St. Anthony of Padua has been a friend to millions of Catholics asking his help to recover lost objects. But few seem to know much about his remarkable life. The son of a knight in the court of Portugal's king, he renounced his heritage of wealth and power to become a Franciscan priest. In the years to come, he earned international fame as a preacher, reformer, miracle worker, champion of the poor, and Doctor of the Church.

A generation ago, the American Catholic novelist John Edward Beahn presented Anthony's life and legends in a biographical novel, A Rich Young Man: A Novel Based on the Life of St. Anthony of Padua, published in 1953. This imaginative re-telling of the saint's story, based on historical records and traditions, now comes to life again in the TAN Legend series of biographical fiction.