Although Saint Anthony of Padua is usually depicted in a brown Franciscan robe, holding the infant Jesus in one hand and a lily in the other, in South America, San Antonio is sometimes dressed in blue with a yellow lily and a red heart. This 3 1/2 inch tall painted soapstone statuette from Peru shows the saint dressed in brown on one side and in blue on the other. Quechua Indian charm vials from Peru containing tiny blue-robed St. Anthony statuettes are carried for the return of a lost lover; they also always contain a piece of the coiled jungle vine called "vuelve vuelve" ("come back, come back" in Spanish).
Saint Anthony is identified with the orishas Ellegua and Ogun in Yoruba-derived religions, but i do not know what pre-Conquest deity he is standing in for among the Mexican and Guatemalan Mayans, who also invoke him for finding lost things and people.
In mainstream Catholic practice, prayers for the intercession of Saint Anthony are quite conventional and do not ask for the return of lost things or missine persons. Here is a typical petition, as found on the back of a Saint Anthony holy card:
Unfailing Prayer to
Saint AnthonyBlessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God
and Charity for His creatures made you worthy, when on
earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on
your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in
trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore
of you to obtain for me (request). The answer to my prayer
may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of
Miracles.O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full
of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the
Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and
the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours.Amen. (Say 13 Paters, Aves, and Glorias)
The invocation of Saint Anthony for the return of someone or somthing lost appears in Jamaica as well as in the United States. In 1996, Lewis Erskine wrote to me:
My aunt used to say, when ever something was lost,St. Anthony, St. AnthonyShe is the Philadelphia-born daughter of Jamaicans who came to the States on their honeymoon and never left. They (my grandparents and their children) were members of The (Christian?) Brethren. I used to snicker out loud and wonder to myself about this mild incantation until I tried it one day. I found what I was looking for. That was more than 10 years ago. I continue to call on St. Anthony when I misplace something (which is often). I continue to find what I am looking for. If I am looking for something someone else misplaced, I find it if I call on St. Anthony. I write to you to ask if you have heard this, and if you can enlighten me on any Yoruba or other connection alive in this call for spiritual intervention in daily life.
Please come down
Something is lost
And can't be found
Professor Cunnea (AACDrCnnea@aol.com) contributed another invocation to Saint Anthony:
The one my family knows is different. My mom learned it in in Catholic grammar school on the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s:Dear St. Anthony, I prayShe says it works.
Bring it back, without delay.
Marigan O'Malley (aiabalt@pop.erols.com) wrote:
Here is my Babci's (Polish for grandmother) St. Anthony prayer:These widespread invocations to Saint Anthony for finding lost things and restoring missing people relate to an incident in which the saint was invoked to find a missing book and the prayer was efficacious; ever since then Saint Anthony has been the Patron of Lost Things.Something's lost and can't be foundHer mother taught it to her (her mom died of typhoid, i believe, right around the Holocaust). She taught it to my mother and my mother to me!
Please, St. Anthony, look around.
Order Saint Anthony Holy Cards from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
copyright © 1995-2003 catherine yronwode. All rights reserved.
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