Saint Anthony of Padua, Confessor & Doctor
S. Antonii de Padua Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Anthony of Padua, the great Franciscan preacher and wonder-worker, is honoured as a Confessor and Doctor of the Church, beloved the world over as a friend of the poor and a finder of what is lost.
Saint Anthony was born at Lisbon in Portugal about the year 1195, of a noble family, and was given the name Ferdinand. As a young man he entered the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine and devoted himself to study and prayer. Moved by the witness of the first Franciscan martyrs, whose relics were brought back from Morocco, he sought and obtained leave to join the Order of Friars Minor, taking the name Anthony, that he too might preach the Gospel and, if God willed, give his life for Christ.
Preacher of the Gospel
Though Anthony had hoped for martyrdom in the missions, the providence of God called him instead to the apostolate of preaching in Italy and southern France. His learning in the Scriptures was so deep, and his eloquence so powerful, that great crowds gathered to hear him, and many were turned from sin and error to a fervent Christian life. Saint Francis himself, recognising his gifts, entrusted to him the teaching of theology to the brethren, charging him to keep alive the spirit of prayer in his study.
Anthony laboured tirelessly in the confessional and the pulpit, reconciling sinners, comforting the afflicted, and defending the truth of the faith with charity. He spent his last years at Padua, where his preaching bore abundant fruit, and he died there, worn out by his labours, on the thirteenth of June, 1231, at scarcely thirty-six years of age. So swift was the recognition of his holiness that he was canonised within a single year of his death.
Doctor of the Church
For the depth of his preaching and his mastery of Holy Scripture, Saint Anthony has been declared a Doctor of the Church, honoured under the title of Doctor Evangelicus, the “Evangelical Doctor.” The collect of his feast asks that the Church may be gladdened by his solemnity and ever defended by spiritual help. Among the faithful he is loved with singular affection, invoked in countless homes as the helper of the poor and the patron of those who have lost something dear to them, and venerated in art with the Child Jesus in his arms, a sign of the closeness to Christ that crowned his hidden holiness.
The Collect
May the festival of blessed Anthony thy Confessor and Doctor gladden thy Church, O God: that she may evermore be defended by thy spiritual help, and merit to enjoy eternal happiness.
Ecclésiam tuam, Deus, beáti Antónii Confessóris tui atque Doctóris solémnitas vótiva lætíficet: ut spiritúlibus semper muniátur auxíliis, et gáudiis perfruí mereátur ætérnis.
Patronage
He is the patron of the poor and the oppressed, of travellers and of the lost, and is invoked above all for the recovery of things lost or stolen; he is also venerated as a patron of Portugal and of Padua.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 13 June as an obligatory memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua?
His feast is kept on 13 June in both the 1962 Roman Missal (Third Class) and the modern calendar (memorial).
Who was Saint Anthony of Padua?
He was a Portuguese-born Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, a renowned preacher and scholar of Sacred Scripture who laboured in Italy and France. He died at Padua in 1231 and is honoured as a Confessor and Doctor of the Church.
Why is Saint Anthony invoked for lost things?
A long and beloved tradition invokes him as the finder of what is lost, drawn from an account of a lost book of psalms restored to him through his prayers. The faithful have ever since asked his intercession to recover lost objects — and, more deeply, souls lost in sin.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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