Christian Pure

Prayers to St. Anthony for Lost Things, and Prayers to God While You Search

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • The traditional prayer to St. Anthony of Padua for lost things is the Si quaeris, a responsory written by Julian of Speyer for the saint’s Office around 1233; its Latin names lost things (resque perditas) among the favors asked of him.
  • Anthony was born in Lisbon in 1195, preached as a Franciscan in France and Italy, died near Padua on 13 June 1231 and was declared a saint by Pope Gregory IX in 1232.
  • Franciscan tradition links him to lost things through a story of a novice who took Anthony’s book of psalms and brought it back after Anthony prayed.
  • Many Catholics promise a gift to the poor when a lost thing is found, a custom called St. Anthony’s Bread.
  • Russian Orthodox Christians ask the prayers of the martyr John the Warrior for lost or stolen things; most Protestants pray to God alone, and Luke 15:8–9 tells of a woman who searched her house for a lost coin.

A popular Catholic rhyme for something lost is “Tony, Tony, look around. Something’s lost and must be found.” The traditional prayer to St. Anthony of Padua is the thirteenth-century Si quaeris, given here in Latin and English, with a prayer from a 1906 Catholic prayer book and short prayers to God for the search. The Si quaeris: the traditional prayer to St. Anthony Julian of Speyer, a German Franciscan, wrote this responsory for the Office of St. Anthony, which the…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (1 Samuel 9:20; 2 Kings 6:5–7; Matthew 6:32; Luke 15:8–9). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
  • Julian of Speyer. “Si quaeris miracula,” responsory of the Officium rhythmicum S. Antonii. Latin text as printed in “The Miraculous Responsory of St. Anthony of Padua,” New Liturgical Movement, 13 June 2013. https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2013/06/the-miraculous-responsory-of-st-anthony.html
  • Basilica of St. Anthony, Padua. “Si quaeris.” https://www.santantonio.org/en/content/si-quaeris ; “Saint Anthony’s Bread.” https://www.santantonio.org/en/content/saint-anthony%E2%80%99s-bread
  • Dal-Gal, Niccolò. “St. Anthony of Padua.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01556a.htm
  • Butler, Cuthbert. “St. Anthony.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01553d.htm
  • Franciscan Media. “Devotion to St. Anthony of Padua.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-tradition-and-resources/devotion-to-st-anthony-of-padua/
  • Lasance, Francis Xavier. The Catholic Girl’s Guide: Counsels and Devotions for Girls in the Ordinary Walks of Life. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1906. “Prayer in Any Necessity to St. Anthony of Padua,” p. 606. https://archive.org/details/catholicgirlsgui00lasa
  • “Иоанн Воин” (John the Warrior). Православная энциклопедия (Orthodox Encyclopedia). Moscow: Church Research Center “Orthodox Encyclopedia.” https://www.pravenc.ru/text/471095.html
  • “Молитва при потере или пропаже вещей” (Prayer at the loss or disappearance of things), to the martyr John the Warrior. Azbuka Very prayer book, from Молитвы читаемые на молебнах (Petrograd: Synodal Press, 1915). https://azbyka.ru/molitvoslov/molitva-pri-potere-ili-propazhe-veshhej.html

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