St Anthony has a special place at Marian Valley – to work continuous miracles for all who seek his help.
Saint Anthony of Padua
(Born 1195 – Died 1231)
Franciscan Theologian, Preacher and Doctor of the Church, St. Anthony, was born in Lisbon, Portugal. At age 15, he joined the monastic life of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, where for eight years, he devoted himself to the practice of piety and study.
In 1220, moved by the sight of the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs of Morocco brought back for burial in Portugal, St. Anthony was seized with a desire to become a Franciscan missionary to preach the Gospel in Africa and to suffer a martyr’s death. Permitted to enter the Franciscan Order, within a year, he was sent to work in Morocco. Serious illness forced his return, but his ship, driven by gales and storms, carried him to Sicily.
In 1221, he met St. Francis in Assisi. His reputation for learning and preaching was established in Italy, and he was sent to preach against the heretics in Northern Italy and Southern France. Then appointed by St. Francis as the first Theologian of the Order, he taught at Montpelier, Bologna, Padua and Toulouse. Before he died in 1231 at Padua, he held the offices of Guardian and Provincial.
St. Anthony was canonised by Pope Gregory IX in 1232 and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946.
Many miracles have been attributed to his intercession. Hence he is called the Wonder Worker and is especially revered as the Finder of Lost Things.
St. Anthony, the continuous worker of miracles, pray for us.
This chapel was blessed on August 15th, 2000, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.