Saint Anthony of Padua: Malleus Hereticorum

The Lord manifests Himself to those who stop for some time in peace and humility of heart. If you look in murky and turbulent waters, you cannot see the reflection of your face.

If you want to see the face of Christ, stop and collect your thoughts in silence, and close the door of your soul to the noise of external things.

(Saint Anthony of Padua)

Today is the memorial of that Jewel Case for the Bible, the Evangelical Doctor, the Hammer of Heretics, the Professor of Miracles: Saint Anthony of Padua.

Born in Portugal in 1195, he was 35 years old when he died on this day in 1231 in Padua Italy.

Less than a year after his death, Pope Gregory IX proclaimed him a saint.

Anthony may have been only 35 years old when he died, but he was already famous for his preaching, his writing, and his life of holiness.

Volumes of his sermons were published, sermons for every Sunday and major feast day of the year, and this in an age where every book was copied out by hand. He was named a Doctor of the Church in 1946 and is known as Doctor Evangelicus – the “Evangelical Doctor”.

For a while, he even preached at the Papal Court, where it was said his preaching was a “jewel case of the Bible”.

Originally an Augustinian priest, he was among the first generation of followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. He led the poor existence of a wandering friar for the last decade of his short life.

About thirty years after he died, his body was exhumed to move it to a new shrine erected in his honour. Though his body was but a skeleton and a few handfuls of dust, his tongue remained fresh. It was entombed in a separate reliquary, where it remains in the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, incorrupt to this day.

Saint Bonaventure saw this as a sign of Anthony’s gift of preaching, but this is only one in an exhaustive list of miracles ascribed to the intercession of the saint.

If you’d like to read Saint Anthony’s sermons in English, the most complete version I’ve been able to find is The Sermons of St Anthony of Padua translated by Paul Spilsbury from the Critical Latin Edition of the Centro Studi Antoniani, Padova, Italia (1979).

It includes Sermones de Tempore (Sermons For Sundays), Sermones de Sanctis (Sermons For Feast Days), and Sermones in Honorem et Laudem Beatissimæ Mariæ Virginis (Sermons in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

And what about that “hammer of heretics” title? Well here’s what the Catholic Encyclopedia has to say:

The zeal with which St. Anthony fought against heresy, and the great and numerous conversions he made rendered him worthy of the glorious title of Malleus hereticorum (Hammer of the Heretics). Though his preaching was always seasoned with the salt of discretion, nevertheless he spoke openly to all, to the rich as to the poor, to the people as well as those in authority. In a synod at Bourges in the presence of many prelates, he reproved the Archbishop, Simon de Sully, so severely, that he induced him to sincere amendment.

An honest teacher, unafraid to preach to those in error – even an archbishop. In every age, the Church needs more people like that.

Today is, not uncoincidentally, the 15th anniversary of the ordination to the holy priesthood of my friend and former pastor, Rev. Jacob Maurer. Ad multos annos!

The gate of Heaven is low and those who wish to enter must bend down: this was taught to us by Jesus Himself, Who when dying, bowed His head.

(Saint Anthony of Padua)