Anthony of Padua is the saint we celebrate today. He was born just 13 years after Francis of Assisi at the end of the 12th century. He started his ministry as an Augustinian monk, but later became a Franciscan Friar. We know that St Anthony of the patron saint of lost things - he is very famous for that. That patronage is rooted in a story from his life as a monk. Anthony had a book of psalms that was very important to him. Besides being a hand scribed book before the era of the printing press, making it very valuable, Anthony had many notes and commentary written in the book that helped him in his teaching of novices to the Franciscan order. One of those novices decided to leave the order before taking his vows, taking Anthony’s psalter with him when he fled. Anthony prayed for its return, and not only got the psalter back, but the novice returned to the order as well! Not only is Anthony of Padua the patron saint of things lost by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but Pope Pius XII named him as a Doctor of the Church in 1947, one of a select group of 38 men and women to be named to such a high honor.
As we pray to St Anthony to help us find lost things, may we have the words of the psalmist on our lips: “Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.”
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