He went into the desert to a mountain by the Nile called Pispir (now Der-el-Memun), opposite Arsinoë. Saint Antony of the Desert Patriarch of Monks & Founder of all Religious Life Feast Day: January 17 Saint Antony of Egypt Fra Angelico, Saint Anthony the Abbot tempted by a Lump of Gold (a.k.a. His rule (book of observances) represented one of the first attempts to codify guidelines for monastic living. As Christianity was legalized at the start of the fourth century martyrdom ceased to be the primary form of Christian witness. Golden Legend #15 (Paul the Hermit): html or pdf How many other saints, heroes, and martyrs would be known to mankind if just one witness to their actions had put pen to paper! They then founded the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony in honor of him, who specialized in nursing the victims of skin diseases. [12] He then left to live an ascetic life,[12] placing his sister with a group of Christian virgins. [4] There are various legends that he worked as a swineherd during this period. St. Anthony of the Desert Maronite Catholic Church300 North Eastern AvenueFall River, MA 02720 St. Anthony is the best known of the Desert Fathers. He had reason to say that -- they saw before them a man who wore a skin, who refused to bathe, who lived on bread and water. [29] It was interpreted as a demon trying to terrify him, or alternately a creature engendered by the desert. [4] There, Jocelin undertook to build a church to house the remains, but died before the church was even started. There are comparatively few icons and paintings of him. Shorter Profile Skip to prayers He was not the first ascetic, but he was perhaps the first to take the radical decision to retreat into the desert. The earliest original writings in Coptic language were the letters by Anthony. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony such as Anthony of Padua, by various epithets of his own: Saint Anthony, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Anthony the Hermit, and Anthony of Thebes. "Antonious" redirects here. To the surprise of all, he appeared to be not emaciated, but healthy in mind and body. But he was the first to walk it so well. When he was about 20 years old, his parents died and left him with the care of his unmarried sister. There, in the harsh Arizona desert, the monks have established a brotherhood that today has 56 monks. Patriarch of Monastic Life (251-356) Saint Anthony was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. February A note of the controversy concerning this Life is given at the end of this article; here it will suffice to say that now it is received with practical unanimity by scholars as a substantially historical record, and as a probably authentic work of St. Athanasius . Throughout his lifetime he constantly projected his beloved church and its people in America and abroad and he was held in highest esteem. He was born in Egypt in the village of Coma, near the desert of … [34][35], Though Anthony himself did not organize or create a monastery, a community grew around him based on his example of living an ascetic and isolated life. [19][20], According to Athanasius, the devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for Christian art. Many artists, including Martin Schongauer, Hieronymus Bosch, Dorothea Tanning, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dalí, have depicted these incidents from the life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and embellished by Gustave Flaubert in The Temptation of Saint Anthony. But upon hearing at Mass the words of Christ to the rich young man to “…go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven”, St. Anthony decided to seek not silver or bronze, but pure gold. [21], Anthony was not the first ascetic or hermit, but he may properly be called the "Father of Monasticism" in Christianity,[12][22][23] as he organized his disciples into a community and later, following the spread of Athanasius's hagiography, was the inspiration for similar communities throughout Egypt and, elsewhere. The first three centuries of the Church saw sporadic persecutions of Christianity which at times turned vicious. The chief source of information on St. Anthony is a Greek Life attributed to St. Athanasius, to be found in any edition of his works. March It depicted Anthony as an illiterate yet holy man who continuously engaged in spiritual exercises in the Egyptian desert and struggled against demonic powers. St. Antony the Great, Saint Antony the Abbott, St. Antony of the Desert) Image courtesy of ChristusRex. Saint Athanasius, the great champion of orthodoxy at the Council of Nicea, wrote a short biography of his fellow Egyptian, The Life of Saint Anthony the Great. "[17] Christian ascetics such as Thecla had likewise retreated to isolated locations at the outskirts of cities. Athanasius on the call of Antony of the Desert. [29] Anthony had been under the impression that he was the first person to ever dwell in the desert; however, due to the dream, Anthony was called into the desert to find his "better", Paul. Saint Anthony was born in the year 251, in Qimn El-Arouse (Cooma) near Herakleopolis Magna in Lower Egypt, to wealthy landowner parents. Saint Anthony of the Desert. Born in Egypt c.251, he gave away his large inheritance and fled to the desert and led a solitary life of fasting, prayer, and manual labor. November His remains were reportedly discovered in 361, and transferred to Alexandria. on Amazon. Parts of this Life also appear in Stouck, 57-82, and Head, 7-31. January 17—Memorial Anthony was, however, among the first known to go into the wilderness (about AD 270), which seems to have contributed to his renown. One of these saints is St. Anthony of Egypt, also called St. Anthony of the Desert, whose life of deep asceticism and prayer became a great catalyst for St. Augustine of Hippo’s conversion. Vespers are at 5:00pm Saturdays, the Divine Liturgy is at 9:30am Sundays. [4], When Anthony sensed his death approaching, he commanded his disciples to give his staff to Macarius of Egypt, and to give one sheepskin cloak to Athanasius of Alexandria and the other sheepskin cloak to Serapion of Thmuis, his disciple. April St. Anthony had money and property as a young man. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bacchus, Francis Joseph. Jocelin had them transferred to La-Motte-Saint-Didier, later renamed. Visitors traveled great distances to see the celebrated holy man. work was so widely shared, and so often translated, that it was never lost to history. Feast Day: January 17. These spasms of violence against Christians produced a large class of martyrs, many of whose last words and sufferings were recorded in official Roman judicial documents or in the written testimonies of witnesses. Much of the mythology surrounding Saint Anthony's time in the Sahara desert is used as the basis for the conflict the protagonists face after opening the ossuary. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. He left for the alkaline Nitrian Desert (later the location of the noted monasteries of Nitria, Kellia, and Scetis) on the edge of the Western Desert about 95 km (59 mi) west of Alexandria. [33], Anthony is remembered in the Anglican Communion with a Lesser Festival on 17 January. Many extraordinary people who live heroic, path breaking lives remain unknown to posterity for one simple reason—no one writes their biography.