Cardinal Giacomo Biffi
Anthony In His Own Words by…
two so-called “colleges,” the Clerics Regular and
the nuns, the group of married people called, La-
ity of Saint Paul. And so all states of life and all
charisms – ministerial priesthood, consecrated vir-
ginity and sacramental marriage – are enrolled in a
single and varied army at the service of what Paul
called, “the good fight” (cf. 2 Tm 4:7).
Tracks in Bologna
Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria died at thirty seven.
A short life, as one can see, but his action and ex-
istential teaching are exceptionally extensive and
relevant and cannot be adequately expounded in
the short time frame of a homily.
However, I cannot end without mentioning
briefly, by way of example, the ties between the
family born of his mind and heart and the people
and Church of Bologna. It was precisely in Bolo-
gna that Anthony’s family, the Congregation of the
Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, received the canoni-
cal approbation from Pope Clement VII. A Bolog-
nese Pope, Benedict XIV, raised to the altars with
the beatification the most eminent of Anthony’s
disciples, Saint Alexander Sauli. This very cathe-
dral owes much of its stability and beauty to the
masterly architecture of Barnabite Father Giovanni
Ambrogio Magenta.
Above everything else, Bologna rejoices at
the long and blessed presence of the sons and dis-
ciples of Saint Anthony Mary in its ecclesial and
social fabric, their pastoral cooperation and their
worthy educational activity among the youth.
On this occasion, I would like to express my heart-
felt gratitude and voice a cordial wish – and even
a trustful prayer, supported by the Founder’s inter-
cession – that this presence, this cooperation and
this educational and formative activity in Bologna
may continue, establish themselves ever more ef-
fectively, and yield ever more abundant blessings.
Cardinal Biffi’s homily at the celebration of the Zaccar-
ian jubilee in Bologna, Italy, Feb. 24, 2002.
Prayer to St.
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi is an Italian Cardinal of
the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop
of Bologna from 1984 to 2003.
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi
on
St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria
Prayer
Saint Anthony Zaccaria,
helper of the poor and the sick,
you who devoted your life to
our spiritual welfare, listen to
my humble and hopeful prayer.
Continue your work as doctor
and priest by obtaining from
GOD healing from my physical
and moral sickness, so that free
from all evil and sin, I may
love the LORD with joy, fulfill
with fidelity my duties, work
generously for the good of my
brothers and sisters, and for my
sanctification. Confronted by a society so troubled and unsettled,
so restless, so unsteady in its beliefs, Saint Anthony
Amen
Mary clung, and persuaded all to cling, to Him who
alone is the reliable and permanent point of refer-
ence for history and human hearts: Jesus Christ,
who “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
It is only by coming “to him, a living stone, rejected
by human beings but chosen and precious in the
sight of God” that people can find consistency and
The Clerics Regular of Saint Paul • BARNABITES
salvation because, as it is written, “whoever believes
www.catholic-church.org/barnabites
www.stanthonyzaccaria.blogspot.com in it shall not be put to shame.”
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 2002
 In His Own Words by…
T
HE MAN, THE SAINT, THE APOSTLE
“Modern men... seem so intent in separat-
ing man from God” (Letter 3). Whoever made this
statement in our days so much to the point and
indisputable?
No! The statement was made by a priest who
lived five centuries ago. He was so much in love
with the Creator of the universe and with human
beings, His living images, that he wrote in his
vivid style, ”Come, brothers! Let us run like madmen
not only toward God but also toward our neighbors”
(Letter 2).
“Modern men... seem so intent in separating man
from God.” These words may sound to have been
said today, but they were said instead long time
ago by Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, the founder
of the Barnabites, whom we remember and honor
today on the fifth centenary of his birth (1502).
Actually, for this judgment and many other view-
points he appears as a man, a saint, and an apostle
of unexpected modernity.
He lived undoubtedly in far-off times that
were a far cry from the times in which we have to
live. And yet there are surprising similarities and
points in common between the two ages - his and
ours.
For example, today, we watch, astonished
and, somehow, confused, the show of a world that
changes and seems to expand before our eyes as
technology broadens knowledge and communica-
tion ever more, as cultural exchanges and mobility
increase, and as globalization becomes unstop-
pable.
Similar things happened even then: daring
travels and courageous sailings were widening the
spaces, and little by little the whole earth perspec-
tive was changing. It was precisely in 1502, when
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi
Anthony Mary was born, that Christopher Colum-
bus crossed the ocean for the fourth and last time
and reached regions yet unexplored. The same
year, Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good
Hope for the second time, thus consolidating the
access to the far-away coasts of India.
Undeniably, today we also witness a reawak-
ening of the pagan vision of life. But even in the
first decades of the 16th century, many, likewise,
complained of a deterioration of mentality and
morals. And even today’s fears find a significant
parallel in the terror that seized people at the
time of the dreadful sack of Rome in 1527 when
Anthony Mary Zaccaria was still a young doctor.
Add, greater yet, the anxiety caused by the Muslim
threat looming over Christianity, and, above all,
the recurring anguish caused by frequent plagues.
Not to speak of the widespread disorientation in
Christian beliefs and the life of the Church deriv-
ing from the Protestant movement, which – even
though it meant to recover the evangelical authen-
ticity – in reality altered the faith of the Fathers
and attacked the original structure of the Church.
The Centrality of Christ
Confronted by a society so troubled and unsettled,
so restless, so unsteady in its beliefs, Saint Antho-
ny Mary clung, and persuaded all to cling, to Him
who alone is the reliable and permanent point
of reference for history and human hearts: Jesus
Christ, who “is the same yesterday, today, and forever”
(cf. Heb 13:8). It is only by coming “to him, a living
stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and pre-
cious in the sight of God” (cf. 1 Pt 2:4) that people
can find consistency and salvation because, as it
is written, “whoever believes in it shall not be put to
shame” (cf. 1 Pt 2:6).
Saint Anthony is sure of this and, therefore,
he does not set out to woo the fickle foolishness
of unsettled contemporary mentality, but, at the
school of the apostle Paul, his inspirer and teach-
er, pursues for himself and proposes to others the
knowledge of “the love of Christ that surpasses knowl-
on St. Anthony M. Zaccaria
edge” (cf. Eph 3:19). And he offers no other rem-
edy against the woes of his contemporaries “except
Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (cf. 1 Cor 2:2).
His inspirer and teacher, who had “become all
things to all” (cf. 1 Cor 9:22), had indeed warned
people to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep
with those who weep” (cf. Rom 12:15), but surely
had not said that they should talk nonsense with
those who talk nonsense and go astray with those
who have gone astray. Saint Anthony is aware of
this and knows that the first and basic charity to
give fallen and lost humanity is the persuasive an-
nouncement of the saving truth and communion
of knowledge and life with Him who alone is the
indispensable Redeemer of all our evils.
From this point of view, Anthony Mary has a
lot to teach even in these days of ours, marked by
careless ecclesiastical confusion.
Therefore, to error and ignorance, be it guilty
or guiltless, he opposes, as effective remedy,
the light of God’s word, proclaimed not only in
churches, but also at the crossroads; not only in
liturgical homilies, but also in spiritual talks and
missions to the people.
He enriches and goes beyond secondary and
marginal devotions by the keen consciousness of
the absolute centrality of the Lord Jesus, by the re-
call, even outward, of the mystery of the cross, and
by worship of and intensified attention to the Lord
present in the Eucharist.
He shakes and fights widespread laxity and
lukewarmness with his vibrant mind and word,
and with his impassioned exhortation to fervor
and firm resolutions. He remarks: “Changeable
hearts displease God very much because of their un-
faithfulness” (Constitutions 18).
Like Saint Paul, he is a free and creative spirit.
His evangelical and pastoral originality leads him
to the discovery of new and uncharted roads that
will not fail to stir up misunderstandings and op-
positions. His “Angelics” are the first nuns not
bound to cloistered life but devoted to a direct
apostolate. Ingeniously, he associates to the first