ST ANTHONY: MUCH MORE THAN LOST KEYS!
A journey gone wrong, a shipwreck and an unexpected talent. There’s plenty to discover before the familiar lily.
Do you pray to him when your keys disappear? Anthony’s story goes much further. His preaching in Padua helped change debtors’ lives. A statute of 17 March 1231 said people unable to repay through no fault of their own shouldn’t be imprisoned after surrendering their possessions. Faith entered a very practical city problem.
Hello, Fernando!
Born in Lisbon around 1195, he was named Fernando. With the Augustinian canons he studied the Bible and Church Fathers in Lisbon and Coimbra. In 1220 the relics of five Franciscans killed in Morocco arrived. Their story moved him to change orders, take the name Anthony and travel to Morocco. Illness stopped him.
Tradition recounts a return voyage, a shipwreck and arrival in Sicily. He attended the Chapter of Mats in Assisi in 1221, then lived at Montepaolo near Forlì. Asked to preach in September 1222, he surprised the brothers with his knowledge.
A captivating voice and a studious mind
Francis entrusted him with teaching theology to Bologna’s friars. Anthony preached in Italy and France, held responsibilities in the Order and wrote Sunday Sermons and Sermons for Saints’ Days. These helped others explain Scripture through the many medieval ways of reading it.
His final Lent, in Padua in 1231, centred on preaching and reconciliation. Basilica sources recall his work for poor people and debtors. Behind the crowds lay a difficult question: what happens to someone who cannot pay?
And the baby in his arms?
Anthony died on 13 June 1231, was canonised a year later and became a Doctor of the Church in 1946. The lily signifies purity; the infant Jesus comes from an apparition story handed down in tradition.
His feast is 13 June. Open one of his Sermons and meet the scholar who travelled from Lisbon along a road full of surprises.
