St Anthony of Padua
Happy feast of St Anthony of Padua. My husband’s patron saint.
I received this painting eons ago - a good friend who lived in Rome for a time dug up treasures and sent them to me in those mysterious poster tubes. (I WAS cool once with all my Art connections in Rome.😎)
My Dad made his frame and Anthony has since hung on every living room wall we have ever owned.
He has moved with us, was taken down to be replaced by a Christmas wreath and then put back up still serene.
He has seen Easters, Lents, Advents, birthdays, he presided over the mail basket by the front door for years, and YES he has found my phone and car keys multiple times!
But I try to never forget that this Serene countenance housed a soul on fire for the honor of God’s truth. That he was brilliant and was proclaimed THE Evangelical Doctor by Pius XII!
He holds his weapons- the fire and light of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. And for his defense of God’s honor he received the wonderful title: Hammer of heretics.
His name was Ferdinand as a young man. He changed it to Anthony when he became a friar. No doubt it was after Anthony of the Desert - that wondrous, wise hermit filled with fire whom he longed to imitate.
After I read his life I was hesitant to bring up the trivial subject of car keys to such a one as him. But he is so humble and so much like Jesus who cares quite a lot about our daily affairs great and small. I still ask.
Humility and greatness can reside so blessedly side by side in one man. Hammering heretics with his writings on one hand and kindly helping a frazzled mom find her car keys on the other. I have grown to love him there on my wall.
St Anthony pray for us!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
“The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant."
~ Anthony of Padua
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