St.Anthony’s Feast Day

Here is a great prayer :

Unfailing Prayer to Saint Anthony
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.

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. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you to obtain for me (request). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of Miracles.

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, and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours.

Amen. (Say 13 Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glorias)
Prayer Source: Prayers from Various Holy Cards

 Here are some great links about St. Anthony and great ideas and activities to do with your family. I am going to try to bake some bread to teach about how St. Anthony’s bread came about.

I especially like to read the list about the gift of miracles God gave him.                                           

     Among these miracles:

• In Rimini, an ass which hadn’t eaten in three days refused the oats placed before him, till he had knelt down and adored the Blessed Sacrament held in St. Anthony’s hands. 
   
• Some Italian heretics offered him poisoned food which he rendered harmless by the sign of the cross.
     
• On Holy Thursday, while preaching in the Church of St. Pierre du Queriox at Limoges, he remembered he had to sing the Divine Office in the choir. He bilocated, appearing among the friars to sing, and continued on with his preaching.
   
• Again while preaching in Limoges (in the square des creux des Arenes), he miraculously kept his audience dry from the rain.
   
• During the sermon at St. Junien, he rightfully predicted that the devil would cause the pulpit to break, but that everyone would be safe.
    
• Either in the province of Limousin at the Castle of Chateauneuf-la-Forêt, between Limoges and Eymoutiers or at Camposanpiero, near Padua, the Infant Jesus was seen by fellow friars visiting with St. Anthony in his room.
   
• On his way back to Italy after the death of St. Francis (3 October, 1226), he travelled through Provence where, tired from travel, he and his companions entered the house of a poor woman, who placed bread and wine before them. She had forgotten, though, to shut off the tap of the wine-barrel — and as the wine was running out, one of Anthony’s companions broke his glass. Anthony prayed, and the wine barrel was filled up again and the glass was made whole.
   
• Among his last sermons were those preached during Lent of 1231. Huge crowds of people — 30,000 and more — gathered to hear him. His powerful oratory — and the fact that Athony would appear to many of the people in visions urging repentance — caused so great a number of people to want to repent, that there weren’t enough priests to deal with them. These visions — often taking place in dreams — occurred after his death, too.
   
• In Padua, a young man named Leonardo kicked his own mother in a fit of anger. He confessed his fault to St. Anthony who said to him: “The foot of him who kicks his mother deserves to be cut off.” Leonardo ran home and cut off his foot. Learning of this, St. Anthony took the amputated foot and miraculously rejoined it.
• Also, one more- St. Anthony’s Bread refers to an episode told in the Rigaldina, the oldest life of St. Anthony. A Paduan mother, who lived near the Basilica during its construction, had left little Thomas, her 20 month old son, alone in the kitchen. The little boy, while playing, ended up head first in a tub of water. His mother found him lifeless. She screamed desperately but she didn’t give up. She called on the Saint. She made a vow: if she obtained the blessing of her child back to life, she would donate to the poor bread equal to the weight of her son to the poor. Her prayer was answered.

Near Padua took place the famous “sermon to the fishes” when, to impress heretics, he preached the word of God and the fishes poked their heads out of the water to listen.

 

 

Have a blessed day!