MANILA, March 31, 2016 – After twenty years, Filipino devotees of St. Anthony of Padua will have another opportunity to venerate his relics at selected parishes and shrines across the Philippines from April 20 to May 2.
In a recent video message, Fr. Mario Conte, one of 52 friars ministering at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy, and editor of the “Messenger of St. Anthony,” shared that two first-class relics of the saint are set to be on pilgrimage.
According to him, one of these is a piece of the saint’s skin encased in a reliquary in the form of a bust while the other is a fragment of his rib.
Conte boasted the latter relic was received by no less than Sister Lucy of Fatima when it was put on display in Coimbra, Portugal in 1995.
It was also the same relic the future Pope Francis welcomed in the Argentine capital when he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The relics of St. Anthony last visited the country in 1996.
The tentative itinerary of the second “Philippine Visit of the Pilgrim Relics of St. Anthony of Padua” is as follows:
- Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Pasay City, Opening Mass, April 20, 8:00 a.m.
- St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Parañaque City
- St. Anthony of Padua Parish,Singalong, Manila, April 21, 7:00 a.m – 11:00 a.m.
- San Lazaro Chapel, Sta. Cruz, Manila
- Makati Medical Center, Makati City
- National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Makati City
- St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Mandaluyong City
- St. Anthony Parish, Silang, Cavite
- Diocese of Palo, Tacloban City, Leyte
- St. Anthony of Padua Shrine, Guiuan, Eastern Samar
- St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Batasan Hills, Quezon City
- Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Antipolo City
- St. Anthony of Padua Shrine, Pila, Laguna
- Immaculate Conception Parish, Malabon City
- St. Anthony Parish, Tonsuya, Malabon City
- St. Ezekiel Moreno Chapel, Las Piñas City, Concluding Mass, May 2, 5:00 p.m.
For schedule updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1704529626444647/. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)
