Help in finding lost things - and people

By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

HALLANDALE | Madeline Graver drove from Kendall to Our Lady of La Vang Vietnamese Missionseeking help from St. Anthony of Padua, whose relics were on display at the mission March 12.

“St. Anthony has performed a lot of miracles for me,” said Graver, a resident of Kendall. “I’m hoping he will help me find my cat that ran off two days ago. I will pray that he will help restore hearing in my right ear. I will pray for my friend’s son who has been in prison for 17 years.

"St. Anthony is my favorite saint. He not only helps to find lost objects, but lost souls,” Graver added.

Father Alessandro Ratti, a conventual Franciscan friar, brought the relics from Padua, Italy, where St. Anthony’s body is entombed at the Basilica of St. Anthony. The relics included a floating rib and preserved vocal chords.

The saint died in 1231 and his body was buried at Santa Maria Mater Domini Church. Thirty years after his death, the saint’s body was exhumed. Although his body had decomposed, his tongue was intact and lifelike.

“This was considered a sign from God confirming St. Anthony’s gift of preaching and the eloquence of his spiritual sermons,” said Father Ratti. “He became a Santo Subito, a saint quickly. A year after his death, Pope Gregory IX canonized him.”

Father Ratti said that St. Anthony’s reputation as a finder of lost things dates to an incident in the saint’s life.

“As the legend goes, a novice who had grown tired of religious life decided to leave the Franciscan community,” he said. “But before leaving, the novice took St. Anthony’s psalter. The book was very important to Anthony, especially since it was before the printing press had been invented. The psalter had notes and comments he made in teaching his students in the Franciscan order.

"Anthony prayed that the psalter would be found and returned to him. Anthony’s prayers were answered: The novice returned the psalter and returned to the order.”

Our Lady of La Vang Mission was one of 10 churches in Florida chosen to host the relics during March and was the only church in the Archdiocese of Miami where worshipers could come to view the relics. People visited from throughout the archdiocese.

“The church was filled for a Mass which Father Ratti and I celebrated,” said Father Joseph Long Nguyen, pastor at Our Lady of La Vang. “It was a great honor. I believe they chose us because we are a new parish.”

Although St. Anthony spent much of his 35 years in Italy, he was born Fernando Martins de Bulhoes in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195. He originally planned to join the Augustinians but, inspired by stories of Franciscans martyred in Morocco for their faith, he was filled with a desire to become a missionary in the recently formed order.

He joined a small hermitage in Olivais, adopting the name Anthony from the name of the chapel located there, which was dedicated to St. Anthony the Great. He set off for Morocco but became ill there and was returning to Portugal when his ship went off course and landed in Sicily. He made his way to Tuscany and continued his vocation in Italy.

Father Ratti said that people can reach Jesus Christ through the intercession of saints.

“St. Anthony is one of the signs we encounter on our road through life,” he said. “Saints were real people who give us direction. The relics of St. Anthony, here at Our Lady of La Vang Mission, are from the body of a friend who came to visit people here and throughout Florida."