Saint Ammon

After the death of those of his parents and friends who until then had opposed his retreat, he went to establish his dwelling on the mountain of Nitria. His wife, who consented to this separation, gathered in her house a large number of fervent virgins who, under her guidance, retraced the austerities and virtues of the most famous anchorites.

Saint A mmon was th Saint Ammon Founder of monasticism in the Nitrian Desert. e first hermit to inhabit the mountain of Nitria. He spent twenty-two years there, and made it very famous by his holiness, as well as by the numerous hermitages he formed there, and which he filled with disciples worthy of him. They all lived at first in separate cells; but Saint Anthony, having paid a visit to Ammon, advised him to found a monastery, and to gather there a large part of his disciples, under the guidance of an experienced superior. He himself designated the place where the monastery was to be built, by planting a cross there. Cassian places it five miles from the city of Nitria. Ther ville de Nitrie Primary site of the monastic settlement of Ammon. e were on the mountain of that name, at the end of the 12th century, fifty monasteries inhabited by five thousand monks. Saint Ammon also populated with his disci ples the desert of désert des Cellules An extension of the Nitrian Desert populated by the disciples of Ammon. the Cells, which was ten or twelve miles from the mountain of Nitria, but still in one and the same desert.

Our Saint practiced extraordinary austerities and never interrupted the exercise of prayer. At the beginning of his retreat in the desert, he ate only once a day, in the evening. His fasts became more rigorous thereafter, and it sometimes happened that he would go up to four days without taking any food. Among other miracles he performed, Saint Athanasius reports the foll owing in the L saint Athanase Bishop deposed by heretics and reinstated at the Council of Sardica. ife of Saint Anthony:

One day, as he was about to cross the river called the Lycus, the banks were found to be flooded. rivière appelée Lycus Site of the miracle of the dry-shod crossing. As he was with Theodore, one of his disciples, he told him to m Théodore Eastern Roman Emperor (likely Theodosius II according to the historical context). ove away so that he would not see him naked while he swam. Although he was alone, he remained pensive for some time, unable to bring himself to remove his clothes, because it had never happened to him to see himself naked. His modesty and his love for purity were rewarded; he suddenly found himself transported to the other side of the river. Theodore, astonished, asked him what had happened. He confessed the miracle to him, but only after making him promise that he would say nothing of it as long as he lived.

Saint Ammon and Saint Anthon Saint Antoine Saint to whom Grace had a particular devotion and whose temptations she also endured. y frequently visited one another, in order to edify each other. The former died at the age of sixty-two. Saint Anthony, although thirteen days' journey away, knew of his blessed death, God having shown him his soul ascending to heaven. Saint Ammon is named under October 4 in most Greek menologies.

Acta Sanctorum, Godescard, Baillet, Tillemont.