Written by Fr. Dennis O'Neill
Anthony was born of a wealthy family in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. After the death of his parents, he did what he could to guarantee the financial future of his sister and, at the age of 20, he withdrew to live the life of a hermit in the Egyptian desert. From there, some relics were distributed.
He had such a reputation for holiness, he drew many people who wanted to join him. So, at the age of 54, he founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. At 60, he hoped to be a martyr during the renewed persecution of 311 and fearlessly ministered to fellow Christians in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy. After his last trip to Alexandria to dispute with Arians, St. Anthony instructed two of his disciples, who had attended him in the final fifteen years of his life, to bury him in the desert and not in Alexandria. He died peacefully in 356, at the age of 105, and his disciples complied with his wishes.
Details of his life were recorded in the “Life of St. Anthony” by his own bishop, St. Athanasius. He rested in his grave until it was discovered in 529, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. At that time, his remains were transferred in a solemn procession from the Egyptian desert to Alexandria. After the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in 635, they were transferred to Constantinople and kept in the treasury of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. In 980, probably under Emperor Basil the Bulgar-Slayer, the relics were given as a gift to the French Count Jocelin of Dauphine’. He brought them to Dauphine’, in the Diocese of Vienne. They were deposited in the French commune of La Motte Saint-Didier, not far from Vienne, then a Benedictine priory belonging to the Abbey of Mont-Majour near Arles.
A rib was sent to the northwest coast of France to the island of Mont Saint-Michel. And this is how it came about. According to the “Golden Legend”, the Archangel Michael appeared three times to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and ordered him to build a church on the rock on the coast of Normandy in the form of a grotto, a reproduction of the cave of St. Michael on Monte Gargano, Italy. As soon as construction of the first church began, Aubert sent ambassa-dors to Italy to purchase sacred objects for the new church from Gargano and also, if possible, relics of the holy hermit Anthony, who, with St. Michael, could protect the monastery from raids, which, at that time, were constant phenomena in that area. However, the relics were not available in Rome at that time.
Anthony was born of a wealthy family in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. After the death of his parents, he did what he could to guarantee the financial future of his sister and, at the age of 20, he withdrew to live the life of a hermit in the Egyptian desert. From there, some relics were distributed.
He had such a reputation for holiness, he drew many people who wanted to join him. So, at the age of 54, he founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. At 60, he hoped to be a martyr during the renewed persecution of 311 and fearlessly ministered to fellow Christians in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy. After his last trip to Alexandria to dispute with Arians, St. Anthony instructed two of his disciples, who had attended him in the final fifteen years of his life, to bury him in the desert and not in Alexandria. He died peacefully in 356, at the age of 105, and his disciples complied with his wishes.
Details of his life were recorded in the “Life of St. Anthony” by his own bishop, St. Athanasius. He rested in his grave until it was discovered in 529, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. At that time, his remains were transferred in a solemn procession from the Egyptian desert to Alexandria. After the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in 635, they were transferred to Constantinople and kept in the treasury of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. In 980, probably under Emperor Basil the Bulgar-Slayer, the relics were given as a gift to the French Count Jocelin of Dauphine’. He brought them to Dauphine’, in the Diocese of Vienne. They were deposited in the French commune of La Motte Saint-Didier, not far from Vienne, then a Benedictine priory belonging to the Abbey of Mont-Majour near Arles.
A rib was sent to the northwest coast of France to the island of Mont Saint-Michel. And this is how it came about. According to the “Golden Legend”, the Archangel Michael appeared three times to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and ordered him to build a church on the rock on the coast of Normandy in the form of a grotto, a reproduction of the cave of St. Michael on Monte Gargano, Italy. As soon as construction of the first church began, Aubert sent ambassa-dors to Italy to purchase sacred objects for the new church from Gargano and also, if possible, relics of the holy hermit Anthony, who, with St. Michael, could protect the monastery from raids, which, at that time, were constant phenomena in that area. However, the relics were not available in Rome at that time.
Mont Saint-Michel.
In 966, monks from the monastery of St. Wandrille began to stay on the island under the leadership of Abbot Maynard II, and together they formed an abbey there. The abbey flourished, and a half century later, in 1017, under Abbot Hildebert II, monks researching the history of the establishment found the story of the good intention of St. Aubert to bring a relic of St. Anthony to the island. Fired by the idea, he sent out monks to search for such a shrine.
In 1018, the ambassadors announced that they found the relics of St. Anthony the Great at La Motte Saint-Didier, where, in addition to a large reliquary chest, with the relics of the saint, a small glass reliquary containing a rib was kept. Hildebert wrote to Pope Benedict VIII, asking for permission and assistance in transferring the relic of the saint. The Abbot’s journal declares that the translation of the relic to Mont Saint-Michel was accompanied by “truly miracles of God.” Hildebert also noted that this rib, separated back in 989, seemed to be waiting for its true home, since there had been at least a dozen requests, according to the local abbot. By the 12th century, Mont Saint-Michel became one of the pilgrim centers of Western Europe, which is one of the reasons for the tragic events which followed.
In 1204, King Philip II of France captured Normandy, and Breton soldiers, who were part of his main forces, burned Mont Saint-Michel. During this incident, it was believed that the relic of St. Anthony disappeared. However, surviving chronicles declare that, on the day before the attack of the Breton soldiers, all the treasures of the church were sent to Rome. Alas, there is no record in Rome of the relic’s arrival there. But the relic is listed in the 1481 census of the monastery’s relics as a gift from the papal chancery in honor of the founding of the Order of Saint-Michel in 1469. In 1524, after the death of Abbot Jean de Lamps, Mont Saint-Michel gradually fell into decline. In France, the Huguenot wars began, part of which included robberies of churches and monasteries. Although Mont Saint-Michel, did not suffer during these wars, in 1791, however, the monks were forced to leave he monastery because of the French Revolution. Some of the sacred vessels, manuscripts, and shrines of the monastery, including the reliquary of St. Anthony, were transferred to the cathedral of Avranches.
Considering how perilous this period was, both for the French clergy and for the aristocracy, it is a miracle that the St. Anthony relic survived to the present. The rector of the cathedral, trying to enlist the support of influential families of France to protect the cathedral from destruction, gave the reliquary of St. Anthony to the camp marshal Charles-Gaspard, 2nd Duke de Clermont Tonerre, who passed it on to his great-grand-son Jules-Gaspard-Aymard, 3rd Duke de Clermont-Tonerre. (His son and heir, Charles Henri Jules, governor of Dauphine’, and his wife, Marie Anne Julie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, were both guillotined in Paris July 26, 1794. His grandson, Gaspard-Charles, had been guillotined in Lyon on February 18, 1793) Since he had no special devotion to St. Anthony, Jules-Gaspard-Aymard de Clermont Tonerre decided to give the reliquary to his uncle (Charles-Henri-Jules’ son) the bishop of Chalons-Sur-Marne, Bishop Anne-Antoine-Jules de Clermont-Tonerre.
The bishop took care of the reliquary for most of the rest of his life, but, in September, 1829 (by this time, he was Cardinal Archbishop of Toulouse), he decided to transfer his collection of paintings, art objects, and the reliquary of St. Anthony to Count Antoine-GenevieveHeraclius-Agenor de Gramont (1789-1854), 9th Duke of Gramont, who was just coming into the faith. The shrine became a family heirloom. It was passed on to his son, Antoine-AlfredAgenor de Gramont, 10th Duke of Gramont (1819-1880), who in turn passed it on to his son, Antoine-Alfred-Agenor de Gramont, 11th Duke of Gramont (d. 1925). It was inherited by his son, Louis-Rene’ de Gramont, 12th Duke of Gramont (1883-1963), who was horrified at the battered state of the reliquary and decided to update it. In 1930, Louis-Rene’ de Gramont turned to the vicar general of the Vatican, Titular Bishop of Porphyrion Agostino Zampini for help with the re-certification. So Bishop Zampini sealed the rib of St. Anthony in a glass reliquary on September 15, 1936, and returned it to the Duke. (La Maison de Gramont 1040-1967)
In 1995, the rib of St. Anthony was auctioned in Marseilles. After that, it has been seen more than once in closed auctions in Paris, Naples, and Rome, where it was bought by a private collector in 2009. It came to our Shrine of All Saints from Krasnodar, Russia, in January of 2022.
On July 9, 1491, the rest of St. Anthony’s relics were brought to Arles from Vienne, to the church of St. Julian., where they are preserved in a glass casket. Today, his skull and leg bone are in the Cathedral of St. Trophime, in Arles.
In 1018, the ambassadors announced that they found the relics of St. Anthony the Great at La Motte Saint-Didier, where, in addition to a large reliquary chest, with the relics of the saint, a small glass reliquary containing a rib was kept. Hildebert wrote to Pope Benedict VIII, asking for permission and assistance in transferring the relic of the saint. The Abbot’s journal declares that the translation of the relic to Mont Saint-Michel was accompanied by “truly miracles of God.” Hildebert also noted that this rib, separated back in 989, seemed to be waiting for its true home, since there had been at least a dozen requests, according to the local abbot. By the 12th century, Mont Saint-Michel became one of the pilgrim centers of Western Europe, which is one of the reasons for the tragic events which followed.
In 1204, King Philip II of France captured Normandy, and Breton soldiers, who were part of his main forces, burned Mont Saint-Michel. During this incident, it was believed that the relic of St. Anthony disappeared. However, surviving chronicles declare that, on the day before the attack of the Breton soldiers, all the treasures of the church were sent to Rome. Alas, there is no record in Rome of the relic’s arrival there. But the relic is listed in the 1481 census of the monastery’s relics as a gift from the papal chancery in honor of the founding of the Order of Saint-Michel in 1469. In 1524, after the death of Abbot Jean de Lamps, Mont Saint-Michel gradually fell into decline. In France, the Huguenot wars began, part of which included robberies of churches and monasteries. Although Mont Saint-Michel, did not suffer during these wars, in 1791, however, the monks were forced to leave he monastery because of the French Revolution. Some of the sacred vessels, manuscripts, and shrines of the monastery, including the reliquary of St. Anthony, were transferred to the cathedral of Avranches.
Considering how perilous this period was, both for the French clergy and for the aristocracy, it is a miracle that the St. Anthony relic survived to the present. The rector of the cathedral, trying to enlist the support of influential families of France to protect the cathedral from destruction, gave the reliquary of St. Anthony to the camp marshal Charles-Gaspard, 2nd Duke de Clermont Tonerre, who passed it on to his great-grand-son Jules-Gaspard-Aymard, 3rd Duke de Clermont-Tonerre. (His son and heir, Charles Henri Jules, governor of Dauphine’, and his wife, Marie Anne Julie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, were both guillotined in Paris July 26, 1794. His grandson, Gaspard-Charles, had been guillotined in Lyon on February 18, 1793) Since he had no special devotion to St. Anthony, Jules-Gaspard-Aymard de Clermont Tonerre decided to give the reliquary to his uncle (Charles-Henri-Jules’ son) the bishop of Chalons-Sur-Marne, Bishop Anne-Antoine-Jules de Clermont-Tonerre.
The bishop took care of the reliquary for most of the rest of his life, but, in September, 1829 (by this time, he was Cardinal Archbishop of Toulouse), he decided to transfer his collection of paintings, art objects, and the reliquary of St. Anthony to Count Antoine-GenevieveHeraclius-Agenor de Gramont (1789-1854), 9th Duke of Gramont, who was just coming into the faith. The shrine became a family heirloom. It was passed on to his son, Antoine-AlfredAgenor de Gramont, 10th Duke of Gramont (1819-1880), who in turn passed it on to his son, Antoine-Alfred-Agenor de Gramont, 11th Duke of Gramont (d. 1925). It was inherited by his son, Louis-Rene’ de Gramont, 12th Duke of Gramont (1883-1963), who was horrified at the battered state of the reliquary and decided to update it. In 1930, Louis-Rene’ de Gramont turned to the vicar general of the Vatican, Titular Bishop of Porphyrion Agostino Zampini for help with the re-certification. So Bishop Zampini sealed the rib of St. Anthony in a glass reliquary on September 15, 1936, and returned it to the Duke. (La Maison de Gramont 1040-1967)
In 1995, the rib of St. Anthony was auctioned in Marseilles. After that, it has been seen more than once in closed auctions in Paris, Naples, and Rome, where it was bought by a private collector in 2009. It came to our Shrine of All Saints from Krasnodar, Russia, in January of 2022.
On July 9, 1491, the rest of St. Anthony’s relics were brought to Arles from Vienne, to the church of St. Julian., where they are preserved in a glass casket. Today, his skull and leg bone are in the Cathedral of St. Trophime, in Arles.
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