Our Own St. Anthony Miracle
St. Anthony lost (and found) a book that was very important to him; and so did we!
Author Alessandro Manzoni
Through the St Anthony web site, we received an email inquiry from Roger Hughes in Campbell, California who had recently purchased a book, “The Betrothed,” by Alessandro Manzoni through Amazon.com. He was excited to get this book since he had read that Pope Francis found this book to be one of his favorites and that he kept it on his nightstand.
When he received the book and began to read it, he noticed the first page was stamped “Library, St. Anthony, 5000 Colerain Ave.” On the top of another page there was another stamp, “Novitiate Library.” This helped Mr. Hughes find us through the internet. His email inquired about the date of the book’s purchase by the Novitiate and the date of the book’s publishing.
The email was forwarded to our Archives Department who took it to the perfect source, Brother Gabe Balassone, OFM, the librarian at St. Anthony Friary. Br. Gabe recognized the title and checked the card catalogue and sure enough the book was listed, but missing from the shelf.
Br. Gabriel holds the returned library book.
No one knows when the book was taken out of the library but apparently it had been missing for a long time. And, no one knows how the book ended up at the bookstore that Mr. Hughes bought it from via Amazon.com.
We emailed Mr. Hughes telling him that the book had been a part of the Novitiate Library, that its card was still in the card catalogue, and that the book was missing from the shelf in the library.
A few days later, Mr. Hughes emailed the Archives his thanks and said, “I believe divine providence provided me the chance to purchase this great Italian Classic so that I may have the opportunity to return it to its rightful owner after it ‘disappeared’ from the shelf of your great library. The book will be arriving shortly at St. Anthony Friary, 5000 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati.” Mr. Hughes added a post script to his email saying that the book would be mailed tomorrow, the Feast of St. Francis.
So, “The Betrothed” is back where it belongs thanks to Mr. Hughes. We believe that Mr. Hughes had a little help from St Anthony finding our web site.
You can read more about St. Anthony's lost psalter on our 'About St. Anthony' page.
We’d love to hear your St. Anthony story too. Use our Contact Page or Email: shrine@franciscan.org or Call Colleen Cushard at: 513-721-4700. Share your prayers with us and our online community at our Prayer Page. You can donate St. Anthony Bread or any of our ministries at our Donation Page.
'The Bethrothed'
Posted in: Missions, Prayer, Saint Anthony
