St. Anthony of Egypt (251-356) The life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi.
At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what you
have, and give to [the] poor” (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just
that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that
most of Anthony’s life was spent in solitude. He saw the world
completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the
witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and
prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to
himself for spiritual healing and guidance.
At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery
of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately
buildings and well-laden tables.” At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of
311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and
material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian
heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to
recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the divinity of
Christ. Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book.
The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the
devil—the cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig
a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for
“the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died in solitude
at 105.
At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what you
have, and give to [the] poor” (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just
that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that
most of Anthony’s life was spent in solitude. He saw the world
completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the
witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and
prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to
himself for spiritual healing and guidance.
At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery
of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately
buildings and well-laden tables.” At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of
311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and
material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian
heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to
recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the divinity of
Christ. Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book.
The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the
devil—the cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig
a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for
“the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died in solitude
at 105.
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