Santo Antoni Basilica, Padova, Italy

Tomb of St. Anthony

We arrived in Italy on September 21 and after a little bit of adjusting to the time difference - 6 hours - we began taking in the soccer games, gymnastic classes, walks to and from school, and family time. The setting is beautiful as all of you know who have been to Italy. The hillsides, mountains, lakes, beaches, and small towns with their churches dotted throughout speak a cultural language all their own. There is a very rich Catholic cultural heritage here in Italy for those who can see and chose to embrace it.

On Wednesday, September 28, Catherine drove us to Padua. Our first visit was to the Scrovegni Chapel. I will save the description of that visit for another post, but I will say this. If you have a chance to visit Padua, do not miss visiting the Scrovegni Chapel. It is the work of Giotto, a fourteenth century painter whose frescoes of the life of Christ, His mother, grandparents remain alive on the walls to this day in a way never before seen.

Front of the tomb of St. Anthony

The Scrovegni Chapel is at one end of Padua and the Basilica of San Antonio is at the other. When we finished our tour, we walked to the other end about 15 - 20 minutes away. There was a tram to take for those who prefer not to walk. When we arrived at the Basilica of San Antonio, we found out that the relics of St. Anthony were in a room that closed at 12 noon and not at 12:45 as my guidebook had mentioned. Before we went to venerate the relics, I first went to St. Anthony's tomb, placed the intentions both general and specific in the box for intentions, and then prayed before the tomb for my intentions and for all of you who asked me to pray to him for you. The picture below is the front of the tomb of St. Anthony. The back of the tomb is where many pilgrims, including myself, prayed by placing our hands on the back of the tomb and asking for St. Anthony's intercession.  

Statue of St. Anthony beside
the reliquary chapel

The reliquary chapel contains a number of relics of St. Anthony and other saints, notably St. John Paul II, and Sister Faustina to name two others. Below are pictures of the reliquaries.

Relic of St. Anthony's tongue

For those of you that would like more 

information 

on the Basilica of Saint Anthony, here

is a link in English

Basilica of San Antonio 

Saint Anthony's feast day is 

June 13. He is greatly 

loved by many for interceding

in small and large matters. It was a 

blessing for Bob and me to visit the

basilica and to pray for our intentions and yours. 

Thank you, Catherine for driving

us there.

St. Anthony, Pray for Us!

Relics of St. John Paul II and
Sister Faustina

 

Padua and Venice, St. Anthony and St. Lucy, June 13 and December 13

Basilica of St. Anthony

Bob and I are visiting Padua and Venice soon. I will be sure to send many pictures and update you via this blog or Facebook. Our primary reason to visit Italy is not to see these two beautiful and historic cities, but to see our five grandchildren who live in Italy and their parents. However, since we will be very close to Padua and Venice, we plan to visit them. Padua will be seen for the first time and Venice for the second.

In Padua we will visit the tomb of St. Anthony of Padua and venerate his relics. When we visit the Basilica of Santa Antonio there is an area to post intentions. I plan to post intentions for all of my family and friends, so please be assured that your intentions will be placed in the basilica of this dearly, loved saint in a general way. Some of the pictures and things I learn about the saint and Padua, I will save for his feast day, but not everything. I plan to do one post just on Padua while in Italy or soon after.

Basilica of St. Mark, Venice

 In 2018, Bob and I visited Venice for the first time on our 35th wedding anniversary. Venice as many of you know is very beautiful. The Adriatic Sea with the incredible onion church domes and spires lining the sky across from St. Mark's Square are breathtaking, especially when the sun dances on the water. There were many churches, paintings, museums, and restaurants we wanted to see on that trip. We saw many of them including Titian's Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Santa Maria de Gloriosa dei Frari Church. A copy of the painting hangs in the upper church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. What I missed seeing in Venice, because I did not know they were there, were the tomb and relics of St. Lucy. Our family loves Saint Lucy. We celebrate her feast day and are familiar with her life at least up to a point. I am not familiar how her relics came to be at St. Geremia Church in Venice. Bob, Catherine, and I will go there and venerate her relics and pray for our intentions and yours. I will post pictures and share how her relics came to be enshrined in Venice. Until then Ciao!

Happy Birthday Mary! Founder's Day in the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, September 8, 1565

Happy Birthday, Mary! September 8th is the day we celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. December 8th is the day we celebrate her immaculate conception. September 8th is nine months later. This is truly a happy day for all of us. Mary accepted willingly the Angel Gabriel's annunciation that she was chosen to be the mother of the savior of the world.

Pictured to the left is a photo of the young virgin Mary with her mother, St. Anne. I love this statue of the two, mother and daughter. The statue is from my hometown parish which is St. Augustine Catholic Church, Montpelier, Vermont.

There is no mention of Mary's mother in the Scriptures, but the Proto-Evangelium of St. James, although not an inspired writing tells us the mother of Mary was named Anne which means grace.

I now live in St. Augustine, Florida where September 8 is also known as Founder's Day. It is called Founder's Day because Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded St. Augustine on September 8, 1565. He named the site St. Augustine because he had sighted land on August 28, 1565, the feast of St. Augustine of Hippo, after an exhausting and turbulent oceanic crossing from Spain. Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, the fleet's chaplain, offered the first parish Mass on September 8, 1565, when Pedro Menendez came ashore and claimed La Florida for God and for Spain. The Mass was held on what is now called the Sacred Acre. When the Mass was finished, Menendez invited all who had attended, priests, soldiers, women and children, and the Timucuan natives to a meal of thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving meal was  held here on the grounds in 1565. The name Sacred Acre is an expression coined by President John F. Kennedy upon receiving copies of historic documents pertaining to St. Augustine in  November of 1963. The grounds are the site of the first mission, Mission Nombre de Dios, Name of God.

Reenactors, Founders Day, September 3, 2022

Bishop Erik Pohlmeier

This past Saturday, September 3rd, Founder's Day was celebrated. This was the yearly reenactment of the claiming of St. Augustine for God and for Spain by Pedro Menendez. Reenactors dressed in original costumes reenacted the historic scenes. After the reenactment, Bishop Erik Pohlmeier, newly consecrated bishop of St. Augustine, offered Mass. Many attended this Mass which is offered on the rustic altar, thought to be the original spot where Fr. Lopez offered the first Mass. Every year people throughout the diocese make it a point to attend Founder's Day recognizing this historic event and embracing the love and devotion of the Blessed Virgin under her title Our Lady of La Leche, a devotion brought by the Franciscan missionaries to the young Spanish colony about 1600. In 2019 the Bishops of the United States recognized the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche as a national shrine, the oldest Marian Shrine in the United States. October 11 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of La Leche.

    

                                                                                   

Dr. Mary Soha

Every year, Dr. Mary Soha pictured to the above gives a talk on the history of Our Lady of La Leche on the Shrine grounds. You can find her talks also on Youtube, EWTN, or by googling the Knights of Columbus talks by Dr. Mary Soha. Besides speaking on Our Lady of La Leche , she also speaks and is the Vice-postulator on the Florida Martyrs. I encourage you to check her talks out. She has a wealth of information on our Catholic history here in Florida.

Happy Birthday, Mary! 

Truly you are the mother of all of us. You were once a young girl and as such we honor your birth and your childhood under the loving and watchful eyes of your mother, St. Anne. 

The Royal Family Reenactors, Founders Day, September 3, 2022

Bishop Erik Pohlmeier giving a blessing
after Founder's Day Mass