Chapter II - His Vocation

In time the young Fernando attained to manhood, the age when the passions grow strong, the moment of deceitful dreams and delusions, the critical epoch of life, the dangerous shoal on which so many beautiful souls are shipwrecked and forever ruined. Fernando was surrounded by countless snares. Being rich, and of illustrious birth and splendid personal appearance, he was exposed to all the attacks of the world, and besides he lived in a city which then, as now, was truly a place of pleasure. But he did not yield to temptation: chosen souls, like this one, are even more exposed than others to dangers, temptations, and ruin. While, it is true, he was strong to combat against himself and against the demon, his heart, however, was swayed by great trials; but God was with him and He never abandoned His servant. In those moments when he felt himself failing, he had recourse to God and the Virgin Mother, his patroness, and with tearful eyes asked their protection and assistance. One day, raised by grace above the world and himself, he resolved to delay no longer in consecrating himself to God. "0 world!" he cried, "thou hast overwhelmed me; thy strength is only a frail reed, thy riches are only a little smoke, and thy pleasures so many quicksands in which virtue is shipwrecked. For me, Lord, Thy altars shall be my dwelling forever." His resolution was taken, firm and irrevocable. He asked for the habit in the convent of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, at Lisbon. He was received with open arms and the white robe of the novices placed upon him.

Fernando was happy; now he had only to think of God. But he was not allowed long to enjoy that peace which he desired with so much ardor. His parents and friends, during the year of his novitiate, tormented him constantly to return to the world. Every means were employed: caresses, threats, flatteries, and bitter railleries. Being harassed on every side, fatigued by constant combat which detached his soul from the pure joys of the sanctuary, the young novice resolved to depart from Lisbon, and to seek elsewhere the tranquility he could not find there. He decided to go to Coimbra, where, as at Lisbon, he was the admiration of the other religious.

In the abbey, the study of letters and the formation of the religious life went hand-in - hand, and so Don Fernando could give himself fully to the pursuit of sacred science. Nature had richly endowed him. His memory was prodigious. He retained whatever he read. Being alone with God, meditating constantly on heavenly things, he soon acquired a full and complete knowledge of them. It was said that the Holy Spirit had descended on him as upon the Apostles to give him the gift of tongues, immense knowledge, and an irresistible eloquence. His preceptors did not conceal their admiration for his vast erudition, and his superiors did not hesitate to present him for sacred orders.

Moreover, the sanctity of this servant of God was already known by miracles. One day, as he was occupied near the church at some humble occupation, he heard the clock strike suddenly, which announced the time of the elevation. As he knelt on the earth, he beheld the stone walls open before him, and the priest at the altar appeared to him, holding the sacred Host in his hands.

On another day, while attending a sick brother, who laughed and cried alternately, as if afflicted nervously, the idea came to Anthony that the unhappy brother was under the power of the demon - and so it was in fact: taking his mantle from his shoulders he covered the afflicted brother, who was at once restored to perfect health.

On another occasion, while assisting the priest at the altar, he perceived the soul of a Franciscan religious suspended in the air under the form of a white dove. The soul had passed through purgatory, had paid the last farthing of satisfaction, and entered into the kingdom of the elect.

- taken from Saint Anthony, The Saint of the Whole World by Father Thomas F Ward