On June 15, 2025, our church welcomed Franciscan friars from the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy. Fathers Mario Conte and Fabio Turrisendo brought two first-class relics of St. Anthony, shared the history of the relics, and gave a communal blessing. The two relics are fragments of St. Anthony’s facial skin and his floating rib. The friars explained that a St. Anthony prayer card touched to the relic became a third-class relic—an object now linked to the saint through contact with his sacred remains and a spiritual treasure for all who attended.
Our thanks to the Anthonian Association of Chicago for arranging the 2025 relic tour through the dioceses of New York, Brooklyn, and Queens, making a holy visit at our church as its last stop. Photos courtesy of Denise De Maria.
Photos by Denise De Maria
