Have a light set on my St. Anthony altar with your petition or prayer in a community novena and chaplet prayer service beginning on June 13th.
I will begin a nine-day novena and chaplet recitation to St. Anthony on this same day. Your petition/intention will be included daily in my novena and chaplet work and offerings of bread, water, wine, flowers, and incense.
After the conclusion of the novena service, each participant will receive a “cured” St. Anthony holy card that was prayed over daily during the service.
St. Anthony earned his reputation for finding lost things because he once lost his Bible (or psalter, or it was stolen, depending on which source you read), and the devil himself made the thief give it back (because Anthony lamented about it so much that the devil couldn’t stand it anymore, or because Anthony was so powerful in prayer, depending on which version you read).
He’s also petitioned for these reasons:
- to return lost people (including lovers)
- to find someone a spouse or committed partner
- to reconcile a separated couple
- as the patron of orphans, sick children, and children in general
- as the patron of glaziers, the poor, travelers, prisoners, and pregnant women
Legend has it he’s protected petitioners against shipwreck, cured cases of epilepsy and Live Things in You (Hyatt v. 4 #6658), and reattached a severed foot.
Matter of fact, I think if you took a survey of devotees of St. Anthony, you’d likely find he gets petitioned for just about everything at least sometimes. So he’s a busy fellow, but he has a great reputation for working wonders and is a kind, sympathetic saint.
Read lots more about St. Anthony, his life, his history, how he’s petitioned in various regions even today, and how to work with him yourself in the article “Working With St. Anthony: Theories, Resources, and FAQs” at Big Lucky Hoodoo.
Lights will be set on Thursday June 13. There is some wiggle room and you can join up after the work starts as long as you see that there are still spots left and it doesn’t say “sold out.”