When you think of February and love, the first thing that comes to mind is Saint Valentine, patron saint of lovers and protector of couples and marriages. In Padua, however, another saint is venerated by those seeking their soul mate: Saint Anthony.
The Basilica of Saint Anthony is one of the most important monuments in the city of Padua. The church, built between 1238 and 1310, is a destination for art lovers, thanks to the statues by Donatello and the frescoes by Giotto’s school, but also and above all for pilgrims (more than three million a year) who come to the city from all over the world to ask for a blessing, even in the hope of finding love.
Saint Anthony, the “Casamenteiro“
Saint Anthony is known by many names: the saint of miracles, the saint of lost things, the saint of impossible causes, and finally, the saint casamenteiro. While the first names are easy to understand, the last one requires a little more explanation. Let’s delve into the roots of the Portuguese language (the native language of Anthony, born in Lisbon in 1195), and discover the terms <casamento> meaning marriage, <casarse> meaning to marry/settle down, <casar> meaning to marry/arrange a marriage, and finally <casamenteiro> meaning, in a broad sense, someone who arranges marriages.
As we can guess from the lack of a true English translation, the word Casamenteiro has distant roots: originating in Portugal, it then spread widely throughout Latin America thanks to popular devotion that venerates Saint Anthony as the patron saint of girls seeking husbands. Finally, thanks also to numerous pilgrimages, the use of the Portuguese term and its tradition has also taken hold in Padua. On the feast day of the patron saint, celebrated every year on June 13, girls accompanied by their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and sisters arrive in Padua from all over the world to ask for the miracle of finding a husband. Those lucky ones who believe they have received this grace return a second time to leave a sign of gratitude, as evidenced by the locks of hair, wedding dresses, wedding rings, and small items of clothing belonging to their first babies on display at the Antonian Museum.
Given this ardent devotion, the fathers of the Basilica of Padua decided not only to celebrate a mass for single men and women every June, but also to inaugurate a journey of faith dedicated to the search for one’s soul mate. The initiative’s first edition attracted many participants and a fair number of visitors from all over Italy, making Padua a destination of faith and the city of the search for true love.
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