Saint Anthony of Padua - Bloomfield, CT - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

A life size bronze statue of Saint Anthony of Padua depicts the saint wearing sandals and the hooded robe of the Franciscan Order with a cord on the right side and a rosary on his left side. He is shown, as he is commonly depicted in art, looking down on a young Jesus that he is holding in his right arm. He has his left hand on Jesus' knees. He stands on a granite base. The front of the base is inscribed:

Saint Anthony of Padua was born Fernando Martins de Bulhões in Lisbon Portugal in 1195. At the age of fifteen, he entered the community of Canons Regular at the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Vincent on the outskirts of Lisbon. Fernando then obtained permission from church authorities to leave the Canons Regular to join the recently formed Franciscan Order. He began the life of a Franciscan friar and adopting the name Anthony.

As a young friar, he traveled to Morocco to preach but soon took ill and attempted to return to Portugal via Spain. His ship was blown off course by a storm and finally landed in Sicily. Thereupon, he made his way to the Tuscany region of Italy. In view of his poor health, the local Franciscans assigned him to the rural hermitage of San Paolo near Forlì in the region of Romagna. There he was soon recognize for his preaching ability. Anthony was later appointed provincial superior of northern Italy and chose to live in Padua.

In 1231 Anthony contracted a type of food poisoning known as ergotism and retired to a retreat at Camposampiero, near Padua. Anthony died while returning to Padua on June 13, 1231 at age 35. He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on May 30, 1232, less than a year following his death. Anthony was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on January 16, 1946. He is the patron saint of finding lost things or lost people.