Saint Anthony of Padua was baptized Ferdinand; he was not from Padua, Italy, but was born in Lisbon, Portugal, probably on August 15, 1195. The forgetting of his baptismal name and place of birth is motivated by the great changes that occurred in his life. At the age of 15, he was sent to the Augustinian canons' college in Coimbra; here he acquired such a deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures that Pope Gregory IX called him the "Ark of the Testament", being certain that if all copies of the Bible had been lost, Anthony would have written it himself from memory. Along with theology, he acquired a thorough philosophical and scientific culture, a culture that was highly developed at the time under the influence of Arabic philosophy. This training was of great use to him in the latter part of his life when he preached in the northern parts of Italy and in France, to bring back to the light of truth those who had fallen under the influence of the Cathar and Albigensian teachings. In his youth, Anton had desired a different kind of life. While he was still in Coimbra, the bodies of the first martyred Franciscan missionaries were brought from Morocco. When the solemn procession passed in front of the college, young Anton felt an immense desire to become a martyr himself. To achieve this goal, he thought that the shortest way would be to become a Franciscan and be sent to non-Christian countries. Despite the opposition of his teachers and family, Ferdinand asked for and received the Franciscan habit, changing his name on this occasion to Anton. He joined the first group of missionaries heading for Morocco and, happily, set foot on African soil. Here, however, the consequences of the disease he was suffering from, dropsy, became very troublesome, and the leader of the missionary group ordered him to return to Portugal. A violent storm drove the ship towards Sicily and Brother Anthony was received into the Franciscan monastery of Messina. When, for the feast of Pentecost in 1221, all the brothers were called to the general assembly on the plain on the outskirts of the city of Assisi, Anthony was among the over 5,000 participants. Although completely unknown, Saint Francis learned of his preparation, called him, spoke with him, and confidentially called him: "my bishop" and asked him to guide the brothers in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Although the name Anthony was and is borne by many people, its meaning remains unknown; it is probably a family name of Etruscan origin. Translated into Greek, it became Antonios. The proximity to the word anthos – flower is poetic, but has no etymological basis. Starting from a primary root, a large family of names for men was formed: Anton, Antonie, Antoniţă, Antul, Tule (a), Antin, Antache, Tone, Tonie, Toniţa, Antoca, Tonca etc… Starting from the modern Greek pronunciation, Andonie, the names resulted: Andonie, Andon, Don (a), Done (a), Doncea, Donciu, Donici, Doniga. For women: Antonia, Antona, Antoaneta, Antoneta, Antonela, Antonina, Antoniada, Donca etc. The bearers of these names can fondly remember that the great miracle worker, Saint Anthony of Padua, is one of their patrons.