⛪ Saint of the Day : February 1
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| Blessed Anthony Manzi, Pray For us ! |
⛪ Other Names :
• Anthony Manzoni • Anthony the Pilgrim
⛪ Born : 1237 in Padua, Italy
⛪Died : 1267 in Padua, Italy • Miracles reported at his grave
Antony Manzi, or Manzoni, was a native of Padua and belonged to a distinguished family. His father died while he was still young and left him considerable riches, which he immediately gave away to the poor. For this he was blamed by his fellow citizens and by his relations — especially as he had two sisters — and he was reviled in the streets and subjected to indignities of all sorts. Resolved to live a life of poverty, he assumed the garb of a pilgrim and left Padua, wandering about until at Bazano/ near Bologna, he found a sick and saintly old priest whom he served for three years for the love of God. They lived on the alms Antony received by begging, and in turn gave away everything beyond what was required for actual sustenance. Throughout his life he fasted, took severe disciplines, wore a rough hair shirt, and always slept on the bare ground with a stone for his pillow. After his stay at Bazano he wandered far and wide, making pilgrimages to Rome, to Loreto, to Compostela, to Cologne and to Jerusalem. Finally he returned to his native city where he was not more kindly regarded, even by his sisters who were nuns there, than when he took his departure many years before. He made a home for himself in the colonnade of a church outside the walls, and there, not long after, he died. When miracles began to be worked at his grave the Paduans who had scorned him in his lifetime sought to have him canonized ; but the pope replied that it was enough for the city of Padua to have one Saint Antony. Nevertheless the cultus seems to have persisted and his feast is kept at Padua.
The most reliable account of Bd Antony and his miracles is that which has been published in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xiii (1894), pp. 417-425. Cf. also ib., vol. xiv, pp. 108 seq., and the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. i.