Saint of the Day – 3 January – Saint Daniel of Padua (Died 168) Deacon Martyr, Missionary, Evangeliser. Born in Italy, tradition says that he was originally a Jew but was converted by Saint Prosdocimus (Died c100), the first Bishop of Padua, who he assisted in evangelising north-eastern Italy. He was Ordained a Deacon and helped the Bishop preach the Gospel. Patronages – of lost articles, the blind and of eye diseases, prisoners, women whose husbands are away from home at war and he is considered the Patron Saint of Treviso and is also one of four Patron Saints of Padua, along with Saints Anthony of Padua, Prosdocimus and Justina of Padua. Also known as – Daniele, Danilo. Additional Memorial – 17 February on some calenders.
Bronze sculpture detail of Daniel of Padua on the doors of the Basilica of St Anthony
According to tradition, Daniel was Martyred in the year 168 under Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180), nailed to a table. However, it is more likely that he died in the early 4th Century in the persecutions under the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). The Roman Martyrology gives no further information.
Bronze sculpture of Daniel of Padua on the doors of the Basilica of St Anthony
The traditions about Daniel were forgotten but his remains were discovered many Centuries later. According to the legend, the core of which seems certain, the Martyr appeared to a blind man in Tuscia and invited him to receive the grace of sight in the oratory of St Prosdocimus in Padua, where Daniel’s tomb lay, completely ignored. The miraculous cure was followed by a diligent search, which led to the discovery of a marble sarcophagus. The Martyr lay there, as on the day he was killed. The body, lying on a wooden slab and covered with a slab of marble, had been pierced by many long nails. An inscription said: “Hic corpus Danielis martyris et levitae quiescit – This is the body of Daniel, Martyr and Deacon.”
Bronze sculpture of Daniel of Padua on the doors of the Basilica of St Anthony
Bishop Uldericus was present at the first identification and, on 3 January 1076 he had the sarcophagus solemnly processed into the new Cathedral of Santa Maria within the City walls. To appease the opposition of the Monks of Santa Justina and the local population of the place, he built a Chapel dedicated to St Daniel on the site where the Parish Church of the same name now stands – the Statue depicted below is situate on the facade. The Martyr’s remains lay under the High Altar in the Cathedral until in 1592 when they were moved to the crypt in the new Cathedral.
In 1953, the sarcophagus was placed in another Chapel and then Daniel’s original sarcophagus was freed from the marble and bronze which had hidden it. It was the same one in which the Martyr had been found, an old Roman sarcophagus of Carrara marble which had had the old pagan decoration removed, probably at the time it was discovered.
Church of the Monastery of St Daniel in Monte near Abano Terme
Daniel is celebrated in the Diocese of Padua, as a Patron Saint, on 3 January the date of the first translation. This day is also in the general Roman Martyrology, while the day in the edition for the Regular Canons was 17 February.
Daniel is depicted in art as a Deacon wearing a Dalmatic, holding a towel and wash basin. He is also often depicted with a Church or City model and a banner. He is invoked by wives with men away at war. He is also invoked in cases of imprisonment, the blind and eye disorders and lost articles.
Jacopo da Montagnana – Saints Daniel of Padua and Louis of Toulouse
Quote/s of the Day – 13 June – The Feast of St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Cpmfessor, Evangelical Doctor of the Church
Prayer to St Anthony of Padua for the Restoration of Things Lost or Stolen
O Blessed St Anthony! the grace of God has made thee a powerful advocate in all necessities and the Patron for the restoration of things lost or stolen. To thee I turn today, with childlike love and heartfelt confidence. Oh, how many thousands hast thou miraculously aided in the recovery of lost goods! Thou wast the counsellor of the erring, the comforter of the afflicted, the healer of the sick, the raiser of the dead, the deliverer of the captive, the refuge of the afflicted. To thee do I hasten, O Blessed St Anthony. Help me in my present affliction. I recommend that which I have lost to thy care, in the secure hope that thou wilt restore it to me, if it be to the greater glory of God and to the spiritual benefit of my soul. I pray too that I may praise and thank thee, in time and eternity, for thy glorious intercession on my behalf. Amen
The Praises of Mary “Assumption” Poem by Saint Anthony
O how wondrous is the dignity of the glorious Virgin! She merited to become the mother of Him who is the strength and beauty of the Angels and the grandeur of all the Saints.
Mary was the seat of our sanctification, that is to say, the dwelling place of the Son Who sacrificed Himself for us.
“And I shall glorify the place where my feet have stood.” The feet of the Saviour signify His human nature. The place where the feet of the Saviour stood was the Blessed Mary, who gave Him His human nature.
Today the Lord glorifies that place, since He has exalted Mary above the choirs of the Angels. That is to say, the Blessed Virgin, who was the dwelling of the Saviour, has been assumed bodily into Heaven.
Mary, our Queen and Mother of Mercy By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Evangelical Doctor of the Church
Mary, our Queen! Holy Mother of God, we beg you to hear our prayer. Make our hearts overflow with Divine grace and resplendent with heavenly wisdom. Render them strong with your might and rich in virtue. Pour down upon us the gift of mercy so that we may obtain the pardon of our sins. Help us to live in such a way as to merit the glory and bliss of Heaven. May this be granted us, by your Son Jesus Who has exalted you above the Angels, has crowned you as Queen and has seated you with Himself forever, on his refulgent throne. Amen.
O God, Send Forth Your Holy Spirit By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
O God, send forth Your Holy Spirit into my heart that I may perceive, into my mind, that I may remember, and into my soul, that I may meditate. Inspire me to speak with piety, holiness, tenderness and mercy. Teach, guide and direct my thoughts and senses, from beginning to end. May Your grace, ever help and correct me, and may I be strengthened now with wisdom from on high, for the sake of Your infinite mercy. Amen
Saint of the Day – 26 July – St Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grandmother of Jesus. The name Anne from the Hebrew commonly believed to mean “grace” but St Augustine says (City of God) that it in fact means ,“by the grace of God.” Patronages – against poverty, against sterility or infertility, broommakers, cabinetmakers, carpenters,of childless couples, equestrians, expectant mothers and mothers, childbirth, grandmothers, grandparents, housewives, lace makers, lost articles, miners, old-clothes dealers, the poor,, seamstresses, stablemen, turners, Canada, France, Micmaqs, 4 Diocese, 18 Cities.
St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary By Fr Francis Xavier Weninger SJ (1805-1888)
St Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin, was a native of Bethlehem, a City two miles distant from Jerusalem, frequently mentioned in Holy Writ. Having passed her youth in unstained purity, she was married to a man named Joachim, who was born at Nazareth in Galilee, with whom she lived in such love and harmony and, at the same time, so piously, that one could justly say of them, what St. Luke writes of Zachary and Elizabeth: “They were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame.” They divided their income into three parts, the first of which was used for the honour of God and to adorn the Temple, the second to assist the poor and the third, for their own subsistence. They employed the day in prayer, work suitable to their station in life and charitable deeds.
Their only grief was, that, although so long married, they had no issue and a barren marriage was, at that time, considered a disgrace, nay almost a sign of a Divine curse. Saddened by this sorrow, St Anne, as well as her spouse, prayed with many sighs and tears, that God would take pity on them and remove the disgrace that was weighing them down. But when, after having prayed long and earnestly, they were not heard, they determined to bear patiently the will of the Almighty. As, however, St Anne knew that God required continual prayer and ,that He had not given to men a certain time to ask for grace, she ceased not to implore eaven with great confidence, for all that she believed was for His honour and her own salvation .
Being one day in the Temple, she felt her distress so deeply, that she wept bitterly,but she remembered, at the same time, that there had been another Anne, spouse of Elcana, who had been afflicted as she was but whose prayers, God at last had answered, making her the mother of the great prophet Samuel. While thinking of this, she perceived in herself, an invincible desire to beg the Lord for a like grace. Hence, she repeated her prayer with earnest fervour, promising, at the same time, that if God would grant her a child, she would consecrate it in the Temple, to His Divine service, as the above-mentioned Anne had done.
God answered the trusting, tearful prayer of His servant,and sent her, according to the opinion of the Holy Fathers, an Angel, who announced to her that she would give birth to a child who blessed among women, would become the Mother of the long expected Saviour of the world. It is also believed, that the Angel told St Anne the name which she should give to the blessed fruit of her womb. The same revelation was made to St Joachim and the happiness of both and their gratitude to the Almighty, can be easily imagined. Their happiness was crowned when St Anne gave birth to her, who was elected by God from all eternity, to become the Mother of His Only Son.
Who can describe the joy with which Anne pressed her newborn child to her heart, or the solicitude and love with which she brought it up? The knowledge that her blessed daughter was chosen by God to so great a dignity, was incentive enough, to leave nothing undone for her welfare. The mind of the blessed child was so far beyond her years and her whole being, so angelically innocent, that her education was an easy task and St Anne deemed herself, the happiest mother in the world because God had entrusted to her, so priceless a child. The graces which, through the presence of the Blessed Virgin, she received from Heaven, cannot but have been innumerable . For if, in after times, the house of Elizabeth and Zachary was, by a visit from Mary, filled with Heavenly blessings, who can doubt, that St Anne, who was the mother of the Blessed Virgin, was gifted with extraordinary graces?
Knowing, however, that Mary was not only a precious treasure lent her by Heaven but also, had consecrated herself to the service of the Almighty, St Anne did not fail to return to God, what she had received from Him and to offer willingly, what she had so willingly promised. Hardly had Mary reached the age of three years, when Anne and Joachim went with her to the temple at Jerusalem and presenting her to the Priest, consecrated her through him to the Almighty. Nothing could have been more painful to the pious parents than to separate from so perfect a child but, as they were more zealous for the glory of God, than for their own joy, even though it was so pious, they made this sacrifice without complaining. Thus Mary was received among the number of those who, under the direction of the priests, served God in the Temple and were led in the path of virtue.
After they had piously offered this agreeable sacrifice, the parents of the Blessed Virgin returned home and spent the remainder of their days in good works, which were continued by St Anne, when she became a widow by the death of her holy spouse. As she had been an example to the virgins, before her marriage, as well as a perfect model of a wife, so also was she, in her widowhood, a shining light, for all those qualities which St Paul,afterwards required of a Christian widow, in his first Epistle to Timothy. She went frequently to Jerusalem to see her holy daughter and died, according to several authors, in the 79th year of her age. Mary, who at that time still lived in the temple, closed her eyes.
As one cannot give to the Blessed Virgin a higher title than to call her, Mother of God, thus St Anne, cannot be more exalted, than when she is called the mother of her, who bore the Son of God. And for the very reason, that she was chosen to be her mother, we must believe, that the Almighty favoured her here upon earth, with grace above all the Saints and raised her to high glory in Heaven. Hence we may rightly suppose, that her intercession with God, is most powerful and this is also testified by many examples.
Saint of the Day – 13 June – St Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Evangelical Doctor – Hammer of Heretics – Professor of Miracles – Wonder-Worker – Ark of the Testament – Repository of Holy Scripture.
St Anthony of Padua is one of the most famous disciples of St Francis of Assisi. He was a famous preacher and worker of miracles in his own day and throughout the eight centuries since his death, he has so generously come to the assistance of the faithful who invoke him, that he is known throughout the world amongst many who are not Catholics too.
The gospel call to leave everything and follow Christ was the rule of Anthony’s life. Over and over again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrifice to serve his Lord Jesus more completely.
His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon, giving up a future of wealth and power to be a servant of God. Later when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News.
So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal.
He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.
The call of God came again at an ordination where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity and obedience had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.
Recognised as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology to convert and reassure those who had been misled by their denial of Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments..
The number of those who came to hear him was sometimes so great that no church was large enough to accommodate and so he had to preach in the open air. Frequently St Anthony wrought veritable miracles of conversion. Deadly enemies were reconciled. Thieves and usurers made restitution. Calumniators and detractors recanted and apologised. He was so energetic in defending the truths of the Catholic Faith that many heretics returned to the Church. This occasioned the epitaph given him by Pope Gregory IX “the ark of the covenant.”
In all his labours he never forgot the admonition of his spiritual father, St Francis, that the spirit of prayer must not be extinguished. If he spent the day in teaching and heard the confession of sinners till late in the evening, then many hours of the night were spent in intimate union with God before the Blessed Sacrament.
After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231 Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death. After receiving the last sacraments he kept looking upward with a smile on his countenance. When he was asked what he saw there, he answered: “I see my Lord.” He breathed forth his soul on 13 June 1231 being only thirty six years old. Soon the children in the streets of the city of Padua were crying: “The saint is dead, Anthony is dead.”
Once a man, at whose home St Anthony was spending the night, came upon the saint and found him, in ecstasy, holding in his arms the Child Jesus, unspeakably beautiful and surrounded with heavenly light. For this reason St Anthony is often depicted holding the Child Jesus.
Saint of the Day – 27 September – St Vincent de Paul CM (1581-1660) Confessor, known as the “Great Apostle of Trumpets” – Priest, Founder, Apostle of Charity, Doctor of Canon Law, Reformer of Society and Priests, founder of Hospital and Orphanages. Born on 24 April 1581 near Ranquine, Gascony near Dax, southwest France – the Town is now known as Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Landes, France and died on 27 September 1660 at Paris, France of natural causes. His body was found incorrupt when exhumed in 1712 and the incorrupt heart is displayed in a reliquary in the Chapel of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Paris. St Vincent was Beatified on 13 August 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII and Canonised on 16 June 1737 by Pope Clement XII. Patronages – lepers; against leprosy, all charitable societies (given on 12 May 1885 by Pope Leo XIII), charitable workers; volunteers, horses, hospital workers, hospitals, lost articles, prisoners, for spiritual help, Madagascar, Brothers of Charity, Richmond, Virginia, diocese of, Saint Vincent de Paul Societies, Sisters of Charity, Vincentian Service Corps. Attributes – 16th century cleric performing some act of charity, cleric carrying an infant, priest surrounded by the Sisters of Charity, cannon ball and sword (referring to prisoners of war he ransomed).
St Vincent was born of poor parents in the village of Pouy in Gascony, France, about 1580. He enjoyed his first schooling under the Franciscan Fathers at Acqs. Such had been his progress in four years that a gentleman chose him as subpreceptor to his children and he was thus enabled to continue his studies without being a burden to his parents.
In 1596, he went to the University of Toulouse for theological studies, and there he was ordained priest in 1600.
In 1605, on a voyage by sea from Marseilles to Narbonne, he fell into the hands of African pirates and was carried as a slave to Tunis. His captivity lasted about two years, until Divine Providence enabled him to effect his escape.
After a brief visit to Rome he returned to France, where he became preceptor in the family of Emmanuel de Gondy, Count of Goigny, and General of the galleys of France. In 1617, he began to preach missions, and in 1625, he lay the foundations of a congregation which afterward became the Congregation of the Mission or Lazarists, so named on account of the Priory of St. Lazarus, which the Fathers began to occupy in 1633.
The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.
The Countess de Gondi–whose servant he had helped–persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the works of this servant of God. Charity was his predominant virtue. It extended to all classes of persons, from forsaken childhood to old age. The Sisters of Charity also owe the foundation of their congregation to St. Vincent. In the midst of the most distracting occupations his soul was always intimately united with God. Though honoured by the great ones of the world, he remained deeply rooted in humility. The Apostle of Charity, the immortal Vincent de Paul, breathed his last in Paris at the age of eighty in 1660.
St Vincent De Paul is among the Incorruptibles. The Incorruptibles are Catholic Saints who’s bodies show no decay after their death. The Incorruptibles are a consoling sign of Christ’s victory over death, a confirmation of the dogma of the Resurrection of the Body, a sign that the Saints are still with us in the Mystical Body of Christ, as well as a proof of the truth of the Catholic Faith – for only in the Catholic Church do we find this phenomenon.
Saint of the Day – 13 June – St Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Evangelical Doctor – KNOWN AS THE Hammer of Heretics – Professor of Miracles – Wonder-Worker – Ark of the Testament – Repository of Holy Scripture (1195 at Lisbon, Portugal – 13 June 1231 of natural causes). Religious Priest and Friar of the Franciscan Order, Evangelist, Preacher, Teacher, Apostle of Charity, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist, Scriptural expert, Miracle Worker, Teacher, Confessor, Defender of the Faith. He was buried on the Tuesday following his death in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Padua, Italy and legend says that all the sick who visited his new grave were healed. Also known as St Anthony of Lisbon.Patronages – against sterility, against shipwreck, against starvation, American Indians, amputees, animals – both wild and domestic, asses, mariners, elderly people, expectant mothers, for faith in the Blessed Sacrament, fishermen, for good harvests, horses, lost articles, seekers of lost articles, posted articles, oppressed people, poor people, swineherds, travel guides, travellers, Brazil, Portugal, Tigua Indians, 4 Diocese, 17 Cities.
St Anthony of Padua/Lisbon, was a Portuguese Priest and Friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal and died in Padua, Italy. Noted by his contemporaries for his forceful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most-quickly Canonised Saints in Church history. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII on 16 January 1946.
St. Anthony’s Youth & Conversion
St Anthony was born in the year 1195at Lisbon (Portugal) where his father was a captain in the royal army. Already at the age of fifteen years, he had entered the Congregation of Canons Regular of St Augustine and devoted himself with great earnestness both to study and to the practice of piety in the Monastery at Coimbra (Portugal).
About that time some of the first members of the Order of Friars Minor, which St. Francis has founded in 1206 came to Coimbra. They begged from the Canons Regular a small and very poor place, from which by their evangelical poverty and simplicity they edified everyone in the region. Then in 1219 some of these friars, moved by divine inspiration, went as missionaries to preach the Gospel of Christ to the inhabitants of Morocco. There they were brutally martyred for the Faith. Some Christian merchants succeeded in recovering their remains and so brought their relics in triumph back to Coimbra. The relics of St Bernard and companions, the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order, seized St. Anthony with an intense desire to suffer martyrdom in a like manner. So moved by their heroic example he repeatedly begged and petitioned his superiors to be given leave to join the Franciscan Order. In the quiet little Franciscan convent at Coimbra he received a friendly reception and in the same year his earnest wish to be sent to the missions in Africa was fulfilled.
St Anthony’s Arrival in Italy
But God had decreed otherwise. And so, St Anthony scarcely set foot on African soil when he was seized with a grievous illness. Even after recovering from it, he was so weak that, resigning himself to the will of God, he boarded a boat back to Portugal. Unexpectedly a storm came upon them and drove the ship to the east where it found refuge on coast of Sicily. St Anthony was greeted and given shelter by the Franciscans of that island and thus came to be sent to Assisi, where the general chapter of the Order was held in May, 1221. Since he still looked weak and sickly,and gave no evidence of his scholarship, no one paid any attention to the stranger until Father Gratian, the Provincial of friars living in the region of Romagna (Italy), had compassion on him and sent him to the quiet little convent near Forli (also in Italy). There St Anthony remained nine months as chaplain to the hermits, occupied in the lowliest duties of the kitchen and convent and to his heart’s content he practiced interior as well as exterior mortification.
St Anthony, Preacher and Teacher
But the hidden jewel was soon to appear in all its brilliance. For the occasion of a ceremony of ordination some of the hermits along with St Anthony were sent to the town of Forli. Before the ceremony was to begin, however, it was announced that the priest who was to give the sermon had fallen sick. The local superior, to avert the embarrassment of the moment, quickly asked the friars in attendance to volunteer. Each excused himself, saying that he was not prepared, until finally, St Anthony was asked to give it. When he too, excused himself in a most humble manner, his superior ordered him by virtue of the vow of obedience to give the sermon. St Anthony began to speak in a very reserved manner; but soon holy animation seized him and he spoke with such eloquence, learning and unction that everybody was fairly amazed.
When St Francis was informed of the event, he gave St Anthony the mission to preach throughout Italy. At the request of the brethren, St. Anthony was later commissioned also to teach theology, “but in such a manner,” St Francis distinctly wrote, ” that the spirit of prayer be not extinguished either in yourself or in the other brethren.” St Anthony himself placed greater value in the salvation of souls than on learning. For that reason he never ceased to exercise his office as preacher despite his work of teaching.
The number of those who came to hear him was sometimes so great that no church was large enough to accommodate and so he had to preach in the open air. Frequently St. Anthony wrought veritable miracles of conversion. Deadly enemies were reconciled. Thieves and usurers made restitution. Calumniators and detractors recanted and apologised. He was so energetic in defending the truths of the Catholic Faith that many heretics returned to the Church. This occasioned the epitaph given him by Pope Gregory IX “the ark of the covenant.”
In all his labours he never forgot the admonition of his spiritual father, St Francis, that the spirit of prayer must not be extinguished. If he spent the day in teaching and heard the confession of sinners till late in the evening, then many hours of the night were spent in intimate union with God.
Once a man, at whose home St Anthony was spending the night, came upon the saint and found him holding in his arms the Child Jesus, unspeakably beautiful and surrounded with heavenly light. For this reason St. Anthony is often depicted holding the Child Jesus.
St Anthony’s Death
In 1227 St Anthony was elected Minister Provincial of the friars living in northern Italy. Thus he resumed the work of preaching. Due to his taxing labours and his austere penance, he soon felt his strength so spent that he prepared himself for death. After receiving the last sacraments he kept looking upward with a smile on his countenance. When he was asked what he saw there, he answered: “I see my Lord.”He breathed forth his soul on June 13, 1231 A. D., being only thirty six year old. Soon the children in the streets of the city of Padua were crying: “The saint is dead, Anthony is dead.” Anthony is buried in a chapel within the large basilica built to honour him, where his tongue is displayed for veneration in a large reliquary. For, when his body was exhumed thirty years after his death, it was claimed that the tongue glistened and looked as if it was still alive and moist; apparently a further claim was made that this was a sign of his gift of preaching.
Pope Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints in the very next year. At Padua, a magnificent basilica was built in his honour, his holy relics were entombed there in 1263. From the time of his death up to the present day, countless miracles have occurred through St. Anthony’s intercession, so that he is known as the Wonder-Worker. In 1946 St Anthony was declared a Doctor of the Church.
Basilica of St Anthony in Padua
Why do we ask St Anthony to help us find lost things?
St. Anthony had a book of psalms that was quite special to him. It was special because in those days before the printing press, books were rare and expensive. But it was also special because it contained many notes Anthony had made to help him in his preaching and teaching.
Late one night, a young Franciscan decided to leave the community. He’d had enough of that life, so he made plans to just sneak out in the middle of the night. He saw Anthony’s book of psalms on his way out and he snatched it up and ran. He knew that he could sell this precious book for a good deal of money.
Of course, Anthony was quite upset. He prayed that God would change the young man’s heart and bring him back to the Franciscan life. He also hoped that while God was at it, he would return Anthony’s book too. The next day, the young man returned, tired and ashamed, with Anthony’s book. He also brought back his own gifts and talents, which he decided once more to offer to the Franciscan community.
So that’s why we like to ask St Anthony to help us find lost things. He was an extraordinary man who can still help us from heaven, even in the most ordinary ways.
Saint of the Day – 27 April – St Zita of Lucca (1212-1272) Virgin, Apostle of the needy and poor. Also know as Cita, Sita, Citha, Sitha. P atronages – housewives, butlers, housemaid, domestic servants (proclaimed by Pope Pius XII), housemaid, lost keys, maids, manservants, people ridiculed for their piety,rape victims, servants, servers, single laywomen, waiters, Lucca, Italy. Her body is incorrupt.
Saint Zita was born in Tuscany in the village of Monsagrati, not far from Lucca where, at the age of 12 she became a servant in the Fatinelli household. For a long time, she was unjustly despised, overburdened, reviled and often beaten by her employers and fellow servants for her hard work and obvious goodness. The incessant ill-usage, however, was powerless to deprive her of her inward peace, her love of those who wronged her, and her respect for her employers. By this meek and humble self-restraint, Zita at last succeeded in overcoming the malice of her fellow-servants and her employers, so much so that she was placed in charge of all the affairs of the house. Her faith had enabled her to persevere against their abuse and her constant piety gradually moved the family to a religious awakening.
Zita often said to others that devotion is false if slothful. She considered her work as an employment assigned to her by God and as part of her penance and obeyed her master and mistress in all things as being placed over her by God. She always rose several hours before the rest of the family and employed in prayer a considerable part of the time which others gave to sleep. She took care to hear Mass every morning with great devotion before she was called upon by the duties of her station, in which she employed the whole day, with such diligence and fidelity that she seemed to be carried to them on wings and studied when possible to anticipate them.
One anecdote relates a story of Zita giving her own food or that of her master to the poor. On one morning, Zita left her chore of baking bread to tend to someone in need. Some of the other servants ensured the Fatinelli family was aware of what happened; when they went to investigate, they claimed to have found angels in the Fatinelli kitchen, baking the bread for her. St. Benita Zita died peacefully in the Fatinelli house on April 27, 1272. It is said that a star appeared above the attic where she slept at the moment of her death. She was 60 years old and had served and edified the family for 48 years. By her death, she was practically venerated by the family. After one hundred and fifty miracles wrought in the behalf of such as had recourse to her intercession were juridically proven, she was canonised in 1696.
Her body was exhumed in 1580, discovered to be incorrupt St Zita’s body is currently on display for public veneration in the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca.
To this day, families bake a loaf of bread in celebration of St. Zita’s feast day. Soon after Zita’s death a popular cult grew up around her, centring on the church of St Frigidian in Lucca. This was also joined by prominent members of the city. Pope Leo X sanctioned a liturgical cult within the church in the early 16th century, and was confirmed upon her canonisation. In 1748, Pope Benedict XIV added her name to the Roman Martyrology.
During the late medieval era, her popular cult had grown throughout Europe. In England she was known under the name Sitha and was popularly invoked by maidservants and housewives, particularly in event of having lost one’s keys, or when crossing rivers or bridges. Images of St. Zita may be seen in churches across the south of England. The church of St Benet Sherehog in London had a chapel dedicated to her,and was locally known as St. Sithes.
Saint of the Day – 9 April – Blessed Antony of Pavon OP (1326-1374) Priest and Marty, Friar of the Order of Preachers, Inquisitor-General in Lombardy, Prior. Patronage – of lost articles. Beatified on 4 December 1856 by Pope Pius IX.
BLESSED ANTONY was born about the year 1326 of the noble Piedmontese family of the Pavoni. His father was at the head of a school of music; he also held some important municipal offices in the town of Savigliano. After a childhood of great promise, Antony, at the age of fifteen, received the Dominican habit. His extraordinary learning, his eloquence, his practical talents for government and, most of all, the sanctity of his life, caused him to be raised to important offices; and, after the martyrdom of Blessed Peter Ruffia, he was appointed his successor as Inquisitor-General in Piedmont, Upper Lombardy and the Genoese territory, then much infected by the Waldensian heresy. Being made Prior of Savigliano in the year 1368, he undertook the rebuilding of his Convent on so noble a scale that Provincial Chapters,and even a General Chapter, were subsequently held there.
The indefatigable labours of Blessed Antony for the conversion of the heretics rendered him an object of hatred in their eyes, and they determined to rid themselves of so formidable an enemy. The holy man had long prayed that the grace of martyrdom might be vouchsafed to him, and God revealed to him the day and hour of his death. Transported with joy, he thenceforth had continually on his lips the words of the Psalmist, “I have rejoiced at the things that are said unto me; we will go into the house of the Lord.” Regardless of the threats of the heretics, he persevered with renewed zeal in his apostolic labours, patiently awaiting the accomplishment of the Divine will.
On the eve of his death, he went, radiant with joy, to a barber of Bricherasio, in which town he was then preaching and bade him shave him well, “for,” said he, “I am invited to a wedding.” “That cannot be,” replied the man; “all the news of the town comes to my shop and if a wedding had been in preparation, I should certainly have heard of it.” “Believe me,” answered Blessed Antony, “I am telling you the truth.”
The following day, being Low Sunday, April 9, A.D. 1374, after a night spent in prayer, the holy man for the last time offered the Holy Sacrifice and preached in refutation of the Waldensian errors. On leaving the church after his thanksgiving, he was attacked by seven armed men, who inflicted many wounds on him and finally hacked his body to pieces, in presence of the weeping multitude, who had not the courage to stop the brutal deed. The sacred remains were brought to the Convent at Savigliano and many miracles were worked at the Martyr’s tomb.
Like his namesake, the glorious Saint Anthony of Padua, Blessed Antony of Pavoni, as the Lessons of his Office in the Dominican Breviary testify, is invoked by the faithful specially for the recovery of things lost. A gentleman of the name of Brian Taparelli, having mislaid a legal document, for lack of which he was exposed to the danger of imprisonment and almost total ruin, made a vow to the holy Martyr, promising to offer a candle of fifty pounds’ weight at his tomb if he recovered the deed. The following night, Blessed Antony appeared to him in his sleep and told him where he would find the missing document.
In the year 1468, Blessed Aimo Taparelli, a kinsman of the gentleman just mentioned, having a great devotion to Blessed Antony, caused his holy relics to be solemnly translated to a more worthy resting-place.
Pius IX. raised both these holy men to the altars of the Church.
Prayer
O God, who, to promote the unity of the faith, didst endow Blessed Antony, Thy Martyr, with invincible fortitude of soul, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so follow in his footsteps as to attain the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
AnaStpaul 
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