Feast of St. Anthony of Padua
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Feast of St. Anthony of Padua
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Technical sheet prepared by: Region of Sicily - Department of cultural heritage and Sicilian identity - CRicd: Regional center for inventory, cataloging and documentation and Sicilian regional film library
125
Feast of St. Anthony of Padua
REI - Book of celebrations
13-11-2008
Party / Ceremony
Enna
Leonforte
Sant'Antunino
Anthony of Padua, born Fernando Martins de Bulhões, born in Lisbon in 1195, was a Portuguese Franciscan religious. In the autumn of 1220 he left as a missionary for Morocco. Arriving in Africa, he contracted a tropical disease and was persuaded to return to Portugal. He embarked on a ship bound for Spain but, due to a storm, the ship was pushed to the point of shipwreck on the coasts of Western Sicily. His presence is attested in Sicily, a land that loved him very much, until the spring of 1221, when together with the friars of Messina he began to go up to Italy in order to participate in the "General Chapter", an assembly with which Francis of Assisi he had gathered all his friars.
The church of Sant'Antonio da Padova located in Leonforte was built in 1646.
Annual
13 June
Celebrations in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua
Devotional
Faithful, local community, tourists
On May 31 of each year in Leonforte the usual Tredicina begins in anticipation of June 13, the feast of the glorious Saint. The term "Tredicina" does not mean only the thirteen days of preparation for the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, but also refers to a prayer divided into thirteen points and thirteen are also the miracles that St. Anthony performed in life and recognized by the Church.
Therefore, in Leonforte, in the Church of Sant'Antonio, from May 31 to June 12, every evening between 18 and 19:30 pm, the Rosary is said and Holy Mass is held.
Usually, since Saint Anthony of Padua also protector of the poor, during the Tredicina food collection is carried out to be allocated to needy families, through the parish Caritas of the town.
June 13 is the day of the actual celebrations, with the traditional passage of the musical band in the morning. During the day, Holy Mass is celebrated several times, in one of these children are also blessed, this is because Saint Anthony during his life had a particular predilection for children, given that among the miracles performed when he was in more than one life is about them. Not surprisingly, he is usually depicted with the Child Jesus in his arms (a sign of tender and available love) but also with the lily (purity and transparency of life) and with the open book (the word of God).
On the evening of June 13, around 20 pm, at the end of the last Mass in honor of the Saint, the simulacrum of Saint Anthony of Padua is carried in procession through the main streets of the town.
Abbots, Riccardo. 2012. Saint Anthony of Padua, the saint that the whole world loves, GOOD mood, ibook.
Inside the Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova it is possible to find a beautiful alabaster statuette depicting the Saint himself. The work is attributed to the sculptor Giacinto Gallina.
In Leonforte, in addition to Sant'Antonio da Padova, Sant'Antonio Abate, protector of domestic animals, was also venerated. The fercolo was carried on the shoulder from stable to stable and also in the Church, until about 1950, animals were welcomed to be blessed. In Leonforte, the elders still remember how many in the church on January 17, the day of his feast, carried cats, sheep, hens and animals of all kinds under their arms.
Paula Barbata
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