Several years back, when my daughter was quite young she got it into her head to attempt "to grow diamonds" by planting my wife's wedding ring into a potted plant. Once my wife discovered it was missing she questioned her, but she had simply forgotten about it. Weeks went by and my wife turned the house upside down looking for it, she was distraught after five or six weeks of looking before she finally broke down in tears revealing it to me. I tried consoling her, assuring her that ring was simply symbolic and could be replaced. Later on, I suggested; Why not try saying a prayer to St. Anthony...What have you got to lose? She did so that night. The very next day she was unable to find her watering can for the houseplants which she had been watering daily, so instead she used an empty ice-cream pail...the first plant she watered, the water came out quicker than she expected making a large hole in the dirt, as the water dissipated into the soil the wedding ring rose to the top of the surface revealing itself.
Now I can fully understand the skeptic considering this nothing but coincidence, but for the believer the results were profound.
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.
