St. Anthony of Padua was a medieval saint who gained great fame in Italy for his zealous rooting out of heretics. As a preaching friar he might be heard to shout: “There are 27 known heretics in the State Department.” But he didn’t just discover heretics; he employed miracles to cure them of their heresy. Most of these miracles involved the use of animals, for he seemed to get along quite well with critters.
On one occasion, having discovered a person harboring heretical opinions, Friar Anthony, to convince the heretic of his errant ways, caused the fishes in a nearby lake to lift up their heads and listen to him. Now unlike Doctor Doolittle who talked to the animals, Friar Anthony preached to them. And he preached one fine sermon to those attentive fishes. And when those fishes all shouted “Amen!” at the conclusion of the sermon, that heretic was converted and stayed converted.
Another day, another heretic (there was no shortage of heretics – still isn’t). Anthony caused the heretic’s mule, after three days of no food, to kneel down and pray instead of rushing to eat a bundle of hay that was set before it. Another conversion.
St. Anthony was also known as a protector of animals (although starving a mule for three days might be considered counter-intuitive) particularly of pigs. A contemporary described him as the universally accepted patron of hogs, frequently having a pig for a companion – possibly because, as a hermit living in a hole in the earth and eating roots, he and the hogs had in common both their diet and their lodging.
What with his lifestyle and zealousness, he cut short his days, departing on June 13, 1231, at the age of 35, leaving pigs and heretics alike to their own devices.
Wretched Richard's Almanac 