St Anthony of Padua’s ‘travelling companion’

Fr Mario Conte OFM Conv. tells Cathal Barry he hopes the visit of St Anthony’s relics to Ireland will help people rediscover their faith

Fr Mario Conte was the man behind many traffic jams in Irish towns and cities back in 2013 when the relics of St Anthony of Padua, one of the Church’s most popular saints, toured the country.

The self-described “travelling companion” of the beloved saint is making a return this year and told The Irish Catholic he was “really looking forward” to his visit.

“I’m really looking forward to coming to Ireland. I was there three years ago and it was really a wonderful experience because I could see that St Anthony is very much loved by the Irish people.

“We had long queues of people coming to venerate the relics then. This is another opportunity for me to meet the people who love St Anthony and for the people in Ireland to meet their friend, St Anthony,” he said.

While up to five million people, including many Irish, visit the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua every year, Fr Conte acknowledges that “not everyone” can make the trip to Padua.

Welcome

“While lots of people visit the basilica, not everybody can come to Padua to venerate the relics of St Anthony, to venerate his body, so I think that this is an opportunity for his friends to see him. For those who have come to the basilica, this is an opportunity for St Anthony to pay back a visit,” the Padua-based Franciscan Conventual friar said.

As editor of the Messenger of Saint Anthony, Fr Conte travels the world with the relics of his favourite saint. However, he is particularly looking forward to this trip.

“I have gone around the world with the relics of St Anthony for the past 20 years. I think that in a certain way the Irish are very similar to the Italians. I hope they don’t take that as an insult! So, because the Irish are similar to the Italians, when I come to Ireland, in a certain way, it’s like being home,” he said.

Admitting that there was some scepticism about the welcome people might have had for the relics of St Anthony back in 2013, Fr Conte said he was “really surprised” by massive turn out for the popular saint.

“Three years ago people were a little bit sceptical about the fact that we were coming to Ireland because of all the problems that the Church in Ireland was going through. We were told before coming not to expect a lot of people and not to expect a lot of enthusiasm.

“So everybody was really surprised by the response of the Irish people to the event because people really flocked to venerate the relics. Clearly the Irish people still have a very strong devotion to St Anthony,” he said.

Personal
 encounter

Fr Conte never expects much when he travels, merely wanting to provide an opportunity for people to have a “personal encounter” with St Anthony.

“Whenever I go to a country, I never expect anything. I am St Anthony’s travelling companion. I go with him and in a certain sense everything is always a surprise.

“I am just accompanying him and whatever happens will be good because St Anthony is very much loved. I don’t mind if there are 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 people that turn out, it doesn’t matter because the most important thing is that people who really love St Anthony have the chance to have a personal encounter with him,” he said.

So, what is it is that attracts Irish people to St Anthony in particular?

“When I was in Ireland before the answer of the people to why they turned out was very simple. They consider St Anthony to be a friend. They also consider him to be a member of their family. Some people referred to him as ‘my friend Tony’. I remember a couple of women telling me, ‘oh he’s my boyfriend’. 

“There is so much respect for, and familiarity with St Anthony in Ireland. They feel St Anthony is a dear friend, a member of the family and they are not ashamed to ask him anything. They know, in a certain sense, that Anthony will answer them,” he said.

“Every time I have the chance to speak with people they all want to tell you their own stories of why they love St Anthony. You can see this friendship, this love, this attachment to St Anthony goes back generations because St Anthony is in the family,” he added.

Faith

Perhaps best known as the patron saint of lost items, Fr Conte notes that many Irish people will have prayed to St Anthony to help in their search for a lost pair of glasses or a watch. He reminds this newspaper, however, that St Anthony “worked a miracle to find the Word of God”.

“He is always happy to help a family regain faith. We pray for little things often but the most important thing we must pray to find again is faith,” he said.

“I think faith is even more important than health because if you have faith you can accept anything, even a deadly sickness. When you feel the love of God within you then you can get through anything I think.”

Fr Conte is clear that he hopes the visit of the relics to Ireland will help people “rediscover” their faith.

“I think that sometimes we go through our days, sometimes our lives, thinking about jobs we have to do, the problems we have and we forget that the most important thing is our relationship with God. So I really hope that St Anthony is able to help us rediscover our faith in God because God is never ending love,” he said.

“Anthony has always had this goal in all his preaching, in his helping people, in everything he did. He just wanted to take people to God. In a certain way, Anthony wants to be bring between people and Jesus, between people and God.”