Feast Day: June 13th
Patron of: Lost Things
Short Bio:
Fernando Martins was born in 1193 in Lisbon, Portugal to a wealthy family. When he was 15 years old he went to the Abbey of Santa Cruz. After his ordination to priesthood, he felt a longing to join Franciscan friars who settled outside of Coimbra. Eventually, Fernando left the Abbey and joined the new Franciscan Order. From then on he was known as Anthony. While traveling to Morocco, Anthony fell extremely sick and was sent to Portugal to recover, however the voyage instead arrived in Sicily and traveled to Tuscany. This led Anthony to the hermitage of San Paolo. After Anthony delivered an eloquent and moving homily, he found a friend in Francis of Assisi who entrusted his friars education to Anthony. Anthony’s book of psalms with notes and comments was valuable in teaching the faith. One day a student decided to leave the hermitage along with Anthony’s book. After praying for the book to be returned or found it came back along with the student who took it. This is the reason, among others, he is widely venerated as the Patron Saint for lost articles. He was only 35-years-old when he died of natural causes.
Fun Facts:
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336 years after his death, his body was exhumed. While his body was corrupted, his tongue was in-corrupt.
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He is usually shown with a book and the Infant Child Jesus.
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One day, while trying to preach the Gospel to heretics, he went to preach his message to the fish. Once the critics witnessed the fish gathering, they went and listened as well.
Prayer:
O Holy St. Anthony gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (request).
O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms. The gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.