Fernando Martin de Bulhöes AKA St-Anthony of Padua

On Saturday afternoon I went to visit the Basilica of the Saint as it is known in Padua, with its many domes and cone like central dome with the giant gold statue of the Archangel Gabriel trumpeting into space. St-Anthony was Portuguese from Lisbon and was well educated, he came from an affluent family. His name at birth was Fernando Martin, he took the name Antonio upon ordination. 

Early morning light around 8am in Padua.


The basilica is part of a Franciscan Abbey and cloister. There is also a Chapel to St-George which is the funerary chapel to Raimondo Lupi whose family were Knights of St-George, next to it is the Scuola or Confraternity of St-Anthony, it is an order somewhat like the Knights of Columbus but more along the lines of the Rotary Club, a typical Italian concept.

As an aside, when you have a Franciscan Abbey, the Benedictine monks are never far. They have in Padua, an equally large basilica and cloister, the tomb of St-Justine and St-Luke the Evangelist with a beautiful Icon of the Madonna of Constantinople and the tomb of St-Mathias. It is sort of a rivalry between the two monk orders. 

So there I was visiting the Basilica of the Saint, while I visited, I noticed how this building resembles the Agia Sophia in Istanbul, in its architecture, it has a balcony level just under the domes with passageways between the arches, the height is dizzying. The floor is inlaid coloured marble each of the massive columns is surrounded with either an altar or a funeral monument to some noble person of the area. Side chapels are also ornate. The chapel dedicated to St-Anthony (1195-1231) is all in white marble and occupies a very large area to the left of the central main Altar, the visitors can walk around the altar, at the back is the tomb of St-Anthony marked by a large green marble slab that has been polished by the thousands of hands of the faithful who will touch it as they walk around. The walls of the shrine are sculpted marble scenes of the life of the Saint who died of dropsy at the age of 36 in Arcella near Verona. The main Altar of the church is also spectacular surrounded on 3 sides by sculpted walls of red granite in the style of the Ara Pacis of Augustus in Rome. At the very back of the church is the room of relics of the Saint, containing his original pine wood coffin with the original small tombstone, some of his priestly vestments and his cassock in which he was buried are on display. It has that pagan look about it the Catholic Church is so good at. 

The chapel to Saint Anthony all white marble, he is entombed behind the altar. Very far from what St-Anthony would have wanted for himself.

In the Basilica religious services are continuous with a 5 minute interval between masses to allow one group of faithful to leave while another group comes in, the services are packed. Organ music is continuous from service to service and this goes on from early morning to evening, with bells ringing etc. Given the enormous size of the Basilica it is very impressive to see so many people present and the continuous flow of the faithful and pilgrims, St-Anthony remains very popular. I have seen lots of Cathedrals, Basilicas and churches of all styles and am not a religious person but this sight really overwhelmed me.

St-Anthony of Padua, is my mother’s favorite Saint with Saint Francis of Assisi and she mentioned St-Anthony a lot usually referring to the little bread of the poor he is associated with. It remains one of my early childhood memories, les petits pains de Saint-Antoine. I was thinking of her while visiting and think that she would have liked to have seen his church in Padua. We returned on Sunday morning for a walk through again and I was as impressed with it if not more so.  We also visited Assisi this year but it is completely different and I did not have the same feeling at seeing St-Francis tomb, the setting is very different, though the two men lived at the same period and knew of each other since St-Anthony was also a Franciscan. Strange what will strike you sometimes.    

The trip continues, now in Umbria.

We left Pesaro, loaded with excellent wines from Le Marche and drove to our next stop about an hour away in the mountains, the road is one of beautiful countryside and panoramic vistas to Gubbio. Unfortunately on arrival we discovered that this small town was the setting for a motorcycle race, lots of visitors and a massive traffic jam. Gubbio is very small, you blink, you missed it, it is an old town with walls, gates and narrow streets made for ox carts not cars, little or no parking. So after 30 minutes we decided to push on to Assisi, which is only a short distance away. This is the birthplace of St-Francis, his family were well to do people, he lived here and died here, not a long life, he was about 45 yrs old when he died in 1226. The city is located on a steep hill, again lots of stairs and very steep narrow streets, little alleys all shared between a few cars and all the tourists in town.
Basilica of St-Francis of Assisi.

The big attraction is the Papal Basilica, lower and upper sections, of St-Francis with its many frescoes painted by Giotto. One chapel, that of St-Nicolo is currently undergoing major cleaning and we were able to visit by special permission the site. An interesting story about this chapel involves the Orsini family, who are amongst the famous princely families of Italy. Cardinal Prince Napoleone Orsini managed to have a rule changed allowing people to be buried in side chapels of major churches around 1292. His younger brother Gian Gaetano had died after falling off his horse, the Cardinal used this new rule to have his brother and later himself buried in the side chapel next to the tomb of St-Francis.
Giotto decorated the walls and ceiling with various biblical stories but also with two major frescoes of the brothers being introduced to Christ by other saints and the Virgin Mary. The Orsini coat of Arms also appears 56 times on the walls and windows, so that you could not forget who was buried here. This new rule was widely used afterwards by the mighty and the powerful to have themselves buried next to Saints in Churches, a practice not open to ordinary mortals given the expense involved.
a street in Assisi.

Assisi is built of stone and has undergone massive reconstruction and repair after the devastating earthquake of 1997. The frescoes of Giotto had been severely damaged, many collapsing on the floor of churches, the restorer had to use the technique of the giant puzzle to put them back together, an extremely difficult task. This year marks the 800 anniversary of the creation of the Franciscan order.

Assisi like many sites devoted to a major Saint has its busload of tourists, cheap restaurants and souvenir shops, however it is not gaudy. It also has a lot of legends and myths surrounding the saint, it is all open to interpretation and it is largely a question of faith. Reality is mixed in with fantasy, like the love affair between St-Clare (Chiara in Italian) and St-Francis, who is another major saint in Italy, she too came from a wealthy aristocratic family. For the period Claire was an assertive woman and she left her mark on the Church.

Other Saints like Ruffino, Bishop of Assisi and Damiano also appear mixed into the story of Assisi. As for the Franciscans, they confine themselves to their cloister and the basilica, you will not see many on the streets. The order today has little to do with what St-Francis practiced or preached, it has grown into a wealthy congregation, owning multi-million dollar properties and priceless works of art. The same can be said for the order of St-Clare, also known as the Poor Clares, who despite vows of poverty are an extremely rich congregation.
Assisi vista from our hotel room window.

Assisi also has one excellent restaurant, the Nuova Osteria La Piazetta del’Erba on Via San Gabriele dell’Addolorata, we had 2 very good meals, imaginative cuisine, beautiful presentation, pleasant garden setting, excellent wine list and the owner and staff are very knowledgeable. All being said, you can do Assisi in one day and one night and then move on to Perugia or Spoleto both visible from Assisi and are at opposite ends of the valley.

Tomorrow Friday, we go to Perugia which is only 20 Km away and clearly visible across the valley from our hotel room window.