Wednesday, March 21, 2018

I Was Distraught

Yesterday, I realized that the ring belonging to my grandmother (that my oldest sister had given to me nine years ago), was missing. The last time I had seen it was about three days ago when it was on the top of my dresser with my watch and wedding set.
My husband and I stripped out the bedroom, moved furniture, cleaned out every drawer, stripped the bed, and checked trash cans in the house, as well as searching throughout the house. I texted our daughters and asked them to pray for help to find the ring.
The ring is more than a piece of jewelry; it is almost one hundred years old, the only remaining piece of my grandmother’s. I am third generation Elizabeth and it is to be passed down to my daughter Heather Elizabeth and her daughter Elizabeth. I was distraught. I didn’t know how I was going to tell my sister that I had lost this heirloom which was very dear to her, which she herself had worn for more than fifty years.
After searching and researching, crying and praying, by night time I was exhausted. Using my cell phone I began researching prayers to help find lost articles. One of the websites I found was this one. I prayed to God and to St. Anthony repeating the prayers and searching one last time. My husband did his best to comfort me and prayed as well knowing how precious the ring is to me. We went to bed and I prayed until I fell asleep. I awoke at 3:44 in the morning and prayed until I fell asleep again.
The garbage man comes tomorrow and it was nagging at me to go through the trash to be sure the ring is not in it. I know that I have been lax recently in my prayers and also taking the initiative and doing my best to evangelize my oldest sister. In reading your website I realized that God will help (perhaps through St. Anthony) as is His will, that the ring may never be found. Also, that I need to make a stronger commitment to God. So this morning I did a brief check for the ring and began my research to write a paper to help convince my sister that Jesus was not just a good man; that she must accept him as part of the Triune God. After downloading many sources to help with my persuasive paper my daughter called and said that she and my granddaughter were praying and that she had a feeling I would find the ring. The nagging feeling to go through the garbage in the large containers outside would not go away. I decided to put my research aside for awhile and go through the garbage before the bins would be put on the road for pickup.
I headed outside and began with the recycling trash. Taking pieces out of one bag and putting them in another my search began. Halfway through the bag I could not believe what was sitting atop some soiled tissues. The ring! I instantly picked it up crying, “Thank you God” all the way into the house. My husband came running and I begged him to tell me it was real. He affirmed that God had answered my prayers.
Now that I have said my prayers of thanksgiving to God and St. Anthony and my witnessing to you, I will be going back to my research and writing the paper to my sister.
To quote our priests: “God is good all the time! All the time God is good!”
God bless you and thank you for providing this website and blog. ~Elizabeth L.

Thank you so much Elizabeth L. for your wonderful story of a miraculous find, thanks to the intercession of Good Saint Anthony. Have a story of your own to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

St. Anthony’s Relics Visit South Carolina (USA) 2018



From April 6th. to 15th., 2018, two precious relics of Saint Anthony from the Basilica in Padua will visit the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Fr. Maistrello, a friar from the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, Italy, will be Saint Anthony's companion during this journey. The relics will tour throughout the State and will touch the following deaneries: Aiken, Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach and Rock Hill.
One of these reliquaries contains the Saint’s floating rib. This is the very same reliquary had been kissed by Sister Lucia of Fatima when it was taken to the nuns at the Monastery of Carmelite sisters in Coimbra, Portugal, in January 1995, during the commemorations for the 800th anniversary of St. Anthony's birth. 

Please join with all for reflection and prayer in unity and celebration. Be assured that your spirit will be elevated and your personal devotion will be enhanced. Together, all will reinforce the bond which unifies us as Saint Anthony’s family. Peace and all good~

Please click schedule for larger size




Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Say A Prayer To St. Anthony

I had just thanked St. Anthony for his intercession in a situation a few years ago, when I discovered your blog, so I thought I might share it:

My wife and I had just moved to a new apartment, and many of our non-essential clothing items were still packed in boxes or bags in a closet. We were to attend an event, and she owned only one particular sweater that was compatible with her dress. I found her in a frenzy, amid a pile of displaced clothing in a closet, desperately searching for a sweater that we may have lost. In an attempt to calm her, and knowing full well that I've never found anything she couldn't, I asked to trade places, which we did. While digging through the same pile, although not precisely knowing what to look for, the words of my fifth grade teacher, Sr. Mary Potter, flashed in my mind, the words we'd hear if we'd lost so much as a pencil: "Say a prayer to St. Anthony." Which is exactly what I said in this situation. Now, my wife didn't know much about the Catholic faith until she married me, but she is a very faithful person, and prayed as I instructed her, very briefly. When she finished, I was holding her sweater in front of her. "See how that works?", I asked with a proudish laugh, but I'm sure I was more astonished than she was! She'd pulled out every article item by item, and I'd tossed through each pile at least twice. At the very moment we'd each invoked St. Anthony's name, I was up to my elbow, and pinched a corner of fabric at the bottom. As my wife was praying to him for the first time, I was pulling out the lost item, and had it before she was done!
This was a missing sweater. It wasn't a lost pet, lost child, or a lost pencil in Sr. Mary Potter's class, but it was my wife's first true introduction to the intercession of saints, and for that, and so much more, I thank St. Anthony! (I just wanted to share. Glad I found your blog, and I look forward to following. St. Anthony, pray for us!)

Thank you so much S.D. for sharing your wonderful story of how St. Anthony helped you and your wife find - a lost object, and the beginning of faith in St. Anthony's intercession. St. Anthony is still evangelizing people with answered prayers, with the help of those who know of his intercession and are willing to teach others about it~
Have a St. Anthony story of your own to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~