Our Patron Saint

Saint Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal on August 15, 1195. He came from a wealthy family who did not support his desire to enter into religious life. He became a Franciscan friar in 1221 and joined the order in hopes of spreading God’s Word to the people of Morocco in spite of facing a possible martyr’s death.

Instead, he became a respected teacher and brilliant orator who gained fame for his miracles. He was a holy man who had apparitions of the Infant Jesus and of St. Francis of Assisi. This is why he is often depicted holding the baby Jesus in his arms.

He is a patron saint of the poor and oppressed and is often invoked as a finder of “lost articles and missing persons”. He died in Padua, Italy on June 13, 1231, at the age of 36 and was canonized a saint less than a year later. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946.