Saintly Saturday - St. Anthony of Padua


St. Anthony, St. Anthony! Please come around!

Something is lost and cannot be found!

Perhaps you've heard this or similar version of this prayer. You may have even uttered it a time or two yourself. St. Anthony of Padua is the go-to saint when we've lost something. But why him?

St. Anthony of Padua was born in 1195 into a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal & given the name Fernando Martins. Per his request at the age of 15, he was sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra to study theology & Latin. Upon his priestly ordination, he took responsibility for guests at the Abbey.

He later left the Abbey to become a Franciscan friars, taking the name Anthony. He spread the Gospel message to Morocco, but became I'll there & was sent back to Portugal. His journey, however, veered off course & he ended up in Sicily, then Tuscany. He was assigned in San Paulo to a hermitage where his recovery was spent in prayer & study.

News of his eloquent speaking reached Sr. Francis of Assisi. By 1224, he was teaching friars under St. Francis using a rare book of Psalms that included notes & comments. The book was stolen by a novice who left the hermitage. Through Anthony's prayers, not only did the novice return the book, but he returned to the hermitage as well. (Hence his patronage as the finder of lost things!)

Anthony died at the going age of 35 & was canonized less yhyone year later. Because of his simple, easily understood teachings on the Faith, he was declared a doctor of the Church in 1946 by Pope Piux XXII. When his body was exhumed 336 years after his death, it was found to be corrupt except for his tongue. It is believed that was due to his teachings were perfectly formed upon it. 

We celebrate his feast day on June 13.

St. Anthony, Pray for Us!

(& help us find all those lost items we've misplaced!)


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