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| Blessed Anthony, Pray For Us ! |
⛪ Born :
• 17 January 1355 in Amandola, Ascoli Piceno, Italy
⛪ Died :
• 25 January 1450 in the Saint Augustine monastery Amandola, Ascoli Piceno, Italy • Buried in the monastery graveyard with his brother Augustinians • Enshrined in a wooden ark in the monastery church in 1453 • Re-enshrined in a wooden sarcophagus in 1641 • Shrine damaged and body desecrated in 1798 by anti–Christian forces in the French Revolution • Re-enshrined in a marble sacrophagus in 1897 • A gold crown was placed on his head in 1899 • His incorrupt body is still on display in the same church
A native of Amandola (Ascoli Piceno), Italy, Anthony was inspired by the life and example of the famed preacher, Saint Nicholas of Tolentino (+1305), to enter Nicholas' order, the Augustinians. Anthony's devotion to Nicholas was to be further satisfied when around the age of thirty he was appointed sacristan of the Augustinians' church in Tolentino, which contained the tomb of Nicholas. He also made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Nicholas of Tolentino's own patron saint, Nicholas of Myra, in Bari. As an Augustinian priest, Anthony excelled in humility, patience, obedience, self-denial, and apostolic zeal. He was known for his devotion to the poor and for the numerous miracles attributed to his prayers. In 1400 he returned to the Augustinian monastery of his native city of Amandola, where he spent the rest of his life, dying at the advanced age of ninety-five. His body, having remained incorrupt for over five centuries, is exposed for veneration in the Augustinians' church of Amandola.