The Story of St Anthony the Wonder Worker

Prayers for Saint Anthony's Intercession

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Restorer of Sight to the Blind

Dear Saint Anthony, you recall the Gospel episode about the blind man who, partly healed, could see men "looking like walking trees." After a second laying-on of Jesus's hands, he could see perfectly. Saint Anthony, Restorer of Sight to the Blind, please sharpen my spiritual vision. May I see people, not as trees or numbers, but as sons and daughters of the Most High. Help me in my pressing needs. [name your special intentions]

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Restorer of Speech to the Mute

 

Dear Saint Anthony, how tongue-tied I can be when I should be praising God and defending the oppressed. My cowardice often strikes me dumb; I am afraid to open my mouth. Saint Anthony, Restorer of Speech to the Mute, release me from my fears. Teach me to praise God and to champion the rights of those unjustly treated. Please remember also all my intentions. [name them]

 

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

 

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Liberator of Prisoners

Dear Saint Anthony, I am imprisoned by walls of selfishness, prejudice, suspicion. I am enslaved by human respect and the fear of other people's opinions of me. Saint Anthony, Liberator of Prisoners, tear down my prison walls. Break the chains that hold me captive. Make me free with the freedom Christ has won for me. To your powerful intercession I also recommend these intentions. [name them]

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Performer of Miracles

Dear Saint Anthony, your prayers obtained miracles during your lifetime. You still seem to move at ease in the realm of minor and major miracles. Saint Anthony, Performer of Miracles, please obtain for me the blessings God holds in reserve who serve Him. Pray that I may be worthy of the promises my Lord Jesus attaches to confident prayer. [mention your special intentions]
 

Photo by Loci B. Lenar

Prayer to Saint Anthony the Wonder-Worker

Saint Anthony, you are glorious for your miracles and for the condescension of Jesus who came as a little child to lie in your arms. Obtain for me from His bounty the grace which I ardently desire. You were so compassionate toward sinners, do not regard my unworthiness. Let the glory of God be magnified by you in connection with the particular request that I earnestly present to you. {mention your petition}

As a pledge of my gratitude, I promise to live more faithfully in accordance with the teachings of the church, and to be devoted to the service of the poor whom you loved and still love so greatly. Bless this resolution of min that I may be faithful to it until death.

Saint Anthony, consoler of all the afflicted, pray for me.

Saint Anthony, helper of all who invoke you, pray for me.

Saint Anthony, whom the Infant Jesus loved and honored so much, pray for me.

Amen.

The above prayers can be found on Catholic websites.

For additional prayers, please visit the following link: Devotional Prayers

Fatima Miracle at Hiroshima

Photograph from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following remarkable story of a rosary miracle at Hiroshima is posted on HolySouls.com.  In my recent visit to the Blue Army Shrine in Washington, NJ, I had an opportunity to speak with Father Paul Ruge, the spiritual advisor at the World Apostolate of Fatima, USA.  He confirmed the subsequent story of his interview with Fr. Schiffer, a survivor of the atomic explosion at Hiroshima.    -Loci B. Lenar

Rosary Miracle - Safe in the Midst of Hiroshima Nuclear Blast !!
     
Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima - August 6th, 1945

There was a home eight blocks (about 1 kilometer) from where the A-Bomb went off in Hiroshima Japan. This home had a church attached to it which was completely destroyed, but the home survived, and so did the eight German Jesuit missionaries who prayed the rosary in that house faithfully every day. These men were missionaries to the Japanese people, they were non-military, but because Germany and Japan were allies during WWII they were permitted to live and minister within Japan during the war. Not only did they all survive with (at most) relatively minor injuries, but they all lived well past that awful day with no radiation sickness, no loss of hearing, or any other visible long term defects or maladies. Naturally, they were interviewed numerous times (Fr. Schiffer, a survivor, said over 200 times) by scientists and health care people about their remarkable experience and they say "we believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the rosary daily in that home." Of course the secular scientists are speechless and incredulous at this explanation - and they are sure there is some "real" explanation - but at the same time over 55 years later the scientists are still absolutely bamboozled when it comes to finding a plausible scenario to explain the missionary's unique escape from the hellish power of that bomb.

FR. SCHIFFER OF HIROSHIMA
by Fr. Paul Ruge, O.F.M.I.

At 2:45 a.m. on August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber took off from the island of Tinian to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. At 8:15 a.m. the bomb exploded eight city blocks from the Jesuit Church of Our Lady's Assumption in Hiroshima. Half a million people were annihilated. However, the church and four Jesuit fathers stationed there survived: Fathers Hugo Lassalle, Kleinsorge, Cieslik and Schiffer. (RH note - all other accounts state clearly that there were eight Jesuits stationed in this home not four - and it is well known that all eight survived - the author of this present article apparently only had the names of four of them, for instance Fr. Arrupe is left out of the list - and at this writing, I have not been able to find the names of the other three Jesuits. end of note.) According to the experts they "ought to be dead," being within a one-mile radius of the explosion. Nine days later on August 15, Feast of Our Lady's Assumption, U.S. forces were ordered to cease fire.

(This is the incredible story of the late Fr. Hubert Schiffer, as retold by Fr. Paul Ruge.)  I met Fr. Schiffer in the late 70s at the Tri-City Airport in Saginaw, Michigan, as he was going to give a talk for the Blue Army Novena/Triduum. As I chauffeured him around he told me stories of his life, especially of the atomic explosion at Hiroshima. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just finished Mass, went into the rectory and sat down at the breakfast table, and had just sliced a grapefruit, and had just put his spoon into the grapefruit when there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that it was an explosion in the harbor (this was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines.)

Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: "Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunderstroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me 'round and 'round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind."  The next thing he remembered, he opened his eyes and he was laying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground.

The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with himself. Many thousands were killed or maimed by the explosion. After the conquest of the Americans, their army doctors and scientists explained to him that his body would begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. Many of the Japanese people had blisters and sores from the radiation. To the doctors amazement, Fr. Schiffer's body contained no radiation or ill-effects from the bomb. Fr. Schiffer attributes this to devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his daily Fatima Rosary. He feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother which protected him from all radiation and ill-effects. (This coincides with the bombing of Nagasaki where St. Maximilian Kolbe had established a Franciscan Friary which was also unharmed because of special protection from the Blessed Mother, as the Brothers too prayed the daily Rosary and also had no effects from the bomb.)

***

For further details about the story, please read Dr. Stephen A. Rinehart's commentary and correspondence with Dr. Richard F. Hubbell regarding the after effects of the atomic explosion in Hiroshima.  Dr. Rhineart is considered an expert in nuclear physics.  Please visit the following link for the whole story: HolySouls.com