Saint Anthony

a christian saint from egypt (ca. 251–356). one of the “desert fathers,” st. anthony is considered by some to be “the father of all monks.” the “temptation of saint anthony” has long been a favorite subject of catholic art.
example:

‘ i made a . . . duplicate on my formica tabletop of a painting by rabo karabekian, ent-tled “the temptation of saint anthony.”

‘ . . . i had beatrice keedsler say to rabo karabekian, “this is a dreadful confession, but i don’t even know who saint anthony was. who was he, and why should anybody have wanted to tempt him?”

‘ i don’t know, and i would hate to find out,” said karabekian . . .

‘ . . . saint anthony, incidentally, was an egyptian who founded the very first monastery, which was a place where men could live simple lives and pray often to the creator of the universe, without the distractions of ambition and s-x and yeast excrement { vonnegut’s neologism for “alcohol” }. saint anthony himself sold everything he had when he was young, and he went out into the wilderness and lived alone for twenty years.

‘ he was often tempted during all those years of perfect solitude by visions of good times he might have had with food and men and women and children and the marketplace and so on. ‘

— 1973. kurt vonnegut. “breakfast of champions, or, goodbye blue monday.”chapter 19 (pages 207, 209, 211 – 212).