In the silence of Monte Paolo

Lorenzo Brunazzo

It was the will of the Lord that prevented St Anthony of Lisbon from spending his final days as a missionary and martyr in Morocco, instead bringing him to disembark in Messina and take part in the famous Chapter of Mats in Assisi in May 1221. Our father Francis too took part in it. He went unnoticed and, at the end, found himself without a destination. As I write this, I, Julien of Speyer, a fellow friar and contemporary of Saint Anthony, recall how he turned to Brother Graziano, who was presiding over the friars of Romagna at the time. He humbly begged Graziano to ask the Minister General to take him on and train him in religious discipline.

Graziano received Anthony kindly and took him to Romagna. As the saint desired a solitary place, Graziano sent him to the hermitage of Monte Paolo. I will now recount the cave chosen for prayer and the humble tasks Anthony expressly requested and carried out in the small hermitage. Despite the brevity of Saint Anthony’s life, I have dwelled on his experience at Monte Paolo because, however brief it may have been, it marked a pivotal moment in his life. Having witnessed the internal debate within the Franciscan movement regarding the difficulties of translating the founder’s evangelical inspiration into a Rule of religious life, the would-be missionary asked to retreat into solitude to gather his thoughts and perceive the plan the Lord had for him... (continue)

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