St. Anthony Feast Day: June 13

Saint Anthony and the Mule
A Miracle of the Blessed Sacrament

By Father Michael Müller

            It may excite surprise to hear that irrational animals can teach us lessons of reverence towards the Most Holy Sacrament, but such is the case. There are not a few instances on record which prove that the Divine Author of nature has been pleased sometimes so to direct the instinct of brutes that} by their behavior, they might confound the pride of heretics and infidels or awaken the devotion of lukewarm and indifferent Catholics.

            In the life of St. Anthony of Padua, a very striking miracle is recorded. As Almighty God, by the prophet Isaiah, proposed the docility of the ox and the ass as a rebuke to the stubbornness of the children of' Israel, so, in this instance, He made use of a brute beast to reprove the folly of' those who reject the mystery of the Real Presence.

            In the time of St. Anthony of Padua, there lived at Tolosa, a city of Spain, a very obstinate heretic, Bovillus by name, who denied the Real Presence of J csus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Although St. Anthony compelled him to acknov:lec1ge interiorly the truth of this doctrine, he persisted obstinately in his heresy. At last, he professed his willingness to believe provided he should see a miracle wrought in proof of it.

            " What, then, do you desire?" St. Anthony asked. " I will," said the heretic, "keep my mule without food for three days; afterwards, I will bring him to you. On one side I will place food before him, and on the other side you shall stand with the Blessed Sacrament. In case the mule leaves the food and goes to you, I will believe that Jesus Christ is truly and really present in the Blessed Sacrament."

            St. Anthony having agreed to the proposal, on the day appointed a great concourse of people were assembled together in the public square to see the issue. St. Anthony, after having said Mass, took the Blessed Sacrament and carried It with him to the square.

            Then, when the hungry animal had been brought near and food put before him, St. Anthony, holding in his hands the Blessed Sacrament, thus spoke: "In the name of my Creator, Whom I am not worthy to hold in my hands, I command thee to draw near and prostrate thyself before thy God, to give due honor to Him, that the heretics may learn from thee how they ought to worship their God in the Blessed Sacrament;" and behold! no sooner had St. Anthony thus spoken than the mule left his food, went before the Blessed Sacrament, and bowed his head to the ground as if to adore it.

            At this sight, Bovillus, and many other heretics, were converted and professed their faith in the Real Presence.

- from The Blessed Sacrament

Posted June 13, 2011
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