A large number of people filled St Anthony’s on 28th October 2013 to venerate the relics of St Anthony of Padua.
The arrival of the saint’s relics, a small piece of petrified flesh and a layer of skin from his cheek, was part of a UK tour marking the 750th anniversary of the discovery of St Anthony’s incorrupt tongue. It is said that St Bonaventure opened his tomb thirty years after his death and his tongue was found still ‘soft and wet’, and it is on display at St Anthony’s Basilica in Padua, Italy.
Following an afternoon of veneration, were people from as far afield as Whitby and Scotland queued to venerate the relics, Bishop Seamus Cunningham celebrated Mass in honour of the great saint.
Father Conaty said the visit of the relics was an “extraordinary success” with approximately 5,500 people visiting Walker to venerate the relics.
Images reproduced with kind permission of Steve Brock