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!