A Very Happy Feast To One And All!!!
St. Anthony has always been one of my Best Saints!!! I am good at loosing things and he is good at finding them! Thanks to His Favours!!!

Since childhood I always wondered about the connection of St. Anthony holding baby Jesus!
So on the feast day I thought let me just make it known to those who don’t know about the significance :

The Baby Jesus is reminiscent of the vision that Anthony had in Camposampiero. It also expresses his attachment to the humanity of Christ and his closeness to God.

His Vision of the Baby Jesus is an event which, more than any other, characterizes the contemplative spirituality of St Anthony. The Book of Miracles says:

Blessed Anthony found himself in a city to preach and was put up by a local resident. He gave him a room set apart, so that he could study and contemplate undisturbed. While he was devotedly observing the room on which St Anthony has immersed himself in prayer, peeping through the window, he saw a beautiful baby appear in blessed Anthony’s arms. The baby was Lord Jesus

Bread is a remembrance of St. Anthony’s charity to the poor. Catholic charity groups have been named in reemergence of Saint Anthony. “St Anthony’s Bread to the Poor” is still operating, and Saint Anthony’s Charities, which spreads solidarity of St. Anthony all over the world. The practice of distributing St. Anthony’s Bread recalls his concern for the poor.

Bread is the sustenance of life. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). Therefore bread is a symbol of life. Bread was used at the last supper when Jesus said, “This is my Body broken for you…” (Luke 22:19). In this context the bread usually shown with a chalice of bunch of grapes, represents the Lord’s supper (Eucharist) The bread can also represent St Anthony’s spreading the Word of God to the world.

The lily represents St. Anthony’s purity and his battle against the demon since childhood.

The lily symbolizes purity. It symbilizes the Virgin Mary. Thie lily, if portrayed among thorns, sybolizes the immaculate conception of Mary. The imacualte conception is a Roman Catholic belief that Mary was born without original sin so as to be a perfect vessel to give birth to a perfect son, Jesus. THe lily represents purity and the thorns represent sin. The lily represents the annunciation, the time when the angel is portrayed with a lily in his hand. Occasionally in early art the lily was used to symbolize various virgin saints. Lilies of different colors have different meanings. A red lily symbolizes divine love, yellow symbolizes divine light and purple symbolizes humility and chastity.

The book is a symbol of Anthony’s science, of his doctrine, his preaching and of his teaching, always inspired by the Bible.

A single book represents the Holy Word of God. If the book in held by any of the four evangelists, it symbolizes the books he wrote. If the book is in the hands of an apostle, it can represent his learning and/or being a teacher of the Christian faith. If both evangelists and apostles/disciples are shown, the evangelists will carry books and the disciples will carry scrolls. Books in the hands of saints show they were well educated in the scriptures.

 

May God Bless You All!!!

- Simonia