Sant'Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão, Saint of the day for 25 October

Saint of the day for October 25th
(1739 - December 23, 1822)

History of Sant'Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão

God's plan in a person's life often takes unexpected turns that become life-giving through cooperation with God's grace.

Born in Guarantingueta near São Paulo, Antônio attended the Jesuit seminary in Belem, but later decided to become a Franciscan friar. Invested in 1760, he made his final profession the following year and was ordained a priest in 1762.

In São Paulo he served as a preacher, confessor and porter. In a few years, Antônio was appointed confessor of the Recollettes of Saint Teresa, a group of nuns from that city. He and Sister Helena Maria of the Holy Spirit founded a new community of nuns under the patronage of Our Lady of the Conception of Divine Providence. The untimely death of Sister Helena Maria the following year left Father Antônio in charge of the new congregation, especially for the construction of a convent and a church suitable for their growing number.

He served as novice master for the friars in Macacu and as guardian of the convent of San Francesco in San Paolo. He founded the convent of Santa Chiara in Sorocaba. With the permission of his provincial and bishop, Antônio spent his last days at the Recolhimento de Nossa Senhora da Luz, the convent of the congregation of nuns he had helped to found.

Antônio de Sant'Anna Galvão was beatified in Rome on 25 October 1998 and canonized in 2007.

Reflection

Holy women and men cannot help but call our attention to God, God's creation, and all the people God loves. The lives of holy people are so oriented towards God that this has become their definition of "normal". Do people see my life or yours as a living sign of God's constant love? What might need to change for this to happen?