age near Forlì, where he spent a considerable period in
contemplation and penance.
Anthony found a new focus for his Franciscan vo-
cation by accident, when he was called to preach at an
ordination. His learning and skill as a speaker astounded
his hearers, and he was soon commissioned to preach
against Cathar and Waldensian heretics in northern Italy.
He preached in the north from 1222 to 1224, then in
southern France in late 1224. From 1227 to 1231, he was
back in northern Italy, keeping an exhausting schedule.
By 1228, he had achieved suffi cient fame to be asked to
preach before the papal curia.
Anthony also served his order in other capacities. In
1223, Saint Francis himself seems to have commissioned
Anthony to be the fi rst Franciscan lector in theology.
Over the next few years Anthony taught at Franciscan
houses of study in Bologna, Arles, Montpellier, Tou-
louse, Le Puy-en-Velay, and Padua and introduced the
theology of Saint Augustine to the order. In 1224, An-
thony helped found Franciscan houses at Limoges and
Brive in Aquitaine. In 1225, he was chosen as guardian
of the house at Le Puy; then he was chosen as custos at
Limoges; and in 1227, he was chosen as provincial of
Lombardy and Emilia. He held the last post until 1230,
when he asked to be relieved so that he could pursue
his preaching without hindrance. At about this time
Anthony’s health began to fail, apparently as a result of
his intense schedule. In 1231, he developed what was
described as dropsy; he died in Arcello, outside Padua,
on 13 June. Eleven months later, on 30 May 1232, he
was canonized.
Anthony’s preaching made him a tremendously
popular fi gure in Padua during the late 1220s. His
sermons survive in four major collections: Sermones
in festivitatibus sanctorum per anni circulum, Ser-
mones per annum dominicales, Sermones in Psalmos,
and Sermones in laudem et honorem beatae Mariae
Virginis. The published versions are rather academic,
but it is likely that these sermons were much livelier
when he preached them. Anthony’s themes are typi-
cally Franciscan: he urges evangelical virtue, reception
of the eucharist, devotion to Christ’s humanity and to
the Virgin Mary, civic harmony, and just treatment of
the poor. There was a trend in Franciscan preaching
toward vivid examples taken from popular stories and
romances, but Anthony resisted this, preferring to drive
home his message with constant references to scrip-
tural texts and examples. He urged other Franciscans
to use this conservative technique but had little success
in persuading them. In two other areas, however, he
infl uenced Franciscan preaching profoundly. The fi rst
Franciscan preachers had focused only on repentance
and moral reform. Anthony and other educated men
added a new emphasis when they began to instruct the
faithful in dogma in order to combat heresy. In addition,
Anthony’s academic training led him to construct his
sermons systematically and analytically. This approach
was much admired and widely imitated.
Anthony’s reputation during his lifetime rested on his
preaching; his popularity after his death was based on
his miracles. Wonders were reported at his tomb almost
immediately after his burial. Belief in his miraculous
powers was reinforced by several biographies written
shortly after his death, and later hagiographers continued
to develop his fame as a miracle worker. His reputation
for miracles led to his inclusion in the collection of
Franciscan stories known as the Fioretti (Little Flowers).
Eventually Anthony’s popularity outstripped that of all
the other Franciscan saints except, of course, Francis
himself. Anthony came to be venerated as a patron of
charity and marriage who cured fevers and diseases in
animals, recovered lost articles, and protected lovers,
women in labor, and miners.
Anthony was one of the best-educated of the early
Franciscans, and so his authority as a theologian was
quickly established in the order. After his death the order
treated him as a doctor of the church, although he did not
have that tide offi cially until 1946, when it was granted
by Pius XII. Anthony’s theological views are fairly
conventional for his time and training as an Augustinian
canon; they derive from a biblical theology rooted in the
church fathers, particularly Augustine. His scriptural
exegesis focuses on the moral sense of the text, which he
uses primarily to call his audience to moral reform and
avoidance of heresy. Like many early Franciscans, he
was very much interested in the humanity of Christ and
in the theological role of Mary, and he was among the
fi rst to articulate a variety of characteristic Franciscan
Christological and Mariological doctrines.
The main biographies of Anthony are Legenda prima
commonly called Assidua; and Legenda secunda, also
called Anonyma. Both were written in the 1230s. Several
other biographies were published during the thirteenth
century, all based generally on the material in Assidua
and Anonyna. At the end of the century another biogra-
phy appeared that may contain some authentic material
not included in the fi rst two; this is known as Benignitas.
The authorship of all three works is uncertain.
See also Francis of Assisi, SaintFurther ReadingEditions
Costa, Beniamino, et al., eds. Sancti Antonii Patavini sermons
dominicales et festivi ad fi dem codicum recogniti. Padua:
Centro Studi Antoniani, Edizioni Messaggero, 1979.
de Kerval, Léon, ed. Sancti Antonii de Padua vitae duae. Paris:
Fischbacher, 1904.
Palandrini, Eletto, ed. “La legenda fi orentina.” Studi Francescani,
4, 1932, pp. 454–496.ANTHONY OF PADUA, SAINT