Saint Anthony and the Miracle of the Mule

The story comes from the life of Saint Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan preacher who died in 1231. A man who denied that Christ was truly present in the consecrated bread agreed to a test. He would keep his mule without food for three days, then set oats in front of it while Anthony held up the Host, and if the hungry animal chose the Host, he would believe.

Beccafumi paints the outcome. In the middle of the square the mule has gone down on its knees, its back turned on the sieve of oats a young man is still holding out, while Anthony stands beyond it with the sacrament raised and the townspeople crowd in on both sides.

In 1537, when the panel was painted, the question at the heart of the legend was being fought over across Europe, as Protestant reformers rejected the Catholic teaching on the bread of the Mass. Italian tradition usually places the miracle in Rimini, while other versions set it in Toulouse or in Bourges.