Novena to St. Anthony of Padua
When something precious goes missing, a wedding ring, a set of keys, a letter that must be found, countless Catholics whisper the same simple appeal to St. Anthony of Padua. He is the saint people turn to for lost things, but his help reaches far wider than mislaid objects. He is a friend to the poor, a guardian of travelers, and a patron of those searching for something deeper: a lost faith, a lost peace, a lost sense of God's nearness.
This page explains who St. Anthony was, why the Church honors him as she does, and how to pray the Novena to St. Anthony faithfully over nine days. You will find the traditions behind his patronage, the beloved Tuesday devotion, the famous responsory "Si quaeris miracula," the full novena prayer, the short prayer for lost things, and the custom of St. Anthony's Bread. Everything is written out so you can begin today.
Who Was St. Anthony of Padua?
St. Anthony was born Fernando in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, into a well placed family. As a young man he entered the Augustinian canons and gave himself to study and prayer. His life turned when the bodies of five Franciscan friars, martyred in Morocco, were brought home to Portugal. Stirred by their witness, Fernando longed to give himself wholly to Christ in the same poor and preaching way, so he joined the Franciscans and took the name Anthony.
At first he was almost unnoticed, a quiet friar willing to do the humblest tasks. Then one day, when no one else was prepared to preach, Anthony was asked to speak. His words poured out with such learning and fire that his gifts could no longer be hidden. He became one of the great preachers of his age, drawing enormous crowds, answering error with patient clarity, and calling hardened hearts back to God. St. Francis of Assisi himself, cautious about learning lest it choke simplicity, trusted Anthony to teach theology to the friars, writing to him with warm approval.
Anthony spent his final years in northern Italy, especially around Padua, preaching, hearing confessions, and defending the poor against those who cheated them. Worn out by his labors, he died near Padua on June 13, 1231, only thirty six years old. So many miracles followed that he was canonized less than a year later, in 1232, one of the swiftest canonizations the Church has ever known. In 1946 the Church named him a Doctor of the Church, giving him the title Doctor Evangelicus, the Evangelical Doctor, for the way his preaching breathed the Gospel. His feast is kept on June 13.
Why the Patron of Lost Things?
The best loved story about St. Anthony explains his patronage of lost objects. As a teacher of the friars, Anthony kept a psalter, a handwritten book of the psalms, filled with his own notes for teaching. In a time before printed books, such a volume was precious and hard to replace. A novice who had grown restless and decided to leave the community took the psalter with him as he slipped away.
Anthony prayed earnestly that the book might be found and returned. The tradition tells us the young man was seized by a frightening vision that stopped him in his tracks, so shaken that he hurried back, returned the psalter, and asked to be received again into the community. From this simple account grew the whole devotion to St. Anthony as the finder of lost things. That psalter, tradition holds, is still preserved today.
His patronage soon widened. Because he cared so tenderly for the poor and the cheated, he became patron of the poor and of the hungry. Because he traveled far to preach, he is invoked by travelers and sailors. And because the deepest thing anyone can lose is faith, hope, or peace of soul, people ask him just as readily to help them recover what no hand can hold.
The Tuesday Devotion and the Thirteen Tuesdays
St. Anthony is honored in a special way on Tuesdays. The custom goes back to the days after his death: his funeral fell on a Tuesday, and many of the miracles reported at his tomb happened on that day. Out of gratitude, the faithful began keeping Tuesday as a day set aside for his intercession, and the practice has never faded.
Alongside the nine day novena, many people keep the Thirteen Tuesdays of St. Anthony, praying on thirteen Tuesdays in a row in honor of the thirteenth of June, the day of his death and his feast. Some pray both, using a novena for a pressing need and the Thirteen Tuesdays as a longer, steadier devotion. Whether you keep one Tuesday, a novena, or the full thirteen weeks, the heart of it is the same: turning to St. Anthony with trust and returning to God through his prayers.
What Is a Novena?
A novena is a prayer offered on nine consecutive days for a particular intention. The word comes from the Latin for nine, and the practice looks back to the nine days the Apostles and Our Lady spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost, waiting on the Holy Spirit. To make a novena is to take up that same patient waiting.
The value of nine days is that it asks for perseverance. Anyone can pray once in a rush of worry when something is lost. A novena teaches you to return to God day after day, whether or not you feel like it, and to keep bringing the same need to Him with trust. That steady return is itself a school of faith.
How to Pray the Novena to St. Anthony
Pray the novena on nine consecutive days. Many people like to begin so that the last day falls on June 13, his feast, or to pray it across nine Tuesdays in keeping with his special day, but you may start whenever a need presses on your heart. Praying at the same time each day, morning or evening, helps the habit hold.
Before you begin, name your intention clearly to yourself. Hold one main need in view for the whole nine days, even if you add others. Then keep to the same simple order each day.
The Daily Structure
- Make the Sign of the Cross and quiet yourself for a moment in God's presence.
- State your intention. Name the person, the need, or the thing you are praying about.
- Pray the main St. Anthony novena prayer (given below in full).
- Pray the responsory "Si quaeris miracula," the classic prayer of St. Anthony.
- Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.
- Close in gratitude, thanking God and St. Anthony, and adding any words of your own.
The St. Anthony Novena Prayer
Pray this prayer each day of the novena, naming your particular intention where the prayer invites you.
O holy St. Anthony, gentlest of saints, your love for God and charity for His creatures made you worthy, while 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 you to obtain for me (here name your request).
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.
O holy St. Anthony, ever attentive to those who call upon you, help me to know that God, who hears my prayer, will give me what is truly good for my soul. Obtain for me a living faith, a firm hope, and a generous love, that I may seek in all things the will of God and praise Him with you forever. Amen.
The Responsory "Si Quaeris Miracula"
This ancient prayer, known by its opening Latin words "Si quaeris miracula," meaning "If then you seek miracles," was written not long after St. Anthony's death. It gathers up the many kinds of help he is known to obtain, and it is prayed to this day in his honor.
If then you seek miracles, death, error, all calamities, leprosy and demons fly, and health succeeds infirmities.
The sea obeys and fetters break, and lifeless limbs you do restore, while treasures lost are found again, when young and old your aid implore.
All dangers vanish at your prayer, and direst need does quickly flee. Let those who know your power proclaim, let Paduans say, these are yours.
To Father, Son, may glory be, and Holy Spirit, eternally. Pray for us, blessed Anthony, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
The Short Prayer for Lost Things
Nearly everyone who knows St. Anthony has heard the little rhyme prayed when something goes missing:
St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around. Something is lost and cannot be found.
There is nothing wrong with this simple appeal, and countless people have said it in a moment of need. It is worth remembering, though, that it is a real prayer and not a charm. St. Anthony does not do tricks; he carries our needs to God. When you say it, say it with reverence, trusting that the same saint who found a lost psalter cares for your small worry too. If you have a little longer, this fuller prayer draws the heart into the same trust:
St. Anthony, you are the patron of the poor and the helper of all who seek lost things. Guide me by your intercession to find what I have lost, and help me above all to find the grace of God and the treasure of a good conscience. Grant that, having found what I seek, I may thank God with a grateful heart and use rightly what has been restored to me. Amen.
Common Intentions People Bring to St. Anthony
No need is too small or too ordinary to lay before St. Anthony. These are some of the intentions people most often carry into the novena:
- Lost or misplaced things, from a wedding ring or set of keys to important papers and treasured keepsakes.
- The poor and those in need, for daily bread, work, and a way through hard times.
- Safe travel, for loved ones on a journey and for all who are far from home.
- A lost faith, praying for someone who has drifted from God to find their way back.
- Peace of heart, for those who have lost their calm, their hope, or their sense of God's nearness.
- Guidance in a decision, when the right path feels hidden and hard to find.
St. Anthony's Bread, a Custom of Almsgiving
A beautiful custom grew up around St. Anthony's love for the poor. When people asked his help or gave thanks for a favor, they would give an offering to feed the hungry, and this offering came to be called St. Anthony's Bread. Some trace it to a mother who promised, if her sick child was healed, to give the child's weight in grain to the poor. Others tell of bread that would not run out while it was shared in his name.
Whatever its exact beginning, the meaning is clear. Devotion to St. Anthony is not only about receiving; it overflows into caring for others. Many parishes still keep a St. Anthony's Bread box for alms that feed the hungry. Pairing your novena with a gift to the poor, however small, is a fitting way to honor a saint who spent his life defending them.
Spiritual Benefits of the Novena
The point of a novena is not to twist God's arm or to force a favor. It is to open your own heart. Praying to St. Anthony for nine days does not guarantee that a lost thing will turn up or that a situation will change exactly as you wish, but it does shape the one who prays. Over the nine days you learn to bring your worry to God rather than carry it alone.
Many people find that even before anything is found or resolved, a quiet peace settles in. The missing thing may still be missing, yet the anxiety loosens its grip and the heart grows more trusting. That is the grace St. Anthony so often obtains: not only lost items restored, but faith deepened, hope steadied, and love rekindled, so that the one who prayed ends up nearer to God than when they began.
Keep Praying With the Church
When your novena to St. Anthony is done, let it draw you deeper into the prayer life of the Church. The Rosary is a beautiful next step, walking with Mary through the life of her Son.
