01161996 SJPII 50th anniversary Doctorate of Saint Anthony

 

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Letter that, on January 16, 1996, the Pope addressed to Father Buenaventura Midili, T.O.R., current president of the Union of Franciscan General Ministers.

1. The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the attribution to Saint Anthony of the title of Doctor of the Church gives me the pleasant opportunity to remember his significant figure as a teacher of theology and spirituality. He, “to whom – as a contemporary of his wrote – God gave “the understanding of the Scriptures” and the gift of preaching Christ to the whole world with words sweeter than honey” (1 Celano 48), shines in the wide panorama of holiness of the Church by the authenticity of the evangelical profile of its teachings. For this reason, my predecessor Pius In that circumstance the Pope, with the apostolic letter Exulta, Lusitania felix; or felix Padua, gaude (cf. AAS 38, 1946, 200-204), invited to joy and jubilation the faithful of Portugal, the saint's native land, and the inhabitants of the city of Padua, which preserves his mortal remains.

In the letter I sent to the Franciscan family to commemorate the eighth centenary of the birth of the saint, I recalled that "from the thirst for God and the longing for Christ is born the theology that, for Saint Anthony, was the irradiation of the love of Christ (...) . He lived this method of study with a passion that accompanied him throughout his Franciscan life” (Cf. Sel Fran 69, 1994, 328). The celebrations that have just concluded have once again proposed the figure of Antonio as an evangelical man clothed in wisdom and charity.

2. The intense cultural, theological and biblical training helped the first Theology Reader of the Seraphic Order to follow the path of an assiduous search for God, fueled by intense piety and an insatiable nostalgia for contemplation. In that itinerary, the Holy Scripture, constantly meditated according to the rhythm set by the liturgy of the Church, became the main source of knowledge for his theology, so that this was for him "the new song, which resonates softly in the ears of God and renews the spirit" (Sermons, I, 255).

Approaching the Scriptures through prayer books and Church celebrations, he contemplated and preached the mysteries of Christ, "model of humility and patience", "Savior and king", "poor and obedient servant" who exist. to continue to the cross, in the company of his most holy Mother, "the poor Virgin."

Faced with a social environment that was developing innovative ethical and cultural perspectives, along with models of spirituality and worship inspired by an evangelism without a Church, the evangelical doctor once again proposed with clarity and strength a new evangelization, which was not only a moral exhortation, but also a path in the Church and with the Church.

The sequela Christi, so dear to the movement of the friars minor, prompted him to insist with particular intensity on the aurea paupertas, which is not only detachment from the things of the world, but above all the reaffirmation of the primacy of God in life. of man and the fascinating desire for "heavenly things" (Sermons, III, 86).

3. Only the Church, despite the fragility of its children, sustained by the action of the Holy Spirit and inhabited by the splendor of Truth, continues to be the "good and fruitful land" where the Gospel proclamation bears fruit, because "the truth of faith is born from mother Church. But the Truth preceded her, so that the Church might follow her” (Sermons, III, 196). And the Church follows Christ, who affirms: "I am the truth" (Jn 14:6). She – the saint writes – is the totum Christi corpus (cf. Sermones, I, 55), who allows herself to be guided by him, to be free from dangers (cf. Sermones, I, 493).

Saint Anthony announced this Truth, spreading it in sermons among his contemporaries "like the dew that comes down from heaven and relieves the thirsty earth," to use the image of my predecessor, Pope Sixtus V (cf. bull Immensa divinae sapientiae, January 24 of 1586: Bull. Rom. IV, 181-182). Thus, listening to the word of God proclaimed and celebrated in the Church, man not only finds the full meaning of his actions, but also finds himself and the light that brings him the gift of inner peace (cf. Sermons , I, 76-78).

4. The urgency of preaching is manifested in all the Sermons that Saint Anthony has left us. He who evangelizes – he writes – is a joyful contemplator of God and a witness of the “angelic life”, who has achieved “mature science” (Sermons, I, 483). Anthony, a faithful disciple of Francis of Assisi, has left us the example of an assiduous effort in evangelization, through tireless preaching, accompanied by the urgent exhortation to approach the sacraments of the Church, especially those of reconciliation and the Eucharist. .

However, it is necessary to emphasize that the apostolic action of Saint Anthony was constantly nourished by the contemplation of heavenly things. In prayer he rose to contemplate with the eyes of faith the splendor of the true sun, the triune God, and from that source he received light and heat that he then radiated to souls (cf. Sermons, I, 332). Thus, in full communion with the Church, he transmitted to others the interior riches of his soul.

5. Most Reverend Father, I hope that this commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Anthony as a Doctor of the Church will be a reason, for the entire Franciscan family, for a renewed interest in the study of the theological thought and evangelizing praxis of the saint.

Academic reflection, together with the scheduled cultural manifestations, will know how to investigate its rich doctrine and its current elements, so that the disciples of the Poverello of Assisi, brothers of the evangelical doctor, can continue with greater vigor in the work of the new evangelization in the contemporary world, in harmony with the Church.

With these sentiments, invoking the help of the divine Master through the intercession of Saint Anthony, I heartily impart a special apostolic blessing to you and to the entire Franciscan Order, extending it with pleasure to all the devotees of the saint.

Vatican, January 16, 1996, eighteenth pontificate.

John Paul II-