Saint Anthony the Abbot is remembered as the patron saint of animals. The Saint was an Egyptian hermit who lived in the 3rd century AD. He belonged to a wealthy Christian family and he became the administrator of all of the assets. But Anthony chose to give everything he owned to the poor and needy and, entrusted his sister to a religious congregation. Later he took the path of the desert and chose to live as a hermit. For this reason, it is also known as Saint Anthony of the Desert or Saint Anthony the Anchorite.
It is said that the Saint was incessantly persecuted by visions that now flattered him, now threatened him, and by devil speakers who tried to tear his soul through beatings.
Soon other men gathered around him, some because they wanted to be cured by him in body and soul, others who wanted to follow his model. Several communities of hermits were formed, who lived in the desert caves, led by a spiritual father, and with Saint Anthony as a reference. These are the first forms of monasticism.
Later Anthony supported his friend and bishop Athanasius of Alexandria in the fight against Arianism. Saint Anthony died at the age of 105, living until the end of his days as a hermit in the desert, growing a small vegetable garden and praying.
Saint Anthony is remembered among other things as the patron saint of pets. Every year, on the occasion of his feast, January 17, they bring to bless the pets and in the countryside even those of the stables. This tradition was born in medieval times, when the Antonians, the monks of Saint Anthony, raised pigs that were given to them by the farmers and used them to feed the poor, as well as to create medicated ointments with their fat combined with medicinal herbs. Saint Anthony thus became the patron saint of the pigs first, and of all the pets and the stable at a later time.
Legend has it that on the night of January 17 the animals acquire the faculty to speak. This is why in ancient times the people of the countryside kept away from the stables on this night: hearing animals speak is not a good omen!
The pig therefore often occurs in the iconography of Saint Anthony the Abbot, who is often depicted with a pig at his feet or a pig in his arms. In addition to the already mentioned tradition linked to the Antonians, this link between Saint Anthony and the pig is also due to some legends.
While Saint Anthony Abbot was travelling by sea, a sow laid a sick pig at his feet. The Saint healed him with the Sign of the Cross and from then on the little pig became for him an inseparable companion.
It is no coincidence that fire is another of the symbols with which the saint is often picturized. It is also called Saint Anthony of Fire. Even Saint Anthony over the centuries has been associated with the concept of renewal and has always been venerated in the countryside as a figure linked to the flow of the seasons, the time of harvest and sowing. In some areas the bonfires are still lit on the night of January 17, to burn the evil of the past months and embrace the new year with positive energy. The symbology of fire associated with Saint Anthony has been linked over the centuries to its ability to heal from the Saint Anthony’s Fire, with which many skin diseases were once indicated that were treated by the Antonian monks with the methods indicated above.
Prayer to Saint Anthony Abbot
Here is a very powerful prayer to say on 17 January or at any time if you feel the need.
O true miracle of the Anchorites,
glorious St. Anthony our patron Abbot,
Here we prostrate before you to venerate
with your other heroic virtues
that prodigious fortress with which
you resisted the temptations of the devil
and won them after a long labour.
With the power of your name alone
you freed the air, the earth, the fire, the animals
from its evil influences.
Deh! Let us, imitating also your
invincible steadfastness in the assaults of our spiritual
enemies, obtain from God to participate in
Paradise in your glory, and here on earth in
your blessings, which we invoke upon the air,
on the earth, on the fire and on the animals
that serve our food.
Pater, Hail and Glory.