On the day of 17 January
The commemoration of Saint Anthony, abbot, who, hearing the gospel precept after his parents had died, distributed all his good to the poor, and withdrew into solitude near the Thebaid in Egypt, and there commenced to live an ascetical life, vigorously worked to strengthen the Church, giving support to confessors of the faith during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, and sanctuary to Saint Athanasius against the Arians. He had such a great number of disciples that he is called the father of monks.
