Hundreds came out to a dozen locations across the diocese as two relics of St. Anthony of Padua visited the Carolinas for the first time. They were brought to the United States by two Franciscan friars from his shrine.CHARLOTTE — Two relics of St. Anthony of Padua traveled from Padua, Italy, to a dozen churches in the Diocese of Charlotte from Dec. 5 to 14. At each stop, crowds came out to touch the relics of the saint many consider a personal friend.
“This is the first time ever we have brought the relics to North Carolina, from Padua, from our shrine,” said Father Fabio Turrisendo, who along with fellow Franciscan friar, Father Mario Conte, brought the relics from the Pontifical Basilica of St. Anthony, where the saint is buried.
The friars were asked to bring the relics here by a fellow Franciscan, Bishop Michael Martin.
“He invited us to come over here, so I said, ‘If he wants us to go, let’s go,’” Father Conte said during their stop at Our Lady of Lourdes in Monroe. Father Turrisendo noted that the diocese has been very welcoming. Both brothers said it is very moving to see the reactions of the faithful.
“You can see some people crying, some people smiling, but there is a connection, there is something happening there at that particular moment,” Father Conte said. “St. Anthony is my best friend, and I always say that he really cares about people.”
Wherever they visit, the relics draw crowds of people who feel a personal connection to the saint known to find lost things.
“We are used to telling the story of St. Anthony. We go and do our preaching, but the other half of the story is what the people tell us,” Father Turrisendo said. “This completes the book of the miracles of St. Anthony. They tell you why his devotion is part of his family, why they are friends with St. Anthony, and then some big or small miracles that are happening in their lives.”
Father Conte related some of the miracles they have been hearing, including one of a young woman who did not believe in God but had a strong connection to St. Anthony.
“After a few years, she said, St. Anthony led her towards God,” Father Conte said. “Anthony is a good intercessor because he takes people to Jesus.”
Some stories in the diocese are just beginning their new St. Anthony chapters with the visit of the relics. Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner Elizabeth Garcia, just 17, braved the winter cold to visit the relics with her aunt.
“I decided to come here tonight to have a more spiritual connection with God, because, like everybody, I have many sins that I regret a lot,” Garcia said. “This is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which is crazy to us. God gave me this opportunity in my life, and I never would have known He would give me this. When I wrote my petition, I believed it would come true.”
The relics
The first-class relics are fragments of St. Anthony’s skin and his floating rib.
Father Conte explained that when the body of St. Anthony was first exhumed 32 years after his death, there were only bones, “except for the tongue and the jaw, they were still soft to the touch as if he had just died.”
The incorrupt tongue and the jawbone of St. Anthony are permanent relics venerated by thousands of people every day at their permanent location at the Pontifical Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua.
The traveling relics visiting the diocese were procured in 1981, the second and last time St. Anthony’s tomb was exhumed, which Father Conte was present for and can remember well.
Then a seminarian, Father Conte was told to go to the basilica because something exciting was happening. He knew arrived to find bishops and cardinals surrounding St. Anthony’s tomb.
“And now we are going to open St. Anthony’s tomb,” they said to his surprise. They opened the coffin, only to find another coffin, which was divided into compartments, one long coffin and beside it a shorter one – the longer contained his remains, and the shorter one his Franciscan habit.
Upon closer examination, paleopathologists discovered the incorrupt voice box still intact in the saint’s larynx, plus fragments of cheek skin. They also noted St. Anthony was tall for the times with enlarged with thickened feet and kneecaps. He died of edema, they determined.
Father Conte attributes the saint's large feet to preaching all over Italy and the south of France, the kneecaps to spending great lengths of time in prayer, and the incorrupt voice box to his God-given talent for preaching.
“He was constantly taking care of the poor and marginalized. Anthony was always helping people,” Father Conte said. “His knees are a testament that he spent hours and hours in prayer.”
Touching a saint
At each site in the diocese, Father Conte encouraged the faithful to touch the relics, they were made to be touched, he reassured. The connection, he said, is real – it is like touching the living saint with your own hand.
“St. Anthony is your friend, who is always next to you, close to you, and walks with you,” reminded Father Conte.
In addition, he instructed each congregation how to make a third-class relic to bring home, by rubbing rosaries or holy medals on the relics. Visitors were given envelopes containing prayer cards to make third-class and prayer intentions cards for the friars to take back to St. Anthony’s tomb.
While parishioners venerated the relics, Father Conte reminded them that St. Anthony is known for finding not just physical objects but also the intangible ones.
“For those of us that have lost their peace of mind, for those of us that have lost their housing, for those of us that have lost their financial security, for those of us that have lost a loved one…,” said Father Conte.
The list continued with the loss of zeal, faith, sobriety, self-respect, perspective, innocence, hope and more. After each, the faithful prayed with their Brother, “For all lost things… St. Anthony, pray for us.”
Father Conte and Father Turrisendo have traveled thousands of miles since 1995, making stops with their “best friend,” St. Anthony, everywhere from India to England – and now the Diocese of Charlotte.
— Lisa M. Geraci. Photos by Jim Kelley and provided
