The Mariology of Saint Anthony of Lisbon

# Antonio of Lisbon(d. 1231)The information about his life is derived from so-called *legendae* that multiplied even before his death due to the fame of holiness surrounding him and the miraculous events he became a part of.Antonio was born in Lisbon around 1195. He entered the Order of Regular Canons of Saint Augustine at a young age and studied in Coimbra. After ordination, he joined the Friars Minor and personally met Saint Francis of Assisi at the First Chapter of the Order. He alternated between the roles of his Order’s positions with the ministry of preaching to the people, where he achieved great success through the example of his sanctity and the charm of his personal charisma. He was aptly called the *Evangelical Doctor*. He suddenly died at a young age in 1231 near Padua, just 36 years old, and was canonized the following year. In 1946, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII.The Mariology of Saint Anthony of Padua was not presented in a technical or systematic theological manner. However, it is profound and incisive due to the oratorical style in which he expresses himself, revealing the most original qualities of his personality: clarity of thought, simplicity of language, and effective intuition of communication forms with his audience.Therefore, his doctrine on the Virgin can be defined as *kerigmatic Mariology*, aiming to be more of an announcement than a teaching. This explains his dedication to preaching, particularly the sermons for Marian feasts celebrated at the time: Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, and Nativity. We should also add his sermon on the third Sunday of Lent, where he comments on *Lk* 11:27: *Blessed is the womb that bore you*.He applies many texts from the Old and New Testaments to Mary and frequently refers to the tradition of Fathers and theologians who preceded him. His Mariology encompasses all mysteries of Mary’s life, with a strong emphasis on the fundamental truth of her divine motherhood, which Anthony contemplates as God’s election of Mary. Some uncertainty arises regarding his stance on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. In his sermons, his passionate exhortation to admire, praise, love, and invoke the Most Holy Virgin, our *Queen*, refuge of sinners, star guiding us to salvation, frequently appears.**(III Sunday of Lent)****The Blessedness of Mary**In that time, a woman raised her voice in the midst of the crowd and said to him: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you” (Lk 11:27). Thus the husband speaks to his bride in Song: “Your voice is sweet to my ears. Truly your voice is gentle” (Ct 2:14). The sweet voice is the praise of the glorious Virgin, who makes a very sweet sound in the ears of her Spouse, that is, Christ, the Son of the same Virgin. Therefore, let all and each raise their voices to praise the Blessed Mary and say to her Son: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you.”Blessed means well-grown. Blessed is he who has everything he desires and does not want anything evil. Blessed is he for whom all his desires are fulfilled. Therefore, blessed is the womb of the glorious Virgin, because she merited to carry during nine months all the good, the supreme good, the bliss of the angels, the reconciliation of sinners. That is why Augustine writes: “According to the flesh we are reconciled only through the Son. But according to divinity we are not only with the Son. In fact, it was the Trinity that reconciled us with itself, because the Trinity made the Word become flesh.” Therefore, blessed is the breast of the glorious Virgin, of which Saint Augustine says in his book *On Nature and Grace*: “Let us therefore exclude Holy Mary the Virgin, regarding whom, to the honor of the Lord, I do not wish to raise any question of sin. Indeed, as we know, how much grace was granted to her who merited to conceive and give birth to him who, as known, had no sin? Therefore, except for this Virgin, if all the saints were to gather together and were asked if they have any sin, what would they answer but what John said: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’ (1 Jn 1:8)?”That glorious Virgin, on the other hand, was prevented and filled with a singular grace to bear as fruit of her womb him whom she had as Lord of the universe from the beginning.Blessed be the womb that bore you, for in praise of her Mother, the Son says in Song: “Your womb is like a mountain of wheat surrounded by lilies” (Ct 7,2). The womb of the glorious Virgin was like a mountain of wheat. Heaped up because all the privileges and merits of reward were concentrated within it. Like grain, for in the true Joseph’s intervention, the grain was stored away, as in a granary, to prevent all Egypt from perishing by famine (cf. Gn 41:36). **It is called ‘triticum’ because, after being cleansed, it is stored in granaries, or also because its grains are ground and crushed. White within and red without, it signifies Jesus Christ who, for nine months, remained hidden in the blessed womb of the glorious Virgin, then was crushed for us on the wheel of the Cross.** White for the innocence of life and red for the shedding of blood. This happy womb was surrounded by lilies. The lily is so called because it seems to come from milk, signifying the virginity of Blessed Virgin Mary due to its whiteness. Her womb was **surrounded**, that is, **strengthened** by the valley of humility. As for the lilies, they represent the double virginity, that is, the external and internal. Therefore Augustine says: “The God the Only-Begotten, when He was conceived, took from the Virgin the reality of flesh. And at His birth He preserved the integrity of her virginity in Her.” Truly blessed be the womb that brought you!Truly blessed, for it brought you, God and Son of God, Lord of angels, Creator of heaven and earth, Savior of the world. The Daughter brought the Father. The poor Virgin brought the Son. O cherubim, seraphim, angels, and archangels, with faces bowed down and heads bent, reverently adore the temple of the Son of God, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, the blessed womb surrounded by lilies, saying: “Blessed be the womb that bore you.” O children of earth, to whom this grace, this special privilege was granted, with devout faith and a humbled mind, prostrate yourselves on the ground, adore the high and exalted throne of true Solomon, saying: “Blessed be the womb that brought you!”Following are the words: “And the breasts that suckled you.” Of these, Solomon says in the Book of Proverbs: “As a loving doe, and a graceful gazelle, your breasts shall satisfy you continually. And for His love, be ever drawn” (Prv 5:19). Observe how the deer, according to what is said in the treatise on natural sciences, gives birth in a busy road, knowing that the wolf shuns well-traveled paths for fear of men. This beloved deer is the Blessed Virgin Mary who gave birth, through grace, at the right time, and on a beaten path, or rather, in a refuge, the graceful deer, or rather, the Infant Son. For this reason Luke writes: “She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). So that we might receive the mantle of immortality. On this text, the Glossa says: “He needs a place in the inn so that we may have more abodes in heaven” (Glossa interlineare).That the breasts of this deer, beloved of all the world, may always intoxicate you, O Christian, so that, forgetting all temporal things, you turn back to those who preceded you (cf. Phil 3:13). But one should be very surprised when he says: “I intoxicate you.” And the reason is that there is no intoxicating wine in the breasts, but rather a most pleasant milk. Listen to the reason. The Spouse and His Son, praising her in Song, say: “How beautiful you are, how graceful among delights, O beloved! Your stature is like a palm, and your breasts are like clusters” (Ct 7:6-7). How beautiful you are in your soul. How graceful in your body, O my Mother, my Spouse, beloved deer, in the midst of delights, that is, in the midst of the rewards of eternal life.