Devotions to St Anthony

A look at the various ways devotees interact with St Anthony

For his devotees, St Anthony is a companion in daily life. He is regarded by many as a big brother, a confidant who is always present and available whenever people are assailed by problems, big or small. Devotees ask him to help those who have lost their way, to console the suffering and assist the poor. As well as through personal prayer, devotion to Saint Anthony has manifested itself over the centuries in enduring ways.

Hand on St Anthony’s tomb

This is the most characteristic gesture that pilgrims perform in the Basilica of St Anthony. As well as revealing the need for contact with the saint, this is a gesture of trust and confidence, accompanied by a silent prayer.

Attention to the saint is not solicited by statues or images of him, which in any case are present in the basilica, but the saint’s own tomb.

The Tredicina

This term refers to the first 13 days of preparation for the feast of St Anthony, which takes place on June 13. The Tredicina is repeated again nowadays in the basilica and in other Franciscan churches or Anthonian shrines, as well as in many families. The same term, however, is also used for a prayer consisting of “13 smaller prayers”, which highlight the most significant aspects of the saint’s life and holiness. These prayers are recited alongside standard Catholic prayers.

Entrusting children to St Anthony

Anthony had a particular fondness for children. Among the miracles he performed during his lifetime, many were done in their favour. It is for this reason that, according to tradition, a baby can be placed under St Anthony’s special protection.

A lily on St Anthony’s tomb

For centuries pilgrims have been bringing a very special flower to the tomb of St Anthony in Padua and during his pontificate Leo XIII first granted permission for this flower, the lily, to be blessed in honour of the saint. This is because the lily flowers in June – the month of St Anthony’s feast day – and it represents the purity of prayer and holy thought.

Blessing of objects

In the Chapel of Blessings, the faithful may even have their personal items or objects of worship blessed. Though some devotees may go over the top at times in this tradition, the solid need among the faithful that drives them to seek this blessing should not be underestimated. This tradition expresses the importance of perceiving St Anthony of Padua as a friend and intercessor with God in life’s many situations of fatigue and illness.

The message-petition to St Anthony

Many devotees write to St Anthony. They want to leave a note, a prayer, a plea, a message, addressed to St Anthony.

Through these messages they demonstrate their trust in the saint, a trust that knows no boundaries of language or nation.

Inside the basilica, the faithful will find a special form to be filled in so that they may entrust to St Anthony what they most need. Once written, it is left on the tomb of St Anthony. One can even bring a prayer card on behalf of those who cannot come to the basilica, especially if ill or alone.

The transit

This is the ritual that recalls the last moments of the saint’s earthly life: Aware of his approaching death, Anthony asked to be taken from Camposampiero to Padua, where he wanted to be buried. He was taken to the city on an ox-drawn cart. Once he arrived at the outskirts of the city, at a place called Arcella, his condition deteriorated and he died there peacefully, comforted by a vision of Jesus.

The saint died on a Friday, June 13, 1231, in the evening. For this reason the friars of the basilica, every Friday afternoon evoke the time of transit (i.e. the ‘transition’ from earthly to eternal life).

Every year on the eve of June 13, an evocative historical representation of Anthony’s death is organised along the streets of Arcella.

St Anthony’s Bread

In some Franciscan churches or in parishes with particular devotion to St Anthony, on his feast day (June 13) the custom is celebrated of blessing loaves of bread, which are then distributed among the faithful and eaten.

Such devotion certainly derives from the initiative of the “bread of the poor” that in the past was very strong and widespread in churches. Even today the organisations of Caritas Antoniana (St Anthony’s Charities) and the Pane dei Poveri (Bread for the Poor) are located near the Basilica. These two associations help the needy in different ways.

The articulate organisation of charity, which issues spiritually from the Basilica, depends on the generosity of pilgrims or devotees who, through the Messenger of Saint Anthony magazine, donate to the poor. What they accomplish is the continuation of gratitude to the saint, who is always so generous with advice and help.

This charity is brought out by the moving episode of the miracle of Tommasino and that of his young mother who, once she had obtained the healing of her child Tommasino through the intercession of the saint, decided to offer to the Basilica her baby’s weight in bread, to be redistributed to other mothers in need.