Irapuato

Saint Anthony's Miracles

Saint Anthony's Miracles

Saint Anthony's Miracles. Sermon to the Fishes


The story goes that one day Anthony went to Rimini where there were a lot of heretics. He started to preach, but they did not want to listen to him, and they even mocked him. In a dramatic gesture, Anthony went to the seashore, saying...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. Aleardino’s Glass


During the Renaissance, artists drew inspiration from the remains of Greco-Roman antiquity, and this is why all the characters of the scene are dressed as ancient Romans. One day a knight called Aleardino da Salvaterra arrived in Padua...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Heretic’s Mule


The city of Toulouse was a centre of the Cather heresy, which denied the goodness of the material world and also the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Anthony engaged in several public debates with them but, although they could...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Re-attached Foot


A young man of Padua, called Leonardo, went to St Anthony to make his confession. Among his other sins, he confessed that he had once kicked his mother so hard that she had suffered a nasty fall. Anthony muttered under his breath...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Drowned Child


We are in Lisbon, Portugal. A boy called Parrisio decides to go on a boat trip with other boys, but without telling his parents. Suddenly, a violent storm breaks out and the boat capsizes. While the other boys, who were older and knew how to swim...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. Tommy & St. Anthony’s Bread


Tommy was a 20-month- old boy who lived with his parents near the Basilica. His mother had left him playing in the kitchen, where there was a large pot on the fire with boiling water in it. The little boy took a stool and started to peep...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. Eurilia Comes Back to Life


A young girl in Padua called Eurilia had followed her mother in one of her visits to an old lady. Eurilia however, stayed outside to gather sticks and twigs for the fire. After a while, at the end of her visit, the mother came out and found her daughter...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. A Dead Man Speaks


In Lisbon, the city where St. Anthony was born, there were two people who hated each other to death. One evening the son of one of them met the son from the rival family, which was living close to St. Anthony’s parents...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The miser's heart


According to the story, the funeral of a rich man was being celebrated with great pomp in a city in Tuscany. Anthony was present, and is said to have commented that the dead man did not deserve such honour since he had exploited and oppressed...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. A violent husband


This miracle took place in a city in Tuscany. There was a knight in the area who was outstanding for his nobility and his wealth, but he easily gave way to outbursts of anger. One day, his wife, a virtuous lady, probably replied...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Speaking Infant


A nobleman was very jealous of his wife. He had no reason to doubt of her love and fidelity, but he was easy prey to slander, and so, when his wife had their first child, he refused to recognize the baby as his own...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Liberation of Padua


A few years after St. Anthony’s death, Ezzelino extended his dominion by brute force to all of the main cities in the Veneto Region: Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, Feltre, Belluno and Padua...

Saint Anthony's Miracles. The Saint of Miracles

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Saint Anthony's Miracles
The miracle
The city of Toulouse was a centre of the Cather heresy, which denied the goodness of the material world and also the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Anthony engaged in several public debates with them but, although they could not out-argue him, they were not yet ready to give in. One day one of them demanded a miraculous proof, “If you can make my mule bow down before what you call the Body of Christ, I will believe”. Anthony didn’t want to put God to the test, but naturally there was no way he could avoid this challenge, and so he agreed, leaving the outcome to God. For three days the heretic kept his mule penned up without food. On the third day, a great crowd gathered in the city square. Anthony celebrated Mass in a little chapel and at the end he came out carrying the Blessed Sacrament. Meanwhile, the hungry mule had also been brought along, and a suitable fodder was placed in front of the starved animal. Anthony called out, “Mule! Come here and show reverence to your Creator!” At once the animal came towards Anthony and bowed its head and knees before the Sacrament. The owner of the mule and many heretics were reconciled to the Church.
Meditation
The Miracle of the Mule stimulates us to think about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. First of all we must say that the Eucharist is a sacramental extension of the Incarnation in space and time. “The Word became flesh and came to dwell among us,” we read in the Gospel of John. However, we know that the presence of Christ did not end with Jesus’ death. As we know on the third day he rose and continues to live among us, through the Church. Therefore, every time we attend Mass we meet Jesus at the deepest, most intimate level. We hear his voice, his Word in the Holy Scriptures, we pray together with our sisters and brothers, and then in the Eucharist we become united to the person of Christ.