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The Paulism of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria

            Most religious congregations have some patron saint other than the founder associated with their congregation. As for the founder of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul, and a third order of laity, Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria chose for his followers Saint Paul as he had also chosen the Apostle of the Gentiles as his personal patron and model. On May 27, 1897, Pope Leo XIII declared the young and fervent founder as a “saint”. In a speech by the Pope, he proclaimed that Saint Paul the Apostle was a master from whom Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria developed his thought, his activity, and his life.

“He enjoyed the letters of Saint Paul so much that he took them as a model, both in doctrine and behavior, and invoked him as and intercessor to our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul was there…Paul was always before Anthony’s eyes; he had Paul, his patron, stirring in his heart and always prayed to Christ Crucified with Paul’s name on his lips.”

            In stating that Saint Paul was his master, and he a servant of Paul, we are stating that Saint Anthony Mary derived his identity from the Apostle Paul. We can say this on the premise that a servant, compared with someone who simply performs services, identifies with the master, deriving a sense of personal identity from him. However, it is not only that we say that Saint Anthony Mary lives through Saint Paul, but also that Saint Paul continues to live and function through Saint Anthony Mary.

            Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria found in Saint Paul a great deal of himself, as Saint Anthony’s entire being captured the strength and temperament of the Apostle Paul. Paul was the one most suited in his temperament and ideals of reform, proclaiming the need of a radical renewal. There were many aspects of their characters that were similar. It was the Christ-event of the Cross that stirred their souls to preach a reform towards the love of neighbor and the glory of God. Both Saint Paul and Saint Anthony Mary had a strong and quivering soul, roused by the bloody reality of the Crucifix that enlightened and guided their work. They both possessed a soul that is open to the Holy Spirit, letting it blow where it would. Saint Paul and Saint Anthony Mary listened to the movement of the Holy Spirit within their souls for they both had the same tenderness that links Paul and Anthony Mary together and allows the Holy Spirit to enlighten their souls.

            Another aspect that shares similarity between these two saints is the fact that reading the works of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, we seem to be reading Saint Paul. When we meditate on the epistles of Saint Paul we unknowingly find ourselves meditating on the letters of Saint Anthony Mary. That which moved Saint Paul also moved Saint Anthony Mary. The two saints, who preached a metanoia for their times, “were of one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). It certainly can be said of Saint Anthony Mary that he was the most faithful imitator of Paul. Thus the Zaccarian Paulism can be summarized in the formula familiar to every Barnabite: “Cor Antonii, Cor Pauli” (the heart of Anthony, the heart of Paul).

Paul boasted of nothing other than the Cross of Jesus. It is in this same Cross of Jesus that Saint Anthony Mary found a source of grace in his work. Both Saint Paul and Saint Anthony Mary realized that their work could be measured as their own but only in their personal on-going conversion to allow the Spirit to work through every aspect of their character. Saint Anthony Mary found that the truth and doctrine which Saint Paul rallied upon was that of Christ Crucified. It became the same rallying call for Saint Anthony Mary. Most of the writings of this young and fervent priest are based upon the Christ-event of the cross. It is to this that he constantly referred in his sermons, speeches, advice, and letters while referring to the Apostle Paul at the same time. Saint Anthony Mary indeed had become the executor of the doctrine of the Apostle Paul. It is in this doctrine of Paul’s, the rallying call of Saint Anthony Mary, that we find the culmination of the teachings of Truth itself.

            It is in seeking out Paul as the Master and Teacher of Life that Saint Anthony Mary looked upon Jesus as life. As Saint Anthony Mary saw the truths of the faith of Jesus through Saint Paul as the Master of Truth, so too with the doctrine of Paul, Saint Anthony Mary also followed the form of his (Paul’s) life, for he made himself an illuminated likeness of his life, for it says: “Be imitators of me brothers…according to the model that you see” (Phil. 3:17). The model that Saint Anthony Mary saw was not only Saint Paul but Jesus Himself, for the Apostle Paul tells us that “it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me,” (Gal. 2:20). When Saint Paul said be imitator of him that is exactly what Saint Anthony Mary did, even to the point of his style in writing. It can be said that the figure of Saint Anthony Mary emulated the Apostle Paul. In every aspect of his life, Anthony Mary was illuminated by the doctrines and life of Saint Paul.

            Saint Anthony Mary grasped one of the principal themes of Saint Paul and preached it with the vigor of Paul. He preached life with a potency of the figure of Saint Paul and his spirit, a life that arrived and placed itself in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Saint Paul, he preached Paul’s metanoia from death to life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus Our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

            Lastly, in looking back at the Paulism of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, we must conclude this article with a point central to both saints; namely, Christ Crucified and the Cross. One must willingly accept the Cross of Christ before one can enjoy the new life of the Resurrection: However, one can surely taste it in the victory of the cross. This is the doctrine as derived from Saint Paul which Saint Anthony Mary preached (Rom. 6:1-8). We can find the concept and the exact words of Christ Crucified on almost every page of Saint Anthony Mary’s writings. The young and fervent founder of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul and the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul preached Christ and Christ Crucified for no follower of the Apostle Paul can boast anything other than Christ and His Cross.

            If we wish to give a summation of Saint Anthony Mary, we could say that to love the Cross and to imitate the Cross was the work of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria. This was the work given to Saint Anthony Mary by the Apostle Paul – to be an imitator of Christ Crucified. The persecution that the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul had experienced in the year 1534, paved the way for the materialization of the one of the most soul quenching speeches of all time. His eloquent speech on October 4, 1534 unanimously touched the inmost souls of his spiritual children. The speech itself bears the Founder’s Christo-centric Paulism. It underlined the crucifix by exhorting the fourth chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, exhorting to give principally to the imitation of Christ by embracing the evangelical vows and the virtues together which is given to us in the Cross. Thus it was in the Cross of Christ that we find the Christo-centric Paulism of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria. It was the understanding of the Crucified Christ, derived from Saint Paul, which he constantly set before us, his spiritual children. 

Contributed by:

Rosauro Valmores                                                                                                                         Tagaytay City, 4120                                                                                                                       Philippines