LOST AND FOUND

 A MESSAGE FOR THE FEAST OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA

Today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan and disciple of St. Francis himself.  He was born in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and is venerated as the patron saint of that city, as well as Padua in Italy, where he died and where his relics are kept.

 

The traditional practice of praying for St. Anthony's help in finding lost or stolen things is traced to an incident during his lifetime that occurred in Bologna. According to the story, Anthony had a book of psalms that was important to him, as it contained his notes and comments for use in teaching his students. A novice who had chosen to leave had taken the psalter with him. Prior to the invention of the printing press, any book was hand-copied, and thus, an item of high value; a Franciscan friar in particular, given his vow of poverty, would have found such an item difficult to replace. When Anthony realized his psalter was missing, he prayed it would be found or returned, after which the thief was moved to not only return the book to Anthony, but also return to the order. The stolen book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna, Italy.

 

Since then, St. Anthony has been especially invoked and venerated all over the world as the patron saint for the recovery of lost items and is credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods.  Lost love too comes under his purview, and he is known in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil as a marriage saint, because legends exist of him reconciling couples.

 

During his life, St. Anthony was revered as a great preacher.  The story of Anthony preaching to the fish originated in the town of Rimini, where he had gone to preach. When the heretics there treated him with contempt, Anthony was said to have gone to the shoreline, where he began to preach at the water’s edge until a great crowd of fish was seen gathered before him. The people of the town flocked to see this marvel, after which Anthony charged them with the fact that the fish were more receptive to his message than the heretics of the church, at which point the people were moved to listen to his message.

 

After his death, his renown as a preacher had become so widespread that his tongue, jaw, and vocal cords were symbolically chosen as relics for veneration (as was tradition in medieval times) to be displayed in a large reliquary. When his body was exhumed 30 years after his death, it was found turned to dust, but the tongue was claimed to have glistened and looked as if it were still part of a live body; a further claim being made that this was a sign of his gift of preaching.