ON SAINT
ANTHONY’S SERMON TO THE FISHES
This
is based on a German poem- Des Antonius von Padua
Fischpredigt. It
comes from a collection of
German folk poems and songs that
was edited by Achim von Arnim
and Clemens Brentano, It was
also set to music by Gustav Mahler. The poem itself references the
legend of St Anthony of Padua preaching to the fishes.
Saint
Anthony of Padua,
born Fernando
Martins de Bulhões
(1195 – 13 June 1231), also known as Anthony
of Lisbon,
was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order.
He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, and
died in Padua, Italy. Noted by his contemporaries for his powerful
preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and
devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly
canonized saints in church history. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the
Church on 16 January 1946. He is also the patron saint of lost
things. From
Wikipedia
On the legemd-
Once
Anthony had travelled to the city of Rimini because it was a hotbed
of heresy. The city leaders had ordered everyone to ignore him, so no
one turned up for his homilies. Wherever Anthony went, he was greeted
by silence.
Anthony walked along
praying and reflecting upon what had happened. As he walked outside
of the town, he came to the mouth of the Marecchia River where it
flows into the Adriatic. There he began to address the crowds, not of
people but of fish.He called out, “You, fish of the river and sea, listen to the Word of God because the heretics do not wish to hear it.” Suddenly there were thousands of fish neatly arranged in rows, all pushing their heads through the surface of the water as if they were straining to listen to every one of Anthony’s words.
The people of Rimini, seeing this miracle, gathered to listen to Anthony. What began with simple interest in an extraordinary event turned into a passionate conviction that Anthony was speaking to their very hearts. They were so moved by Anthony’s words, by his call to conversion, that they abandoned their hardened positions and returned to the Church. As we stated above, we are not sure that this story is historic, but it certainly does represent a version of what often happened when Anthony preached: that many hardened sinners were converted through the unselfish love of Anthony. From http://www.santantonio.org
Whilst
this legend is probably a reflection of the great power of his
preaching the poem takes a rather humorous, even ironic, view. It
could be seen as a comment on expecting nature to behave according to
human ideals or as a wry look at the intractability of humans – the
various fish representing various types of people.
In
form each line could be thought of as four feet of the amphibrach
meter – that is unstressed syllable, stressed syllable, unstressed
syllable u / u (they swish with ). They swish with |
their tails so, | in sunshine | their scales
glow. Furthermore each line is “broken” in two by a rhyme or
half-rhyme. Sometimes each line is printed as two separate lines :
The
saint goes to preach so,
finds
no one in church though etc.
ON SAINT ANTHONY’S
SERMON TO THE FISHES
The saint goes to
preach so, finds no-one’s in church though!
He goes to the
rivers and preaches to fishes.
They swish with
their tails so, in sunshine their scales glow!
The carp with their
spawn near, all come, all are drawn here;
With mouths fully
gaping, they listen, heed taking;
No sermon has ever
touched carp with more pleasure!
And pikes with sharp
biting who love to be fighting,
Swim up in a hurry
to hear all that’s holy.
No sermon has ever
touched pikes with more pleasure!
As well those
dream-casters, who always are fasters,
The codfish I mean
now, arrive on the scene now.
No sermon has ever
touched cod with more pleasure!
Good sturgeon and
eels fine, that make nobles’ meals fine,
In comfort lie
stretching to take in the teaching.
No sermon has ever
touched eels with more pleasure!
And crabs,
stiff-backed creatures, at most times slow-coaches,
Hurry up from the
ground to hear well his sound.
No sermon has ever
touched crabs with more pleasure!
Fish great and fish
tiny, both noble and lowly,
Are lifting their
features like clear reasoning creatures.
As God’s wish
they’re keeping, they hear all the speaking!
The sermon now
ended, away each has wended.
The pikes still stay
muggers, the eels still stay huggers.
The preaching was
splendid, but their ways have not mended!
The crabs still go
backward, the cod’s still a fathead,
The carp’s still a
glutton, the preaching’s forgotten.
The preaching was
splendid, but their ways have not mended!
Though the preaching
was splendid, was splendid!
