St. Anthony's Favorite Marian Hymn - O Gloriosa Domina

'O Gloriosa Domina' was St. Anthony's favorite hymn to Our Lady. Tradition has it that it was sung by St. Anthony's mother when he was an infant. Saint Anthony, who had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, used it constantly, and was in the act of reciting it at the moment of his death.

O Gloriosa Domina

O glorious Lady, Queen enthroned
Above the stars on high!
Whose sacred bosom's flow has stilled
Your Maker's nursling cry.

What hapless Eve had taken away
Your bounteous womb repaid;
That tearful man may pierce the skies,
Heaven's window were you made.

Fair door of heaven's high King you are!
His gate of glittering light!
Your life a Virgin's bosom gave,
You ransomed tribes, recite.

To You, O Lord, of Virgin born,
And to the Father, praise.
With the all-bounteous Spirit, be
To never ending days. Amen.

And here is the original Latin text of 'O Gloriosa Domina':

O Gloiosa domina
excelsa super sidera,
qui te creavit provide,
lactas sacrato ubere.

Quod Eva tristis abstulit,
tu reddis almo germine;
intrent ut astra flebiles,
sternis benigna semitam.

Quod Eva tristis abstulit,
tu reddis almo germine;
intrent ut astra flebiles,
sternis benigna semitam.

Patri sit Paraclito
tuoque Nato gloria,
qui veste te mirabili
circumdederunt gratiae. Amen.

I Said The Prayer That Mom Used To Say

AJ is my 19 year old son at Marist College in New York who is on spring break. AJ could not find his phone in our house for the last 36 hours, and we were leaving soon. I said the prayer that Mom used to say ( "St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around. Something's been lost and cannot be found"), and within 60 seconds or less it was found. AJ called me and told me he found it buried in the frame of a couch in the cellar in a pocket which catches things an inch above the floor!

Thank you to our blog reader A.L. for sharing his story of St. Anthony's generous help in finding his son's lost phone. Have a story of Saint Anthony's help of your own to share? Click here to email it to us so we can post it on our blog~

St. Anthony Has Always Been My Friend

From a reader from the U.K. we have the following:

St. Anthony has always - for as long as I can remember - been my friend. I was brought up as a Catholic so I learned about him at school, and he has helped me find virtually everything I have lost. There is a 'knowing' when the object is unrecoverable also. I have talked about him to many friends and relatives who now call on his services! Sometimes I don't have to ask and I walk straight to the place where the object is situated.
I used to skydive at a dropzone in Kent in the 80's. I was an advanced skydiver and we used to pack our own parachutes on the grass. The packing area was vast, you could use any part of a large field. One day I was packing and found next to me - in the green grass - a dark green pen with St. Anthony of Padua written on it! It still makes my heart connect to something unimaginably beautiful when I think about it.
Was this coincidental? No one that I know on that drop zone was religious, and why did I find it? He continues to connect and help me in so many ways - there is a great and abiding love that links us all, and this is a very, very special link.

Thank you A.M.W. for your beautiful insights into your relationship with St. Anthony of Padua~

A Child Of Our Own One Day

St.Anthony has answered our prayers by bringing us our first child this year, 2013. It was a difficult journey, but with your guidance we knew that we would have a child of our own one day. Your presence was always felt throughout the year, and we could feel your love constantly. We knew there was something special the day we received our 'Messenger' magazine with a mother and child on the cover, only to find out a few hours later that we were expecting a child of our own. Thank you for answering our prayers, and please remain by our side as we raise this child to love and honour you.

Thank you Shrine Of St. Anthony for your prayers and for printing answered prayers - the stories give us faith and hope to pray for the intersession of Good St. Anthony~

St. Anthony Sermon - The Forty-Day Fast Of Jesus

The forty-day fast of Jesus Christ teaches us how we may make satisfaction for our sins, and how we may work so as not to receive the grace of God in vain. As the Apostle says in the Epistle:
"We exhort you that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he(i.e. the Lord, in Isaiah) said: In an accepted time have I heard you and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." [2Cor 6.1-2; Is 49.8]
He receives the grace of God in vain, who does not live according to the grace he has been given. He receives the grace of God in vain, who imagines that the grace freely given him is due to his own merits; he receives in vain, who after confessing his guilt in the acceptable time, the day of salvation, refuses to do penance for his sins.

May all of our readers have a blessed and fruitful Lent~