Anthony of Lérins

Venerable Anthony of Lérins (Anthony the Hermit) was an anchorite, born around 468 (according to other sources 460 or 470) in the Roman province of Pannonia Valeria (today Hungary), then part of the Hunnic Empire, and died around 520, on 28 December, on the Lérins islands. He is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church and in the Roman Catholic Church, with commemoration on 28 December. He is the patron of hermits and of miracle-⁠seekers.

All that we know of him comes from his Life written by Ennodius, bishop of Pavia. When Anthony was eight years old, his father died and he was entrusted to the care of the abbot Severinus of Noricum, in present-⁠day Austria, who taught him his first letters and catechized him in the Christian faith. After the death of Severinus, in 482, Anthony was sent to Germany and put in the care of his uncle, Constantius, bishop at Lorch. There he is thought to have become a monk, at about twenty.

In 488 he went to Italy to take up the life of a hermit with the monk Bruno and a small group of hermits on the shores of Lake Como, in the places Brentaleto and Teolo, near the site of Saint Fidelis's martyrdom. There he was joined by many disciples who wished to follow his holiness, and he became a point of reference for the local Christians. As the fame of his holiness and miracles spread, many came to visit him, so that, to find peace and to struggle better, he moved to Lérins, where he spent the last two years of his life and died. There he became a monk at the monastery of Lérins and was known locally for the holiness of his life and for the miracles he had performed.

In antiquity he was honoured as an example of spiritual life.