The Chapel of the Ark reopens in Padua

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The heart of the Basilica

Leading article by Ugo Sartorio (editor of the magazine “Messenger of St Anthony”) appeared on the first page of “L’Osservatore Romano” on 4^th December 2009, the day of the re-opening of the Chapel of the Ark after its restoration.

Millions of hands will soon come back and touch the green marble stone that has for centuries covered the urn with the mortal remains of St Anthony. Brushing it with a friendly and silent gesture, while their lips murmur a prayer that asks everything, even the impossible. Yes, because from this evening the Chapel of the Ark (namely the tomb) reopens, jewel of the full Italian Renaissance and devotional heart of the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua. For a few months Anthony’s home will remain the facing Chapel of St James in the right transept of the Basilica, then everything will be as before, as always.

There are those who are looking for answers to the great questions in life, those who bring the heavy burdens they bear to Anthony’s feet, those who ask for their prayers to be answered and those who give thanks. Many letters or emails (to the website www.carosantantonio.it) arrive at a virtual Ark collecting these intercessions that the friars make their own and pass on to the powerful thaumaturge. I shall cite a few that arrived recently:  “Look after the baby I’m carrying and ensure that I don’t have any bad news today. You know how much I want this child, so I beg you to stay near me.” “Glorified St Anthony, keep our family together and give the job so I can feed my children”.

People, from Padua and all over the world, go to Anthony, so too do Popes. Like John XXIII who as Patriarch of Venice attended the Basilica assiduously. While Montini, who never hid the admiration and devotion he felt for St Anthony, so much so that there is a significant link between his priestly vocation and the prayer by the Saint’s tomb. This fact was related by the same Paul VI on 5^th June 1965:  “Everyone in my family, but especially my dear mother, were very devoted to St Anthony. I arrived in Padua for the first time with her in August 1913. At that time the voice of the Lord was making himself heard, with increased insistence, calling me to the path of the priesthood. I was still undecided and, when I arrived at the Basilica we stopped behind the tomb of St Anthony, after having prayed a great deal my mother said these precise words to me:  “Young man, as you are thinking of following the arduous path of the priesthood commend yourself to this great saint:  so that he will enlighten you on the decision to be made, and if this is your vocation he will guide your steps on the road that God calls you to”.

The short wing beat of the smiling Pope, Albino Luciani, was accompanied by the fondness of the friars of the Basilica with whom he was familiar with. Moreover as Patriarch of Venice he collaborated for several years with the “Messenger of St Anthony”, the magazine that multiplies the message of the Saint throughout Italy and the world. Many recall the visit of John Paul II to the Basilica on 12^th September 1982; and he too prayed by the tomb of Anthony, who he called an “evangelical man”.

It took nearly two years of work and the convergent efforts of many institutions (promoted and coordinated by the Venerable Ark of St Anthony) to bring a place of worship, the only one of its kind, and a priceless casket of art such as the Chapel of the Ark back to its ancient splendour. It was not merely a cosmetic operation but a structural intervention, particularly in order to restore the external masonry ruined by heavy water infiltration that have endangered the high reliefs by Sansovino, the Lombardo brothers and other 16^th Century masters. And then the whole interior was re-cleaned and is now a blaze of light, of gleaming white marbles and infinite shades of grey. In this way the art shines, observing the purposes of the place appointed for the manifestation of faith, which requires a familiar, clean and intimate atmosphere. Art and faith for centuries in the same place, now more beautiful and welcoming. Because true beauty reveals itself to faith and faith creates and radiates beauty.