CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV.
Translation of the Relics of St.
Anthony of Padua—New Regulations.
'In omni ore quasi mel indulcabitur ejus memoria.
. Ipse est directus divinitus in peenitentiam gentis."
Tue Order of St. Francis had among its members no more illustrious man than St. Anthony of Padua.
Having been filled from his youth with the desire of martyrdom, he had always looked longingly towards heathen lands; but God had called him to other work and to other sufferings; He had reserved him to be
His envoy to the great ones of the earth, He had chosen him to console the earth, and cause it to bring forth abundant fruits.
At his voice, as at that of St. John the Baptist, whole populations ran to him, tyrants submitted, and sinners were converted, the just felt themselves strengthened in will, and the Church of the Lord dried some of the tears which she never
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ISI ceases to shed bitterly over the ruin of her children.
The city of Padua had heard his last sermons and had received his last blessings.
In him she had recognised the man from Heaven, and she was the first to proclaim his virtues ; for after he had breathed his last, the children ran through the streets calling out:
" Zhe Saint is dead ; Saint Anthony is dead".
The voice of these children of Padua was the echo of the voice of God, as was formerly the voice of the children of Jerusalem at the triumphal entry of the Saviour.
Soon the tomb of the Apostle became glorious, and Pope Gregory IX., who had been his friend, consoled his fellow-citizens by giving them, as their Patron, him whom they had so tenderly loved.
In the year 1263, Bonaventure, then SuperiorGeneral of the Minorites, was travelling through Italy to visit the houses of his Order.
The memory of St. Anthony was as dear to him almost as that of his Father, St. Francis of Assisi.
Anthony was, in his eyes, a man divinely endowed with the wisdom of angels and prophets, patriarchs and apostles, martyrs,
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doctors, and virgins; a man divinely enlightened, a child of obedience, whose heart was full of passionate love for Jesus Crucified, and of mercy for his neighbours, and whose soul was absorbed in the desire after heavenly things.
During his stay at Mount Alvernia this devotion, on the part of Bonaventure, increased, and as he was in Italy, not far from Padua, he wished to preside at the translation of the relics of the Saint.
He himself opened the tomb, and when the remains were exposed to his eyes, he found that the tongue remained sound and incorrupt, as when in life it had declared the mercy of God to men.
At this wonderful sight, he burst into tears, and taking this precious relic in his hands, he exclaimed : "'O blessed tongue, which always praised God and caused men to praise
Him, we see now how precious thou art in the sight of God!"
The tongue was then placed in a golden shrine, and preserved thenceforth as an inestimable treasure.
Towards the end of the last century, when the French gained possession of the city of Padua, the golden shrine excited the cupidity of the soldiery, and they wished to take it away.
But
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the inhabitants rose as one man, against such a proposal, and resolved to prevent it at any cost.
They accordingly raised a subscription at once, which quickly covered the sum which the rapacity of the troops required.
After the ceremony of the translation of the relics of St. Anthony, St. Bonaventure quitted
Padua, and went to Pisa, where he held a General Chapter of his Order.
There he introduced to his brethren the Legend of St. Francis, which he had undertaken to write three years before, at the request of the members of the Community, then assembled at Narbonne.
It was a solemn moment in his life, when he read to the present assembly this admirable work, in which a faithful son extolled the virtues of a venerated father.
When the reading was ended, the brothers rose and thanked the illustrious author with great enthusiasm, and declared that they received this book as a present from Heaven, which should cause the memory of Francis of Assisi to be blessed throughout all ages.
In the course of this Chapter at Pisa, the Saint endeavoured above all things to inspire his brothers with the love of solitude and
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science.
Solitude he considered to be the guardian of recollection and the nurse of virtue.
In it the soul is refreshed after toil ; it finds God, it enjoys sweet conferences with Him, and prepares itself to undertake new labours.
When the Lord calls a soul to perfection, He always imprints on it a love of solitude.
St.
Francis, the model of his children the Minor Friars, loved solitude dearly, sought it eagerly, left it sadly, and returned to it with joy; and his faithful son, Bonaventure, had early recognised the priceless advantage of retreat.
'"' Solitude of the body," he would say, "'is insufficient, unless accompanied by that of the spirit; but in order to attain to solitude of the spirit, that of the body must be very strict."
Solitude, doubtless, is a powerful means of sanctification; but what could the Franciscans do without adding to solitude the powerful aid of science.
How could their words have had any weight with learned men; or how could they have successfully resisted the arguments of the enemies of religion without it?
St. Francis understood this well when he ordered Anthony of Padua to study theology, and to teach it to
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15S his brethren.
At first the world had been ready to accuse the brothers of ignorance, but now it had changed its tactics, and asked, instead, why the children of St. Francis gave so much time to the study of science, which is not in conformity with the simplicity which they profess.
Bonaventure had a ready answer for such objections, and his ardent desire was to see the men who owed obedience to him endeavouring to make themselves familiar with all holy learning, so as to become wise and capable ministers of the Church of God.
At this Chapter, also, he enacted certain regulations for the increase among his brethren of love for the august Virgin Mary, and the works that he wrote in her honour must be spoken of in a separate chapter of this book.
In the following year the Festival of the Most Holy Sacrament was instituted.
Everyone knows what was the origin of this beautiful solemnity, which fills every Christian heart with joy.
The name of St. Thomas of Aquin is naturally © associated with the thought of it, and the divine songs of which he is the author would alone be sufficient to cause him to be loved and
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blessed by all generations of the Catholic world.
But, according to some authors, the name of the Seraphic Doctor ought to be united with that of his illustrious friend on this occasion so glorious to them both.
Pope Urban IV., these authors assert, had ordered the two religious, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, to compose a special office for the great Mystery of the Altar.
On the appointed day they presented themselves before the Pontiff, and St. Thomas began to read what he had written.
Bonaventure could not listen to it without testifying that enthusiasm which has been shown by all succeeding ages to this magnificent work of the great Doctor.
The majestic language in which the minute exactness of theology is maintained, the sublime thoughts which seem to have been borrowed from Heaven, their tender and holy piety, ravished the impressionable soul of the humble Franciscan, and he felt that his own work was unworthy to enter into comparison with that of his friend.
He at once gladly recognised in St. Thomas the man whom God had raised up especially to celebrate this
Mystery of Love, and the judgment of the Pope, which agreed with his own, filled him with joy.
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It is a touching spectacle to see these two men, both endowed with brilliant genius, without ambition or vanity, absorbed in the one desire to promote the glory of God.
St. Thomas remained humble and indifferent to the praises of the Supreme Pontiff; Bonaventure blessed the Lord Who had inspired the noble spirit of his friend with fitting words in which to bless for ever His Most Holy Name.
Some have imputed to St. Bonaventure the authorship of the Zauda Sion, but it unmistakably bears the imprint of the hand of St.
Thomas, who, with all his burning love, was above all a theologian, while St. Bonaventure, in his mystic compositions, allowed the affections of his heart to be supreme.