Religious Shipwreck Medallion (El Bueno Consejo) - Bronze - Saint Anthony

Medallion: St Anthony

Metal: Bronze

Size: Height: 0.875 inches.       Width: 0.875 inches

Description: Saint Anthony and Saint Margaret. Obverse: Saint Anthony -Patron Saint of Shipwrecks, Mariners, Lost Articles. Reverse: Saint Margaret of Cortona - Patron Saint of Homeless People, Midwives, and Reformed Prostitutes

History: Associated with the Shipwreck "El Bueno Consejo", on shore of the Caribbean island Anguilla. The Galleon was carrying 50 Franciscan Monk and thousands of bronze religious medallions to be used in converting the New World population to Christianity. .Anthony of Padua was born Ferdinand de Bulhoes in the year 1195 in Lisbon, Portugal. Though initially of the Augustinian Order, which he joined at the age of 15, he later transferred to the Franciscan Order. An articulate, learned, powerful, and eloquent orator, he attracted enormous crowds who came to listen to his teaching. Pope Gregory IX, in veneration of Anthony's knowledge of the Scriptures called Anthony "Ark of The Covenant." His preaching has been called a "jewel case of the Bible." Anthony is author of Sermons for Sundays" and "Sermons for Feast Days." After Anthony's death, an Abbott, Thomas Gallo, witnessed an apparition of Anthony. Anthony himself witnessed apparaitionsof the Infant Jesus and Saint Francis of Assisi. He had a great love of the people, doing much to aid the poor and oppressed, and is their Patron. Probably most frequently appealed to as Patron Saint of Lost Articles, Anthony was once shipwrecked on Sicily, and is also Patron Saint of Shipwrecks and Mariners. The legend on the medallion reads:  "S ANTONIO"

St. Margaret: Saint Margaret of Cortona was born in Loviana in Tuscany, in 1247. The daughter of a farmer, her mother died when Margaret was only seven years old. Her father soon remarried, but her stepmother had no affection for the child. Unhappy at home, at 16 or 17 years of age, Margaret eloped with a young cavalier who promised to marry her. Margaret enjoyed a life of luxury, and the couple eventually had a son, but the promise of marriage never materialized. After nine years together, one day Margaret's lover failed to return from a visit to one of his estates. His favorite dog returned home, though, and led Margaret to the body of her lover. He had been murdered. Following the death of her cavalier, Margaret, who had already experienced callings to a life of service, embraced the life of a penitent. She committed herself to nursing the sick and poor, and eventually joined the Third Order of Saint Francis. She lived in strict poverty and begged for her food. The alms that Margaret received she shared with the poor. As she progresseed on her path to holiness, Margaret began to experience revelations. Afters performing acts of penance for 29 years, she died February 22, 1279. The patronage of Saint Margaret of Cortona is invoked against temptations and mental illness. The legend on the medallion reads:  "S MARG CORTONA." 

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