An elderly Papist grandmother in Brazil thought she was worshipping an idol (or ‘venerating a Saint’ as the Catholics would say) of Saint Anthony. This saint, Anthony, was born in 1195 and became a priest in the Franciscan order (he started out in the Order of Augustine), and today is one of the most popular idols in the Roman Catholic Church, as they are taught that he can intercede for all people (as opposed to certain patron saints, who respond primarily to people of specific professions or people with specific problems). You can read more about Roman Catholic superstitions regarding Anthony here.
The woman’s grand-daughter-in-law was visiting her and noticed that the icon she was praying to was peculiar.
Gabriela Brandao was the woman’s name who found the mistake, and posted it on Facebook with the caption: “The funniest discovery of 2016.” The post said, “My daughter’s great-grandmother prays to Saint Anthony every day.”
That, of course, is not Saint Anthony. It is Elrond, who – according to JRR Tolkien – is “noble and fair as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.” So…he is impressive, but he’s no Saint Anthony.
You can read about this at BuzzFeed or the BBC.
In the meantime, here’s the Second Commandment:
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exodus 20:4-6).
Here’s an idea. Don’t pray to stupid objects.
