According to Catholic tradition, he was miraculously visited by the Child Jesus, and is commonly known as the discoverer of lost objects. This figure is an early example of an 18th century saint. Anthony of Padua is one of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church.
Saint Anthony
of Padua, patron of lost and stolen items, was a powerful Franciscan preacher and teacher.He is usually represented with the baby Jesus or a lily or a book or all three in his arms. Many people give handouts to St. Anthony Bread, in thanksgiving to God for the blessings received through the prayers of St. The life of Anthony of Padua is what the life of every Christian should be: a firm courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to worry about the needs of others, to face big and small crises and to have our feet firmly on the ground of totally trusting love and dependence on God.
At the age of 15, he joined the religious order of St. Life in the monastery was not pleasant for young Ferdinand, nor was it conducive to prayer and study, since his old friends came to visit him frequently and engaged in vehement political discussions. Two years later he was sent to Coimbra. There he began nine years of intense study, learning Augustinian theology that he would later combine with the Franciscan vision.
Ferdinand was probably ordained a priest during this time. The young priest's life took a crucial turn when the bodies of the first five Franciscan martyrs were returned from Morocco. They had preached in the mosque in Seville, and at first they were about to be martyred, but the sultan allowed them to go to Morocco, where, after continuing to preach Christ despite repeated warnings, they were tortured and beheaded. Now, in the presence of the queen and a large crowd, her remains were carried in solemn procession to the monastery of Ferdinand.
I was overjoyed and inspired to make a momentous decision. He went to the small convent in Coimbra and said: “Brother, I would gladly adopt the habit of your Order if you would promise to send me as soon as possible to the land of the Saracens, so that I can obtain the crown of the holy martyrs. After some challenges on the part of the Prior of the Augustinians, he was allowed to leave that priory and receive the Franciscan habit, taking the name of Anthony. Faithful to their promise, the Franciscans allowed Anthony to go to Morocco, to be a witness for Christ and also a martyr.
But, as is often the case, the gift he wanted to give was not the gift that was going to be asked of him. He became seriously ill, and after several months, he realized that he had to go home. As the young man was from “out of town”, he did not receive any commission at the meeting, so he asked to go with a provincial superior from northern Italy. Now, like Francis, he had his first choice: a life of seclusion and contemplation in a hermitage near Montepaolo.
Despite their efforts, not everyone listened. Legend has it that one day, before deaf ears, Antonio went to the river and preached to the fish. That, says the traditional tale, caught everyone's attention. Francis, was cautious about the education his protégé possessed.
I had seen too many theologians take pride in their sophisticated knowledge. Even so, if friars were to go out on the roads and preach to all kinds of people, they needed a firm foundation in Scripture and theology. Therefore, when he heard the enthusiastic report on Anthony's debut in ordinations, Francis wrote in 1224: “I am pleased that you teach the friars sacred theology, provided that in those studies they do not destroy the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, as contained in the Rule. Antonio continued to preach while teaching the friars and assuming more responsibilities within the Order.
In 1226 he was appointed provincial superior of Northern Italy, but he still found time for contemplative prayer in a small hermitage. Around Easter 1228 (he was only 33 years old), while in Rome, he met Pope Gregory IX, who had been a faithful friend and advisor to Saint Paul. Naturally, the famous preacher was invited to speak. He did it humbly, as always.
The response was so great that people later said that it seemed that the miracle of Pentecost had been repeated. Padua, Italy, is a short distance west of Venice. At the time of Antonio, it was one of the most important cities in the country, with an important university for the study of civil and canon law. At times, Anthony would leave Padua in search of greater solitude.
He went to a place loved by Francis LaVerna, where Francis received the wounds of Jesus. He also found a cave near the convent where he could pray in solitude. In poor health, and still a provincial superior in northern Italy, he went to the General Chapter in Rome and asked to be relieved of his duties. But later he was called to be part of a special commission to discuss certain issues of the Franciscan Rule with the Pope.
Back in Padua, he preached his last and most famous Lenten sermons. The people were so big, sometimes thirty thousand people, that the churches couldn't support them, so they went to the squares or to the open fields. People waited all night to hear it. He needed a bodyguard to protect him from people armed with scissors who wanted to cut off a piece of his habit as a relic.
After the morning mass and the sermon, I would hear confessions. This sometimes lasted all day, as did their fast. The great energy he had spent during Lent 1231 left him exhausted. He went to a small town near Padua, but seeing that death was coming, he wanted to return to the city he loved.
However, the wagon ride weakened him so much that he had to stop in Arcella. He had to bless Padua from a distance, as Francis had blessed Assisi. The following year, his friend, Pope Gregory IX, moved by the many miracles that occurred at Anthony's tomb, declared him a saint. Antonio was a simple and humble friar who preached the Good News with love and courage.
The young man, whom his friar brothers considered to be uneducated, became one of the great preachers and theologians of his time. He was a man of great penance and apostolic zeal. But he was first and foremost a saint of the people. In any case, soon after his death, people began praying through Antonio to find or recover lost and stolen items.
Anthony composed by his contemporary, Julian of Spires, O, F, M. Anthony Bread is a term used for offerings made in thanksgiving to God for the blessings received through the prayers of Saint Anthony. Sometimes, alms are given for the education of priests. In some places, parents also make a donation for the poor after placing a newborn child under the protection of Saint Paul.
In some churches it is customary to bless small loaves of bread on the Feast of Saint Paul. Anthony, and give them to those who want them. Another reason for this practice dates back to Louise Bouffier, a merchant from Toulon (France). A locksmith was ready to open the door of her store without any key opening it.
Bouffier asked the locksmith to try his keys one more time after praying and promised to give bread to the poor in honor of Saint Paul. Anthony, if the door were opened without force. After others received favors through the intercession of St. Anthony, teamed up with Louise Bouffier to found the charity St.
Anthony has been portrayed by artists and sculptors in many ways. He is represented with a book in his hands, with a lily or a torch. He has been painted preaching to fish, holding a custody with the Blessed Sacrament in front of a mule, or preaching in the public square or from a walnut tree. But since the 17th century, the saint has most often been shown with the baby Jesus on his arm or even with the child standing on a book held by the saint.
Anthony recounted in the full edition of Butler's Lives of the Saints (edited, revised and supplemented by Herbert Anthony Thurston, S, J. Antonio was praying well into the night when, all of a sudden, the room was filled with a brighter light than the sun. Anthony in the form of a little boy. Chatenauneuf, attracted by the bright light that flooded his house, was lured by witnessing the vision, but he promised not to tell anyone until after St.
Some can see a similarity and a connection between this story and the story of the life of St. Francisco, when he recreated in Greccio, the story of Jesus, and the Child Jesus came to life in his arms. There are other stories of the apparitions of the baby Jesus to Francis and some companions. These stories link Anthony to Francis in a sense of amazement and amazement at the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ.
They speak of a fascination with the humility and vulnerability of Christ, who emptied himself to become one like us in all things except sin. For Antonio, as for Francis, poverty was a way of imitating Jesus, who was born in a stable and would have nowhere to lay his head. In Portugal, Italy, France and Spain, St. Anthony is the patron saint of sailors and fishermen.
According to some biographers, his statue is sometimes placed in a sanctuary on the ship's mast. And sailors sometimes scold him if he doesn't respond quickly enough to their prayers. Not only those who travel the seas, but also other travelers and vacationers pray that they will be kept safe thanks to the intercession of Anthony. Several stories and legends can explain the saint's association with travelers and sailors.
First of all, there is the very real fact of Anthony's own trips to preach the Gospel, in particular his trip and mission to preach the gospel in Morocco, a mission interrupted by a serious illness. But after his recovery and his return to Europe, he was a man who was always on the move, announcing the Good News. There is also a story of two Franciscan sisters who wanted to make a pilgrimage to a sanctuary of Our Lady, but did not know the way. It is assumed that a young man volunteered to guide them.
Upon returning from the pilgrimage, one of the sisters announced that it had been her patron saint, Anthony, who had guided them. Another story says that in 1647 Father Erastius Villani from Padua was returning by boat to Italy from Amsterdam. The ship, with its crew and passengers, was caught in a violent storm. Father Erastius encouraged everyone to pray to St.
He then threw away some pieces of cloth that had touched a relic from St. Immediately, the storm ended, the winds stopped, and the sea calmed down. When canonizing Anthony in 1232, Pope Gregory IX spoke of him as the “Ark of the Testament” and the “Repository of Sacred Scripture”. That explains why St.
Anthony is often represented with a light on or a book of the Scriptures in his hands. In 1946, Pope Pius XII officially declared Anthony Doctor of the Universal Church. In Antonio's love for the Word of God and in his prayer efforts to understand and apply it to situations of daily life, the Church especially wants us to imitate Saint Francis. Although the Church observes in the prayer of its feast the effectiveness of Anthony as an intercessor, it wants us to learn from Anthony, the teacher, the meaning of true wisdom and what it means to become like Jesus, who humbled himself and stripped himself for us and continued to do good.
Anthony to intercede before the Lord for your intention. The California Border Project I'm Dr. Damian Bacich and I started the California Border Project. Learn more about me and the project here.
The Mission of San Antonio de Padua, located in the Valley of the Oaks, in central California, is number three in the Franciscan chain of twenty-one missions, established on July 14, 1771.The extensive restoration and unspoiled environment of San Antonio de Padua make this one of the most picturesque missions in California. During the years when it was an active mission, San Antonio harvested 110,000 bushels of wheat, barley, corn, beans and peas. In addition to its sophisticated water system, Mission San Antonio was the first to use a Spanish red tile roof. San Antonio de Padua celebrates special events every quarter of the year (details are published every year on the mission website).
Here, the mission parents developed an extensive aqueduct system, which brought water from the nearby San Antonio River to bathe, wash and irrigate crops. San Antonio proved to be an important stop in Anza's pioneering effort to establish a land route from Mexico to Alta California. Located below the Santa Lucia Mountains, next to the Hunter Liggett Military Reservation in Jolon, California, the San Antonio de Padua Mission is almost as isolated today as it was more than 200 years ago. .
