‘Miracles of St. Antonio of Padua’ ~ Chapter I – Miracles during his life; pages 46-50; points 16 – ‘Where the treasure is, there also is Thy Heart….’, etc.’
[St. Anthony of Padua XII-XIII Century AD; born: Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal/died: Padua, Holy Roman Empire; (aged 35); powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick; canonized less than a year after his death; Doctor of the Church]
16 ~ Where the treasure is, there also is Thy Heart
Among the many vices infesting Florence, usury was the one against which the saint waged the greatest war.
St. Bonaventure himself relates an occurrence which took place in that city, and of which St. Anthony availed himself in one of his sermons to illustrate how severely God punishes that vice.
A rich usurer died, and whilst the saint was in prayer God revealed to him that this man s soul was in hell on account of his unjust dealings with others. An immense crowd of people had gone to hear …More
"Filled with indignation against the usurer, they declared his body should not be buried in consecrated ground, and taking it off the catafalque, dragged it out of the city and threw it on a place where dead beasts were buried.
This wonderful occurrence did not fail to produce a good and lasting impression on the people. From that time usury was almost stamped out of Florence; but the respect and veneration in which St. Anthony was held were such that he and his companion fled from the city to seek the solitude of Mt. Alvernia."
“This is precisely what has happened to the one to whom these last honors are being paid,” and pointing to the catafalque before him, he continued: “To prove the truth of my assertion you need only go and look at the chest of money, which, for the short time he lived on earth, was the joy and god of his heart, and you will find there that heart lying under his gold. For the Son of God Himself has declared, Where thy treasure is there also is thy heart."