The life of St. Anthony of Padua was marked by a series of miracles that gave rise to a significant increase in devotion to him. One of the most well-known cases occurred in the city of Rimini (Italy) in 1227, as recounted in the biographies written during the lifetime of the Franciscan friar, especially the Vita Prima di Sant’Antonio, popularly known as Assidua, which dates from 1232, the year he was canonized. This was the so-called “Miracle of the mule”. St. Anthony was walking the streets of Rimini, preaching the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, when a Cathar heretic publicly challenged him, saying he would only believe the dogma if one of his mules, after fasting for three days and refusing to eat when offered normal fodder, prostrated itself befor the holy host. After three days, a crowd of witnesses gathered in the piazza, and the mule was led before the saint, where it confirmed the miracle by kneeling before the body of Christ, recognizing His divine presence in the face of its own hunger. Witness to this prodigious scene, and as he had promised, the heretic converted.