Père Antoine

“ Péron’s honest face flamed scarlet and he looked back steadfastly into the priest’s kind eyes.
“Mon père,” he said, with the ingenuous frankness of a boy, “I fear that it is not altogether Christian mercy which has changed my heart.”
Père Antoine smiled.
“Jehan,” he said softly, “love entering into a man’s heart is either its crucifixion or its crown, and sometimes it is both. ”

“ Père Antoine smiled, laying his hand softly on the child’s curls.
“The likeness to his father grows daily,” he remarked to Jacques; “do you not see it?”
“I try to think it is in my eyes,” rejoined the clockmaker bluntly; “it is like to do him more mischief than good.”
“He is in higher hands than ours,” replied the priest sadly, making a sign as though he blessed the child, before he bade them good-night and went on his solemn errand to the Châtelet. ”

“ That the old priest, in his last days, became very much emaciated, that he walked about the streets like a mummy, that he gradually dried up, and finally blew away, was the meagre and unsatisfactory result of the tourist’s investigations. This is all that is generally told of Père Antoine. In the summer of 1861, while New Orleans was yet occupied by the Confederate forces, I met at Alexandria, in Virginia, a lady from Louisiana—Miss Blondeau by name—who gave me the substance of the following legend touching Père Antoine and his wonderful date-palm. ”

“ I cried desperately.
"Perhaps not, monsieur; nevertheless, you will not be able to reach the château."
"Who are you that you should stop me?" I exclaimed angrily. "You are a priest, and your duty is with souls."
"That is why," answered Père Antoine. "You are in pursuit of a married woman." ”

“ Père Antoine smiled involuntarily as he shook his head.
“Nay,” he said, “but the wound is new, and [347] the lightest touch hurts. You do not know, nor I, what she has had to bear.”
“One thing I do know,” Péron said, “she is free of a rogue;” and he told the priest of M. de Bièvre’s talk at Archambault’s.
“And you threw him over the table?” Père Antoine said slowly. “Well, my son, violence is not good; and yet you could do no less. He lied too, for mademoiselle herself set him free at the first tidings of her changed fortunes. ”

“ If it should appear tame to the reader, it will be because I am not habited in a black ribbed-silk dress, with a strip of point-lace around my throat, like Miss Blondeau; it will be because I lack her eyes and lips and Southern music to tell it with.
When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as he loved his life. ”

“ So the years passed by, and the roaring city grew up about the priest's home and the palm-tree, trying to push Père Antoine off his land. But he would not be moved. They piled up gold upon his doorsteps and he laughed at them; they went to law with him and he beat them all; and, at last, dying, he passed away true to his trust; for the man who cuts down that palm-tree loses the land that it grows upon. ”

“ Antoine had entered the Church, and was already looked upon as a rising man; but his face was pale and his heart leaden, for there was no sweetness in life for him.
Four years had elapsed, when a letter, covered with outlandish postmarks, was brought to the young priest—a letter from Anglice. She was dying;—would he forgive her? Emile, the year previous, had fallen a victim to the fever that raged on the island; and their child, Anglice, was likely to follow him. In pitiful terms she begged Antoine to take charge of the child until she was old enough to enter the convent of the Sacré-Cour. ”

“ There must be one somewhere with the spirit of Christ. Père Antoine would tell him of such a one, and he would carry Lalie to her, - out of this atmosphere of death. He was in haste to be gone with her. He fancied every moment of delay was a fresh danger threatening her life. ”

“ Renée realizes [346] this herself; she bears you no ill-will, and appreciated your intended kindness.”
“Ah, mon père, you do not know how it is,” Péron said; “for you reason is sufficient, for me there must be something more!”
Père Antoine smiled sadly. “Young people fall readily into the error of thinking their case exceptional,” he said gently, “yet there is nothing new under the sun.” ”

“ Will you see him again, mon père?”
“I have a permit from the king,” the priest replied, “and I shall stay with the unhappy prisoner to the end. There is absolutely no earthly hope, and I fear M. de Bruneau has never set great store by the heavenly.”
As he spoke, he rose from his seat to leave them, and the movement startled Péron, who opened his sleepy eyes just as the priest glanced in his direction.
“The child has been asleep,” Père Antoine remarked, smiling. “How great a blessing is the unconscious freedom from care! ”

“ The Friars did not expect much of a sermon. This was only poor Brother Antony, whose chief job was washing dishes.
St. Antony, ready to do his best for God, did not think of himself a bit. He just turned over in his mind what would be the best thing to preach on so as to help his brothers and bring honour and glory to his God. By the time he was in the pulpit the Holy Spirit had put a text into his mind. He gave it out in his clear, ringing voice: "For us Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." ”

“ Didier in Dauphiné, which took the name of Saint Antoine on account of the relics of the Saint, which were brought there in the 11th century.
It is as true as the Gospel, that three worthy merchants of Savoy set out with their wives to go on a pilgrimage to St. Anthony of Vienne. And in order to render their journey more devout and more agreeable to God and St. Anthony, they determined that from the time they left their houses, and all through the journey, they would not sleep with their wives, but live in continence, both going and returning. ”

“ Anthony did not reply. He turned to the monks of Antinoë those eyes whose looks no man could sustain. He gazed for a long time at Paul, called the Fool; then he made a sign to him to approach. And, as all were astonished that the saint should address himself to a man who was not in his senses, Anthony said —
"God has granted to him more grace than to any of you. Lift thy eyes, my son Paul, and tell me what thou seest in heaven." ”

“ Anthony, is a glorious and inspiring spectacle; to the saint, an equally enrapturing sight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin and sorrow, no more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even temptation can never reach; and yet even the sage is drawn on by a still more glorious vision, that of the savior actively manifesting his knowledge in selfless works, and rendering his divinity more potent for good by sinking himself in the throbbing, sorrowing, aspiring heart of mankind. ”

“ In the retired life that we led, my uncle spoke to me as to a friend; we talked on all subjects, but preferably those of literature, religion and philosophy, which we discussed without any anger or disagreeable results, although we were often of a different opinion.
It is easy to see that a man who could write Saint Antoine must be superabundantly occupied with religious thought as found in humanity, and its manifold manifestations. The old theogonies interested him extremely, and the excessive in all people had an infinite attraction for him. ”

“ The superior of his convent forbade him to perform miracles; but, one day, seeing a man falling from a high tower, he ordered him to remain suspended in the air until the superior should give the saint permission to let him fall without injury. The devotees of Saint Anthony treat him with great familiarity, and even punish him when he does not satisfy their desires. When they wish to obtain some favour from his protection,—for example, to draw a prize in a lottery, to find a lost cow, or to find a husband for a damsel,—they burn tapers before his image, and adorn it with flowers. ”

“ Francis, and has resided in Louisiana for many years. Animated by an ardent and sincere piety, Father Anthony prays in silence for all the world without asking prayers of any one. Placed in the midst of a population composed of different sects, he does not think it right to trouble their consciences by endeavours to gain proselytes. Sometimes, as being a capuchin, Father Anthony asks alms, but it is only when he has some good action in view, and his slender funds, exhausted by his constant charity, deny him the power of doing it himself. ”

“ Scene: a country village in the West of Ireland. Father Anthony is a young priest, who for his brother’s sake has sacrificed a career in the world to devote himself to God’s poor. He finds himself called upon in virtue of his sacred office to keep the secret of the confessional when by a word he could save his brother from the hangman’s hands. The pathos of the young priest’s agony of mind is depicted with great power and sympathy. The other priest, Father John, is drawn as the true parish priest of the old type, blood and bone of the people, jovial, homely, lovable and beloved. ”

“ Even in this life miseries will be the wages of their sin and folly, and their eternal portion will be the second death. Paul found true happiness because he converted his heart perfectly from the world to God. Desiring to devote himself totally to his love, he determined to betake himself to the great St. Antony. He went eight days' journey into the desert, to the holy patriarch, and begged that he would admit him among his disciples, and teach him the way of salvation. Antony harshly rejected him, telling him he was too old to bear the austerities of that state. ”

“ One day when he came in from his field he found her committing fornication; and when he saw her he laughed, and said unto the man, “Take her and her child. I shall not be sorry, and I will go and become a monk.” And when he had come to Abba Anthony, he put on the garb of the monk, and he followed the footsteps of Anthony with prayer and fasting until the power [to cast out] demons, and to heal, was given unto him. One day they brought a man who was possessed of an evil devil to Anthony to heal, and Anthony commanded Paul to heal him. ”

“ Once, as Antony and some of his guests were discoursing on spiritual matters, Paul asked very simply, "Were the prophets before Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ before the prophets?" Then Antony reddened, and bade him keep in the background, and hold his tongue. Now Paul at once obeyed, and remained for some time silent, and out of sight, and they told Antony of it. Then he said, "Oh, my brethren! learn from this man what our obedience towards God ought to be. If I say anything, he does it instantly and cheerfully, and we—do we thus behave towards our God?" ”

“ For that, the space about the sanctuary is to be kept clear of undergrowth, by order of the chief. For that old Mwezi waits beneath the altar, and maybe he whom he saw waits also.”
The dinner bugle had sounded a few moments before Père Etienne had finished, and now we rose to go. We stood a second, and I gazed over the side at the star-shine on the water, for the night was fine. When I looked up, Père Etienne was staring out into the darkness, a far-away look on his face, but he must have felt my eyes on him, for he turned quickly and smiled. ”

“ Through him the Lord healed the bodily ailments of many present, and cleansed others from evil spirits. And He gave grace to Antony in speaking, so that he consoled many that were sorrowful, and set those at variance at one, exhorting all to prefer the love of Christ before all that is in the world. And while he exhorted and advised them to remember the good things to come, and the loving-kindness of God towards us, ‘Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all [1] ,’ he persuaded many to embrace the solitary life. ”

“ Antony's little friary, there was one day a meeting of Franciscan and Dominican Friars for an important ceremony. After the service the Superior asked the Dominicans, who were clever men and good preachers, to preach a sermon. But they all said they were not prepared; and so did the Franciscans. So the Superior turned to St. Antony, who had come as a companion of his Minister, and ordered him to preach. St. Antony tried to get out of it, but, finding he must obey, he walked slowly up into the pulpit. ”

“ Wherefore I beseech you, lend help to yourselves; receive kindly our love, and with all your strength drive away those who desire to obliterate from among us the grace of unanimity; and looking unto God, love one another. I received gladly your Bishop Athanasius, and addressed him in such a manner, as being persuaded that he was a man of God. ”

“ Anthony, lily of purity, ornament and glory of Christianity. We salute thee, great saint, cherub of wisdom and seraph of divine love. We rejoice at the favors Our Lord has so liberally bestowed on thee. In humility and confidence we entreat thee to help us, for we know that God has given thee charity and pity, as well as power.
Behold our distress, our anxiety, our fears concerning [here name your request] . We ask thee by the love thou didst feel toward the amiable little Jesus, when He covered thee with His caresses, to tell Him now of our wants. ”

“ It is I who have taken upon myself to lead many astray, and I fight against every man, and I am against righteousness, and I am, even as the Prophet called me, the ‘spirit of fornication’ (Hosea 4:12) , for through me have gone astray all those who have stumbled. It is I who have injured thee on several occasions, and thou hast been held in contempt by me in everything.”
And the blessed Anthony gave thanks unto the Lord, and gained great encouragement, and said, “What power thinkest thou that thou hast in thee, O Enemy, to resist the might of the Cross? ”