59 St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua

We discussed St. Francis of Assisi; here I present another saint who belonged to the first generation of the Friars Minor: Anthony of Padua, or of Lisbon, as he is also called with reference to his native town. He is one of the most popular saints in the whole Catholic Church, venerated not only in Padua, where a splendid basilica has been built that contains his mortal remains, but also throughout the world. Dear to the faithful are the images and statues that portray him with the lily — a symbol of his purity — or with the Child Jesus in his arms, in memory of a miraculous apparition mentioned in several literary sources…

Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI