Biography of Saint Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua

Also known as

• Antonio da Padova
• Evangelical Doctor

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 martyrs, 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 the church in 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. Miracle worker. One of the most beloved of saints, his images and statues are found everywhere - though none of them portray him as a heavy-set man, which some reports claim he was. Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1946.

One source of the well-known patronage for the recovery of lost objects comes from a legend that, long after Anthony's death, his old prayer book was kept as a treasured relic, and one day it disappeared. People prayed for help in finding the lost item, a novice found it and returned it; he later admitted that he had "borrowed" the book and returned it after receiving a vision of an angry Anthony.

Born

1195 at Lisbon, Portugal

Died

• 13 June 1231 of natural causes
• buried on the Tuesday following his death in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Padua, Italy
• legend says that all the sick who visited his new grave were healed

Canonized

30 May 1232 by Pope Gregory IX at Spoleto, Italy

Patronage

• against barrenness or sterility
• against shipwreck
• against starvation; starving people
• American Indians
• amputees
• animals, both wild and domestic
• asses
• boatmen, mariners, sailors, watermen
• elderly people
• expectant mothers, pregnant women
• for faith in the Blessed Sacrament
• fishermen
• for harvests
• horses
• lost articles, seekers of lost articles
• mail
• oppressed people
• paupers, poor people
• swineherds
• travel hostesses
• travellers
• Brazil
• Portugal
• Tigua Indians
• 4 dioceses, 17 cities

Representation

• Infant Jesus (referring to his vision)
• book
• bread
• Christ-child in his arms
• Christ-child on a book
• fire in his hand
• fire on his breast
• Franciscan habit
• kneeling mule
• lily

Storefront

medals and pendants

Video

YouTube PlayList

Readings

The saints are like the stars. In his providence Christ conceals them in a hidden place that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so. Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive intheir heart the invitation of Christ. - 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. - from a sermon by Saint Anthony of Padua

Not without a long procession does the devil wish the sinner to be carried to his grave, and therefore he arranges the file after the usual maimer: Ambition carries the cross, Detraction the incense, Oppression the holy - or rather the cursed - water, Hypocrisy bears the lights. There are two chanters: one is the Fallacious Confidence of living a long time, and he sings, Requiem aeternam - you still have abundant time; the other is Presumption as to the Divine Mercy, and he sings, In Paradisnm le ducant angeli. Pride celebrates the office. Then follow Vain-Glory on the right, Envy on the left, and, walking after, Anger, Impatience, Insolence, Blasphemy, Contumely, Arrogance, Lasciviousness, Gluttony, Idle Talk, Boasting, Injury, Curiosity, and Uneasiness. Lo! what a crowd in the conscience following him who is dead in trespasses and sin. - from a sermon by Saint Anthony of Padua