I am a 75 year old nun and prefer to write anonymously.
In the mid-1940's I and my younger sister and brother were inside our village house sitting on the floor cleaning some uncooked rice. Then we heard the drones of planes in a "dogfight". We stood up and ran to watch near the window. The neighbors who saw us were screaming, telling us to go back inside. Just at that moment a big piece of shrapnel fell through the roof and landed on the place where we were sitting. Some of the rice got stuck on the shrapnel, badly burned.When people rushed in to check on us our parents also arrived from the fields. Daddy who was a devotee of St. Anthony (he named the first son Antonio) exclaimed and proclaimed loudly to all: "St. Anthony saved my children! Look at him, he is just there!" On the wall near to where we were seated was a framed picture of St. Anthony. This incident is a treasured story that is passed on. My brother Antonio's first son has also been named Anthony. So St. Anthony is not only the patron of lost things. Long may his name be honored!
Thank you to Anonymous commenting on The Path Less Taken blog for this wonderful story~ Yes, may Saint Anthony's name be honored!
He is one of the great saints of the Catholic Church, and one of the beloved--even far beyond Catholics themselves. Untold numbers of people turn to him, still, when there is loss. And strangely--at least strangely in the usual ways of the world--those things often quickly turn up. And often they turn up in the most unexpected--even seemingly miraculous ways. Let the stories begin.
