In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt. Coach Bob Hurley had been working miracles at St. Anthony High School for over thirty years, winning state and national championships and offering his players rescue from their surroundings through college scholarships, when he met his most dysfunctional team yet. In The Miracle of St. Anthony Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to these streets. In The Miracle of St. Anthony, acclaimed sports journalist Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season, as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to the city streets.

This attractive booklet tells the life story of the beloved Franciscan, St. Anthony of Padua -- finder of lost articles, helper in troubles, healer of bodies and spirits, and patron of lovers and marriage. Devotions to Anthony and legends about his life are included along with perspective on Anthony's meaning today.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The reputation of the wonders and miracles performed by St. Anthony of Padua found its place in the first biographies devoted to him. Among these was The Book of Miracles which the Franciscan Arnaud de Serranne, provincial of Aquitaine in the 14th century, included in his Chronicles of the beginning of the Order of Friars Minor, and from which are drawn these Fioretti. This widespread work was the main inspiration for the iconography of St. Anthony, of which a few examples highlight this book. As for the wonders themselves related here, if they appeal to a sensitivity different from ours, nonetheless they are proof of a candor, of a poetry and sincerity that have preserved a moving freshness.

First published in the 4th century A.D., Anthony the Great's biography was authored by Christian Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. Since its original release, the book has helped spread the beliefs, practices and arduous faith of Anthony the Great to a wider audience. A significant progenitor of the monastic tradition, Saint Anthony lived an ascetic lifestyle in the deserts of Egypt. Although not the earliest of religious figures committed to this tradition, through his actions and preaching Anthony helped popularise and spread principles that would contribute heavily to the establishment of Christian monastic orders in Europe and beyond. One famous event in St. Anthony's life was his encounter with the supernatural in the remote reaches of the Egyptian desert. This occurrence, wherein the otherworldly presence tried to tempt him away from his spartan philosophy of living, has experienced much coverage in Western art and literature. The translation to English contained in this edition is by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace; theologians who held Anthony the Great in high esteem.

'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' is a dramatic poem in prose by the French author Gustave Flaubert, who is best-remembered today for writing Madame Bovary. Flaubert visited the Balbi Palace in Genoa, and was inspired by a painting of the same title, then attributed to Bruegel the Elder (now thought to be by one of his followers). It takes as its subject the famous temptation faced by Saint Anthony the Great, in the Egyptian desert, a theme often repeated in medieval and modern art. It is written in the form of a play script, detailing one night in the life of Anthony the Great, during which he is faced with great temptations.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.