A Holy Relic of Saint Anthony of Padua will visit St. Mary Church on June 10 and 11.
Friar Alessandro Ratti will travel from the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, in Padua, Italy to the tri-state area in honor of the Saint’s Feast Day on June 13. He will bring a holy reliquary, which contains a first-class relic of the saint: layers of skin of the saint’s cheek. Friar Alessandro is one of fifty-two Friars who live and minister in the Pontifical Basilica.
The community is invited to join Fr. Ratti for mass, veneration, novenas, and prayer. Veneration is making physical contact with the reliquary with either one’s hand, religious objects, rosary beads and/or prayer cards. Any religious object touched against the first- class reliquary will become a third-class relic of the saint.
Prayer petitions with a holy card will be distributed by Fr. Ratti to allow parishioners to write their prayer petition to the saint. Fr. Ratti will bring the petitions back to the Basilica in Padua and place them at the tomb of Saint Anthony. The tour officially ends back at the Tomb of Saint Anthony where the friars will gather to pray for the saint’s intercession upon our intentions and requests.
Mass times on June 10 are: 4 and 7:30 p.m., veneration begins at 12 p.m.; June 11 Mass times are: 7, 9, 10:30 a.m., 12:15 and 5:15 p.m. Saint Mary Church is located at 178 Greenwich Ave.
