I had the most delightful conversation with a woman named Mariam who lives in Morealis, Mexico.  She works at a restaurant named San Miguelito where there is a serious shrine to St. Anthony.  People come from all over the place to leave letters petitioning St. Anthony to help them find true love in their lives.

I explained our St. Anthony project and she was so friendly and helpful in our research of the legend of St. Anthony, the finder of love.

I asked her for samples of letters of petition as well as letters of thanksgiving for love found.  She sent them, as well as pictures of their beautiful town and restaurant, in particular of the room that houses over 750 statues of St. Anthony (all upside down – as one myth goes…..put him on his head until he answers your prayers, then you set him upright!)  Yikes!

I’m going down there to see San Miguelito for myself in January or February.  The place must get totally overrun with love seekers on Valentine’s Day.  What a ball that would be.  Who needs e-Harmony when you have a direct line to the “finder of love” himself?

Natalie Kelsey of Nato-Botto-Arts designed the mailing labels for the St. Anthony Finder of Love Statues.  They carry the message "Handle with LOVE". What a good idea!  We should handle everything we touch with love, don't you think?

I graduated from a wonderful, Franciscan University called Quincy College (now called Quincy University). On the campus, there was a men's dormitory named Padua Hall after our project's patron, St. Anthony of Padua. St. Anthony is the Franciscan order’s  second most well-known saint, following St. Francis of Assisi. On a visit to my Alma Mater in the days following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade towers, there was this beautiful banner displayed on the outside of Padua Hall. It was an image of St. Francis of Assisi, bearing the words PAX et BONUM....PEACE and GOODWILL..... It was a powerful reminder of what/ who we are all called to be in this world- peace keepers and people of goodwill...... 

I gave an invocation yesterday morning at a meeting and I used Marianne Williamson's quote from her book "A Return to Love".  I need to read it everyday until it becomes part of my subconscious and the message becomes incorporated into the fibers of my being.......

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you NOT to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Namaste.

Good Day!

 

I’ve always been intrigued by rituals and ceremonies. I love the mysticism of the Catholic mass, the sacredness of chanting monks in a Buddist temple, the solemnity of Hindi fire ceremonies, and the spiritual connection evident in Native American sweat lodges.  I celebrate the solstices, and the equinonx, with drummings in the woods. I smudge my home and surroundings to eliminate low energy and welcome in new.  I enjoy meditating and live gratefully with the benefits it brings to my life.  I celebrate the divine among us and in each of us.  And I believe in the power of myths and legends and the human spirit in manifesting things in our lives.

I manage the gift shop in a wonderful coffee house in my home town. When a friend of mine returned from Machu Pichu in Peru, she told me of a shrine, dedicated to St. Anthony that she had come upon at the base of the mountain.  She explained that pilgrims visiting this sacred place stopped at this shrine to ask St. Anthony to intercede for them in helping them find “true love” in their life.  She asked me to order a statue of St. Anthony for her daughter, and she added that I might want to order one for myself!

And so began the quest of researching the legend behind the man, St. Anthony of Padua.  St. Anthony, the finder.  

Throughout the centuries people have prayed to St. Anthony to help find lost objects, lost persons, lost loves.  The miraculous answers to prayers offered, merited Anthony the banner “saint of miracles” the “saint who is the finder”.

For my friend’s daughter and for myself, I had a statue of St. Anthony, finder of love sculpted, depicting 

St. Anthony holding a heart in his hands – my heart, friend’s daughters  heart, and now anyone who is searching for true love’s heart, embraced by the “saint of miracles” the “finder”.

Artists and creatives function as the mythologist of our times.   They keep alive myths and legends

through paintings, sculptures, poems, stories and songs.  By creating this statue of St. Anthony, finder of love, we hope to perpetuate the beautiful legend of St. Antony, finder of love. We hope that the “saint of miracles” will continue to change lives and his answered prayers will be celebrated for centuries to come.

Pax et bonum,

Julie

Welcome to the St. Anthony Project

I’m a fan of Joseph Campbell and I believe in what he termed the “Power of Myth”.  I believe in the power of legend and I share Campbell’s belief that it’s the energy that we human beings give to these myths and legends that perpetuate them and make them real and powerful in our world.

 I was intrigued when I came upon this powerful legend of how for centuries, St. Anthony has been assisting people in finding true love in their lives.  People of many cultures have been praying to St. Anthony to help them become “finders” of lost things, true love, and the beauty of “self”. 

I began to research the legend of St. Anthony as a finder of true love and discovered that there are indeed powerful testimonials supporting evidence of true love found after interceding to this “saint of miracles.” Becoming a  believer in St. Anthony’s miraculous powers, I asked my friend and artist, Dave Woesthaus to sculpt for me a statue of this gentle “finder of love” embracing a heart, so that we could share it with the world. 

In doing so, we are offering believers everywhere a ritual to assist them in finding true love and doing our part in perpetuating this beautiful legend that promotes, in the words of the artist, “something as critically necessary in our world as love.”

I have a lot of hopes and dreams for the future of the St. Anthony Project....

Thank you.  Thank you.   Thank you.

in the works.....

• New website www.stanthonyfinderoflove.com
• Statues on the way
• Candles 
• Coins
• Adventures galore!

Pax et bonum,

Julie