SOMETHING IS LOST AND MUST BE FOUND IN WOONSOCKET

SAINT ANTHONY, SAINT ANTHONY, PLEASE LOOK AROUND---

Sometimes very valuable items go missing.  They do not just walk away--someone takes them.

This has happened to an amazing degree in the Historic Civil War Cemetery  that sits like a secret garden just off Rathbun Street in the midst of Woonsocket.  Time has not been kind to Rathbun and along with a few Victorian cottages it is mainly a street of three-deckers in mixed state of repair.
However, once you turn into the gateway to Oak Hill you are in another world.  This is a place where the fervent Woonsocket Abolitionists were laid to rest. They were the community leaders  and the publishers and writers of the Woonsocket Patriot, a newspaper whose slogan was:
WE CHRONICLE FREEDOM.
Somehow an amazing community of intellectuals, poets, entrepreneurs, mill owners and pious Baptists and  Universalists found each other in Woonsocket in the  first half of the Nineteenth Century.

These leaders created a new cemetery to receive the bodies of those who would die in the coming battle against slavery.
Many  of these patriots were people of great means and they spared no expense in creating a Forest Cemetery that would  receive them and their honored  dead. 

Things changed in the 20th Century
 perhaps the demographics changed and surely the families of the dead may have moved elsewhere and left behind a wealth of artifacts to be stolen.

What is missing?
So much. Headstones-- on my family plot there are no longer any headstones; just foot-stones to mark the name of the deceased. However, this cemetery was never abandoned; there were always care takers in charge--for the families had paid for PERPETUAL CARE.

 The cemetery  had stones of special granite and marble. Famous stone cutters were employed and unique  memorials were made that include statues and special curbings and steps with  flora  flourishes  adorned the approaches.

 But perhaps the  greatest  crime was the  stealing of an immense fountain.
We can still see its circumference in the foundation circle that remains.  Now some locals  call it a Witches' Circle and cavort there on Halloween.

No not witches, lay not that soothing unction to your soul, not witches, but men with winches and riggers somehow managed to remove and carry off an immense  fountain and leave the place behind bare.

This ravishing of a holy place calls to heaven  for repair and replacement.

As a child we often recited a simple prayer when we wanted to find precious things that were lost:
"SAINT ANTHONY, SAINT ANTHONY, PLEASE LOOK AROUND. SOMETHING IS LOST THAT CANNOT BE FOUND."

I recently  discovered a more  serious plea to the Saint who finds lost things.  And I implore the Saint of my childhood to bring the hidden things to light.


Novena to St Anthony who restores lost things.

St. Anthony, you are glorious for your miracles and for the condescension of Jesus Who came as a little child to lie in your arms. Obtain for me from His bounty the grace which I ardently desire. You were so compassionate toward sinners, do not regard my unworthiness. Let the glory of God be magnified by you in connection with the particular request that I earnestly present to you.

[Please direct me and other caretakers of this bereft cemetery to discover the whereabouts of the fountain that once played there. Soften the hearts of those who have removed and defaced stones and urns and installed them in other cemeteries and in so doing actually dishonored their dead. Many of the thieves must, like me, be quite old and approaching judgement, may they be moved to confess their sins and make amends by restoring the stolen goods.] 

As a pledge of my gratitude, I promise to live more faithfully in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and to be devoted to the service of the poor whom you loved and still love so greatly. Bless this resolution of mine that I may be faithful to it until death.

St. Anthony, consoler of all the afflicted, pray for me.

St. Anthony, helper of all who invoke you, pray for me.

St. Anthony, whom the Infant Jesus loved and honored so much, pray for me. Amen.

WITH THE HELP OF THIS GREAT SAINT WE WILL FIND AND RESTORE  WHAT HAS BEEN STOLEN.   May God have mercy on their souls and mine and  take into heaven all of us most in need of His MERCY.