Faithful flock to venerate the patron saint of lost causes

The thousands people who lined up at Galway Cathedral on Tuesday to venerate the relics of St Anthony of Padua may or may not have known what they were looking for but most of them still depend on this saint who has been dead for over 700 years.

It is reported that 10,000 people in all walked through the doors of the Cathedral on Tuesday to see the relics.

The Portuguese friar belonged to the Franciscan Order and throughout the Catholic world, including Ireland, he is prayed to for help to find lost things.

The Catholic Church certainly didn’t lose an opportunity to bring this show on the road to help invigorate what might be a flagging congregation.

But there was nothing flagging about the faith on show in the Cathedral when the relics, which are on a nationwide tour from Italy, were put on show. All day people travelled from all over the region to attend one of the two masses and to touch or kiss the relics, a slice of the saint’s cheek and a piece of one of his ribs, both petrified and encased in glass cases.

The main one, attached to a gold plated statue of St Anthony of Padua, was the big attraction, though many too queued again to do the same to the hand held relic. That more mobile relic visited the Poor Clares around the corner as they couldn’t get to the Cathedral, which was a hive of activity with worshippers all day up until 10pm.

Candles were lit at fifty cent a pop, special cards were for sale in the Cathedral shop at €2 each and bunches of flowers could be bought outside to be laid on the altar.

See full story and photographs in this week’s Connacht Tribune.