He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, and  received in baptism the name of Ferdinand.  His family was noble and powerful:  his father was Martin Vincencio de Bulhoes, knight of King Alfonso II of Portugal, and descendant of Godfrey de Bouillon, commander of the First Crusade.  His mother, Maria Theresa Taveira, was of noble origin too.   They lived near the Cathedral of Lisbon, were deeply religious and Ferdinand was educated in the Cathedral school,  In 1210, at the age of fifteen, he joined the Canons Regular of St.Augustine in the convent of St.Vincent, just outside the city walls.  

His relatives and friends frequently came to visit him and, in 1212, he moved to the Convent of "Santa Croce" in Coimbra, with permission of his superior, to avoid being distracted by them.
He remained there for eight years, occupying his time mainly with study and prayer.
In the year 1220, five Franciscan friars of the monastery of  "San Antonio de Olivares", founded in 1217 near Coimbra, were murdered in Morocco, North Africa,  and their bodies were brought back for burial.
Ferdinand also wished to be a missionary and a martyr, just like them.
In the meantime, he had a vision:  an unknown and pale friar appeared to him, inviting him to wear the Franciscan habit. 

Ferdinand decided to join the Franciscans and confided his intention to some Friars Minor who came to beg alms at the Abbey of the Canons Regular.  He received the Franciscan habit from their hands,  in the same Augustinian Convent and took the new name of Anthony, after the great abbot of the desert, who was patron of the Franciscan friary "San Antonio de Olivares".

He was sent to Morocco to preach to the Muslims. His health failed, and he was compelled to sail for Portugal. His ship, however, was overtaken by a violent storm and driven upon the coast of Sicily, Having heard meanwhile from the Friars of Messina that a general chapter was to be held at Assisi on 30th May 1221, Anthony arrived in time to take part in it.  On that occasion, he recognized the pale friar that had mysteriously appeared to him, while he was still in the Augustinian Abbey:  Francis of Assisi.

Father Graziano, "Minister Provincial" of Coimbra, knew that Anthony longed for a place where he could live in solitude and penance, to enter more fully into the spirit and discipline of Franciscan life.  Being in need of a priest for the hermitage of Montepaolo, near Forlė, sent Anthony there, where he seemed headed for an uneventful obscurity... Nobody knew him, neither his noble origin, nor his erudition, and he rejoiced at this situation.  He celebrated Mass but he performed also the most menial tasks, wanting to be equal to his brothers.  When he had time, he went to a cave in the wood, remaining in prayer and meditation as long as possible.

On 24th September 1222, a conference of Dominicans and Franciscans was held  in the Cathedral of Forlė.  Each group thought that the other was about to provide the preacher, and so no one was prepared.  In their emergency they then chose Anthony: he was thrust forward and told to say something, Anthony, compelled by obedience, spoke at first slowly and timidly, but soon he began to explain with fervour the most hidden sense of Holy Scripture and astonished his hearers with his profound erudition and sublime doctrine. He was recalled from the hermitage and commissioned as a preacher.
In 1224, Anthony was requested to teach theology to his Franciscan brothers by a letter written to him by St.Francis: "To Brother Anthony, my bishop, Brother Francis gives greeting: It is agreeable to me to have you read sacred Theology to the brothers, so long as over this study they do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion, as is contained in the rule".

Anthony possessed in an eminent degree all the good qualities that characterize an eloquent preacher, had an excellent understanding, a prodigious memory, a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and the book of his "Sermons" reflects that knowledge.  In addition to this, he had the spirit of prophecy and an extraordinary gift of miracles.  He travelled to several areas of northern Italy and France, attracted huge crowds, and was very effective in converting many of the learned heretics of the area, so he was nicknamed "Hammer of Heretics".

Among the many miracles Anthony wrought,   the three most famous, concerning the conversion of heretics, are the following:

• Some Italian heretics offered him some poisoned food, which he rendered innoxious by the Sign of the Cross.  

• One day when he found he was preaching to heretics who would not listen, he went to preach to the fishes, who listened attentively.   

• To another heretic, St. Anthony had a mule, who had been starved for three days, bow before the Blessed Sacrament, although food was also placed near him.  

With the zeal of an apostle,  he combated the vices of luxury, avarice, and tyranny, trying to reform the morality of his time.  He was noted for his refutations of heresies, .and for his denunciations of clergy who did not live dedicated lives and of wealthy and powerful persons who oppressed the common people.
After having been "Guardian" at Le-Puy in 1224, Anthony was elected in the year 1226, "Custos Provincial" in the province of Aquitaine and resided at Limoges, where he founded a monastery.   In the same year, during the Provincial Chapter of Arles, while Anthony was preaching about the mysteries of the Cross, Francis appeared and blessed all the friars: he was hanging in space and his arms were shaping a cross.

Francis died on the evening of 3rd October, 1226, and Anthony was recalled from France to take part in the General Chapter, held at Assisi on 30th May 1227, in which the successor of Francis was to be chosen.  Anthony was appointed "Minister Provincial" of Northern Italy, by the new General Minister,   Giovanni Parenti, and occupied this position until 1230.

Between 1228 and 1231, Anthony spent many months in Padua, where he wrote his "Sermons".  The church of "Santa Maria Mater Domini" was his spiritual refuge during the period of his most intense apostolic work.
In 1228, he went to Rome by request of the General Minister.
Just when Anthony was ready to go back to Padua, Pope Gregory IX, expressed a wish to know him personally and to hear him preaching.  The Pontiff and the Cardinals were all struck with astonishment. Gregory IX called Anthony "Ark of the Testament" and asked him to preach for the pilgrims on the occasion of Easter.   Afterwards, Anthony went to Assisi for the canonization of St.Francis and then he returned to Padua.

On 30th May, 1230, in order to devote more time to preaching, he resigned this office of Provincial Minister at the General Chapter of Assisi, that took place 5 days after the transfer of St. Francis’ remains to the new basilica built in his honour,  Anthony was appointed "General Preacher" and sent to Rome.  Few months later, at the end of autumn, he returned to Padua.  There, he wrought the famous miracle of the amputated foot:  Leonardo, a young man, in a fit of anger, kicked his own mother. Repentant, he cut off his foot, and St.Anthony miraculously reattached it to the leg.

The last Lent he preached was that of 1231.  His sermons were principally directed against usury, hatred and enmity, and his efforts were crowned with wonderful success. Permanent reconciliations were effected, peace and concord re-established, liberty given to debtors and other prisoners, restitutions made, and enormous scandals repaired.  Through his exertions, on 15th March, the city of Padua enacted a new law that stated that a debtor or guarantor could not be deprived of his personal freedom in the future if he is unable to pay. Before this, a person could be imprisoned for being unable to pay.
An incessant crowd thronged around Anthony’s confessional: the small church of "Santa Maria Mater Domini" was not able to contain the growing multitude... no church seemed large enough to contain the people...he was unable to cope with them all, even though priests from his Order and other priests of the city tried to help him.   Anthony continued his pastoral work until sunset, preaching, teaching, hearing confessions and often fasting.

After the intense forty days of preaching, he was exhausted and his state of health was getting worse, so Anthony retired to a Franciscan convent in Camposampiero, a little town near Padua. 
This hermitage had been donated to the Friars by Count Tiso, the lord of that land, who received the Saint with great joy. 
By Anthony's request, he built for him a solitary cell on a huge walnut in the wood: Anthony remained there all day long, in prayer and meditation. 
Every evening he climbed down the walnut, and returned to the monastery. 

One night, Count Tiso was present at a prodigious event in the Saint's room: Anthony was holding in his arms the Infant Jesus.  Regarding this renowned apparition, French writers maintain it took place in the outskirts of Limoges.  Maybe this marvellous event occurred more than once during Anthony's lifetime.

On 13th June, 1231, Anthony felt his death approaching and expressed a wish to return to Padua, but he had to stop on the way, owing to the worsening of his state of health, at the Franciscan Friary of "Santa Maria de Cella" (Arcella), in the surroundings of the Padua.   Next to the monastery of the Friars Minor, there was a convent of Poor Clares.

Anthony prayed the Blessed Virgin and Her Son Jesus, then, strengthened by the apparition of Our Lord, he died at the age of thirty-six years.
The friars and the nuns of the Convent of "Arcella", the friars of the monastery "Santa Maria Mater Domini", and also the common people from various neighbourhoods of Padua,  they all desired to retain Anthony's body among them.  The civil and the ecclesiastical authorities intervened to calm the crowd and decided to respect the last wishes of Anthony, burying him in the small church of "Santa Maria Mater Domini" on 17th June 1231.

His coffin was probably not placed underground, but left suspended in an ark-tomb so that the growing number of faithful could see and touch it.  The miracles attributed to him immediately following his death are too numerous to state.  Pope Gregory IX was firmly persuaded of his sanctity, so he inscribed Anthony within a year of his death (Pentecost, 30th May, 1232), in the calendar of saints of the Cathedral of Spoleto. 

Fifty-three of the miracles which were read before Pope Gregory IX can be found in the "First Life of St. Anthony", also called "Assidua", written in 1232 by an anonymous Friar Minor. In the same year, the inhabitants of Padua  laid the first stone of a new magnificent church: the Basilica of St.Anthony.

In 1263, Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Minister General at the time,  presided over the transfer of the precious relics to the new Basilica.  The ark with St. Anthony’s mortal remains was probably set in the centre of the transept,  in front of the presbytery, under the present cone-shaped cupola.

The sacred relics were solemnly transferred again in 1310, when the new chapel dedicated to St. Anthony at the left-hand end of the transept had been completed.
In 1350, Cardinal Guido de Boulogne, having been cured of the black plague,  came to Padua to fulfil a vow and to give a precious reliquary in which St. Anthony’s  jawbone was placed. 
His tongue was still in a perfect state of preservation.  
Also his left forearm and other minor bones were placed in special reliquaries in the Treasury Chapel. 
A temporary transfer occurred when St. Anthony’s Gothic chapel was demolished to make room for the new Renaissance chapel, which, despite being incomplete, was inaugurated in 1532.