Brendan has a very special love for St Anthony and St Anthony seems to have a love for Brendan as well. They are pretty tight.
Our friends the Bowers were there as well. It was great to see Yanna and Val take up the gifts at the Offeratory!
This shrine is wonderful!
I have taken information off of the website, the text in blue is copied from there....
His story is so beautiful. You can read it HERE.
The Jewel of the Shrine
The jewel of the Shrine, and its most important room, is the
Chapel. Upon entering the Chapel itself, one should pause, realizing
that this is "sacred space" and "holy ground" – where an atmosphere of
holy silenceprevails, creating an oasis of peace for the Divine
Presence within.
With its beautifully carved gumwood choir stalls, its mosaic
Stations of the Cross, and its coffered ceiling, the Chapel is a gem of
the early Renaissance.It has four distinct areas: the interior narthex,
the nave, the sanctuary, and the apse.
In the narthex is the reliquary of St. Anthony. This gold-leafed
bust depicts the Portuguese Franciscan whom the whole world would come
to know as the “miracle-worker” and “finder of lost things.”
In
the middle of the flame is a precious first-class relic of the saint – a
small piece of petrified flesh removed from his sarcophagus in Padua,
Italy, in 1995. The friars in Padua sent the relic to the friars of
Ellicott City in 1998. Catholics venerate, orpay respect to, relics
as remembrances of a saint whose human body was once a “temple” of the
Holy Spirit.
Hundreds of thousands of people each year send the friars petitions
for the heavenly intercession of St. Anthony – friend of God and friend
to humanity.
The nave of the Chapel consists of the choir stalls facing each
other. Here the friars would recite or chant the Divine Office, back and
forth across the dark flagstone floor. The original choir stalls
numbered 72, after the number of disciples sent out by Jesus in the
Gospels. With the additional pews in front, the choir now seats 150.
The nave leads to the sanctuary, where Holy Mass is offered on the
central Altar. The Altar was designed to evoke the teaching of Jesus “I
am the vine; you are the branches”(John 15:1-8). The ambo (pulpit
lectern) in the nave has a matching design, linking the Liturgy of the
Word to the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
These chapel furnishings attempt to evoke the spirit of St. Anthony,
the friar and priest, who used every opportunity to encourage people
to hear the Word of God and to participate in the Holy Eucharist.
The
biblical tree motif also reminds people of the fact that St. Anthony,
towards the end of his life, spent many hours of prayer in a walnut
treehouse which his friend Count Tiso had constructed for him at
Camposampiero. It was in that walnut tree that Anthony had his vision of
the Christ child.
To the right of the altar is a large walnut Tau Cross. St. Francis
of Assisi adopted the Tau as his “signature,” after he heard Pope
Innocent III preach about it at the 4th Lateran Council. Depending upon
the liturgical season of the year, one of two carved images of Christ
hang on the Tau: Christ Crucified or the Resurrected Jesus. The corpus
of Christ Crucified was carved at Niepokalanow, Poland, by an artist
whose guardian and mentor was St. Maximilian Kolbe. The Resurrected
Jesus, like many other chapel furnishings, came to Ellicott City from
the former St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, Massachusetts.
The apse at the far end of the Chapel centers upon the Tabernacle–
designed with the biblical tree motif, and depicting the descent of the
Holy Spirit with its seven spiritual gifts: wisdom, understanding,
counsel, fortitude, piety, knowledge, and fear of the Lord.
Persons are welcome to enter the apse for silent prayer and
adoration. The sanctuary and apse together form the Shrine’s “oasis of
peace,” where Jesus Christ welcomes people of all faiths to experience
themselves as infinitely loved by God.
The first class relic:
For centuries great care has been taken to authenticate relics,
particularly through the issuing of an accompanying statement of
authenticity. In the case of the relic of St. Anthony of Padua at the
Shrine of St. Anthony there is no question of authenticity. New relics
of the saint were obtained when the saint’s tomb was opened in
anticipation of his 800th birthday, which was celebrated in 1995; the
relic in the Shrine chapel is one of those. The Latin inscription
indicates that it is ex cute, dried skin or tissue.
The relic, and the unique reliquary that holds it, were gifts from
the Friars of the Province of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy to the Friars
of the Province of St. Anthony in America (the Provincial House, or
headquarters, is on the same grounds as the Shrine of St. Anthony in
Ellicott City). As the property was developing as a shrine the
decision to place the relic in the chapel seemed appropriate, and this
took place in a special ceremony in the fall of 2000.
Today, visitors to the Shrine, especially those who have a great devotion to St. Anthony, feel close to the great Miracle Worker. With this physical presence of St. Anthony there is a little bit of Padua in America
Tonight the mass was a healing Mass. There were a lot of people there. It was just beautiful!
We are so blest to have places like the St Anthony shrine to visit. It is an awesome testament to the Church and to St Anthony, that for 800 years he has been interceding in special and miraculous ways for people who ask him. He is a special friend of Our Lord and it is good to have him as a special patron.
St Anthony~ Pray For Us!
