A Saint who is attributed with a Franciscan habit, Holy Bible, Baby Jesus, a lily and a mule is definitely our devoted St Anthony of Padua. He is known through a life story, where Baby Jesus appeared on his Bible while in prayer. He is also known as the saint of lost things. St Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon and died in Padua Italy. He was proclaimed as doctor of the church by Pope Pius XII on 16 January 1946, because of his thorough study of the scriptures. His life has been an example of service to Christianity. He joined the Augustinians at the age of 15.
A turning point came in his life in 1212, which made him join the Franciscans, after learning about the martyrdom of 5 friars beheaded in Morocco for attempting to promote Christianity. He joined a hermitage in Olivais and changed his name from Fernando to Anthony. The name he took was dedicated to ‘St Anthony the Great’, who was an Egyptian monk.
St Anthony is commonly known for his miracles. People flock to his aid, whenever needed to see impossible things become possible. Here is a list of his thirteen miracles.
1. St Anthony sermons to the fishes
2. Aleardino’s glass didn’t break, when he tested it by throwing it to the ground and he believed in St Anthony’s miracles and got converted
3. The Heretic Mule bows down to the Eucharist, when St Anthony orders the mule to adore the Eucharist and then the unfaithful believed in the power of the Eucharist
4. St Anthony reattached the foot that was cut-off.
5. The drowned child comes back to life
6. Tommy, a 20 month old child, who died falling into boiling water, awoke after praying to St. Anthony.
7. Eurilia drowned in the muddy water and was lifeless. She came back to life soon after her mother prayed an intercessory prayer to St. Anthony.
8. St Anthony ordered a dead man, who was murdered to speak and confess about the real culprit of the crime in the Courtroom.
9. St Anthony at a rich miser's funeral commented that his heart will be where his treasure is. A surgeon opened the dead body's chest to find no heart, but it was later found in his treasure box.
10. A husband repented and asked St Anthony to cure his wife who had suffered domestic abuse and was near death. St Anthony prayed over her and she arose completely well.
11. St Anthony told the infant to testify, who his father was, when the biological father refused to accept the fidelity of his wife, in order to punish her out of his own jealousy.
12. When the people of the Veneto Region prayed to St Anthony to liberate them of Ezzelino’s tyranny, St Anthony appeared to two Franciscan friars and foretold them about the liberation. In 1256, the Ezzelino’s troops were driven out.
13. Cunizza had a tumour in her shoulders and she could not walk. She attended St Anthony’s funeral and shortly after he was buried, she prostrated in prayer and soon realized that she was healed. She walked home free.
St Anthony died in 1231 from edema. He was canonized within a year. He is one of the very few saints who are canonized soon after their deaths. However he was exhumed in 1263. He had been totally decomposed, except his tongue. The tongue was reportedly just as wet and incorrupt as it had been in his life. It is in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in elaborate gold reliquaries.
The devotion of St Anthony is spread all over the world. People ask his intercession for the return of things lost or stolen. In Portugal, Italy, France and Spain, he is the patron saint of sailors and fishermen. The Goan Catholics have deep faith in him and pray for miracles too considering him as a miraculous saint.