Can you tell me about brother Anthony?

Editorial Staff

Saint Anthony of Padua is one of the figures most dear to popular devotion. If he lived today he would certainly have his facebook or twitter page followed by millions and millions of followers and with many "likes"! Many... but not all, because the poor and simple people liked very much his attitude, while the rich and powerful do not, though they often feared him. He was born in Lisbon in the summer of 1195 (perhaps 15 August) from a noble family: his real name wss Fernando di Buglione, and for him his parents dreamed of a career as a knight. Anthony also loved to dream big and, after entering the Augustinian monastery to become "great" in the study of the Word of God, in the summer of 1220 (at 25 years old) he quivered with passion when he saw the remains of the first five Franciscan martyrs beheaded in Morocco, where they had gone to preach. "Infected" by their story, he embraced the Franciscan habit dreaming of leaving for Africa as a missionary. But his desire did not come true because it was blocked first by a malaria fever and then by a storm that scuppered his ship in…