Order of St Anthony

A Catholic monastic order dedicated to caring for the sick, especially those suffering from St Anthony's Fire. Not to be confused with The Order of St Anthony of Ethiopia.

Culture

The order wears black habits emblazoned with a blue Greek letter Tau, known as St Anthony's Cross or the crux commissa.

History

in the late 11th century the son of a Burgundian nobleman, Gaston of Valloire, was cured of the disease known as Holy Fire thanks to the relics of St Anthony the Great kept at the Benedictine priory church of Saint Anthony at La-Motte-Saint-Didier.
In thanks, Lord Gaston founded a monastic order, the Order of St Anthony, in 1095 to care for pilgrims and the sick, particularly those suffering from the disease, in a hospital near the priory. The new order was confirmed by Pope Urban II the same year. Their activities in caring for the sick attracted many endowlents and the order continued to grow. The order founded new hospitals and monasteries in Gap and Chambéry, and in Besançon on the western borders of the Holy Roman Empire, and later expanded with houses in Spain, Italy, Flanders and Germany. The house of Memmingen, in Swabia, was founded in 1214. London's St Anthony's Hospital was founded before 1254 near Threadneedle Street. At its height in the 15th century the order maintained 370 hospitals throughout western Europe.
The Antonines were initially a lay order, but received sanction as a Benedictine order by Pope Honorius in 1218. In 1248 they adopted the Augustinian rule. Pope Boniface VIII recognised them as an order of Canons Regular in 1297.
Relationships between the Antonines and the Benedictines who looked after the relics were never good, and by the late 13th century were so bad that Pope Boniface ordered the Benedictines to leave and join the Abbey of Montmajour, near Arles, and gave custody of ther Shrine of St Anthony to the Antonines.
The order was notable for its care of plague victims during the Black Death of the mid-14th century.
Once the link between ergot fungus and St Anthony's Fire became known towards the end of the 17th century incidences of the disease dropped dramatically and the order went into decline. In 1777 it was merged into the Knights of Malta, and it was formally dissolved in 1803.

1095 - 1803

Type

Religious, Monastic Order

Alternative Names

Hospital Brothers of St Anthony; Canons Regular of Saint Anthony of Vienne

Demonym

Antonines

Parent Organization

Latin Church

Location

Vienne