On St. Anthony’s day, the beasts at Rome are blessed, and sprinkled with
holy water. Dr. Forster, in his “Perennial Calendar,” remarks, that “the
early Catholics regarded no beasts, birds, or fish, as hateful.” He
says, that “St. Anthony was particularly solicitous about animals, to
which a whimsical picture by Salvator Rosa represents him as preaching;”
and he suggests, that “from his practices, perhaps, arose the custom of
blessings passed on animals still practised at Rome; he regarded all
God’s creatures as worthy of protection”--except heretics, the doctor
might have added; unless, indeed, which seems to have been the case,
Anthony regarded _them_ as “creatures” of the devil, between whom, and
this saint, we have seen that the Rev. Alban Butler takes especial care
we should not be ignorant of the miraculous conflicts just related.
Lady Morgan says, that the annual benediction of the beasts at Rome, in
a church there dedicated to St. Anthony, lasts for some days: “for not
only every Roman from the pope to the peasant, who has a horse, a mule,
or an ass, sends his cattle to be blessed at St. Anthony’s shrine, but
all the English go with their job horses and favourite dogs; and for the
small offering of a couple of _paoli_, get them sprinkled, sanctified,
and placed under the protection of this saint. Coach after coach draws
up, strings of mules mix with carts and barouches, horses kick, mules
are restive, and dogs snarl, while the officiating priest comes forward
from his little chapel, dips a brush into a vase of holy water,
sprinkles and prays over the beasts, pockets the fee, and retires.”
Dr. Conyers Middleton says, that when he was at Rome, he had his own
horses blest for eighteen-pence, as well to satisfy his curiosity, as to
humour his coachman, who was persuaded that some mischance would befall
them in the year, if they had not the benefit of the benediction.
Lady Morgan describes a picture in the Borghese palace at Rome,
representing St. Anthony preaching to the fishes: “The salmon look at
the preacher with an edified face, and a cod, with his upturned eyes,
seems anxiously seeking for the new light. The saint’s sermon is to be
had in many of the shops at Rome. St. Anthony addresses the fish,
‘Dearly beloved fish;’ and the legend adds, that at the conclusion of
the discourse, ‘the fish bowed to him with profound humility, and a
grave and religious countenance.’ The saint then gave the fish his
blessing, who scudded away to make new conversions,--the missionaries of
the main.
“The church of St. Anthony at Rome is painted in curious old frescos,
with the temptations of the saint. In one picture he is drawn blessing
the devil, disguised in a cowl; probably at that time
‘When the devil was sick, and the devil a monk would be;’
“the next picture shows, that
‘When the devil was well, the devil a monk was he;’
“for St. Anthony, having laid down in his coffin to meditate the more
securely, a parcel of malicious little imps are peeping, with all sorts
of whimsical and terrific faces, over its edges, and parodying Hogarth’s
enraged musician. One abominable wretch blows a post-horn close to the
saint’s ear, and seems as much delighted with his own music as a boy
with a Jew’s-harp, or a solo-player with his first _ad libitum_.”
St. Anthony’s sermon to the fish is given in some of our angling books.
If this saint was not the preacher to the fish, but St. Anthony of
Padua, the latter has lost the credit of his miraculous exhortation,
from the stupendous reputation of his namesake and predecessor. Not to
risk the displeasure of him of Padua, by the possibility of mistake,
without an attempt to propitiate him if it be a mistake, let it be
recorded here, that St. Anthony of Padua’s protection of a Portuguese
regiment, which enlisted him into its ranks seven hundred years after
his death, procured him the honour of being promoted to the rank of
captain, by the king of Portugal, as will appear by reference to his
military certificate set forth at large in “Ancient Mysteries
described.”