St. Anthony
Anthony Mary Zaccaria was born of a noble family at Cremona in Lombardy, and even in childhood gave signs of his future sanctity. Very early he was distinguished for his virtues, piety towards God, devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially mercy towards the poor, who he more than once gave his own rich clothing for their relief. He studied the humanities at home, and then went to Pavia for philosophy and Padua for medicine, and easily surpassed his contemporaries both in purity of life and in mental ability. After gaining his degree in medicine, he returned home, where he understood that God had called him to the healing rather of souls than of bodies. He immediately gave himself to sacred studies. Meanwhile he never ceased to visit the sick, instruct children in Christian doctrine, and exhort the young to piety and the elders to reformation of their lives. While saying his first Mass after his ordination, he is said to have been seen by the amazed congregation in a blaze of heavenly light and surrounded by angels. He then made it his chief care to labor for the salvation of souls and the reformation of manners. He received strangers, the poor and afflicted, with paternal charity, and consoled them with holy words and material assistance, so that his house was known as the refuge of the afflicted and he himself was called by his fellow-citizens an angel and the father of his country.

Thinking that he would be able to do more for the Christian religion if he had fellow laborers in the Lord's vineyard, he communicated his thoughts to two noble and saintly men, Bartholomew Ferrari and James Morigia, and together with them founded at Milan a society of Clerks Regular, which from his great love for the apostle of the Gentiles, he called after St Paul. It was approved by Clement VII, confirmed by Paul III, and soon spread through many lands. He was also the founder and father of the Angelic Sisters. But he thought so humbly of himself that he would never be Superior of his own Order. So great was his patience that he endured with steadfastness the most terrible opposition to his religious. Such was his charity that he never ceased to exhort religious men to love God and priests to live after the manner of the apostles, and he organized many confraternities of married men. He often carried the cross through the streets and public squares, together with his religious, and by his fervent prayers and exhortations brought wicked men back to the way of salvation.

It is noteworthy that out of love for Jesus crucified he would have the mystery of the cross brought to the mind of all by the ringing of a bell on Friday afternoons about vesper time. The holy name of Christ was ever on his lips, and in his writings, and as a true disciple of St Paul, he ever bore the mortification of Christ in his body. He had a singular devotion to the Holy Eucharist, restored the custom of frequent communions, and is said to have introduced that of the public adoration of Forty Hours. Such was his love of purity that it seemed to restore life even to his lifeless body. He was also enriched with the heavenly gifts of ecstasy, tears, knowledge of future things, and the secrets of hearts and power over the enemy of mankind. At length, after many labors, he fell grievously sick at Guastalla, whither he had been summoned as arbitrator in the cause of peace. He was taken to Cremona, and died there amid the tears of his religious and in the embrace of his pious mother, whose approaching death he foretold. At the hour of his death he was consoled by a vision of the apostles, and prophesied the future growth of his Society. The people began immediately to show their devotion to this saint on account of his great holiness and of his numerous miracles. The cult was approved by Leo XIII, who solemnly canonized him on Ascension Day, 1897.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-05

Because Anthony Mary wrote no systematic spiritual treatise, his teaching is not easily summarized. His few and occasional writings do no permit a reconstruction of a structured and exhaustive body of doctrine. Suffice it to present the following points:


The Way of God
The opening sentence of Sermon 6 reads: "Man, my friends, was created and placed on this earth chiefly and exclusively in order to reach God; the rest of creation helps him reach that goal." The rest of the sermon develops what Ignatius of Loyola would term the "principle and foundation" of Anthony Mary’s spirituality. The ways to God are many:
•way of creatures: "God has made everything for man and man for God. Thus created things are to be a ladder for man to reach God, the Lord" (Sermon 6). Among all creatures, human beings are a choice way to God: "God has made your neighbor the road to reach His Majesty" (Sermon 4).
•way of separation: "You must, in your effort to know God, follow the way of negation - the way of separation. And so, if you want to be good and perfect in this way of life, you have to separate and withdraw from all creatures, from yourselves, and from all defects" (Sermon 6).
•way of the middle course: "[Paul] said that we have to follow a middle course and, according to the Sage’s saying, not to swerve to the right or to the left [Prov 4:27]" (Sermon 5). This is the practical equivalent of St. Ignatius’ "indifference."
•"Due order" of the spiritual life

This is the basic teaching of all the Sermons. It is particularly explained in Sermon 1: We do not progress in the spiritual life "because we do not follow the proper order of the spiritual life and because we want to be teachers before being disciples." The order to be observed in the spiritual life consists in keeping the Commandments, which must precede the pursuit of perfection. A more profound articulation of this teaching is found in Sermon 3: God "in His goodness and in spite of us - His unfaithful and insincere servants, even His enemies - ... gives us so many good things; nevertheless, He is unwilling to give the gift of perfection, the tasting of His sweetness, and the knowledge of His secrets except to His friends and faithful disciples," that is, to those who keep the Commandments. On the other hand, if it is true that, if "you do not want to pay Him the promised tribute [keeping the Commandments]... neither... will He grant you perfection... nor the capacity for accepting and fulfilling the evangelical counsels" (Sermon 3), it is equally true that "whoever wants to avoid the danger of failing to keep the commandments must follow the counsels" (Sermon 6). Definitely, a most intriguing case of circularity!


•The relation between grace and free will

It is a classic problem for theologians. At times grace is favored over free will; other times, it is the other way around. Pelagius, for instance, emphasizes human effort, while Luther excludes any human role and insists on grace alone. Anthony Mary offers a balanced synthesis: "So great is the excellence of free will strengthened by God’s grace, that man can become either a god or a devil according to what he chooses to be" (Sermon 5). "Any effort to reform the religious life is futile without the grace of God, who has promised to be with us until the end of the world and is always ready to help us. In fact, God can prove us guilty of lacking courage because of our unfaithfulness in undertaking great things, whereas we cannot accuse Him of •From virtue to virtue

This phrase, taken from Psalm 83, is found many times in Anthony Mary’s writings. It pointedly describes the necessity of advancing from stage to stage in the "Way of God." "Climb up as high as you can, for you owe Him [God] much, much more" (Constitutions 12). "Strive continuously to increase what you have begun in yourself and in others because the heights of perfection are limitless" (Constitutions 18). A spiritual ascent should not be sluggish, but vigorous, similar to running. Christ himself "to avoid being negligent, ran toward the cross regardless of its shame" (Letter 2). His followers, then, are called to "run like madmen not only toward God but also toward [their] neighbors" (Letter 2).
•Lukewarmness

As we have just learned, "the primary requirement in God’s ways is expeditiousness and diligence" (Letter 2). However, on our way to God we are slowed down by lukewarmness that makes us say: "It is enough for me to honor God thus far" (Constitutions 12); "This is enough for me - that I save my soul by keeping the commandments. That’s enough, and I don’t care a bit for all this talking about great holiness!" (Sermon 6) "It’s enough to do this, why bother about so high perfection!" (Constitutions 17). Lukewarm people delude themselves. They defy a fundamental norm of the spiritual life. "Not to make progress is to fail" (Constitutions 12). "Not to go forward on the way to God, and to stand still, is indeed to go backward" (Sermon 6). Lukewarmness is no secondary detail in the spiritual life. It affects the very essence of Christian life. More than once, Anthony Mary identifies lukewarmness with a Pharisaic attitude. In Sermon 4, Pharisaic people are described as being virtuous but loveless. So lukewarmness may be described as the opposite of love. It does coincide with hypocrisy, which simulates the spiritual life but lacks inner convictions. "O how many ‘saints’ - rather, to be exact, how many people who but ‘ape the saints’ - have died . . these first-class-hypocrites, like the Pharisees. . ." (Sermon 4). Anthony Mary’s disciples must above all war against lukewarmness. His Angelics are summoned to be "filled with apostolic zeal in removing from the hearts of people not only idolatry and other big, big defects, but also in routing out the most pernicious and greatest enemy of Christ Crucified, which is nowadays triumphing almost everywhere - I mean, Lady Tepidity" (Letter 5)
failing us" (Constitutions 18).
•The spirit and true fervor

To combat lukewarmness one needs fervor. This is the condition that enables one to walk in the way of God. "To do this you need a great fervor" (Sermon 6). Anthony Mary rightly distinguishes between fervor and fervor. There is a superficial fervor, a passing feeling of devotion, an emotional high that every Christian experiences at some time or other of his life: "One thing is exterior fervor and devotion, and quite another is interior fervor and true devotion" (Constitutions 12). The former has no real worth. It is quite misleading and unreliable and may create a false sense of security. On the other hand, real fervor comes true in times of dryness, when one keeps doing God’s will with great generosity. "It is proper for persons with a generous heart to wish to serve without reward and to fight without remuneration and provisions for the journey" (Constitutions 12). True fervor and true devotion are simply "readiness for service in obedience to God’s will" (Constitutions 12). Persevering in the performance of one’s duties leads to an increase of fervor: "By so persevering, you will grow in spirit and fervor. These can only be increased through renewed, firm, and frequent promises, and by strongly and resolutely checking one’s natural inclinations" (Constitutions 12). True fervor reveals the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the driving force of Barnabites and Angelics in their apostolic endeavors: "Unfurl your flags, my dear daughters, for Jesus Crucified is about to send you to proclaim everywhere the vital energy of the Spirit" (Letter 5).

http://www.stanthonyzaccaria.com/p/writings.html

DAY 1 – For Faith
"It is necessary that you always trust in God's help
and come to know by experience that you are never to be without it."


(St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Constitutions XVII)





A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians s (Gal:15-21)

We, who are Jєωs by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles, (yet) who know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? Of course not! But if I am building up again those things that I tore down, then I show myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

A reading from the letter of St. Anthony Zaccaria to the Father Bartolomeo Ferrari

Thus as a result of both your faith and theirs God will provide for any person under your care. You can be sure that, before you speak and in the very moment of speaking, Jesus Crucified will anticipate and accompany, not only every word of yours, but your every holy intention. St. Paul said that he would push forward but stay within the limits of the work that Christ had set for him. As for you, Jesus Crucified has also set a limit when he promised that you would get enough strength to pierce to their marrow the hearts of people. Don't you see that He Himself has opened the doors for you with His own hands? Who, then, will hinder you from entering those hearts and from changing them so completely as to renew them and beautify them with holy virtues? Nobody, of course-neither the devil nor any other creature.

Invocations
St. Anthony, precursor of catholic reform… Pray for us.
St. Anthony, faithful administrator of the divine mysteries…Pray for us.
St. Anthony, good minister, you who have remained faithful till death…Pray for us.

Prayer
Christ, our Savior, you endowed St. Anthony Mary with the light and flame of a solid faith. Increase our faith, so that we may learn to love the true and living God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father …

Prayer to St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria
Saint Anthony Zaccaria ,helper of the poor and the sick, you who devoted your life to our spiritual welfare, listen to my humble and hopeful prayer. Continue your work as doctor and priest by obtaining from GOD healing from my physical and moral sickness, so that free from all evil and sin, I may love the LORD with joy, fulfill with fidelity my duties, work generously for the good of my brothers and sisters, and for my sanctification. AMEN

Day 3 – For Divine Knowledge
Man first leaves aside the exterior world and enters his own interior world,
and only then from there he ascends to the knowledge of God.


(St. Anthony Zaccaria , Sermon II).



A reading from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (1Cor 13:2)

If I had all knowledge, and knew also the mysteries and secrets of God, and if I had besides such a great faith as to move the mountains, which would move and stop elsewhere, yet I had not love, I would be nothing.

A reading from the forth Sermon of St. Anthony Zaccaria

If eloquence does not seem to you to be a great quality, knowledge certainly is such an excellent thing that everybody wishes to have it. You have been taught by Adam how great is its value when, for the pleasure of becoming like God in the knowledge of good and evil, he disobeyed the commandment of the Lord God. But no matter how excellent a quality knowledge is, it, too, is of very small advantage, as Solomon can prove to you by his own story. For, notwithstanding his great public and world wide reputation for having superior knowledge, he is believed by some to have ended up at the bottom of hell. Even if this were not true, he cannot be cleared of the fact that, despite all his great wisdom, he committed countless and grave sins of lust and of idolatry. Indeed, the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, will be punished more severely, as Christ says (Luke 12:47).

I am not telling you of this regarding only the knowledge of worldly things, but even more regarding the knowledge of God's secrets, like having the prophetic gift, and knowledge of supernatural things by the prophetic light, as proven by that most evil prophet, Balaam, by his own ruin (Num 31:8). And with far greater reason I affirm the uselessness of the knowledge of things that God alone knows, and we too come to know by faith ― even that faith which empowers man to work miracles.

Invocations
Saint Anthony, Prudent in discernment … Pray for us.
Saint Anthony, Adorned with all virtues … Pray for us.
Saint Anthony Mary, pride of great teachers …Pray for us.

Prayer
Christ Teacher, you enriched with divine knowledge St. Anthony Mary, to make him father and guide of souls toward perfection, teach me how to announce “the spiritual liveliness and the alive spirit everywhere.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be...

Prayer to St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria
Saint Anthony Zaccaria ,helper of the poor and the sick, you who devoted your life to our spiritual welfare, listen to my humble and hopeful prayer. Continue your work as doctor and priest by obtaining from GOD healing from my physical and moral sickness, so that free from all evil and sin, I may love the LORD with joy, fulfill with fidelity my duties, work generously for the good of my brothers and sisters, and for my sanctification. AMEN

http://www.stanthonyzaccaria.com/2008/06/day-3-for-divine-knowledge.html

Day 5 – For Perfection

For God, who is Eternity itself, Light, Incorruptibility, and the very Apex of all perfection, willed to come to live in time and to descend in darkness and corruption and, as it were, in the very sink of vice.




(St. Anthony Zaccaria, SermonVI)



A reading from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (1Tes 4:1-3:7-8: )


Brothers, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God--and as you are conducting yourselves--you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality…For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who (also) gives his holy Spirit to you.

A reading from the six Sermon of St. Anthony Zaccaria




Choose, then, what is good and leave out what is bad. But which is the good side of created things? It is their perfection, while their imperfection is the bad side. Therefore, draw near to their perfection and withdraw from their imperfection. Look, my friends: if you wish to know God, there is a way, "the way of separation" as spiritual writers call it. It consists in taking into consideration all created things with their perfections and in distinguishing God from them and all their imperfections, so as to say: "God is neither this nor that, but something far more excellent. God is not prudent; He is Prudence itself. God is not a particular and limited good; He is the Good, universal and infinite. God is not just one perfection, He is perfection itself without any imperfection. He is the all good, the all wise, the all powerful, the all perfect, etc."

Invocations
Anthony Mary, magnanimous hero, you have fought without pay the good fight … pray for us
Anthony Mary, exultant champion, you have quickly finished the race… pray for us
Anthony Mary, blessed servant, you have remained faithful unto death… pray for us


Prayer
Christ, Head of the Church, you called St. Anthony Mary to fight the lukewarmness, "this pestiferous and great enemy" of you Crucified, grant to the Church not "small saints" but big ones, to reach the fullness of perfection. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be...


Prayer to St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria



Saint Anthony Zaccaria , helper of the poor and the sick, you who devoted your life to our spiritual welfare, listen to my humble and hopeful prayer. Continue your work as doctor and priest by obtaining from GOD healing from my physical and moral sickness, so that free from all evil and sin, I may love the LORD with joy, fulfill with fidelity my duties, work generously for the good of my brothers and sisters, and for my sanctification. AMEN

http://www.stanthonyzaccaria.com/2008/06/day-5-for-perfection.html

Day 7 – For Love of God
What is necessary, yes, I emphasize, necessary, is to have love

―the love of God, the love that makes you pleasing to Him”


(St Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Sermon IV)





A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans (Rom 8:35-38)

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A reading from the forth Sermon of St. Anthony Zaccaria

“Who could go through so many dangers, hardships, troubles and afflictions, if he were not uplifted by love? No one. What traveler, no matter how light-footed and prudent, could walk on so narrow and so rough a road without getting some delight? What lover, deeply infatuated with his beloved, could ever leave her, were it not for another one? Could we, then, drunk with visible and ever present things -- and necessary things, besides -- give up loving them, were it not for a greater love compelling us to do so? No way!
… Consider what a great love is demanded of us: a love that can be none other but the love of God. … How happy good Christians are as they find themselves free from any attachment, for on account of this.

Invocations
Saint Anthony, True friend of God…Pray for us
Saint Anthony, True lover of Christ…Pray for us
Saint Anthony, Friend and herald of the Holy Spirit…Pray for us

Prayer
All merciful Father, you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten Son for the forgiveness of sin, through His Holy Blood sanctify me in love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be...

Prayer to St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria

Saint Anthony Zaccaria, helper of the poor and the sick, you who devoted your life to our spiritual welfare, listen to my humble and hopeful prayer. Continue your work as doctor and priest by obtaining from GOD healing from my physical and moral sickness, so that free from all evil and sin, I may love the LORD with joy, fulfill with fidelity my duties, work generously for the good of my brothers and sisters, and for my sanctification. AMEN

http://www.stanthonyzaccaria.com/2008/06/day-7-for-love-of-god.html

Day 9- For Brotherly Love
Let us run like madmen not only toward God but also toward our neighbors,
who alone can be the recipients of what we cannot give to God,
since He has no need of our goods.


(St. A. Zaccaria, Letter to B.Ferrari and G. Morigia)

A reading from the second Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians (Gal 2:15-21)

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

A reading from the forth Sermon of St. Anthony Zaccaria

You wish to know how to acquire the love of God as well as to find out whether it is in you? One and the same thing helps you acquire, expand, and increase it more and more, and reveals it as well when it is present. Can you guess what it is? It is love ―the love of your neighbor.
God is a long way from our direct experience; God is spirit (John 4:24); God works in an invisible fashion. Thus, His spiritual activity cannot be seen except with the eyes of the mind and of the spirit, which in most people are blind, and in all are wavering and no longer accustomed to seeing. But man is approachable, man is body; and when we do something to him, the deed is seen. Now, since He has no need of our things, whereas man does, God has set man as a testing ground for us. In fact, if you have a friend very dear to you, you will also hold dear those things he loves and cherishes. Therefore, since God holds man in great esteem, as He has shown, you would show meanness and indeed little love for God, if you did not think very highly of what He bought at a great price.


Invocations
Saint Anthony, man gentle and humane …Pray for us
Saint Anthony, Man burning with charity…Pray for us
Saint Anthony, Man ruthless against vices…Pray for us

Prayer
Eternal Father, you love everyone and want everyone to be saved, grant that we do find you and love you in our brothers and sisters so that they too, through me, may find you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be...

Prayer to St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria

Saint Anthony Zaccaria, helper of the poor and the sick, you who devoted your life to our spiritual welfare, listen to my humble and hopeful prayer. Continue your work as doctor and priest by obtaining from GOD healing from my physical and moral sickness, so that free from all evil and sin, I may love the LORD with joy, fulfill with fidelity my duties, work generously for the good of my brothers and sisters, and for my sanctification. AMEN