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AINT  ANTONY   of  Padua,  is  the Franciscan Friar  whose  name  is,  perhaps,   better    known    throughout    the world than  any  other  member  of  that Order, save  only  St. Francis himself. We dare  not  say  that   he  is  greatest among   them,    bearing    in    mind    the words of  Thomas  a  Kempis:

But we  cannot  ignore  facts,  and  it  is  plain  as  the sun in  heaven  that  Almighty  God  singled  out  St. Antony  to  manifest  His  power  to  the  world,  and called him  be  the  especial  wonder-worker  of  the Order which  was  his  final  choice,  and  in  which he died.

The ways  of  God  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  His thoughts as  our  thoughts,  and  it  might  be  that when they  are  strange  and  unusual  our  duty  were simply to  admire  and  adore. But since  order  would appear to  be  a  necessary  part  of  Himself,  we  find a law  running  through  those  of  His  most  unusual, and, in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  most  eccentric manifestations.

Miracle forms  part  of  the  life  of  a  Saint,  and  the Church has,  at  least  for  many  centuries,  required proof of  miracles  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  canonizations, so  that  miraculous  power  and  sanctity invariably accompany  each  other. But in  the  vast majority of  the  Saints  we  dwell  on  the  sanctity  and forget the  miracle;  we  remember  St.  Augustine for his  Confessions,  St.  Ignatius  for  his  Spiritual Exercises, St.  Francis  de  Sales  for  his  Counsels  to those  living  in  the  world. In some  cases,  as  in that  of  the  Seven  Founders  of  the  Servite  Order, in that  of  the  Japanese  Martyrs,  and  in  that  of  the English who  suffered  under  Henry  VIII. and Elizabeth, those  who  were  so  lovely  in  their  lives in death  were  not  divided,  it  is  not  always  possible to ascribe  this  or  that  miracle  to  a  definite  name; the deeds  and  the  invocations  are  alike  collective.

There are  again  others  not  necessarily  less,  nor necessarily more,  holy  than  they,  in  whose  case miracle is  forced  upon  us,  who  have  passed  through life attended  by  a  storm  of  miracles,  being  in  very fact like  the  fable  of  the  poet:

Wonder clings  to  them,  as,  in  the  natural  order, some men  have  gifts  of  healing,  others  of  statesmanship, others  of  command,  of  eloquence,  or  of literature;  and  we  not  unreasonably  ask  whether there be  any  law  for  such  a  gift.

We find  that  God  has  given  a  special  and  preeminent wonder-worker  once  at  least  to  each  of  the great Orders  of  Religious  whom  He  has  called  to serve  Him,  and  that  in  each  case  He  has  attached the gift  not  so  much  to  the  Founder,  as  to  one  who came near  him  and  had  caught  much  of  his  spirit.

Thus among  the  Benedictines,  St.  Maurus  was distinguished alike  for  his  miracles  and  his  holiness, through  sixty  years  of  his  life  of  seventy-four years. Thus St.  Nicholas  of  Tolentino  showed forth in  an  especial  manner  the  power  of  God  in the  austere  order  of  the  Hermits  of  St. Augustine. Thus St.  Vincent  Ferrer  sealed  by  his  wondrous works the  power  of  God  on  the  sons  of  St. Dominic. So too  St.  Peregrine  Laziosi  among  the  Servites, St. Francis  Xavier  among  the  Jesuits,  and  in  the eighteenth century  B.  Gerard  Majella  among  the more recent  Redemptorists,  as  St.  Antony  among the Franciscans,  were  evidence  of  God's  approbation on  the  Orders  to  which  they  severally  belonged.