The Finding of the Tongue of Saint Anthony of Padua (1263)

Saint Anthony died in 1231, when he was thirty-six years old. His body was exhumed thirty two years later and examined, and it was found to be all corrupt except his tongue, which was as fresh as the day he died. This favor was given to Saint Anthony of Padua because by his tongue he was “a hammer of heretics.” Four notable tongues we remember among the saints: first, the tongue of Saint John the Baptist, which was stabbed with a knife by Herodias, after his head had been served on a platter at the order of Herod Antipas, in payment of a promise to Salome, the daughter of Herodias, his wicked wife, whom John the Baptist had rebuked; second, the tongue of Saint Anthony, the feast of the finding of which is this day; third, the tongue of Saint John Nepomucene, which was found incorrupt 336 years after his death, because he had laid down his life as a Catholic priest, choosing to be thrown into a river and drowned rather than violate the seal of the confessional; and fourth, the tongue of Saint Christina of Lake Bolsena, in Italy, who had her tongue cut out because she sang beautiful hymns to Jesus and Mary. She went right on miraculously singing, with no tongue, until she was shot down with arrows, in the persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Diocletian.

The chin and tongue of Saint Anthony (via Anton Diaz)