Happy Feast Day of St. Anthony of Padua

Today is the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua. He was born in Portugal. He joined the Franciscan Order and was a proficient preacher and teacher in Padua, Italy, where he died. He is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular saints. He is typically portrayed holding the child Jesus—or a lily—or a book—or all three—in his arms. St Anthony's Bread traditionally refers to loaves of bread blessed and shared in honour of St Anthony, and to alms given to the poor in thanksgiving for blessings received through the prayers of St. Anthony. He is the patron saint of sailors, travelers and fishermen in many countries like Portugal, Italy, France and Spain. He is also a saint of the poor, the sick, the homeless and lepers, the paralytic, the blind and the deaf. His statue is sometimes placed on the masts of ships. And of course he is well known for his miracles all over the world. Incidentally, St. Francis of Assisi was an Italian Roman Catholic friar, deacon, preacher and founder of the Franciscan Order that St. Anthony belonged to.

But to us folks in Goa he is well known too, honoured and respected, petitioned for his blessings, and attributed in religion and in legend in various aspects. St. Anthony is also the one who is invoked for his intervention in recovering lost articles. I remember I did that as a teenager. Even now I often ask for his help, perhaps because of my own fault and bad memory, but nevertheless he always obliges by bestowing his blessing.

As a young lad I remember praying to St. Anthony for rain when my grandma was worried and distressed with thoughts of crops failing. So, on a beaten path making a bee-line through the fields my grandmother led our family and the rest of the folks in the village carrying a little statue of St. Anthony, treading their way to the Holy Cross and singing a Litany to her favourite Saint. While praying and singing in harmony, everyone had trust in the miraculous cross and of course in St. Anthony. Invariably, it rained that very night. When we woke up the next morning the fields were fully soaked to the joy of everyone.

He is the patron saint of my alma mater, St. Anthony's High School, Monte de Guirim, Bardez, Goa. 

Happy Feast to you all.

Tony Fernandes, Class of 1964.