Unprecedented pilgrim flow
to 'see' St. Anthony
by Silvio Scacca
Translated from
the Italian service of
February 18, 2010
PADUA - St. Anthony is 'surpassing himself': yesterday, the line was a kilometer long to get to enter the chapel where his remains are on exposition till February 20, and there is no sign the pace will slacken.
In 1981, some 700,000 pilgrims came to venerate the saint and briefly touch his plexiglas casket during an exposition that lasted 29 days, Padua authorities expect that number to be doubled during this weeklong exposition.
Since the exposition opened on Monday, the line of pilgrims has been endless, filing into the exposition chapel at the rate of 2,000 per hour - after standing in line for 3-4 hours, often in chilly wind and under winter rain.
But for the pilgrims, it is a small sacrifice for the great reward of being 'one on one' with the great saint who expressed in the immediate and simple language of the people his own perfection of life and profound theological insights.
It was a vivid image of what Benedict XVI said in his recent catechesis devoted to St. Anthony whom he called "one of the most popular saints of the Catholic Church".
One of the pilgrim groups to Padua yesterday was a delegation of fifty Franciscans from the Sacred Convent in Assisi, led by their superior, Fr. Guido Piemontese.
In his homily, Fr. Piemontese recalled the many personal and epistolary contacts between St. Francis and St. Anthony, whom he called 'Francis's most illustrious spiritual son', as well as the Holy Father's reference to Anthony as the first Franciscan theologian and precursor of St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and Blessed Duns Scotus.
Meanwhile, it seemed unlikely that the exposition would be prolonged because of the organizing committee's limited resources and the unavailability of enough volunteers beyond the time period originally scheduled.
The occasion for the exposition was the completion of a two-year renovation of the Renaissance Chapel of the Ark where the saint's tomb is located. During the renovation, the casket was temporarily kept enclosed in another chapel.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/02/2010 21:10]