- Feb 5, 2002
- 181,233
- 65,447
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
St. Anthony of Padua, a beloved 13th-century saint from Portugal, holds many titles: Franciscan preacher, Doctor of the Church, wonder worker, friend of the poor and sick. But he is perhaps best known as the patron saint of lost things.
“It’s based on a great legend,” Father James Gardiner of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement at Graymoor in upstate New York said ahead of the saint’s feast day on June 13. “At one point, Anthony was in choir, in chapel, and a novice … ‘borrowed’ his breviary — and then, Anthony couldn’t find it to say his prayers.”
“Apparently, the novice realized what he had done, and he changed his mind and brought the breviary — the Psalm book — back to the choir stall for Anthony,” he added. “From then on, people started asking St. Anthony to help them.”
Today, he said, people turn to the saint for help to find “anything and anyone that’s lost in any way.”
Continued below.
“It’s based on a great legend,” Father James Gardiner of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement at Graymoor in upstate New York said ahead of the saint’s feast day on June 13. “At one point, Anthony was in choir, in chapel, and a novice … ‘borrowed’ his breviary — and then, Anthony couldn’t find it to say his prayers.”
“Apparently, the novice realized what he had done, and he changed his mind and brought the breviary — the Psalm book — back to the choir stall for Anthony,” he added. “From then on, people started asking St. Anthony to help them.”
Today, he said, people turn to the saint for help to find “anything and anyone that’s lost in any way.”
A special devotion
Continued below.
Why is St. Anthony the patron saint of lost things?
Discover the legacy of St. Anthony of Padua and the powerful century-old devotion continued by the Franciscans of the Atonement at Graymoor.