Saint Anthony, Luke 15:9 Wall Art

Anthony, the Child and the lily

A young friar with a shaved crown, the Franciscan tonsure, holds a small curly-haired boy against his chest. He wears the brown habit of his order, belted with a white cord that hangs down in front with three knots. The Child, barefoot in a loose white gown, reaches up to touch Anthony's face, and the two look straight at each other, forehead almost to forehead.

Tucked into the crook of Anthony's arm is a stalk of white lilies with green leaves, the flower that stands for purity in Christian art. The painter keeps everything else away: no background, only a little blue-gray shadow at the hem. Above them, lettered in brown: “I have found the piece which I had lost”, with Luke 15:9.

Why pair Saint Anthony with Luke 15:9?

Luke 15 holds three parables about finding: a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son. In the middle story a woman who owns ten silver coins loses one, lights a candle, sweeps the house and searches carefully until it turns up. Then she gathers her friends and neighbors and tells them, in the King James wording: “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.” Jesus adds that there is the same joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents.

Anthony of Padua, born in Lisbon in 1195 and died near Padua in 1231, was a Franciscan preacher so gifted that he was later named a Doctor of the Church. An old story says a novice ran off with Anthony's handwritten book of psalms, which he used for teaching; Anthony prayed, and the young man came back and returned it. From that grew his reputation as the saint to ask when something is missing, from car keys to a relationship.

The image of the Child Jesus in his arms comes from another tradition, that a friend once saw Anthony at prayer holding the infant Christ. It explains why so many statues of him look exactly like this one.

Baptisms and Catholic homes

With a tender baby at its heart, this print is often chosen for a baptism, especially for a boy named Anthony, Anton or Tony. It is also welcome by the front door of a Catholic home, where people traditionally pause to ask Saint Anthony's help before a search, and his feast on June 13 makes a good day to give it.