It is celebrated throughout Italy, from North to South, with the blessing of animals and the lighting of bonfires. In Sardinia marks the official start of Carnival. TO Novoliin Salento, burns in his honor Focaraa pyre 25 meters high and 20 meters in diameter. It is the largest in Italy and the Mediterranean. Around the Fòcara throughout the evening and night of January 16th, the day of the eve and official lighting, people dance and sing.
All in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbotone of the most illustrious hermits in the history of the Church. Born in Coma, in the heart of Egypt, around 250, at the age of twenty he abandoned everything to live first in a deserted area and then on the shores of the Red Sea, where he led an anchorite life for more than 80 years: he died, in fact, over a hundred years old in 356. Even during his lifetime, pilgrims and the needy from all over the East flocked to him, attracted by his reputation for sanctity. The Emperor Constantine and his sons also apparently sought his advice. His life is told by a disciple, Saint Athanasius, who contributed to making his example known throughout the Church.
Twice he left his hermitage. The first to comfort the Christians of Alexandria persecuted by Massimino Daia. The second, at the invitation of Athanasius, to exhort them to be faithful to the Council of Nicaea.
The contest with the devil for the souls of sinners
In traditional iconography he is depicted surrounded by busty women, a symbol of temptation, as he paints it for example Paul Cezanneor domestic animals, such as the pig, of which he is a popular protector. The fire linked to his cult has to do with the story that saw the Saint even going to hell to compete with the devil for the souls of sinners. TO Macerata Campaniain the province of Caserta, on January 17th the ancient tradition of the Battles is revived: barrels, vats and scythes are used as real musical instruments to produce the characteristic Meceratese sound, called Pastellessa (or Pastellesse). Many artists have depicted it, from Velazquez to Bosch, from Grunewald to Paul Cezanne. A very widespread cult for someone who lived in prayer as a hermit throughout his long life.
Why is his cult associated with pig farming?
His disciples handed down his wisdom to the Church, collected in 120 sayings and 20 letters; in Letter 8, Saint Anthony wrote to his followers “Ask with a sincere heart for that great Spirit of fire which I myself have received, and it will be given to you”. In 561 his tomb was discovered and the relics began a long journey through timeor, from Alexandria to Constantinople, to France in the 11th century at Motte-Saint-Didier, where a church was built in his honor. Crowds of sick people flocked to this church to venerate his relics, especially those suffering from cancerous ergotism, caused by the poisoning of a fungus present in rye, used to make bread. The disease has been known since ancient times as “ignis sacer” due to the burning sensation it caused; to house all the sick people who arrived, a hospital and a brotherhood of religious people were built, the ancient hospital order of the “Antonians”; the village took the name of Saint-Antoine of Viennois. The Pope granted them the privilege of raising pigs for their own use and at the expense of the community, so the piglets could move freely between courtyards and streets, no one touched them if they wore an identification bell.
Their fat was used to treat ergotism, which was called “shingles” and then “shingles” (herpes zoster); for this reason, in popular religiosity, the pig began to be associated with the great Egyptian hermit, then he was considered the patron saint of pigs and by extension of all domestic and stable animals.
It appears in his iconography in addition to the pig with the bell, also the T-shaped hermits’ staff, the “tau” last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and therefore an allusion to the last things and destiny. On the day of his liturgical feast, the stables are blessed and the domestic animals are brought to be blessed; in some countries of Celtic origin, Saint Anthony took on the functions of the divinity of rebirth and light, LUG, the guarantor of new life, to whom wild boars and pigs were consecrated, so s. Antonio was represented in various works of art with a wild boar at his feet.
