efforts anew. He succeeded in founding churches in
Schleswig, Ribe, and Sigtuna.
Ansgar probably wrote many volumes, including
extracts from devotional texts and perhaps also a booklet
on his visions by which the whole of his life was guided.
But only one letter, some prayers (pigmentum), and a life
of St. Willehad are preserved. The main source about
Ansgar’s life is Rimbert’s Vita Anskarii, which contains
much valuable information on the history of the Catholic
mission in early-medieval Scandinavia.
See also Louis the PiousFurther Reading
Rimbert. Vita Anskarii. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 55. Ed.
G. Waitz. Hannover: Bibliopoli Hahniani, 1884
Robinson, Charles H., trans. Anskar, the Apostle of the North,
801–865: Translated from the Vita Anskarii by Bishop Rim-
bert, His Fellow Missionary and Successor. London: Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1921;
Allmang, G. “Anschaire.” In Dictionnaire d’histoire et de
géographie ecclésiastiques 3. Ed. Mgr. Alfred Baudrillart.
Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1924, cols. 435–41
Oppenheim, Philippus. Der heilige Ansgar und die Anfánge des
Christentums in den nordischen L ndern: Ein Lebens- und
Zeitbild. Munich: Heuber, 1931
Oppermann, C J. A. The English Missionaries in Sweden and
Finland. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowl-
edge; New York: Macmillan, 1937
Weibull, L. “Ansgarius.” Scandia l4 (1941), 186–99
“St.Anskar.” In Butler’s Lives of the Saints 1. Rev. ed. Herbert
Thurston, S.J., and Donald Attwater. New York: Kenedy,
1956, pp. 242–3
Hilpisch, St. “Ansgar.” In Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 1. Ed.
Josef Höfl er and Karl Rahner. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder,
1957, cols. 597–8
Maarschallkerweerd, Pancrazi. “Anscario.” In Bibliotheca Sanc-
torum l. Rome: Città Nuova, 1961, cols. 1337–9
Mehnert, Gottfried. Ansgar, Apostel des Nordens. Kiel: Lu-
therische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1964
Dörres, Hermann, and Georg Kretschmar. Ansgar: Seine Bedeu-
tung für die Mission. Hamburg: Velmede, 1965
Schultz, S. A. “Ansgar, St.” In New Catholic Encyclopedia 1.
New York etc.: McGraw-Hill, 1967, p. 586
Lammers, W. “Ansgar.” In Lexikon des Mittelalters 1. Munich
and Zurich: Artemis, 1980, cols. 690–1
Hallencreutz, Carl. F. “Missionary Spirituality—the Case of
Ansgar.” Studia Theologica 36 (1982), 105–18.
Peter DinzelbacherANTHONY OF PADUA, SAINT
(c. 1195–1231)
Saint Anthony of Padua (Fernando de Bulhoes) was a
Franciscan preacher and theologian. As one of the fi rst
generation of Franciscans, he helped determine the theo-
logical orientation of the order. He also achieved great
fame as a preacher. After his death, his reputation as a
miracle worker made him an extremely popular saint.
Anthony was a member of the lesser Portuguesenobility; he was educated at the cathedral school of
Lisbon and entered the order of Augustinian canons
regular at age fi fteen. After two years at the monastery of
São Vicente in Lisbon, he was transferred to the order’s
study house in Coimbra, where he received instruction
in scripture and theology and was ordained a priest.
Devoted to an austere and studious life, Anthony
was apparently disappointed by the level of religious
observance in his order. Thus he was drawn to a group
of Franciscans who frequently begged for food there; he
found their emphasis on absolute poverty, mendicancy,
popular preaching, and conversion of the Muslims
closer to his concept of the apostolic life than what
was becoming the more conventual monastic rule of his
own order. When the relics of Franciscan missionaries
recently killed in North Africa were displayed in Coim-
bra, Anthony was seized with a desire to continue their
work. He joined the Franciscan order soon afterward, at
the friary of San Antonio, probably changing his name
when he professed. He then set off for Morocco. But a
serious illness halted his missionary journey just after
he arrived in North Africa, and he was forced to return
to Portugal. When a storm drove his ship to Sicily, An-
thony decided to travel to Assisi in search of direction.
After meeting Saint Francis and taking part in the order’s
general chapter of May 1221, he was sent to a hermit-ANSGAR, SAINT
Alvise Vivarini (c. 1445–1505); Saint Anthony of Padua.
Distemper on wood. Inv. I, 22. ©Erich Lessing/Art Resource,
New York.