St Anthony of Padua is another of our 2023 House patrons.

St Anthony was born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal. He was born into a wealthy family and, by age 15, asked to be sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, the then capital of Portugal. During his time in the Abbey, he learned theology and Latin.

Following his ordination to the priesthood, he was named guest master and was responsible for the Abbey’s hospitality. When Franciscan friars settled a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to St Anthony of Egypt, Fernando longed to join them.

Fernando eventually received permission to leave the Abbey to join the new Franciscan Order. When he was admitted, he changed his name to Anthony.

Anthony then travelled to Morocco to spread God’s truth, but became extremely sick and was returned to Portugal to recover. The return voyage was blown off-course and the party arrived in Sicily, from where they travelled to Tuscany. Anthony was assigned to the hermitage of San Paolo after local friars considered his health.

As he recovered, Anthony spent his time praying and studying.

An undetermined amount of time later, Dominican friars came to visit the Franciscans and there was confusion over who would present the homily.