No one wept more bitterly for the loss of the seraphic Francis of Assisi than Saint Anthony. No one prayed with more fervor, that from the highest heaven he would still watch over his children and place at their head another like himself, a man capable of organizing and guiding an institution so necessary for the welfare of the Church. He was charged by his brethren with a special and secret mission to the Supreme Pontiff, a mission relating probably to the candidature of Father Elie, from whom was feared innovations and laxities which ought to be avoided. He left Limoges in February, 1227, for the banks of the Rhone and journeyed towards Marseilles. This voyage was rapidly accomplished, and was signalized by a marvelous act of gratitude.
When he and his companion, covered with sweat and tired out, reached a little town of Provence, a poor woman, touched by compassion, invited them to come and rest at her house. She received them as generously as Martha received Our Lord at Bethany. Impelled by charity, she placed bread and wine on the table, and ran to borrow a glass from her neighbor. But, either through inadvertence or awkwardness, the companion of the saint, in placing the glass on the table, broke it in two pieces. Then another accident still more unfortunate happened; the hostess, in returning to the cellar, saw that she had forgotten to close the spigot of the cask, and the wine had flowed on the ground. This was a severe loss for her. She could not contain her grief, and informed her two guests of what had happened. The blessed Anthony, covering his face with both hands that he might pray more easily, implored the Author of all good to have pity on the affliction of such a generous Christian, and not allow her good work to go unrewarded. His prayer ascended like an arrow to the very throne of God. Suddenly the cup and the stand of the glass were united. The poor peasant was astonished at this, but realizing that it was a miracle, and persuaded that he who could perform such a prodigy could also perform another and restore to her the lost wine, she ran to the cellar. There a new surprise awaited her. Her cask of wine was full and running over as if from the wine-press. Delirious with joy, and beside herself, she knew not how to express her gratitude. But always humble, detached from everything and from himself, the wonder-worker shrunk from the praises and the marks of veneration which he considered should be given only to God.
The prayers of a saint are powerful, and his benedictions a germ of resurrection and of life. The Albigensian heresy, a work of perfidy and violence, was to disappear, even as the darkness disappears before the first rays of the morning sun. Truth must regain its empire, and, in the words of Saint Louis, France would attain the fullness of her glory. France, on her part, is not ungrateful to Saint Anthony. She gives him a place side by side with Saint Dominic in the devotion, the honor, and the admiration she gives to her deliverers, to those chosen men whom Providence sends her in wicked times to save her from anarchy and error.
Rome, at the time when the blessed Anthony went there, was preparing to celebrate the feasts of Holy Week. These feasts are more imposing there than any place else in the world. The streets are crowded with strangers of every tongue and country. The churches are adorned with their richest decorations. What a source of pure and strengthening emotions it must have been for the son of Theresa Tavera to see Rome, to visit her in the midst of that religious pomp which surpasses everything here on earth; to go through the places sanctified by the presence of the patriarch of Assisi!
Unknown, mingling in the crowd of pilgrims, Anthony was free to satisfy every wish of devotion, and could taste of those legitimate joys which inspire great and holy memories. He could do all this quietly, and yet not without being remarked. Seeing him pray with so much fervor at the tomb of the Apostles, or kiss with respect the arena of the Coliseum - this arena stained by the blood of so many martyrs - the pilgrims asked in astonishment who was this monk of angelic appearance.
The chair of Saint Peter was at that time filled by a Pope most favorable to the Franciscans, Gregory IX, the friend, the protector, and the counsellor of the patriarch of Assisi. He was not content with merely receiving the homage and the petitions of the privileged disciple of Saint Francis; he went farther. Learning by public rumor of the virtues and the merits of the wonder-worker from Portugal, he selected him to announce to the people the indulgences of the Holy Week, and also to preach the crusade against the infidels. The order came from a source too high for the blessed Anthony to answer otherwise than by a filial submission.
This was done to stir up the masses. And he certainly did stir them by the magic of his words and by his sanctity. He led them in the bitter pathways of penance, and instituted at Rome the Confraternity of the Flagellants - a confraternity which had for its object to honor the mysteries of the Passion and to expiate the iniquities of men.
The day of Easter witnessed the renewal of the miracle of Pentecost. An innumerable multitude eagerly pressed about the saint's pulpit. Greeks and Latins, Slavs, French, English, and Germans, all heard him distinctly speaking, each in his own tongue.
Saint Anthony made giant strides in the way of the apostolate. Nothing could arrest him, neither the acclamations of the pilgrims nor the wonders of art. Fortified by the blessing of Gregory IX, he left the eternal city on the day following the paschal feast, and turned his steps to Assisi.
When he beheld this little city, the home of Saint Francis, suspended like an eagle's nest on the side of Mount Soubase, his heart beat violently. At length he could at leisure satisfy his filial devotion for him whom he invoked as a saint. To visit the Portiuncula, the cradle of the Order, Our Lady of Angels, the scene of the apparitions of the Virgin Mother, the cell which had received the last sigh of the seraphic patriarch, was one of the sweetest joys of his life. He went to the ancient city and entered the church of Saint George, where the mortal remains of the founder rested temporarily. Anthony closely pressed his lips to the stone of the tomb, and there prayed for a long time. His prayers and his sacrifices had no small bearing on the result of the Chapter General of Assisi, which chose John Parent of Florence, a man of eminent mind, of frank and loyal character, as the immediate successor of Saint Francis. Anthony was named provincial of Bologna.
- taken from Saint Anthony, The Saint of the Whole World by Father Thomas F Ward