St. Anthony of Padua
Hammer of Heretics, Finder of Lost Things
A Franciscan preacher of such power that crowds filled the fields to hear him — and the saint half the world still calls upon over a mislaid set of keys.
- Feast
- June 13
- Lived
- 1195–1231
Invoked For
- Lost things
- Travelers
- The poor
- Bakers
- Portugal
His Life
He was born Fernando Martins de Bulhões at Lisbon, to a wealthy family, and entered the Augustinian canons as a young man. What turned his life was the sight of the bodies of five Franciscan martyrs brought back from Morocco. He asked to leave for the Friars Minor, took the name Anthony, and set out for Africa to be martyred himself.
God had other plans. Illness forced him back, storms drove his ship to Sicily, and he ended up at a hermitage in Italy doing kitchen work, his learning entirely unsuspected. Then one day at an ordination no one had prepared a sermon, and the unknown friar was told to say whatever the Holy Spirit prompted. He astonished the room.
From that hour he preached across Italy and southern France to enormous crowds — in market squares and open fields when no church could hold the people. He was made the first lector in theology of the Franciscan order, with St. Francis himself giving permission, and he was called the Hammer of Heretics for the gentleness and clarity with which he answered error.
He wore himself out. He died at Arcella near Padua at thirty-five, and the children of the city ran through the streets crying that the holy father was dead.
The Path to Sainthood
St. Anthony was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 30 May 1232 — less than eleven months after his death, one of the swiftest canonizations in the history of the Church.
Pope Pius XII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1946, giving him the title Doctor Evangelicus, the Evangelical Doctor, for preaching drawn wholly from Scripture.
He is invoked for lost things because of an incident in his own life: a novice made off with his psalter, which held his notes for teaching, and the young man was so struck with remorse that he brought it back. From that small story grew a devotion now used by millions daily.
Prayers to St. Anthony of Padua
Tap any prayer to open it large and clear — set for reading aloud. Close it to return here and choose another.