Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua
Anthony of Padua with the Infant Jesus by Antonio de Pereda
Doctor Arca testamenti
Evangelical Doctor
Hammer of Heretics
Professor of Miracles
Born90 August 1195
Lisbon, Portugal
Died13 June 1231(1231-06-13) (aged 35)
Padua, Italy
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Canonized30 May 1232, Spoleto, Italy by Pope Gregory IX
Major shrineBasilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy
Feast13 June
AttributesBook; bread; Infant Jesus; lily; fish; flaming heart
PatronageNative Americans; amputees; animals; barrenness; Brazil; Elderly people; faith in the Blessed Sacrament; Fishermen; Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land; Harvests; Horses; lost articles; lower animals; Mail; mariners; oppressed people; poor people; Portugal; pregnant women; seekers of lost articles; shipwrecks; starvation; sterility; Swineherds; Tigua Indians; travel hostesses; travellers; Watermen

Anthony of Padua, O.F.M. (born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231),[1] was a Portuguese Catholic priest. He was a friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised in a rich family in Lisbon. Anthony was canonised as a saint on 30 May 1232, less than a year after his death. He is considered a patron saint of lost or stolen items.

He goes that he had a book of sacred songs in which he'd written his own personal notes. A young novice from his complex of buildings decided to leave the order. As he was leaving, he stole Anthony's book. Anthony prayed for it to be returned. Sometime later the missing novice returned to the order and asked to be taken back in, and returned Anthony's book. This was deemed a miracle.

Anthony died in Padua, Italy. After his death, because of that incident, people prayed to Anthony when they had lost something or had it stolen. Some of them got their things back. Those were also deemed "miracles." They are what got him sainthood.

References

  1. Purcell, Mary (1960). Saint Anthony and His Times. Garden City, New York: Hanover House. pp. 19, 275–6.