It boasts the most important university in Portugal, and is a political and economic centre of some importance. It is in this environment that we will follow the movements and development of the young Fernando.
There are some important facts linked to Coimbra and the Monastery of Santa Cruz that can give us a better understanding of St. It is a period that stands out for three reasons: his growing maturity; the development of his culture; and his training as a teacher. These years were also marked by conflicts that were the inevitable consequences of the situation in which the world and the Church found themselves; conflicts that would have all the imaginable and, at times, unimaginable, repercussions, even for the Monastery of Santa Cruz.
Against this backdrop, Fernando was maturing as a person, and through study and a passion for theology, he was preparing himself for the priestly ministry. However, it was certainly not an easy path for our future Saint Anthony. On the period when Fernando received his spiritual and theological formation, J. Toussaert, an expert on St. It certainly does not require a great stretch of the imagination to understand what this researcher wanted to describe in so few words: it could not have been easy for a young monk to lead a peaceful and contemplative life and prepare for pastoral care in a city and a monastery facing constant social and political changes.
There were constant obstacles to overcome, intrigues to be aware and wary of, political struggles that became more and more heated, and which had to be avoided. Then, as now, monasteries were not a few simple rooms in which one could distance oneself from the developments in society, politics and the Church; quite the contrary! In those years, in to be precise, when major historical events were occurring in the Church, the Fourth Lateran Council took place.
It is extremely difficult for us to appreciate the feverish enthusiasm for this Crusade that gripped the people of the time. Taking everything into consideration, those were certainly not peaceful times. Indeed, it is almost a miracle that Anthony managed to overcome or avoid the stumbling blocks, fears and disappointments. Perhaps it is even more incredible that it was at this time that Anthony was laying the foundations for his future work as a pastoral worker and a priest with the Franciscans.
