St. Anthony is the patron saint of sailors, castaways, older adults, the sick, pig farmers, and most importantly – with his intercession, God has mercy on a man in trouble, helping to find lost things. St Anthony is the patron saint of lost things and items. Yes, St Anthony prayer for lost things is legendary. Millions claim that God always heard them when they asked for St. Antony’s intercession. Also, in critical situations where a person seems to have “lost his soul.”
St. Anthony is also approached for intercession when people suffer from financial problems. So, this saint is a helper in need and patron of marriage, families, children, and pregnant women.
Over the centuries, many different prayers for St. Anthony were created. But we present the most popular ones.
St Anthony Prayer for Lost Things
St Anthony Prayers
When we pray for St. Anthony’s intercession, we can ask not only to help find a missing material thing, but We can pray by asking for many different things, including spiritual ones.
When you pray, you are not praying alone. The whole Church and all the Saints are praying with you. In this case, we ask that St. Anthony stand with you in the presence of God and support you in prayer.
How to Pray to St Anthony Requesting for Intercession
St. Anthony‘s feast day is June 13th, but we can ask for his help whenever we feel it is needed. St Anthony is a powerful intercessor. Many shared stories about the power of St Anthony’s prayer, which helped many people get what they prayed for.
You must say St Anthony’s prayer with faith and mention your specific requests and needs. These requests could be about the following:
- lost or stolen things,
- lost items,
- lost people,
- any lost matters in your life which are essential to you,
- difficulties in the family
- financial problems.
Most probably, the help you ask for won’t come to you at the exact minute or even the day you prayed. God has His own plans for our life events, so be patient and pray hard. And the most important thing – don’t forget to say thanks to God and St Anthony when some of your requests are fulfilled.
St. Antony is More than a Patron Saint of Lost Things
St. Antony is more than just a patron saint of lost things or a finder. He is a preacher, teacher, and servant.
Saint Anthony of Padua
Saint Anthony (Saint Anthony of Padua) and his life story. Saint Anthony of Padua is a famous saint, but few know his life well. However, we know that he is a patron whom we ask for help finding lost things; he is the patron saint of lost things; we know St Anthony prayer for lost things.
But why does every statue of St. Anthony hold the baby Jesus in his hands? We could expect him to be shown holding a lost bundle of keys! Nor would we be surprised to see him hold the Bible, for he was one of his day’s most famous teachers of the Holy Scriptures.
But why baby Jesus? What does this tell us about Anthony? And finally, what does it tell us about ourselves now that we are about to celebrate the feast of the birth of this child into the world and our hearts? Was there anything in this Franciscan preacher that could help us embrace Jesus more firmly?
He Saw a Great Light
The most apparent reason Anthony is portrayed with the baby Jesus stems from an event that happened at the end of his life.
Lent was preaching in Padua, Italy, and was so exhausted that he desperately needed time and a place to rest. So he followed a rigorous program for forty days: devoted time to personal prayer, preached from about six in the morning until nine, and then celebrated Mass.
He entered the confessional right after Mass and stayed there until late at night. Then he just rested and eat. (I recall the Eucharistic fast before Holy Mass began at midnight.)
The brothers of the exhausted Anthony took him to Camposanpiero, a town a few kilometers from Padua. They stayed on the property of Count Tiso, who, thanks to Anthony’s sermons, turned away from an unrestrained life.
Out of gratitude, he built a modest dwelling for the brothers – including a pavilion for Anthony so that he would not have to lie on damp ground. While walking beside Anthony’s house one night, he saw an intense light coming from inside. Fearing it was burning, he immediately rushed into the room.
Instead of a fire, however, he saw Anthony standing and holding the baby Jesus. As is typical of mystical experiences, Anthony, ashamed that they had seen him in such intimacy with Jesus, forced Tiso to promise that he would not tell anyone what he had seen until his death. Tiso kept his promise, but the news spread like wildfire as he told the story after Anthony’s death.
He Entered the Body
The incident at Count Tiso demonstrates how important the child Jesus was to Anthony’s experience and understanding of the gospel.
And that’s not surprising because he was a Franciscan. St. Francis believed that God accepted our humanity by coming into the world as one of us. That is why St. Francis celebrated Christmas in Greece for one year by preparing a live nativity scene.
That is why he constantly meditated on the passion of Christ. In these two moments, seeing Jesus as a man is the clearest. He deepened his love for the Lord whenever Francis meditated on these mysteries. His followers have preserved this tradition to this day.
Franciscans still hold and spread piety at the manger and the purity of the Stations of the Cross.
Anthony was the real son of St. Francis. He never stopped preaching about Jesus coming in the flesh – this message was essential to the people of his day. At that time, heresies appeared in Italy and France, denying the good of the material world.
Albigenism – as it was called – only rebutted an older heresy called Manicheism. These heresies claimed that the universe had two forces, one good and the other evil. What is spiritual is good and pure, while the material and bodily are bad and impure.
However, the faith of Christians is different. In creating the world, God repeated, “It is good, it is good, it is very good.” The world and everything in it is good because God created it that way.
The World Reveals God’s Goodness
When Anthony preached, he praised the goodness of creation in various ways, drawing many examples from nature.
In one sermon, he explained, “A tree consists of five parts: roots, trunks, branches, leaves, and fruits.” In another more colorful analogy, he likens the Virgin Mary to an elephant: Just as an elephant fears the smallest mouse, so Mary, who is a giant in her virtue and power, fears the least sin!
These examples show how Anthony highly valued the world’s goodness – because they help us understand God. The world is not contrary to God; it is a revelation of God’s goodness.
Suppose God sent us his Son – a real child whom. St. Anthony firmly embraced – God’s goodness was better manifested here on earth. Jesus did not shy away from this world; he became part of it. Another Franciscan theologian, Jan Duns Scotus, said that Jesus would still be born into this world even if humanity never sinned. He loved us so much that he wanted to participate in our humanity. These truths provide us with rich material for Advent meditations and prayer.
Preparing for Christmas does not mean that we must reject our humanity. We do not have to reject the food, drinks, or other forms of celebration; we have to use the good of this world carefully so that it does not become the center of the celebration.
The image of the child Jesus in the arms of St. Anthony tells us that we are to become like children in our attitude to this world. This encourages us to celebrate all the good things around us with the beautiful respect of a small child.
What Great Humility!
Like his Franciscan brothers, Anthony experienced great joy in all that God had revealed by nature – some of which he experienced in his encounter with the child Jesus. God was so humble that he became obedient instead of asking for obeisance. Instead of demanding respect, he became poor and small as a helpless child.
Saint Antony used this astonishing truth to teach his listeners how to better conform to God. He begged those filled with pride, “Please come down, for Jesus came down and humbled himself. “
He once prayed: A carpenter and a poor virgin. Oh, first! Oh, Last! O Lord of the Angels! Obedient to the carpenter. God of eternal glory, submitting to the poor virgin! Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? “ Sometimes we use remorse, “ What do you think you are God?” These words imply that we usually look like God when we have power. However, Christmas warns us that the opposite is true. The more humble servants we are, the more we resemble God.
Moreover, suppose we stop thinking about ourselves and leave unrealistic expectations of the “perfect” Christmas celebration. In that case, we will be able to receive every blessing and everything God wants to give us.
Anthony’s Humility
If all this is true, why did Anthony get the privilege of keeping the baby Jesus only at the end of his life? Instead, he preached about Christ and the good of this world all his life.
Why did Jesus wait so long? It has to do with Anthony’s heart and his spiritual path. When Anthony was young, he joined the Augustinian order in his hometown of Lisbon. He wanted to devote himself to contemplation, but his family still visited him and disturbed his room. So Anthony asked to go to another Augustinian monastery in Coimbra (then the capital of Portugal).
He found peace here but was disturbed and disappointed by the many conflicts in the community.
At that time, Anthony met a group of Franciscans who went to preach in Morocco. Later, when they were tortured, he attended the welcoming of their remains. Their example impressed him so much that he decided to join the Franciscans. He wanted to go to Morocco and die there as a martyr. But when he got there, he couldn’t leave the harbor because he had a high, debilitating fever — probably a severe malaria attack — and he wasn’t fully conscious for weeks.
He explained this as God’s sign to return home and boarded a ship sailing for Portugal.
However, the ship lost course in a storm and landed in Sicily. Then, he met the Franciscans who had gone to the meeting of the brothers in Assisi and joined them. At the end of the session, all the brothers went to their homes, but Anthony no longer had a home.
One of the Franciscan superiors noticed this and invited him to accept a position in his province because he needed a priest to care for a group of hermit brothers. Anthony joined them with great joy.
He finally had time for the contemplation he had always longed for. But the rest did not last long. The brothers were invited to ordination, and when the preacher did not come, Anthony, the superior, ordered him to preach whatever was in his heart. His sermon was so beautiful and profound that it sealed Anthony’s fate.
He spent the rest of his life wandering, preaching, and teaching.
Baby Heart
Anthony wouldn’t choose any of these activities. But his desire to serve God’s will was more significant than his desire to carry out his own plans. So, instead of continuing to develop his piety according to his own ideas, he allowed God to choose a better share. This act of submission – repeatedly renewed over many years – made it simple and similar for children in reliance on God’s providence.
This may explain why he was privileged to accept Jesus as a humble, innocent, loving child.
Anthony himself matched this idea. He allowed God’s love to remove all barriers that might prevent him from being as childish as the child Jesus he held in his arms. This is also our Advent goal.
As we meditate on the power and humility of Jesus, God calls us to purify our hearts of all that prevents us from surrendering to Him. He wants us to become like children so we can receive Jesus with the same simplicity and sincere devotion as Anthony.
Then, people who see us – just as Count Tiso saw Anthony – will know that we hold Jesus in our hands and hearts.
After his death, he was canonized as a saint and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. This title is given to the saints who significantly contributed to the doctrine or theology.
St Anthony prayer for lost things is mighty. Patron saint of lost things, St Anthony always prays for us, asks God, and is our ally.
Saint Anthony, pray for us!
Also read: ST MICHAEL PRAYER
About my experience with St Anthony Prayer for lost things
You may find me very naive. That the stories I tell are just coincidences. You can think what you want. But I’ll tell you how I see it.
I really like the small book, which was certainly written to the glory of God by the Italian literature teacher Lia Cerrito. In a story called The Wrong Address, he writes about St. Joseph, Anthony, and Francis discussing prayer in the Garden of Eden. St. Joseph is troubled by the fact that people turn to him in prayer about two hundred times more often than to St. Francis.
It seemed funny to me to turn for help whenever I couldn’t find something, to St. Anthony, the patron saint of (among other things) lost things. For myself, I have placed this “act” somewhere between superstition and popular piety. I have also been instructed in many teachings by the many teachings that God is not an automaton in which coins are inserted in the form of prayer and the prayer is answered.
For these reasons, I lost a lot of things in my distracted life … But then I tried it once, and since then my experience with St. Anthony has been such that he has never left me in trouble. After all his help, whether it was a lost wallet, documents, keys, a mobile phone, and other things, I was convinced that I had “chosen” until death.
A few months ago, when this holy man helped me again, I suddenly (somewhere inside) heard: Why are you still begging for material things? Is there nothing more important for you? – I was completely stunned. How come I didn’t think of that? When he gives me to find lost “nonsense”, why couldn’t he help find great things – love, hope, trust, and more …
At the beginning of August, my friend and I set off on a bike to see the lake. I didn’t come back until dusk. Only along the way did I find out that I was missing a new jacket with a mobile phone in my pocket. My husband bought the jacket for me and I cared a lot about it. I immediately turned and hurried to look for her. A friend called me after me to wait for her to take the car, but I was worried that someone would find my things before we got out of town with the car … As I approached the place, I remembered St. Anthony and started “pounding on the door”. I heard that familiar “inner” voice again – “And what more do you want? This, or what did you ask for earlier? – Both!!! I called inwardly, but without a response … After a moment of internal struggle, I decided on the second option. My inner peace returned, and I, reconciled to the loss of my jacket and cell phone, returned home. Shortly after my escape, an acquaintance called me, whom I met at the lake, and asked if we were missing anything. Walking along the shore of the lake, she accidentally found a cycling jacket I had left with a cell phone in my pocket. An amazing end to the story and St Anthony Prayer for lost things.
And the most recent experience: I promised to write something, but I couldn’t find a dictaphone where I had my promised thing recorded. I guess that was supposed to be the case, I calmed down, but the unfulfilled promise didn’t give me peace. Super simple St Anthony Prayer for lost things: “Saint Anthony, please please!” – I called on the way to the laundry. When I came to the washing machine to hang the laundry, I knew that Anthony had heard my request again. The dictaphone, completely washed, was smiling at me through the window of the washing machine … I note that I inspected all the things before washing (as always), and when I tried to put the device into operation by blow-drying, I found out that all the valuable recordings had been washed for me, along with the laundry, so I said to myself a second time I sat down at the computer to write an apologetic e-mail when I saw an icon on the desktop with the necessary recording, only the only one was there, nothing else … It’s probably useless to say that I don’t remember taking anything from the dictaphone to the computer …
One day I would very much like to testify about the “intangible” things I asked for, but you will probably agree with me that the wallet or driver’s license I found is much more convincing than the love I found. I’m starting to look forward to being able to do that one day …