This was a story related to me by a friend who personally experienced it herself. My friend had gone on a pilgrimage tour of Italy over the summer this year including a stop at Padova. There was an elderly Chinese lady on the tour who couldn’t read or speak English. She had bought a souvenir from one of the stores, a folding fan with an image of St. Anthony and the baby Jesus. Then the tour left Padova and the group had stopped at Florence. At one point in Florence, the tour guide had led the group to some stores and the poor elderly lady went missing from the group. Someone noticed that she was missing and volunteered to stay back in case she showed up. The rest of the group went to the main Basilica in Florence for Mass, which was quite a distance away from the shops. After an hour, when the elderly lady didn’t show up at the store, the volunteer had also headed for the Basilica to join the group. Just as Mass started, suddenly the doors opened, and lo...the elderly Chinese lady showed up walking up the aisle to join the Mass on time.
After Mass, the group asked the elderly lady, how did she find her way to the Basilica? It wasn’t explicitly on the itinerary and she couldn’t read or speak English. How did she find her way to the Basilica which was quite a distance away from the shops? So she explained to my friend in Chinese, that she realized she had parted from the tour group and was afraid as she couldn’t communicate in English or Italian. But she saw a young Asian man standing nearby and approached him thinking he was Chinese. He turned out to be Japanese and didn’t understand what she was saying. She then took out the folding fan with the picture of Saint Anthony which she bought in Padova and showed the young man. For some reason, he understood she was lost, and led her to the main Basilica - why ? she didn’t know. But as soon as she entered, she saw the tour group and was relieved. Everyone was also happy to see that she had found them - it is true that St. Anthony guides those who are lost.
Thank you so much N.L. for your great Saint Anthony story. Have a story of your own you would like to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~
