Feastday: December 28
Anthony was born about circa 468 at Valeria in Lower Pannonia. When he was eight years old, his father died and he was first entrusted to the care of St. Severinus. After the death of Severinus, an uncle, Bishop Constantius of Lorsch in Bavaria took charge of his upbringing. While in Bavaria, Anthony became a monk. He returned to Italy in 488 and joined the cleric Marius and his companions as a hermit at Lake Como. However, he gained so many disciples that he was forced to flee. Anthony then went to Lerins in Gaul and became a monk there. However, he lived only two years at Lerins before his death, renowned for his miracles and spirituality.
Christian saint
Pair of tapestries of Saint Anthony
Anthony the Hermit (ca. 468 – ca. 520), also known as Anthony of Lérins, is a Christian saint. He was born in the ancient Roman province of Valeria (now Hungary), then part of the Hunnic Empire. When he was eight years old, his father died and he was entrusted to the care of the holy Abbot Severinus of Noricum, in modern-day Austria. Upon the death of Severinus in 482, Anthony was sent to Germany and put in the care of his uncle, Constantius, an early Bishop of Lorsch. While there, Anthony is thought to have become a monk at the age of twenty.
In 488, at about 20 years of age, Anthony moved to Italy to take up an eremitical life with a small group of hermits living on an island in Lake Como. He was eventually joined by numerous disciples seeking to emulate his holiness and he chose to seek greater solitude in Gaul. He lived in various solitary places until two years before his death he became a monk at the Abbey of Lérins, where he became well-known locally for the holiness of his life and the miracles he had performed.
Anthony is honoured on 28 December by the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church and commemorated also on that same day by the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
