Morning Inspiration with Sister Katharina
In our Mother House church, at the very back, we have two statues of saints, Saint Joseph with the baby Jesus and Saint Anthony of Padua, also holding the baby Jesus. If you ask why Saint Anthony is depicted this way, hardly anyone knows anymore.
In the legends of the saints from the time of Francis and his fellow brothers, we know that Anthony was initially an Augustinian canon, had studied in Lisbon and Coimbra, and was very intelligent and eloquent. He then, after witnessing the arrival of some Franciscan martyrs, converted to the Franciscan order and met Francis. And something extraordinary happens. Francis actually doesn’t want the brothers to study in order to preach and research. But with Anthony, he senses something special. He is such a gifted preacher that he manages to make people understand again that they can believe in a God who came down into the world as a baby. And thus, to restore the connection between God and the people who had drifted so far away from Him. Many people in Padua and the surrounding areas who heard his sermons describe the image they saw of him carrying the baby Jesus. So Francis commissioned him to teach and instruct the brothers.
In a letter addressed to Anthony, whose text has been preserved and probably written around the turn of 1223/1224, Francis affectionately called him „my bishop“ and allowed him to give theological lectures to the brothers, „if you do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion through this study.“ And from this story, one understands, on the one hand, why Anthony is depicted with the baby Jesus, who was lost in the hearts of the people and found again through him. And on the other hand, that many people call on him when something, more or less valuable, is lost.
So if the endearing, joking request, „Saint Anthony be praised, patron saint of sloppy ones“ is part of your vocabulary, then I wish you not only to find the lost piece of jewelry but also to rediscover God in your heart.