St.Anthony Teluk Intan Through The Years

St Anthony of Padua – Saint, Scholar, Sage - Our Inspiration

Saint Anthony of Padua (Portuguese: Santo António de Lisboa), born Fernando Martins de Bulhões (15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231), is also known as Anthony of Lisbon,He was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, and died in Padua, Italy. Noted by his contemporaries for his powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in church history. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 16 January 1246. He is also the patron saint of lost things.

He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Padua and many places in Portugal and in the countries of the former Portuguese Empire

WHY ST ANTHONY’S LIFE AND EXAMPLE ARE

RELEVANT TODAY

Our school is named in honour of St Anthony of Padua who is one of the greatest saints of the Christian world. He is also revered by millions of people of all faiths for the inspiring example of his saintly and scholarly life devoted to the preaching of the Holy Word and living the Holy Word especially by caring for the poor and the helpless. Indeed, St Anthony of Padua is our greatest role model because he is an eloquent embodiment of our school’s motto “CARITAS NON FICTA”.

To this very day, there are very strong reasons why

St Anthony continues to be a great inspiration for young people.

· He was born in Lisbon (Portugal) into a wealthy aristocratic family but he joined the religious life and devoted his entire life to a higher cause – the study and preaching of the scriptures and the care of the poor. He shows us that the greatest wealth comes from a life lived well and devoted to a higher cause in life.
· He was an international citizen who traversed Portugal,Morocco, Spain, France and Italy to carry out his mission in life. In the process, he mastered several languages including Latin,Portuguese, Spanish,French and Italian. He is truly a model for young people in a multilingual world.
· He was a great scholar. His interest was not only in scripture and theology. He was fascinated by the first stirrings of scientific research in the Middle Ages. He had a sure grasp of human psychology as revealed by his sermons which earned him the title “Evangelical Doctor of the Church”.
· He was a great communicator and educator. However, like his mentor St Francis of Assisi, St Anthony believed that the “dialogue of words” is not enough. Human beings are touched in heart and mind by action as declared by our motto “Caritas Non Ficta”.
· St Anthony symbolizes the first principle of the Rukunegara -faith in God and the power of prayer in our lives. Many miracles have been attributed to St Anthony in countries all over the world.
· Being Anthonian links us with many institutions and communities worldwide that celebrate the greatness of this person .

· He is especially invoked and venerated all over the world as the patron saint for the recovery of lost items and is credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods.