St. Anthony with baby Jesus (Image by Google)
Today here in Brazil is celebrated the day of St. Anthony of Padua, the matchmaker saint of Catholicism. And while many girls out there are drowning, binding with ribbons or turning upside down images of this saint, I chose to read a little more about his history and why he is recurred to when it comes to marriages.
One story tells about a girl and her mother, who were very poor. When their poverty got even worse, the mother decided that the daughter should sell her body to make a living for both of them (great example of motherhood, huh?). The young girl was not at all pleased with the idea and prayed desperately to a St. Anthony's image asking him to resolve her situation. From one hand of the image, a little note fell down into the hands of the maiden. It was addressed to one of the wealthiest marketers in town, and it was written: "Mr. N..., Please oblige this young woman who gives you this note with so many silver coins as the weight of this same paper. God bless you! Anthony." The girl rushed into the marketer's shop and gave him the note. He thought it was funny but, seeing that the girl was modest and decent, he decided to give her the coins. So he put the note in one of the plates of a scale and a coin in the other one. The note was heavier! So he kept putting silver coins and still couldn't match the weight of the note! Only when there were 400 coins, the plates of the balance were equally high. The episode soon became famous and many good men wanted to marry the girl. She accepted one and they lived happily for many many years.
I don't mean to be sarcastic or anything, and do have much sympathy for St. Anthony, but this story got me thinking that the money was more important than the marriage itself. At least on that girl's situation. And where is love on that story? Well, I guess the times did change a little bit since then, but that sounded like a marriage for interest to me. Let us pray that St. Anthony got a little bit more "romantic" with the years!
One story tells about a girl and her mother, who were very poor. When their poverty got even worse, the mother decided that the daughter should sell her body to make a living for both of them (great example of motherhood, huh?). The young girl was not at all pleased with the idea and prayed desperately to a St. Anthony's image asking him to resolve her situation. From one hand of the image, a little note fell down into the hands of the maiden. It was addressed to one of the wealthiest marketers in town, and it was written: "Mr. N..., Please oblige this young woman who gives you this note with so many silver coins as the weight of this same paper. God bless you! Anthony." The girl rushed into the marketer's shop and gave him the note. He thought it was funny but, seeing that the girl was modest and decent, he decided to give her the coins. So he put the note in one of the plates of a scale and a coin in the other one. The note was heavier! So he kept putting silver coins and still couldn't match the weight of the note! Only when there were 400 coins, the plates of the balance were equally high. The episode soon became famous and many good men wanted to marry the girl. She accepted one and they lived happily for many many years.
I don't mean to be sarcastic or anything, and do have much sympathy for St. Anthony, but this story got me thinking that the money was more important than the marriage itself. At least on that girl's situation. And where is love on that story? Well, I guess the times did change a little bit since then, but that sounded like a marriage for interest to me. Let us pray that St. Anthony got a little bit more "romantic" with the years!
~Ally
RSS Feed