St. Anthony and Christ Child COLLECTION (JM 05)

St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) is one of the Church’s most popular saints. First introduced as an artistic motif in the 17th century, St. Anthony holding the Christ Child has been translated into all manners of artistic media across the globe, especially wherever Franciscan missionaries have spread the Word. The motif derives from a miraculous occurrence in St. Anthony’s life. St. Anthony often meditated upon the Incarnation, that is, God becoming fully human in the person of Jesus Christ by being born of the Virgin Mary, “the Word made flesh (John 1:14)”. Shortly before his death, he was favored with a vision of the Holy Child—either as a babe in arms or as a toddler (accounts vary) which was witnessed and revealed after the saint’s demise.. + In this splendid depiction, the Christ Child kneeling on a book (another of St. Anthony’s attributes) reaches up to embrace him while St. Anthony, clad in the traditional brown Franciscan habit, gazes the toddler Jesus with wonder and love. + Feast: June 13