ST. ANTONY.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2929, 1 August 1911, Page 7

ST. ANTONY.

St. Antony is one of the most po-

pular of the Saints in the Romish Calendar. He was born at Koma, in Upper 'Egypt, in the year 251, and the better part of his life was spent in rigorous seclusion in a C3ll. The accounts of his miracles

are still read with avidity. One tradition asserts that those who sought his intercession recovered im-

mediately from erysipelas—therefore known as "St. Antony's Fire." During the heat of the persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Maximilian, Antony visited Alexandria, in expectation of obtaining what he earnestly desired—the crown of martyrdom. He attended and encouraged all the Christians who were seized and dragged before the civil tribunals, and when the Governor forbade the "solitaires"—Christian recluses—to make their appearance in

public, under pain of death, and all the rest obeyed with fear the imperious mandate, Antony alone refused, and boldly stationed himself in an elevated position when the judge was passing, so that he might be observed. He was perceived, but got punished. Most probably the judge regarded him as an idiot ; but not the people at large, nor th; Emperor Constantine, who soon after b~cimc the sole monarch of the Romans world.

Tim Emp Tor personally wrote to Antony, asking his blessing and his counsel, for his reputation spread over all the world. The persecution ceased, Antony was not martyred. He returned to his cell, disappointed. He became more and more famous ; Thousands came to touch his garments, and to be healed of diseases; and many, no doubt, were actually cured, and many, no doubt, we're not. Sometimes he woujd not come out at all ; but still i:hc cures went on as he prayed within. Fearing, however, that this reputation would make him vain and presumptuous, and anxious to attain to that spiritual perfection which really seems to have been the sole object of his life, hf» privately withdrew, and hid himself amongst the mountains. His disciples, however, at last discovered him, and brought him bread ; but he begged them not to do so, but to bring him only a spade, an axe, and a little corn, and having found a placo adapted for growing it, he set to work, and made himself independent of the aid of anv ne.

Notwithstanding, he «1 i<l not altogether abandon the rare of the monasteries, but visited them occasionally. He was also visited by pagan philosophers, and had'many ardent disputes with them. He was a man of talent, a mystic thinker, who found within himself a mountain of thought) which never dried up, as he found a host of resolution, which was never vanquished. lie visited Alexandria a second time, at the request of the celebrated Athanasius and the <V tholic Bishops, in order to confound the rising sect of the Arians, and it is reported that his eloquence and reasoning were powerful and effectual both in refuting the Arians and converting the pagans. Seeing his end approach, he visited the monasteries once more, telling them it was for the last time. The monks wept and embraced him, and entreated him to remain and die amongst them. Hut he refused and retired to the mountains with two attendants, whom, since the inhrmiti?s of age had come upon him, he had suffered to he with him, and he died in the deserts of Egypt at the advanced age of 105 years.