In 1195, I was born in the city of Lisbon, Portugal to a wealthy family. Back then I was called Fernando Martins. When I was fifteen, my parents sent me to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra (during that time, Coimbra was the capital) to become a priest. After I became ordained, they told me to take charge of the hospitality of the Abbey. While I was in Coimbra, I met some Franciscan friars at their settlement dedicated to St. Anthony of Egypt. They told me about how some of their friars had been beheaded during their ministry in Morocco. I thought to myself, I too should give my life to God. I then joined the Franciscans and changed my name to Anthony.
As I was sailing to Morocco, I become dangerously ill. There was no point in continuing my journey if I was going to die before I even landed. As we were returning home, the ship blew off course and we Sicily. There I was nursed back to health, in the same place where St. Francis of Assisi
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One night He visited me, kissed me and told me, “I love you." In religious art, I am one of the very few Saints painted with the Holy Child. There is another legend where a mother 's boy drowned in a tub, and the mother asked me to revive him. I did, and she donated her son 's weight in bread to the poor. A French woman also asked me to find her keys, and when she found them she donated bread to the poor as well. This is why on my feast day (June 13), loaves of bread are blessed in the churches.
Many areas have pronounced me their patron Saint, including the country of Portugal. In Asia, I am said to perform miracles daily. In a small village in India, they were building a small chapel but were distracted by a snake. They put up a statue of me and asked me to get rid of it. The day after, the snake was hanging by a cord in my hand.
In art, you will recognize me as the Franciscan friar (as before mentioned) with the Infant Jesus, with the Bible, or with a white