13 June: St. Anthony of Padua, Confessor and Doctor

COLLECT (Novus Ordo):
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui populo tuo beatum Antonium
praedicatorem insignem dedisti,
eumque in necessitatibus intercessorem,
concede, ut, eius auxilio, christianae vitae documenta sectantes,
in omnibus adversitatibus te subvenientem sentiamus.

This prayer was of new composition for the 1970MR.

Subvenio and adversitates give us a military flavor to this prayer.  Subvenio means, “to come up or advance to one’s assistance (the figure taken from the advance of a military reserve; v. subsidium), to come to one’s assistance, to aid, assist, relieve, succor; to obviate, remedy, heal, cure a disease, an evil, etc.”

We also need to turn to our knowledge of ancient rhetoric for a glimpse into documentum.  This is a “pattern for imitation”, like exemplum, but also in some contexts having the meaning of “a proof”, a concrete demonstration that what is asserted is true: evidence.   In this case it is a paradigm after which we are to pattern and shape our own lives.  But this pattern or model itself actually has power to shape us.  Christ transforms us the baptized who are made in his image and likeness, after his perfect exemplum, and who imitate His exempla and documenta, His words and deeds.

Think….

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:

LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty eternal God,
who gave blessed Anthony to Your people
as an outstanding preacher,
and in times of need as an intercessor,
grant, that, by his help, following his examples of Christian life
we may sense You coming to aid us in every adversity.

I recall seeing statues of the famous Franciscan when I was in Lisbon, many years ago.  St. Anthony, a native of Portugal, is there depicted in his pre-Franciscan mode, indeed, as an Augustinian canon with long hair, not the corona we are used to seeing.

You know the old Italian phrase, “Chi fa per se, fa per tre”.  You also know the old rhyme of those in need:

Tony, Tony, look around.
Something’s lost and must be found.  

It might be consolation to many of you that St. Anthony was able to help himself when something important was lost.  Some years ago an important relic of St. Anthony (jaw, perhaps?) was stolen from his shrine in Italy.  It was recovered after not very long.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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4 Comments

  1. TheCavalierHatherly says:

    https://www.centrostudiantoniani.it/elenco-sermoni

    Sermons of St. Anthony available in Latin and Italian translation.

    They are excellent, and the Latin is both straightforward and elegant.

  2. Not says:

    My Wife has depended on St. Anthony for years.

  3. Saint110676 says:

    In Brazil, Saint Anthony of Lison (on their local church calendar, of Padua on the universal church calendar) is the “casamenteiro” or match-making saint. Many ladies hoping to be matched make a novena to St. Anthony and naturally name one of their first children after him. Not suprisingly, Antonio is a very common name in Brazil. The Brazilians had not idea that he is the parton for finding lost items.

  4. Kathleen10 says:

    We say “St Anthony, St Anthony, something’s lost and can’t be found;
    St Anthony, please look around!”. I can’t tell you how many times I have asked for his help in locating objects, and now many of my family do. They do, because they see how many times he has come through! Some of the “finds” have been really unlikely, so yes, definitely St Anthony is a reliable friend to have. My husband’s Mom had a statue of St Anthony likely brought over from Italy by her mother. It survived against the odds of a really bustling house full of boys, and it perched on a dresser. I loved it then, and it is sitting 10 feet away from me right now. I feel he was meant to be a friend, and I highly recommend him.

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