Defender Against Demons
By Brother Thomas Augustine, MICM
If proof were ever needed, beyond Holy Scripture, of the existence of Hell and of souls occupying it, the life of Saint Anthony the Abbot would be sufficient.
Saint Anthony was born in Egypt in the year 251 and although he lived a hard life of prayer, fasting, and brutal attacks of the Devil in the deserts of Egypt, he lived to be 105 years old.
His parents who were pious Catholics died when he was about 18 years old, leaving him and his younger sister with a wealthy estate and a huge fortune. According to Saint Athanasius, who knew him personally and wrote his biography, scarcely six months passed when Saint Anthony learned God’s plan for him.
One day while attending Mass, he was wholly taken by the words of the Gospel of the day, “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come follow me.” What greater promise could there be?
He realized that the eternal joys of Heaven were offered to him at a comparatively small price and immediately went about selling his estate, and all his possessions. He set aside a small portion for his little sister and entrusted her to some pious virgins to bring her up in the ways of the Faith. The rest he distributed to the poor and went seeking God and Christian perfection in the solitude of the desert, far from the pomp and allurements of city life.
As his sainted biographer tells us, Anthony “prayed very much, and endeavoring to forget the world and all his worldly kindred, he turned all his affection and desires towards purchasing the hidden treasure of true wisdom, and the precious pearl of divine love.” To do this he spent much time in reading and meditating on the words and precepts of Our Lord contained in the Gospels.
However, the Devil—who is very real—seeing the sure signs of progress in holiness was determined to thwart his intentions and bring him down into sin.
Like Our Lord who was tempted by Satan while praying and fasting in the desert, so too Saint Anthony. The Son of God could never be tempted internally but only from the outside. Saint Anthony, however, like us had a fallen human nature and so the Devil tried to make a war within him between the flesh and the spirit. He appeared to him in seductive forms and suggested impurities through the imagination.
Remaining victorious after many assaults, the demon of impurity appeared to him in the form of a hideous youth lamenting his failures to seduce our saint. He identified himself as “the spirit of impurity, who made it his business to wage continual war against youth, in which he is commonly successful.”
The reality of demons of impurity waging continual war against youth is quite evident in our day. The tools he now uses to bring souls under his influence and eventually down into hell are pornographic magazines, lewd music, corrupting video games, and the smart phone—the modern day Pandora’s box—which the curiosity of the young unleashes every known evil.
Don’t forget that Our Lady of Fatima showed the three young children a vision of Hell and said, “More souls go to Hell because of the sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” Saint Peter warned that the Devil goes about “like a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour.”
After these temptations of impurity failed, the Devil physically assaulted Saint Anthony. At one point a friend visited him and at first, seeing the saint unconscious, covered with blood and bruises, thought he was dead. The friend brought him to his home in the village but before he had fully recovered went back in defiance of the Devil to his dwelling in the desert. He would not be driven from his holy way of life. He was 35 years old at this point in his life and went on to gain followers who formed monastic communities.
The Life of Saint Anthony proves the existence of Hell and Demons. He shows the importance of prayer, mortification, and the fleeing of temptations in our spiritual warfare.