St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony with the child Jesus


St. Anthony of Padua is my patron saint. My parents said if their first child had been a boy, he would've been called Anthony, and if a girl, Antonia. Hence my name!

It was his feast day on June 13th while I was on retreat in Minster. Our Chaplain who came to Minster with us is a Franciscan (like Anthony was) and so of course the homily in mass that day was all about this great Franciscan preacher living some 800 years ago.

I decided to dedicate an entire post to him, my special Saint, and to share some biographical info, as well as my own personal St. Anthony experiences.


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Born
1195 at Lisbon, Portugal

Died
13 June 1231 (aged 36, having spent only 11 years as a Franciscan)


Canonized
30 May 1232 by Pope Gregory IX


Name Meaning
inestimable


Profile
Anthony's wealthy family wanted him to be a great nobleman, but for the sake of Christ he became a poor Franciscan Priest.

When the remains of Saint Berard and his companions, the first Franciscan martrys, were brought to be buried in his church, Anthony was moved to leave his order, enter the Friars Minor, and go to Morocco to evangelize. Shipwrecked at Sicily, he joined some other brothers who were going to Portiuncula. Lived in a cave at San Paolo leaving only to attend Mass and sweep the nearby monastery. One day when a scheduled speaker failed to appear, the brothers pressed him into speaking. He impressed them so that he was thereafter constantly travelling, evangelizing, preaching, and teaching theology through Italy and France

A gifted speaker, he attracted crowds everywhere he went, speaking in multiple tongues; legend says that even the fish loved to listen. There is a story in his Basillica in Padua, Italy, that one Sunday at mass, noone turned up to mass, so St. Anthony was so frutrated with the people that he went out to preach to the fish in the river, and hundreds of fish popped their heads out of the water and gathered below him to hear him preach!

One of the most beloved of saints, his images and statues are found everywhere. Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946.


Patronage
against shipwrecks; against starvation; against starving; American Indians; amputees; animals; asses; barrenness; boatmen; Brazil; diocese of Beaumont, Texas; domestic animals; elderly people; expectant mothers; faith in the Blessed Sacrament; Ferrazzano, Italy; fishermen; harvests; horses; Lisbon, Portugal; lost articles; lower animals; mail; mariners; diocese of Masbate, Philippines; oppressed people; Padua, Italy; paupers; poor people; Portugal; pregnant women; sailors; seekers of lost articles; shipwrecks; starvation; starving people; sterility; swineherds; Tigua Indians; travel hostesses; travellers; watermen

(note: he is most well known, and well prayed to as the Patron of lost items).


from a sermon by Saint Anthony of Padua:

Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

But the apostles "spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech." Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself!

We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner by keeping the commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith so our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendor of the saints and to look upon the triune God.


Among the many miracles St. Anthony wrought in the conversion of heretics, those most noted recorded by his biographers are the following:

The first is that of a horse, which, kept fasting for three days, refused the oats placed before him, till he had knelt down and adored the Blessed Sacrament, which St. Anthony held in his hands.

At Padua also took place the famous miracle of the amputated foot, which Franciscan writers attribute to St. Anthony. A young man, Leonardo by name, in a fit of anger kicked his own mother. Repentant, he confessed his fault to St. Anthony who said to him: "The foot of him who kicks his mother deserves to be cut off." Leonardo ran home and cut off his foot. Learning of this, St. Anthony took the amputated member of the unfortunate youth and miraculously rejoined it.

A third important miracle is that of the poisoned food offered him by some Italian heretics, which he rendered innoxious by the sign of the cross.

A final miracle is that mentioned previously of the famous sermon to the fishes on the bank of the river Brenta in the neighbourhood of Padua.

He is pictured most often holding the child Jesus because the child Jesus used to appear to him.


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The Basilica of St. Anthony, Padua, Italy.



Since before I was born, my family has been going on an annual pilgrimage to St. Anthony's basilica in Padua, Italy. I have been every year of my life too (except for the about 2 years when I didnt actually go to Italy at all).
St. Anthony's body is there, in a massive marble tomb, and his uncorrupted remains are on show. His right hand, and his tongue and jaw, despite being over 800 years old, have not decomposed and are still perfectly intact.
This is presumed to be because he was a priest and was very keen on blessing people (hence the uncorrupted right hand) and he was a very talented, holy and inspiring speaker (and hence the uncorrupted tongue).
They also have on show the hard stone he used to sleep on.

In August 1983, a month before I was born, my dad and (8 month pregnant) mum were driving back from their annual visit to St. Anthony (& St. Leopold, who is another Saint burried in the same town as St. Anthony is). I forget the exact story, but while on the motorway 2 crazy people in their early 20s who weren't looking where they were going somehow managed to crash their car into my parents' car at a pretty high speed...
Both cars flipped over and flew down the highway. My mum said that as soon as she felt the impact, her immediate reaction was to pray to St. Anthony to protect me & my dad.

My dad was thrown out of the car and had his legs trapped under it. The 2 young people in the other car didn't have their seat-belts on, the young girl seriously damaged her back and to this day is still paralysed from the waist down, and the guy with her seriously hurt his head.

And I, despite being a month away from birth and potentially very vulnerable, was totally unharmed!! (as were my mum & dad thankfully!) As they crashed a trucker was driving along and he immediatly stopped and went and lifted up the car off my dad's legs and helped him get out (he wasn't seriously hurt). Their car was totally destroyed however.

And we put it down entirely to St. Anthony's intercession! He looked after me even before birth! So I am extra proud to be named after him!

I have many other St. Anthony tales, but most involve him helping me to find things that I've lost, and so rather than go through every item, you will just have to trust that he is an awesome Saint!

St. Anthony - Pray for us!

http://www.basilicadelsanto.org/