The Feast of St. Anthony

St. Anthony, who is honored on January 17, is a handy guy to have around. He is the patron saint of domestic animals, basket makers, Sicily, Brazil, butchers, cemetery workers, hermits, hogs, and monks–an eclectic mixture, to say the least.

The real St. Anthony lived near Alexandria, Egypt, in the 3rd and 4th centuries. He was a solitary man, who lost his parents at an early age. St. Anthony is known as the “Father of Monasticism,” although monasteries had already begun to string up around the Christian World. After his death, however, his followers created a community based on St. Anthony’s ascetic life.