Saint Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua, or as the Portuguese accurately call him, Saint Anthony of Lisbon, was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1195 and died on June 13th, 1231 in Padova (Padua), Italy.

He is well known today as the patron of lost things, thousands invoking his prayers and assistance when something goes missing, yet for his contemporaries, he was known for his greatly gifted preaching.

Soon after his death the small chapel of Santa Maria Mater Domini in Padua where he had chosen to be buried began to be transformed into a major basilica in honor of the saint.  By 1310 a magnificent church rose where the small chapel had once stood.  The basilica has been a major pilgrimage site for the last seven hundred years.

One of the rarest relics in Christianity is kept at the Treasury Chapel of the Basilica of Saint Anthony.  Saint Bonaventure praised this unique relic saying, “O blessed tongue, you have always praised the Lord and led others to praise him!”  Yes, the relic is the tongue of Saint Anthony, an angelic tongue renowned for its preaching of God’s Word.  Below in the center of the reliquary is Saint Anthony’s tongue.