St. Anthony, pray for us!
St. Anthony of Padua, where do I even begin? Please help me find how to begin talking about your impact in my life. Let’s start at the beginning with his background. I’ll give a brief history of his life and why he is the patron of lost things.
Basically, he joined the Franciscan order in 1220 and started his journey. He had a favorite book of psalms that was very valuable to him. It was of course hand-printed and was annotated with his own notes that he had written. A novice of the order stole the book and left their community. St. Anthony prayed and prayed for his beloved book to be returned to him. With trust and providence, the novice returned the book, sought St. Anthony’s forgiveness (which was given), and whole-heartedly rejoined the Franciscan order. That is basically the gist of why he is the patron of lost things. His full bio has a lot more information and good stuff, so I highly recommend diving more into his story. He has a prayer attributed to him titled “Be Satisfied With Me.” I highly highly recommend it if you want your life wrecked in the absolute best way.
Now I want to share a little bit about his impact on my own life. Ever since I was young, I remember my mother praying to St. Anthony. I didn’t know why. She didn’t pray to any other saint. He was the only one my mother would call upon. I finally asked her, and I’ll never forget her reasoning: “I’ve never lost anything. Ever.” That stuck with me. Ever since then if I ever lost something, I would mention the trusty saint’s name and soon after I would stumble upon what I was looking for. Other times I remember being stubborn but as soon as I called upon him, I would find what I had misplaced. It was insane. I truly felt like he was watching over me and also the things I often would lose. This was the start to what would become me now calling St. Anthony my best friend.
I wanted him to be my Confirmation saint. I remember asking my Catechism instructor in ninth grade if I could choose him and I was told no. It was because he was a male and females could only choose females. That really upset me because I had really started to develop this bond with this saint and wanted to show and honor that by choosing him. So instead, I went with our Mother Mary who as we all know is not a bad choice…not in the slightest.
As much as I love my home parish, they did not do the best job in forming me as a Catholic. I knew the surface level basics but never realized why I should be Catholic or how to live out being a Catholic in my daily life. Because of that, after I had been confirmed, I sort of fell away from the Church. I still would pray and say I was Catholic, but I didn’t attend weekly Mass. I wasn’t “practicing.” I would still pray to St. Anthony if I ever lost something because he always comes through. It could be a week, a month, a year, and I would end up finding what I had lost. During those years of high school, he was still watching over me and making sure I hadn’t wandered off away from the Church too much.
That’s one of the things I noticed about St. Anthony. He parallels God’s timing. We lose things and want to find them immediately. However, not everything can be done immediately. St. Anthony shows us to trust and to be patient. Trust that he will take your request and place it at the feet of the Lord who always provides. Be patient that you will find what you lost when you need it most. And continue to call upon St. Anthony even after you may think he isn’t listening.
It didn’t hit me why I had such a strong devotion to St. Anthony until this past semester. Coming into college, I dove deeper into my faith to expand upon the surface-level basics I already knew. I was able to truly learn and grow as a Catholic and to incorporate my faith into my daily life. A common view of St. Anthony is that he can only help find lost things. However, he can do so much more that that. He can help find lost inspiration, motivation, and other non-tangible things. It is also important to note a different perspective of praying to him. Instead of asking St. Anthony to just make what you lost magically appear (because he is not a wizard nor a genie), ask him to assist you with remembering where you may have lost it and having that lead you to where you might find it. Next time you pray, I recommend asking for his help with finding those types of things. A lot of times I have trouble finding that true and deep love for Christ. St. Anthony has always helped me and guided me back the unceasing love of the Lord and falling back into love with Him.
The most important thing St. Anthony can help find is souls. This is exactly what he did with me and why I had and still have a strong devotion to him. He helped guide one of the Lord’s sheep back to the flock after a few years of surface-level faith. He helped guide me to head-on embark on this path to sainthood. He carefully watched over me these past years and gently showed me the Lord’s timing and how it is THE best timing. It is far better than anything we could ever dream of. I cannot thank St. Anthony enough for helping me to where I am today in my faith journey. I also cannot thank him enough for helping me find what I lose because it is quite common. I’ll lose something, search frantically for it, and realize I did not call upon my trusty best friend for help. And as soon as I do, I’ll either remember where I left it. or I’ll randomly stumble upon it. As you can see, I can’t rave or ramble enough about St. Anthony. His witness to Christ is one to be modeled. He quickly became canonized after his death and is a doctor of the Church. If you do not have a relationship with him, please please please start praying to him and getting to know him.. His intercession is extremely powerful as you have read so far. He can gently guide you back to the faith or guide you deeper and deeper. Thank you for letting me word vomit about my favorite saint and I hope my witness has helped with how compelling the lives of the saints are and how we can look to them for help!
