54 FISH AND FISHING. 



be diminished. Being afflicted with a severe indisposition, 

 his disciple, Barius, one day caught two fishes, and having 

 boiled one and broiled the other, placed them before him. 

 "What hast thou done," exclaimed Neot ; " lo, the favour 

 of God deserts us ; go instantly and restore these fishes 

 to the water." While Barius was absent, Neot prostrated 

 himself in earnest prayer, till he returned with the intelli- 

 gence that the fishes were disporting in the pool. Barius 

 again went and took only one fish, of which St. Neot had 

 no sooner tasted than he was restored to perfect health.9 



The address which was made by St. Anthony of Padua 

 is a striking example of the veneration with which fish 

 were invested in the eyes of the Church. We are told, in 

 his life, that when the heretics would not attend his 

 councils, that he betook himself to the sea-shore, where 

 the river Marechia disembogues itself into the Adriatic 

 Sea. He here called the fish together in the name of God 

 that they might hear His holy word. The fish came 

 swimming towards him in such vast shoals, both from 

 the sea and from the river, that the surface of the 

 water was quite covered with their number. They 

 quickly ranged themselves, according to their several 

 species, into a very beautiful congregation, and, like so 

 many rational creatures, presented themselves before him 

 to hear the word of God. St. Anthony was so struck 

 with the miraculous submission and obedience of these 

 poor animals, that he found a secret sweetness distilling 



9 History of St. Neot's, by the Kcv. G-. C. Gorham. 



