Saint Anthony's Bread
Saint Anthony's Bread is an old form of vow: you promise a gift for the poor and hand it over only once the intention has been fulfilled. Here is where the custom comes from.
What it means
Not a particular loaf, but a gift. Once bread or grain, today usually money that goes to the poor. What sets it apart is the order: the promise first, then the waiting, and the gift only afterwards.
The Padua story
Tradition tells of a mother in Padua who asked for her drowned child and promised as much grain as the child weighed. From that comes the "pondus pueri", the weight of the child. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the friars of Padua turned it into a work for the poor.
Toulon, 1890
The other trail leads to Toulon. Louise Bouffier, who kept a bakery, could not open her shop door. The locksmith was about to force it. She promised bread for the poor if the lock would open without breaking anything. It opened. Out of her promise and those of her friends grew a charity that still exists.
The shape, not the effect
What is handed down is the shape: an intention, a promise, a gift afterwards. About the effect the custom says nothing, and the stories remain stories. Nothing happens to anyone who does not keep the promise.
This site follows the same order. You write an intention down, tie a promise to it, and pay only afterwards, if you want to.
Write your intention down