Every June 13, Catholics around the world celebrate the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua. For most, he’s the quick miracle worker who helps recover misplaced keys, lost wallets, or that library book you swear you just had. But Saint Anthony was much more than a “patron saint of lost things.” He was a preacher, a teacher, a scholar, and a spiritual guide whose life still points us toward Christ today.

I have a personal connection with Anthony that goes beyond anecdotes. My oldest son shares his birthday with Anthony’s feast day, which somehow makes the saint feel like a family friend. Growing up with ADHD, I’ve had my fair share of forgotten items, most memorably my car keys during a summer music camp away from home. Thanks to Saint Anthony, they were found, though it involved my mom driving up to unlock the car. Moments like that, small and practical, are reminders of the saint’s intercession, but they also hint at a deeper truth: Anthony helps us find what is lost, both in the tangible and spiritual sense.

Born Fernando in Lisbon around 1195, he grew up in a noble family and was initially part of the Augustinian canons. He studied Scripture and the Church Fathers, preparing for the life of preaching and teaching that would later define him. Around 1220, Fernando encountered the memory of early Franciscan martyrs who had gone to Morocco to witness the Gospel, even risking death. Inspired, he left the Augustinians, joined the Friars Minor, and took the name Anthony. Though his missionary plans were curtailed by illness, he embraced the Franciscan way with zeal, eventually becoming Provincial Superior in northern Italy, preaching tirelessly, and guiding his fellow friars until his death near Padua in 1231.