St. Anthony of Padua, Lisbon, and the Virgin Mary

Fr. Scott Haynes

St. Anthony’s connection to the Virgin Mary begins with his earliest formation in his hometown of Lisbon, where he entered religious life among the Augustinians. Later, when Anthony joined the Franciscans, his Marian devotion deepened even further. St. Francis of Assisi loved Our Lady tenderly and called her the one who made the Lord of majesty our brother. The Franciscan spirit saw Mary not as distant, but as close to the poverty, humility, and tenderness of Bethlehem. This fits Anthony perfectly. The saint who is often pictured holding the Child Jesus was, in a certain sense, a deeply Marian saint: he received Christ in the way Mary teaches every soul to receive Him, with humility, purity, and burning love.

Mary and the Infant Jesus

The most famous image of St. Anthony is the saint holding the Child Jesus. This image itself points back to Mary. The Gospel says of Bethlehem,

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger” (Luke 2:7).

Mary was the first living throne of the Eucharistic Lord. Anthony, the great preacher of the Real Presence and lover of the poor Christ, seems almost to receive from Mary’s hands the mystery of Jesus’ humility.

Mary and the Word of God

St. Anthony was one of the greatest preachers in Catholic history. He was called the Evangelical Doctor because his preaching was soaked in Sacred Scripture. Here again, he resembles Mary.

Our Lady is the first great listener to the Word. At the Annunciation, she receives the word of the angel and answers,

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).

Anthony did the same in his own life. He listened, received, and then gave the Word to others with fire.

Mary kept the mysteries of Christ in her heart. Anthony preached those mysteries from the pulpit. Mary pondered; Anthony proclaimed. Yet both were servants of the same divine Word.

This is one reason Anthony’s sermons often speak of Mary with deep reverence. He saw her as the pure vessel of the Incarnation, the garden of God, the star leading souls safely to Christ. His Marian thought was never separated from his Christ-centered preaching. For Anthony, Mary mattered because Christ mattered. To honor the Mother was to draw nearer to the Son.

Mary, Humility, and Poverty

Anthony’s life also reflects Mary’s humility. He was brilliant, noble-born, and highly educated, yet he did not seek fame. When he joined the Franciscans, he desired martyrdom in Morocco. When illness prevented that, Providence led him elsewhere. He accepted hiddenness. He accepted being unknown. He accepted the will of God when it overturned his own plans.

This is deeply Marian. Mary’s greatness was hidden in Nazareth. The Mother of God lived quietly, served faithfully, and allowed God to write the story. Anthony too allowed God to redirect him. He left Lisbon, entered religious life, became a Franciscan, lost his original dream of martyrdom, and then became one of the Church’s great voices.

Mary’s Magnificat says,

“Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

Anthony’s life is a smaller echo of this mystery. God looked upon his humility and raised him up, not for Anthony’s glory, but for the salvation of souls.

Mary and the Lost

St. Anthony is famously invoked for lost things, but this devotion has a deeper meaning. He helps recover not only lost keys, papers, or money, but lost souls.

Here again St. Anthony stands close to Mary. Our Lady is the Mother who searches for her wandering children. She stands beneath the Cross, receiving from Christ the beloved disciple: “Behold thy mother” (John 19:27). In that moment, Mary becomes mother to all who belong to Christ.

Anthony’s mission was very similar. He went after those who had wandered from truth. He preached to sinners, heretics, the lukewarm, the greedy, and the spiritually confused. He was not merely a clever speaker. He was a spiritual rescuer. Like Mary, he desired that lost children return to Jesus.

A Saint with a Sense of Humor

The most humorous story I ever heard about St. Anthony was told by a friend’s aunt  who prayed to St. Anthony for many years. Every night she knelt before her statue of St. Anthony and asked him to find her a husband. She prayed and prayed faithfully, but her prayers just did not seem to be answered.

Finally, one day, feeling discouraged and angry that St. Anthony was not helping her, she took the statue and threw it out the window.

The statue flew out of her apartment window and bonked a pedestrian on the head. The man looked up, saw which window the statue had come from, and returned it to her.

They married shortly after. I am sure the bump had healed by then.

Saint Anthony definitely sees the humorous side of things. Perhaps there are many times in life when we all need a whack on the head before we can see God’s will clearly. Sometimes grace comes gently, like a medal found among stones. Sometimes it comes more abruptly, like a saint falling out of a window.

Either way, the lesson is the same. God’s providence is not dull. The saints are not gloomy. Heaven has its own joy, its own timing, and, at times, its own holy comedy.

St. Anthony, Fatima, and the Rosary

On June 13, we honor St. Anthony of Padua on his great feast day, and we also remember the second apparition of Our Lady at the Cova in Fatima. On June 13, 1917, Our Lady again appeared to the three shepherd children in Portugal, calling them to prayer, sacrifice, and devotion to her Immaculate Heart.

There is something beautiful in this providence. St. Anthony, the son of Lisbon, and Our Lady of Fatima both belong in a special way to Portugal. Anthony began his earthly pilgrimage in Lisbon, and centuries later, Mary came to Fatima to call souls back to her Son. The saint who loved the Child Jesus and the Virgin who bore Him meet, as it were, on the same day in the Catholic heart.

St. Anthony lived and died with the Virgin Mary on his lips and in his heart. As a son of Mary, he desired to embrace all the virtues of Our Lady, especially holy purity. He preached against sin not because he despised sinners, but because he loved them and wanted them free. Like Mary, he knew that sin makes the soul old and tired, while grace makes it young again.

Mary is a Mother. Anthony is a friend. Christ is a Savior.

And let us turn to Our Savior in the words Our Lady of Fatima taught on this very day in 1917:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.

A Saint of Lisbon, Padua, and Mary

So we can see St. Anthony’s Marian connections in many ways.

His birth in Lisbon placed him in a Catholic culture marked by devotion to Our Lady.

His Augustinian formation taught him contemplation and love of the Word. His Franciscan vocation drew him deeper into the Marian poverty of Bethlehem.

His vision of the Child Jesus reflects the mystery Mary first adored in her arms. His preaching echoes Mary’s perfect listening to the Word of God.

His mission to the lost resembles Mary’s maternal care for wandering souls. His humor and tenderness remind us that the saints help us not only in grand spiritual battles, but also in the small and memorable troubles of daily life.

St. Anthony is not usually called a “Marian saint” in the same way as St. Louis de Montfort or St. Maximilian Kolbe, yet his whole life bears Mary’s fingerprints. He loved the Child whom Mary bore. He preached the Word whom Mary received. He embraced the humility Mary sang in the Magnificat. He searched for the lost children whom Mary loves.

On June 13, then, we may honor St. Anthony not only as the wonder-worker of Padua, but also as the son of Lisbon, the preacher of Christ, the finder of lost things, and a hidden disciple of Mary Immaculate. He teaches us to go to Mary not as an end, but as the sure and gentle road to Jesus, whom she still places spiritually into the arms of the saints.