The blessed tongue of the Saint

On 8 April 1263, Saint Anthony’s body was transferred from the small church of Sancta Maria Mater Domini to the newly built Basilica. Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, the general of the Franciscan order, ordered an examination of the body. When the wooden coffin was opened, Saint Bonaventure found that Saint Anthony’s tongue was still beautiful and intact, as if he were still alive, despite the fact that thirty-two years had passed since his death; the rest of his body had turned to dust.

This is reported in the “Benignitas” (and it is the oldest evidence) which was written about ten years after the event. There are also very interesting details in a panegyric in praise of St. Anthony that a Franciscan monk held towards the end of the century: not only the monks verified the fact but also many lay people, especially the twelve trustworthy, chosen by the Commune of Padua, who the bore witness to the Pope”.

the “Raimondina” (about 1293) reports “The tongue of the Saint which had been the trumpet of Christ, instrument of the Holy Spirit and bronze bolt of the Tabernacle door was found so integral and sharp that it looked like that of a living man”.

The feast of the Blessed Tongue of the Saint falls on 15 February.