2-sided St. Anthony Preaching to Fishes and Men Garden Flag

Also available as a less costly, one-sided variant + If St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226) is renowned for his Sermon to the Birds, his spiritual son St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) is remembered for his Sermon to the Fishes. As the story goes (in another chapter of “The Little Flowers of St. Francis,” a 14th-century compilation of the legends surrounding the early Franciscans), St. Anthony journeyed to Rimini to preach. At that time, Rimini was a hotbed of heresy. Though well-known as an effective preacher, St. Anthony’s sermons fell on deaf ears. Dispirited, he stopped on his way out of town followed by a jeering mob at the confluence of the Marecchia River and the Adriatic Sea and began to preach to the open waters. Suddenly, schools of fish arrived. “Fish of the rivers, fish of the sea, listen, “said St. Anthony. “It is to you that I will announce the word of God, as the heretics refuse to hear it.” And, they did. Ranging themselves in rows, the fish listened attentively to St. Anthony’s words poking their heads above the surface of the water as he proclaimed the Good News of the Gospel. Once blessed by the Saint, the fish swam away leaving behind a crowd of startled onlookers. Now receptive, the people of Rimini repented. St. Anthony’s Mission proved a great success. + In this image from an early 20th-century devotional print, a tonsured St. Anthony, facing frontally, stands on a rocky outcrop of riverbank. Clad in the typical brown Franciscan habit—brown cowl, brown robe, belt of knotted cord, and sandals, he is delivering his Sermon to the Fish. He holds an open book and a spray of lilies of purity in his left hand and raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing. Behind him, two male figures representing the crowd of onlookers react to the miraculous display. + Do you have a fishpond in your Saint Garden? Place it under the patronage of St. Anthony of Padua with a garden flag from Saints_Aplenty on Zazzle. Though not an official patronage of his, given his Sermon to the Fishes, St. Anthony seems to us an appropriate patron for garden fishponds! + Feast: June 13 + Image Credit (M 063): Antique image of St. Anthony of Padua Preaching to the Fishes [St. Antoine Prèchant aux Poissons] in chromolithography, original [French] publisher unknown, early 20th century, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera. + The quote from St. Anthony translated from the French by Saints_Aplenty appears on the front of the devotional print. It reads: “Poissons des fleuves, poissons des mers, écoutez. C’est à vous que je vais announcer la parole de Dieu, paisque les hérétiques refusent de l’entendre.”