St. Anthony of Padua is one of the most famous disciples of St. Francis of Assisi. He was a famous preacher and worker of miracles in his own day, and throughout the eight centuries since his death he has so generously come to the assistance of the faithful who invoke him, that he is known throughout the world.
St. Anthony was born in the year 1195 A. D. at Lisbon (Portugal) where his father was a captain in the royal army. Already at the age of fifteen years, he had entered the Congregation of Canons Regular of St. Augustine and devoted himself with great earnestness both to study and to the practice of piety in the Monastery at Coimbra (Portugal).
About that time some of the first members of the Order of Friars Minor, which St. Francis has founded in 1206 A. D. came to Coimbra. They begged from the Canons Regular a small and very poor place, from which by their evangelical poverty and simplicity they edified everyone in the region. Then in 1219 A. D. some of these friars, moved by divine inspiration, went as missionaries to preach the Gospel of Christ to the inhabitants of Morocco. There they were brutally martyred for the Faith. Some Christian merchants succeeded in recovering their remains; and so brought their relics in triumph back to Coimbra.
The relics of St. Bernard and companions, the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order, seized St. Anthony with an intense desire to suffer martyrdom in a like manner. So moved by their heroic example he repeatedly begged and petitioned his superiors to be given leave to join the Franciscan Order. In the quiet little Franciscan convent at Coimbra he received a friendly reception, and in the same year his earnest wish to be sent to the missions in Africa was fulfilled.
But God had decreed otherwise. And so, St. Anthony scarcely set foot on African soil when he was seized with a grievous illness. Even after recovering from it, he was so weak that, resigning himself to the will of God, he boarded a boat back to Portugal. Unexpectedly a storm came upon them and drove the ship to the east where it found refuge on coast of Sicily. St. Anthony was greeted and given shelter by the Franciscans of that island, and thus came to be sent to Assisi, where the general chapter of the Order was held in May, 1221 A. D..
Since he still looked weak and sickly, and gave no evidence of his scholarship, no one paid any attention to the stranger until Father Gratian, the Provincial of friars living in the region of Romagna (Italy), had compassion on him and sent him to the quiet little convent near Forli (also in Italy). There St. Anthony remained nine months as chaplain to the hermits, occupied in the lowliest duties of the kitchen and convent, and to his heart's content he practiced interior as well as exterior mortification.
Date |
Name of the Friars |
Events |
Year |
01 |
Wilson PaulNattalil Hemant Xess Robin Lakra |
S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows |
2001 2004 2004 |
02 |
Tomy Palackal Vijay Minj Gali Bal Reddy Julius Arul Rayan |
Birth Birth Birth S. Vows |
1974 1979 1996 2001 |
03 |
Ignatius Baa Benjamin Jojo |
S. Vows S. Vows |
2002 2002 |
04 |
St. Joseph de Leonisse, Priest, Cap. Thomas A. |
Birth |
1612 1972 |
05 |
Pratap Kumar Xess |
Birth |
1996 |
06 |
SahayaDhasJ. Madhu Sudhan Reddy Sleeva Reddy Prem Kumar D’ Souza Stephen Lamin Gashnga Jayapal Dwarakonda Joseph Stephen SahayaDhas J. Vinoth Robin Felix Vijay Eugene A. Praveen Roshan Toppo Jeddu Praveen Chinna Reddy Nijil Chiramel Joseph Prasanna Kumar Pasala Showri Raju Emmanuel Christopher |
Birth Birth Ordination S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows S. Vows Ordination |
1980 1986 2002 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2021 |
09 |
Nijil Chiramel |
Ordination |
2015 |
10 |
+ David Jackson |
Home |
1972 |
12 |
Francis Xavier |
Birth |
1970 |
14 |
Alphonse Velankanni |
Birth |
1996 |
15 |
Praveen Henry D’Souza Deen Dayal Pasala Showri Raju |
Birth Ordination Ordination |
1977 2017 2015 |
17 |
Prakruthi Mithra, Chundel |
Blessing |
2014 |
18 |
Assisivanam, Peravoor |
Blessing |
2009 |
20 |
Regi Matthew |
Birth |
1973 |
22 |
Lalith Kujur |
Birth |
1978 |
23 |
Vilas Correia Xavier Durairaj |
Birth Birth |
1973 1975 |
26 |
Nanasera Friary Jacob Kannampuzha +Athanasius Xaxa |
Blessing Birth Home |
1996 1999 2019 |
27 |
Wilson PaulNattalil |
Birth |
1970 |
28 |
Madhavaram Friary Amaladass Manickam |
Foundation Birth |
1953 1954 |