Prayer to Saint Anthony for lost things
In many households people turn to Saint Anthony of Padua when something goes missing. Keys, glasses, a wedding ring. Here is the traditional wording and where it comes from. Nothing more.
The best known wording
"Saint Anthony, who received the grace of finding what is lost, help me find what I have lost." Almost every family keeps a slightly different version. It is rarely printed. It travels by voice.
The old responsory
The oldest text is the responsory "Si quaeris miracula", attributed to Julian of Speyer in the thirteenth century. The line about lost things reads "perdita res redditur", what was lost is given back.
Why Saint Anthony
Tradition tells of a psalter stolen from him that came back. From the Middle Ages on, he is the saint people call on when something is gone. A popular custom, not a doctrine.
How people say it
Aloud or silently, usually in the middle of searching. Some light a candle. Many add a vow: if the thing turns up, they will give something. None of it is required, and nobody guarantees a result.
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