St. Anthony the Great Pendant

Saint Anthony the Great (also called Anthony Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, and many other names) was a third-century monk. Athanasius’ Life of Anthony reported that he was tormented by demons who took the shapes of wild animals and attacked him while he was living as a hermit in the desert.

St. Anthony was famous for miraculous healing. He was and still is invoked against infectious disease, especially skin diseases. A religious order (the Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony) and several hospitals were founded in his honor to care for sufferers of  Saint Anthony’s fire (ergotism, erysipelas, or shingles).

He was associated throughout the Middle Ages with pigs, and a pig is often shown in paintings of the saint, as well as in many religious signs like this one.

The original of this handsome pendant is one of many similar late 15th-century saints’ badges showing Anthony holding a staff surmounted by a Tau cross, a book, and a bell. He is accompanied by a little pig. Some signs of this form include the arms of Wesel, where there was a Hospital of Saint Antony and a shrine to him in the church of Saint Willibrord. Badges like this which do not have the arms probably also came from Wesel.

St. Anthony is the patron saint of animals, swineherds, butchers, and cemeteries. His feast day is January 17.