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column · ARLES, Provence, 1224 AD

St. Francis appears in the doorway at Arles as St. Anthony preaches

St. Francis was alive at the time and far off in Italy, and Friar Monaldo, sitting among the friars, looked up and saw him blessing the men.

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Saint Anthony of Padua
A fresco-style painting of a chapter room with a stone vault: a young beardless friar in a grey-brown habit stands on a low wooden platform with one hand raised in speech and a closed clasped book at his feet, while friars sit packed on benches and on the floor, several turning towards an older bearded friar who stands in the arched doorway with his feet off the ground and his arms stretched wide.
St. Anthony of Padua preaching to the provincial chapter of the Friars Minor at Arles, in Provence, in 1224 AD, when St. Francis of Assisi was seen in the doorway of the chapter room.
About this picture

AI-generated image, in the manner of a Trecento buon fresco, from the paper's reference portrait based on St Anthony of Padua, from the fragments of a double-sided dossal from San Francesco al Prato, Perugia (Master of Saint Francis, c. 1272 AD, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia) View source artwork.

ARLES, Provence, 1224 AD — In the middle of a sermon to the friars gathered at Arles this year, Saint Francis of Assisi was seen in the doorway of the chapter room, blessing the men inside. He was alive at the time, and he was far off in Italy.

The man preaching was Saint Anthony of Padua, who was twenty-nine. The friars had come together for a provincial chapter. Under the Rule of the Friars Minor confirmed in 1223 AD, the superiors who governed a province and its districts could call in the friars under them for a meeting on their own ground, once in the year, after the chapter held at Pentecost. This year St. Anthony was teaching in the Order’s own schools at Toulouse and Montpellier.

The Albigensians, named for Albi in Languedoc because that was where they were strongest, threw off the authority of the Holy See. Catholic princes had sent armies against them and had not put them down, so the Popes had turned to sending learned preachers to win the people back. St. Anthony was called into Languedoc this year for that work.

At Arles he preached to the assembled friars on the inscription over the Cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” He had a loud, clear voice and a young face, and he knew the Scriptures thoroughly.

He was in the middle of that sermon, explaining what the title meant, when St. Francis appeared in the doorway of the chapter room. He was raised off the ground, his arms stretched out wide in the form of a cross, and he was blessing the men in front of him. Friar Monaldo, sitting among the friars, looked at that door and saw him with his own eyes. The rest of the friars were filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, and they believed the vision and believed that their founder was there. Friar Monaldo, a man of proven virtue, affirmed afterwards that he had seen it.

Thomas of Celano, who wrote the first life of St. Francis, set down that God had made St. Francis appear at the preaching of “his true herald Anthony”, so that what St. Anthony preached should be confirmed as true. Above all, Celano wrote, it confirmed what St. Anthony preached about the Cross of Christ, of which St. Francis was “a supporter and servant”.

St. Francis afterwards said openly that it had happened.

About this story

Catholic Saints News tells the lives of the saints as news from their own time and place. This story was written with AI from the historical record, and we read and approved it before it ran.

The Saints' words. This newspaper will never make a saint say something the historical record does not preserve.

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Image. AI-generated image, in the manner of a Trecento buon fresco, from the paper's reference portrait based on St Anthony of Padua, from the fragments of a double-sided dossal from San Francesco al Prato, Perugia (Master of Saint Francis, c. 1272 AD, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia) — see the original.

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More on this saint

A young tonsured priest in a white tunic and black hooded cape stands at a wooden choir stall in a pale stone Romanesque church, a closed clasped manuscript beside his hand, four older canons at the stalls around him and an open book on a lectern behind.
About this picture

AI-generated image, in the manner of a Trecento buon fresco, from the paper's reference portrait based on St Anthony of Padua, from the fragments of a double-sided dossal from San Francesco al Prato, Perugia (Master of Saint Francis (Maestro di San Francesco); photograph by Sailko, 2020, c. 1272 AD, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia) View source artwork.

St. Anthony of Padua, still known by his baptismal name Ferdinand, has been ordained a priest about this year, at twenty-three. He is a canon of the monastery of the Holy Cross at Coimbra, a community of priests living under the rule of St. Augustine, and he is not a Franciscan. The authorities differ on the year: one critical life reasons to about 1218 from his age, while other authors put the ordination four years later, in Italy.

Edition of

A head-and-shoulders panel painting of St. Anthony of Padua, tonsured and wearing a brown Franciscan habit, set against a gold background with an ornamented halo.
legacy · LAGOS, Portugal, September 12, 1693 AD

Portugal promotes St. Anthony of Padua to captain, 462 years dead

The Portuguese army today promoted Saint Anthony of Padua, dead since 1231 AD, to the rank of captain, giving as its reason his good services and the miracles worked for its troops. He has been listed as a private soldier in the regiment of Lagos since January 24, 1688 AD. The rank carries a salary, and in Brazil the Franciscans have collected the pay of his rank for years.

Edition of

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