Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts in the Second Through Nineteenth Centuries, Part 3: From the 5th to the 13th Centuries
The Mendicant Orders
The Mendicant Orders of the early thirteenth century were also known for miraculous gifts. Dominic (A.D. 1170-1221), founder of the Dominican Order, spoke once in German to an amazed audience after he had spent some time in prayer.66 Franis of Assisi (A.D. 1182-1226), founder of the Franciscan Order, well known as a man of piety and poverty, was familiar with the operation of various gifts of the spirit. In his well known and often quoted dialogue with Brother Leo, Francis had said:
When the friars Minor, Little Sheep of God, shall have performed miracles, given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, life to the dead; when they shall speak all the tongues of men and angels, foretell the future…not even all this would be Perfect Joy.67
Although it is true that Francis “cast out devils, made the distorted straight, healed the paralytic, gave sight to the blind,”68 and manifested many other miraculous gifts of the Spirit, “he was very careful to ascribe no essential importance either to the miraculous power with which he was believed to be endowed, or to his perpetual and painful service of God in mortification and fasting.”69
Anthony of Padua
One of the most gifted members of the Franciscan Order was Anthony of Padua (A.D. 1195-1231), who, a year before his death, devoted himself to preaching. Two of his favorite topics in preaching were repentance and contempt for the things of this world. According to Mary E. Rogers, professor of history at the University of Guelph, Ontario, “his gifts as a preacher were extraordinary including, in addition to a clear voice and a compelling manner, prophetic powers and miracles….”70 At his Lenten series in Padua in 1231, there were 30,000 in attendance at one time, and “the response was massive reconciliations and restitutions, such that the clergy were insufficient for the needs of the people.”71 The earliest sources on Anthony of Padua indicate that among his miracles and spiritual gifts was the gift of tongues. It was said that “his tongue became the pen of the Holy Ghost.”72 At one point, those who heard him were reminded of the day of Pentecost, for everybody heard him preaching in his native tongue.73
In the Next Issue:
Part 4 (Summer 1999): From the 13th to the 18th Centuries
Notes
45 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), p. 415.
46 Augustine, City of God, book 22, chapter 8, in Roy J. Deferrari, ed., The Fathers of the Church (Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1954), vol. 24, pp. 431-450.
47 Leo the Great, Sermons 75:2, in Phillip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series (New York: The Christian Literature Company, 1895), vol. 12, p. 190.
Category: Church History, Spring 1999
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