This African saint, from the 4th century, fled to the desert when he was 22 years old with the intention of avoiding persecution. While there, however, Paul discovered the joys of solitude and contemplation, and for forty-three years he lived in a cave near which were a running stream and a palm tree; the stream provided him water and the tree gave him food and the palm leaves clothed him. From that point (age 65) until his death, Paul was, like Elijah, fed by a raven who daily brought him bread.

The only way in which we know about Paul, according to Butler, is because St. Anthony found himself tempted to vanity on account of the length of his own time spent as a  hermit devoted to God. In the midst of Anthony’s struggle against vanity, God commanded Anthony in a dream to go in search of an unknown hermit (Paul) who had been longer in the desert than he. Anthony searched for two days, during which he encountered a centaur-like creature that disappeared at Anthony’s making the sign of the cross and then a satyr who “made known” to Anthony that he (the satyr) was like what “deluded Gentiles adored for gods.”

Finally, Anthony came upon Paul’s cave and, upon their meeting, the two embraced and called each other by name (knowing by divine revelation one another’s name). A raven flew by and dropped an entire loaf of bread upon them, and they feasted and prayed together, and thus Anthony came to know Paul’s story. Anthony was with Paul when the latter died. Anthony, an elderly man himself, was disturbed over how he could hope to dig a grave for Paul. Soon, however, two lions approached the cave area in a spirit of mourning, and together the lions clawed a hole large enough to take Paul’s body. Paul was 113 years old at his death.

Ninety years in the desert. No remunerated work. No human companionship until the end. No social justice work. No presiding over worship services nor evangelical work. No teaching, no healing, no writing. No followers, no leaders. Nothing to bequeath, save a palm-leaf garment and one elderly man’s life touched by his encounter with Paul.

A man worthy of remembrance.