Saint Anthony, Please Come Around

All my life, I’ve had a hard time keeping track of my “stuff.” As a child, I was always losing things: toys; shoes; my homework; books. When I grew older, these losses became more expensive: checkbooks; driver’s licenses; credit cards; keys; jewelry; e-mails; addresses…the list is endless. Shortly after I joined the Church in my early twenties, a relative encouraged me to turn to the good Saint Anthony for spiritual assistance whenever I found myself searching for a lost (or even stolen!) article. I was intrigued! A patron saint of lost articles??? I needed to get to know this guy! When I read about his life, I quickly realized why he has been named a Doctor of the Church. This 13th century Franciscan traveled widely over Europe and became famous for his oratory skills. The last few years of his life were spent at a monastery in Padua, Italy. One anecdote about his life explained why he is associated with finding things. He had a treasured psalter in which he had written many notes in the margins throughout the years. A novice at his monastery decided to leave and take Anthony’s psalter with him. When St. Anthony discovered the loss, he prayed fervently for both the book and the novice to return to the monastery, which they miraculously did after a short time. He is often depicted with the baby Jesus on one arm. According to another of his fellow Franciscans, he was praying one night when the Christ child appeared in his room. The light surrounding the baby Jesus was so bright that a passing friar peeked in Anthony’s window and witnessed the scene.

“St. Anthony, please come around. Something is lost that must be found! Please find my….”

This is the prayer that I say automatically now the moment that I realize I have lost yet another thing, big or small. I could write a volume of the many times this prayer has been answered, often in a supernatural fashion. One of my favorite stories involved my Toyota Camry. My husband and I had decided to trade it in for a newer model. On my way home from work the night before the sale, I arrived only to discover that the hubcap on the front tire was missing. My husband was mildly annoyed; this would mean that we would probably receive a slightly lower trade-in value. As I left for work the next day, I asked St. Anthony to help me find that hubcap. As I drove to work, I kept searching the shoulder of the road to spot the hubcap but had no luck. A few minutes after I arrived at my desk, my husband called to tell me that one of the neighboring farmers had spotted the hubcap in his field that morning. Knowing that we owned a Camry, he brought it by my husband’s shop to see if perhaps we were missing one. Thank you, St. Anthony! In June of 2013, I had the opportunity to tour Italy with a group of friends. I made a point of setting aside a day to take a side trip to Padua as a pilgrimage to my favorite saint. He is buried in a beautiful old basilica that bears his name. I noted in my travel journal that his tongue and lower jaw, complete with teeth, were displayed incorrupted behind a glass near his tomb. I bought a tapestry depicting him with the Christ child at the gift shop to take home and add to my small shrine to him in my living room. A beautiful marble statue of him stands in the back corner of St. John Berchmans Cathedral. I give him a tap on his foot whenever I pass him there as a small gesture of thanks for his many intercessions. On his feast day, June 13th, I plan to invite my family over to celebrate the many wonderful miracles he has performed for us, major and minor, as we try to keep track of our”stuff.” And in my imagination, I see myself getting past St. Peter at the gate of heaven only to find St. Anthony there to greet me with open arms.

KAREN DILL is a spiritual director in the Diocese of Shreveport.