In An Unexpected Place

I have a thick gold bracelet with diamonds embedded in it, which I usually wear on special occasions because it is very expensive. Yesterday, I was looking at my jewelry box to see if I could wear something nice and noticed that this bracelet was missing. I looked through my drawers a few times but couldn't remember the last time I wore the bracelet or where I might have kept it. Last night, before going to sleep, I prayed the Rosary, especially to find my bracelet and also prayed to St. Anthony as he has helped me find my lost things before. I was anxious and nervous at the same time because I was scared that I had lost it somewhere outside or it might have been stolen by my helpers at home, knowing that it was an expensive jewelry piece. I prayed to Mother Mary and St. Anthony throughout the night and this morning. Around the afternoon, I had the urge to check my wardrobe, so I decided to go through my clothes. While checking through my last set of clothes and almost in tears for losing my jewelry but still chanting: "St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please turn around; something is misplaced and must be found", my bracelet fell on the ground from one of my clothing. I immediately looked at the fallen jewelry, held it in my hands, and I cried. I thanked Mother Mary and St. Anthony for this miracle because I don't remember placing my bracelet between my clothes; I always keep them in their boxes in my drawers when I am not wearing them. Mother Mary and St. Anthony answered my prayers within 24 hours and helped me find my bracelet in an unexpected place. 

Thank you D.T. for your faith-filled story of prayers answered through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Good St. Anthony. Have a St. Anthony story of your own to share? Email it to us and we will post it on the blog~

This Is Nothing Short Of A Miracle

Dear Saint Anthony, I spent many days looking for my sons expensive watch and when I had given up hope of finding it I decided to pray to you. I prayed for guidance to find this watch. When the handyman came the following morning I told him about this. He asked me if I looked properly, I said yes. But something made him pull the drawer out, and the watch was there, fallen from the drawer to a tiny space outside the drawer. This is nothing short of a miracle. Dear St. Anthony, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful favor. I will be ever grateful to thee.

Thank you P.S. for your amazing story of St. Anthony’s help in finding your son’s watch. If you have a story of St. Anthony’s assistance in your life, email it to us and we will post it on the blog~

All Souls Day 2021

On All Souls Day, November 2nd at 6.00 pm (CET) the Friars of the Basilica of Saint Anthony, in Padua, Italy, will celebrate a Mass of suffrage for our departed loved ones. You are invited to write a prayer in memory of your loved ones: at the end of the Holy Mass they will place your prayer intentions at the Tomb of Saint Anthony. To follow the live broadcast of the Holy Mass, go to the Friar’s Facebook page at 6.00 pm (CET), it will be like being with the Friars in the Basilica. To connect with the Friars website go to allsoulsday.santantonio.org where you can write down your personal Prayer, light a virtual Candle in memory of your dearly departed and create a personalized Prayer Card with the name of a loved one you would like to entrust to our dear Saint Anthony~

Left The Catholic Faith?

Do you have family or friends who have left the Catholic Faith? You can ask Saint Anthony of Padua, patron of lost items, to help find your "lost sheep" and bring them back home to Holy Mother Church. Click this link to have your prayer intentions taken to Saint Anthony's tomb in Padua, Italy~

Savior Seeking To Save The Lost

When you give presents to the people you love, remember that the giving of gifts is not a human invention. God started it all when he gave us the priceless gift of His Son in order to save humanity.

Jesus did not come to earth as an explorer or a tourist, nor as an educator or an itinerant preacher. Jesus came as a Savior seeking to save the lost, those who were estranged from God. And we are all lost without God – lost without hope, lost without a future.

It is therefore fitting that we celebrate and rejoice during the Christmas Season because God’s gift means that death no longer has any real power over us, and that our lives have been redeemed.

Saint Anthony of Padua, Patron Saint of the lost, pray for us~

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~

He Has Been A Friend

I live in a house one-half block from our parish church that has a 24-hour perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in which my shift is from 11:00pm to midnight on Wednesdays. I have shifts on other days, usually after midnight, and my neighbors are used to seeing me walk up to the church in those lonely hours. This has been going on since we started Eucharistic adoration eight years ago, so I feel safe that neighbors seem to be looking out for me.
That Wednesday night was no different. It felt safe walking up the street, but when I got into what I thought was an empty Church's parking lot, two strange young men suddenly came at me, I thought they were going to beat me up. They did not, but one of them violently snatched my handbag and both ran away, leaving me quite terrified. I ran to the adoration chapel and frantically knocked at the locked door, screaming for my friend Linda (the 10 o'clock adorer inside) to open up. I told her what happened and she called the police. (I don't know how to use a cell phone and I don't carry one.) When the police came, I described the thugs to them and they asked what my purse contained. There was no money in it, just: My Liturgy of the Hour (Volume 3) book, a very nice rosary in an embroidered silk purse, my reading glasses, my house key, a handkerchief, and a folding umbrella. Nothing that cannot be replaced, but I was scared that if the thugs discovered there was no money in it, they could come back and beat me up. Also, my book has my name and address on its inside cover. I was afraid that with my address and the key, they could come and break into my house. The police told me to give them pictures of things similar to what I lost. I could not pray that night, just knelt there in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Linda stayed with me for the whole hour and later drove me home. When I arrived home, I scoured the internet for similar pictures of my handbag, my breviary, and rosary. It was only then that I remembered to pray to St. Anthony. The next day just as I was leaving my house on my way to the police to give them the pictures, two men knocked on my door and handed me my breviary book. They found it in a garbage can a block from the church. Oh, St. Anthony, who's ever so helpful in finding lost and stolen things! Thank you, thank you!
My handbag, umbrella, and rosary haven't come back, but that's all right. I have other rosaries, bags, and umbrellas. Maybe St. Anthony will find some uses for them, if only for the young thugs to learn a lesson. I just want to thank St. Anthony with all my heart. He has been a friend since childhood and he has never forgotten me, even if I sometimes forgot him and remembered him only when I lost something. Thanks, Ygnacia. God bless you.

And thank you M.P. for your story of trust in Saint Anthony's help. Have a St. Anthony story of your own to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~

All Souls' Day Mass At Basilica Of St. Anthony In Italy, 2016

On November 2^nd.  there will be a Holy Mass at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy, for all of St. Anthony's devotees who are no longer with us. The Franciscan Friars will be praying for them, but also for those who grieve them. If you wish your dear departed to be remembered during the Holy Mass, please click here to write down their names. You may also send your prayer for them and ask for a candle to be lit in their memory. On November 2nd. at 8:15 am CET watch the Mass live stream from Saint Anthony’s Basilica in Padua, Italy. Fr. Giancarlo Zamengo, OFM Conv. shall invoke upon them and upon you our Lord’s blessing.

I Asked This Wonderful Saint

I am from a Muslim family but brought up in the Catholic faith, though not baptized yet and planning to soon. I heard in my childhood years that St. Anthony is the patron of lost and found. So I didn’t invoke him as I remember in my childhood years but now as I am slowly converting, I ask St. Anthony for his favours on behalf of my dad and friends. 
My dad is a tailor, and one day he found a dress missing which belonged to one of his customers and the two of them were frustrated. I asked this wonderful Saint (yes, all saints are wonderful) and the next morning without looking for it, he found it  in front of his eyes. 
And one day my friend had lost his wallet and it was stolen. My friend is a nonbeliever, but this Saint heard my prayers and after a month his wallet was found on the terrace with everything in it except the money. Thanks St. Anthony, Glory be to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Thank you F.B. from India for your story of trust and confidence in St. Anthony's help in you life, and in the life of your family and friends. Saint Anthony truly is a friend in heaven, waiting to help all that ask for his intersession.  We pray that he helps lead you to Baptism and into Holy Mother Church very soon~

Prayer To St. Anthony For Those Who Are Lost On The Way

Good Saint Anthony, you have always reached out with compassion and concern to those who have lost or who have never had any faith. We ask you to please intercede for (name) who has never had the Faith, or who has stopped practicing it. Though your efficacious prayers, may (name) have awaken in their heart a great love for Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Church, and the Holy Sacraments.
Please also, St. Anthony, help me to respond to my own call to continuing conversion, so that I may become an example of one who has found great peace in the arms of Christ. May the joy I experience as a Catholic be an invitation to those who are lost, to come home with love to Holy Mother Church. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

I Too Was Lost

Then last night I decided, for some strange reason to update the SATNAV navigation device for my car, as the last time I used it had problems getting proper directions. Now, I have an absolutely appalling sense of direction and frequently get lost so the SATNAV is a Godsend for me. I left it to my son to do the update while I cooked dinner, but he failed to backup before he started and then discovered afterwards that it would not do anything. As it was late in the evening I took the decision to just leave it to wear it's battery down and try again in the morning.

As I prepared for bed I shot off a quick prayer to St. Anthony to help us fix it. When I arose this morning my son greeted me by waving the SATNAV at me with a grin a mile wide. He had fixed it, I have no idea how and I am not too sure he does, but it works and that is the main point. I thanked him and then as I sat down to breakfast I said a prayer of thanks to St. Anthony. The children looked at me in askance, “You can’t pray to St. Anthony to fix broken things” they said. My reply was that I had and that it had obviously worked, and besides it wasn’t just any old broken thing, without it I was in severe danger of getting lost, them with me too I might add, so therefore my prayer to St. Anthony was totally justified.

They remain unconvinced that it was St. Anthony at work, putting it down to sheer coincidence or luck. I maintain it was prayer and that St Anthony knows that I too was lost, away from God, for a long time, and now as I begin to find my way again, St. Anthony is right here with me.

Thank you to choccat.wordpress.com for a unique take on St. Anthony's assistance~

St. Anthony Helps Find Sobriety

My daughter is one of the most courageous people I know. She has dealt with obsessive/compulsive disorder all of her young life. In her quest to feel normal she turned to drugs and alcohol. In her last incarceration she rediscovered her faith when she was sent a Saint Anthony card and medal. She prayed to be healed and was given the rare chance to enter a faith-based recovery house for a year free of charge.

I now have my precious daughter back and while she continues to fight the demons of addiction, she knows she has Saint Anthony in her corner and claims him as her patron saint. At the age of 28 she has held for two years a highly responsible job as a store supervisor of a major retail chain. They took a chance on her, knowing her history,and now want her to take additional training to become a district manager. Many miracles had to happen in this long process and we attribute them all to the intercession of Saint Anthony to our beloved Lord on her behalf.

St. Anthony Helps Find Lost Souls

Whenever I lost anything as a child, my grandmother would tell me not to worry, just to pray to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, and it would be found. I'd often return to her a half hour later, holding up whatever I lost and she'd say "See? St. Anthony always comes through."

As I grew older, I went to her with other problems. She would still tell me to pray to St. Anthony. I would make a face, caught in the adolescent mire that convinced me my problems were beyond repair. One day after I rolled my eyes at her, my grandmother said to me, her blue eyes tearing up "St. Anthony isn't just for finding lost things. He also deals with lost souls." "Lost souls?" She nodded. "And if he can handle that, I think he can handle just about anything."

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I shut up, stopped rolling my eyes and gave St. Anthony another try, even though my problem du jour seemed insurmountable. It wasn't solved in a half hour or even a day, but I found that prayer and time did heal it. I began to grow up and learn that healing something doesn't always mean that what we're fixated on gets better. Often, we heal when we accept things and move on.

Prayer to St. Anthony is not just for the lost things in my life, but to help me keep my perspective when I face unanswered questions or when I struggle to find words to comfort a friend.

St. Anthony can find anything. Most importantly, for anyone who feels despair, he can even help us find our faith when we think it's lost.

Finding a Ring, Finding a Soul

A thank you to AxxeArp from the Fisheaters Forum for this inspiring story:

6 years ago, my brother and his future wife lived with my grandfather, to keep him company and to make sure he was alright. They would work during the day and had supper with him every night and slept at granddad’s place. (My brother and sister-in-law lived in separate bedrooms, so no lectures please about scandal). At supper time, granddad would talk about the Catholic Faith, and the world and other things, but the thing that most impressed my sister-in-law was grandad’s devotion to St Anthony. Granddad claimed he could find any lost object, no problem, by saying a prayer to St Anthony. My sister-in-law had no religious upbringing. She was never even baptized. Faith seemed to be a strange thing to her, and this idea that you could find lost objects through praying to someone seemed even odder. My sister-in-law though loved my grandfather and the dinner talks. My sister-in-law never had a family life like this. Her family was a wreck, she was actually kicked out of her house for no reason what-so-ever, which is how she ended up living with my granddad. Anyways, the warm Christian atmosphere of my brother and granddad made an impression on her.
Two years later my grandfather passed away and my brother and sister-in-law were married. My brother worked very hard to buy a beautiful engagement ring and a wedding ring. A few months after the wedding, my sister-in-law lost her engagement / wedding ring! She was devastated. She lost it at work, and she searched everywhere but could not find it. She was in tears and panicked. After about a week, she remembered granddad’s promises about St Anthony. She said a little prayer to St Anthony and then went to work. When she got to work, she sat down at her desk, said her prayer to Saint Anthony again and just as she finished she saw something shining. Her ring was under her desk! Now she checked their about a million times prior to this. There was no way she missed it before, but there it was! Finding her ring was the spark my sister-in-law needed! She started taking seriously the claims of the Catholic Faith. Shortly after these events she entered RCIA and was baptized into the Catholic Faith. Granddad had found one more lost object with the help of Saint Anthony, this time it was my sister-in-law’s soul.

Anthony's to the Rescue

I first heard about St. Anthony in San Francisco, where I had a financial hardship and could not afford to treat an ongoing infection. Someone suggested I go to St. Anthony's medical center, which I did. I was given antibiotics for free, which stopped my infection for good. But as I was not Catholic, I didn't know the meaning of St. Anthony, so I forgot about it.

Recently, my car had a serious engine problem, and all the mechanics who looked at it said the car is as good as dead. I couldn't afford a new car. In desperation I prayed for help. The next day, when I looked in the phone book, I saw an ad for "Anthony's Engines." The mechanic, named Anthony, came up with a solution that I could afford. I cannot express how relieved I was. After that time, it dawned on me that the name Anthony had often played a savior's role in my life, including a lawsuit in which an adjuster named Anthony took my case, which nobody had wanted, and won. I had never prayed to St. Anthony, but I feel I was helped by him. I believe he watches over all the lost. Now that I am aware of St. Anthony's graciousness, I feel it is time to thank him for his ever generous help. Anyone can be helped by the intersession of good St. Anthony.

St. Anthony's Witness to a Communist Couple

St Anthony of Padua is truly a wonderful and powerful Saint! During the Second World War, my grandfather (a married Eastern Catholic priest with seven children) went to a store to buy food for the week. The couple who ran the store had lost the previous week's receipts and cash. They couldn't find it anywhere and they were getting really anxious. And they were members of the communist party. My grandfather, in his clerical collar, simply told them to pray to St Anthony as he would help them find the lost items. They laughed at him at first, but then, as their continued search didn't bear any fruit, looked at Fr. John and went into the next room, closing the door behind them. My grandfather could hear them praying . . . to St Anthony. They then emerged from the room, looking the whole time at my grandfather. Then the man did something interesting. He put his hand on his eyes and then reached out with his other hand to grab the first drawer handle he could reach. He then pulled it out and . . there was the money and the receipts! The communist couple then gave my priest-grandfather plenty of extra bread and even chocolate for his children (and no one had any chocolate in those days, as my grandfather related to me with a smile). I thank St Anthony of Padua for helping my family and for providing such a powerful witness to God's miraculous power through His Saints!! St Anthony of Padua, we praise you and ask you to bless us!

Thank you to Alex for this story. Have a St. Anthony story of your own to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~

St. Anthony -- The One Connection She Kept

Our Lord Himself made it clear that all of us--and in an exemplary way the saints--are meant to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. We in the Gospel how four men carried a paralytic to our Lord, lowered him through the roof to the feet of Christ, and the Lord said to them, because of your (plural in the original) faith, his sins are forgiven. St. Anthony is one of those saints who are particularly good at holding together threads of faith when it seems, on the surface, to have been torn away at the root. Why this is, doesn’t matter. It is simply part of God’s goodness. St. Anthony has long been known not only as a special Patron for those who have lost things, but also as the Patron of Lost Souls. We can never know how much God can do with apparently lost people--often working through saints like Anthony. And so, one woman writes of an aunt whose life was hard enough to rip away the normal tethers of faith--but who held onto St. Anthony. It is a touching story, but also should be the occasion for us to add our prayers for the soul of her aunt: Prayer is never wasted: Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her:

“I had an Aunt, born in 1915, who had a miserable and brutal home life, aside from desperate poverty. She was badly treated at a Catholic school by bullying classmates and a teacher who found her difficult to like because of her bitterness and shabby clothes, and one day insulted her so that she walked out of her high school, and the Church as well, and never came back. She had hard words for the Church and the "hypocritical people" in it. However though she never attended Mass the rest of her life she had a fondness for St. Anthony, and often asked him to find or obtain things for her. She was a woman who never smiled and was always suspicious. When it came time for her to die in 2005, in the hospital she expressed no desire for a chaplain, or to be reconciled to the Church... However I (her niece) prayed silently a lot by her bedside and sneaked a green scapular under her mattress. The night before she died she was in coma, so I slipped a brown scapular about her neck (I knew that as a school girl she must have been enrolled) and said all 20 mysteries of the rosary for her, and then the chaplet of Divine Mercy before I went home after midnight. She was found dead next morning with the loveliest sweet smile on her face--and I knew in my heart that she was OK with God. The one connection she had kept all her life long was a sincere devotion to St Anthony, and I know he engineered things so that I could be near her at the end "to have faith for her", and say prayers for her that she was unable to say for herself."

What the writer describes can be a common thing -- a breakdown in faith, a long wandering through life, but nevertheless a thread, who in this case was Anthony. And God can work with threads.