St. Anthony of Padua: Patron Saint of Camaligan

                                Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/20119750@N00/856008341/
                                by Shubert Ciencia taken on July 20, 2007 in Camaligan, Bicol Region, PH, 
                                using an Olympus X300,D565Z,C450Z.

Anthony of Lisbon (or Padua) is known to have become the "quickest" saint in the history of the Catholic Church because he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX less than one year after his death on the 30th of May of 1232.
His fame spread as much as the Portuguese envangelization and he has been known as the most celebrated of the followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. He is the patron saint of Padua, of Italy, and of Lisbon as well as many other places in Portugal and in the countries of the former Portuguese Empire. He is especially invoked for the recovery of lost things.^[2]
Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on January 16, 1946, he is sometimes called "Evangelical Doctor".
Each year on the weekend of the last Sunday in August, Boston's North End holds a feast in honor of St. Anthony. Referred to as the "Feast of all Feasts", St. Anthony's Feast in Boston's North End was begun in 1919 by Italian immigrants from Montefalcione, a small town near Naples, where the tradition of honoring St. Anthony goes back to 1688. The feast has become the largest Italian religious festival in the United States.
In 1746 the 1,000 bed Santo António (Saint Anthony) Hospital was completed in Porto, the Portugal Wine City. The hospital is located across the street from the building Lord Wellington set up, as his headquarters to eventually defeat Napoleon. Today Santo António Hospital is famous for successful liver transplants. The ancient "Santo António Hospital Chapel" is a mecca for patients seeking Santo António for the miracle of a cure, and for tourists seeking unique architecture. Visitors taking the Douro River wine boat tours look up from the river to see Santo António Hospital at the center of the city of Porto (Oporto), which is the size of the city of Denver. Santo António Hospital is located above the heart of the Wine Lodges. These "lodges" are Douro River vineyard producers of Port (Ruby, Tawney, Vintage & Crusty) , Red (Vinho Tinto) and White (Branco) wines. Saint Anthony is well celebrated after a good harvest.
On January 27, 1907 in Beaumont, Texas, a church was dedicated and named in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. The church was later designated a cathedral in 1966 with the formation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, but was not formally consecrated. On April 28, 1974, St Anthony Cathedral was dedicated and consecrated by Bishop Warren Boudreaux. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI granted St. Anthony Cathedral the designation of minor basilica. St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica celebrated its 100th anniversary on January 28, 2007.
Seventeenth century Spanish missionaries came across a small Native American community along what was then known as the Yanaguana River on the feast day of Saint Anthony and renamed the river and eventually a mission built nearby in his honor. This mission became the focal point of a small community that eventually grew in size and scope to become the city of San Antonio, Texas.
St. Anthony is known in Brazil and Portugal as a marriage saint, because legend has him as one who conciliated couples. His feast day, June 13, is Lisbon's municipal holiday, celebrated with parades and marriages of humble couples, and he is one of the saints celebrated in the Brazilian Festa Junina (along with John the Baptist and Saint Peter). The previous day, June 12, is the Brazilian Valentine's Day.
In Uvari, in Tamil Nadu, India, the church of St. Anthony is home to an ancient wooden statue that is said to have cured the entire crew of a Portuguese ship suffering from cholera. St Anthony is said to perform many miracles daily, and Uvari is visited by pilgrims of different religions from all over South India.TamilNadu Christians have a high reverence for St. Anthony and is a popular saint there, he is lovingly called "The Miracle Saint", many miracles especially related to Finding of Lost things have been attributed to St.Anthony. There is a strong devoution to St.Anthony among Indian Catholics and can be seen In all of the Catholic Churches In India.
In 1511, Titian painted three scenes of Miracles from the life of St. Anthony of Padua, The Miracle of the Jealous Husband which depicts the murder of a young woman by her husband, (see new findings in Titian's Fresco technique at the Scuola del Santo in Padua, The Art Bulletin March 1999, Volume LXXXI Number 1, Author Sergio Rossetti Morosini), A Child Testifying to Its Mother's Innocence, and The Saint Healing the Young Man with a Broken Limb.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_of_Padua