St. Anthony of Padua 8" x 10" Print

While best known today as the saint invoked to find lost articles, St. Anthony lived a far more remarkable life than his patronage might lead one to suppose. After ordination to the priesthood, he was moved to join the recently-founded Franciscan friars, and his subsequent life as a hermit and preacher saw him survive shipwreck, bodily illness, and a host of other physical and spiritual challenges. He is shown here holding the Christ Child, in commemoration of a miraculous vision he once had, and a hammer, representing his title as "Hammer of Heretics." At his feet are the fish he preached to at Rimini, on account of the fact no one else was willing to listen, while around him are the walnut leaves of the tree under which he once lived in a simple hermitage. St. Anthony is patron saint of American Indians; animals; barrenness; Brazil; elderly people; faith in the Blessed Sacrament; fishermen; the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land; harvests; horses; mail; mariners; oppressed people; poor people; Portugal; pregnant women; seekers of lost articles; shipwrecks; starvation; sterility; Swineherds; the Tigua Indians; travel hostesses; travellers; and watermen. Original art by Matthew Alderman, matthewalderman.com.