later
years he served a missionary to the Wends. Benno continued to be an involved and controversial figure in politics even after his death. His
biographer, Jerome Emser, worked a lot of Church versus State material into the book. Martin Luther wrote a furious diatriabe against
Benno's canonization.
Prayers
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Nicholas of Myra
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Biography
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St. Nicholas of Myra (also called "of Bari", and "the Wonderworker") is one of the world's most venerated saints. Oddly, too; for although he was certainly the bishop of Myra in Asia Minor in the early fourth century, almost nothing else is known about him.
People have replaced the missing data on his life with a great many stories that may or may not contain some element of truth. The best of these stories deals with his charities and his miracles.
Mediterranean sailors, for instance, consider Nicholas their patron saint. That is because, as one legend informs us, sailors on a storm-tossed ship once invoked his aid. The bishop, who was still alive at that time, suddenly appeared to the distraught mariners. He led them out of the tempest and into a safe harbor. From this event springs the phrase used by Mediterranean sailors to bid each other bon voyage: "May St. Nicholas hold the tiller!"
But the best-known story about him was his secret charity to the three marriageable daughters of a widower of Patara in present-day Turkey.
This widower, having lost his wealth, could not afford to pay wedding dowries for his three daughters, so he was tempted to allow them to gain a living by immoral means. Learning of this frightful possibility, Nicholas (still a wealthy layman) quietly dropped a gift through the window of the father's house. (Sometimes the gift is represented as a purse full of gold coins; sometimes, as a ball of solid gold.) This welcome gift enabled the man to marry off his eldest daughter with dignity. Then Nicholas tried the same trick again, and the middle daughter was able to be given in marriage. By now the widower was determined to discover who his benefactor was, so he lay in watch. When the saint came to drop in the third gold ball, he was caught red-handed and profoundly thanked by the widower and his family.
On the basis of this legend, not only bankers but pawn-brokers adopted Nicholas as their patron saint!
The international popularity acquired by this bishop-saint was amazing. A tenth-century writer testified to his fame in the Near East, India, Africa and Europe. After Constantinople fell to the Moslems in 1453, traders from Bari, Italy, stole (or "rescued") the saint's relics preserved at Myra and brought them to Bari in southern Italy, where they still remain enshrined. This helped Nicholas to acquire further popularity in western Europe. Eventually over 2,000 churches in France and Germany chose Nicholas as patron, and England had 400 dedicated to him. Lorraine, Sicily, Greece and Russia honor him as a national patron.
Naturally, St. Nicholas, as the bringer of secret gifts, is especially popular among children. For centuries, he has been represented in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands as the kindly one who on December 5, the eve of his feast, travels around in secret to leave sweetmeats in the shoes of sleeping youngsters.
After the Reformation, when Protestant countries minimized saints, the Dutch Calvinists who emigrated to "New Amsterdam" kept Nicholas in their folklore, not as a bishop but as a gift-giver. ("St. Nicholas" in the Netherlands tongue, is "Sinter Klaas" or Santa Claus.) Imported to the U.S.A., Klaas no longer dressed in a bishop's vestments but in a secular suit of red cloth trimmed with white fur. The Dutch-American "Sinter Klaas" eventually gained wide popularity in the United States, even among those of non-Dutch background. Klaas's residence was now given not as Myra nor Bari, but the North Pole.
The real Bishop Nicholas is still venerated by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church as befits a saint so universally beloved. When we get to heaven, we must make a point of taking this charitable prelate aside and asking him, "What is the real story of your life?"
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Prayers
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Our Lady of Salambao
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Biography
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Our Lady of Salambao is the saint to whom fishermen pray for a bountiful catch.
Prayers
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Zeno of Verona
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Biography
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There is a 13th century statue of St. Zeno in the magnificent old Basilica of S. Zeno Major, Verona, Italy, which represents this ancient bishop, enthroned, holding his crosier with his left hand and blessing with his right, smiling as he does so.
Why the smile? Most saints' images are serious-faced. Whatever the reason, it makes this able prelate, described by his contemporary St. Ambrose of Milan as “a bishop of holy memory”, seem all the more approachable. Although he ruled a diocese in northern Italy, Zeno was probably of African origin. (If Zeno was indeed African, that does not mean he was a black. The most prominent people along the Mediterranean coast of Africa were usually Caucasian Europeans.)
St. Zeno apparently became bishop of Verona in 362. What he was like as a bishop, we can gather from snippets of his own writings and from the development of Catholicism in his diocese.
At his first arrival in Verona, Bishop Zeno found two major problems. First, there were still many pagans in the vicinity. Second, the heresy of Arianism (which denied the divinity of Christ) was widespread. Zeno records that he baptized a large number of pagans each year. He also countered the Arians vigorously and successfully. Thus the number of his diocesans grew so large that he had to build a larger basilica as his cathedral.
Zeno himself was evidently deeply religious. He trained his priests carefully and treated them in a fatherly style. He founded a convent of vowed virgins, and in this he became a pioneering figure in the Italian development of women's religious congregations. He strongly opposed abuses that had arisen in connection with religious rites.
But Zeno's outstanding trait was his charity. In his own lifestyle he was a poor man, and he successfully inculcated on his people a Christian concern for the needy. Verona thus became a city noted for its generosity. Its citizens opened their homes to the shelterless and anticipated other wants. After 378, when the barbarian Goths conquered Emperor Valens and enslaved many in northern Italy, the inhabitants of Verona came to the rescue, ransoming some, snatching others from death, and freeing still others from hard labor.
His writings show St. Zeno to have been a good theologian for his times. He not only stoutly defended the dogma of the Trinity; he also insisted that Mary was “ever virgin”: before, during, and after the birth of her Son.
Reverence for Zeno only increased once he was dead. In 586 Verona was threatened by the flooding of the river Adige. The Veronese crowded into their cathedral, to beg their eighth bishop for miraculous preservation. Their prayers were answered. The flood rose to the height of the windowsills outside, but never broke into the building. The congregation remained inside for 24 hours, and by then the waters had abated.
St. Zeno is usually pictured holding a fishpole with a fish on the hook. Maybe it is because he was a “fisher of men”. But maybe it was also because he enjoyed fishing for relaxation - a pleasant thought. By the way, this “smiling saint” is also invoked for children who are just learning to speak and talk!
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Prayers
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