Re: Santo Antonio de Lisboa

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----- Original Message -----
From: A. Veronica Fernandes 
<averonicaf806-PkbjNfxxIARBDgjK7y7TUQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <goanet-fPO8gb98cCIdnm+yROfE0A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 6:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] RAFAEL DE MAJORDA'S TIATRO POSTPONED

>
> Yes, I am interested Jorge in knowing more of St. Anthony.  Would be glad
> to hear from you soon.  May God Bless you.
>
> A. Veronica Fernandes,
> Kuwait.
>
>
> >From: "Jorge/Livia de Abreu Noronha" 
> ><joli.goa-lKV4vA2CKcr/OWMrTxQkKw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >Reply-To: goanet-fPO8gb98cCIdnm+yROfE0A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >To: "Goanet" <goanet-fPO8gb98cCIdnm+yROfE0A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >Subject: Re: [Goanet] RAFAEL DE MAJORDA'S TIATRO POSTPONED
> >Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 19:40:34 +0200
> >
> > >
> > > And what was St. Anthony's name before he changed it to Anthony?
> > >
> >
> >The name was Fernando Martins. I can give some more data on the saint, in
> >case anybody is interested.
> >
> >Jorge
> >


I am sorry for having let so many days pass without meeting A. Veronica
Fernandes's wish. In fact, it is not easy to give in a nutshell a sort of
biography of St. Anthony, as the many dispersed records are still being
found and are in constant study and research by scholars. I'll do my best to
convey here as much information as I can.

As at that time (12th century) no proper records of birth were maintained,
it is not known exactly when the man who remained in history as "Santo
Antonio de Lisboa" (St. Anthony of Lisbon) or "Santo Antonio de Padua" (St.
Anthony of Padua) was born. Scholars place that date somewhere between 1190
and 1195, while some place it even before 1190. Maria Candida da Costa Reis
Monteiro Pacheco, in her book "SANTO ANTONIO DE LISBOA - A Aguia e a Treva"
(St. Anthony of Lisbon - The Eagle and the Darkness) ( published by Imprensa
Nacional - Casa da Moeda, Lisboa in March 1986), gives the saint's year of
birth as 1192 because "The fourth exhumation of Saint Anthony, made in Padua
on 6th January 1981 on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of his death,
and the ensuing medico-pathological and anthropometric studies, made it
possible to establish scientifically the age at which he died: 39 years and
nine months". Maria Candida however must have erred in calculating the year
of birth because, as the saint died on the 13th June 1231, 39 years and 9
months take us back to mid September 1191.

His parents' names were Martim Afonso and Maria. He was baptised with the
name of Fernando Martins - to which some scholars add the surname "de
Bulhom" or "de Bulhao" which others reject. The family home was in the
vicinity of the Se Cathedral of Lisbon (perhaps on the spot where now stands
a church in his honour - Igreja de Santo Antonio - with a statue of the
saint in front of it), where he spent at least his first15 years and
attended the school attached to the cathedral. Aged between 15 and 20 he
joined the Order of St. Augustine at "S. Vicente de Fora" monastery (in part
of which the Patriarchal Curia of Lisbon now functions). Having professed
after one year's novitiate, and as Lisbon (conquered a little earlier - in
1147 - from the Moors) was a city in constant tumult, a year later he moved
to the monastery of "Santa Cruz" at Coimbra, in search of some isolation. He
spent eight or nine years at the latter place and there he was ordained
priest. Having come there in contact with the Order of St. Francis de
Assisi, and deeply impressed by the example of five friars minor (Franciscan
friars) who had been beheaded by the King of Morocco in January 1220 and
whose relics had been transported to Santa Cruz de Coimbra by the end of
that year, he joined this order and took the name of "Antonio".

Proceeded to Morocco but, having fallen ill and wishing to return to his
country, the boat in which he was travelling was diverted by a tempest to
Sicily. Antonio went from there to Assisi in Italy and attended the Order's
general chapter in 1221. Between 1223 and 1227 he travelled through Italy
and France as a preacher against some heretic sects and taught at the
Franciscan schools of Boulogne, Montpellier and Toulouse in France. In 1227
he was selected to preach and teach Theology in Padua (Northern Italy).
There he wrote "Sermones per Annum Dominicales" in 1227-1228 and "In
Festivitatibus Sanctorum Sermones" in 1230, and all these writings were to
become a model to the Franciscan preachers. Having died of a sudden illness
at Arcella near Padua in 1231, this city organised a solemn funeral and
built a basilica in his honour to where his remains were removed in 1263. He
was canonised by Pope Gregory IX on 30th May 1233, less than two years after
his death. Pope Pius XII, recognising the high theological value of his
sermons, declared him "Doctor of the Church" in 1946. His feast is
celebrated on June 13, and this day is a municipal holiday in Lisbon and
included in the Portuguese calendar of the "Santos Populares" (Popular
Saints): Antonio (13th), Joao Baptista (24th) and Pedro (29th).

Jorge