Padua,Italy

St. Anthony of Padua

Would you like to see St. Anthony’s tongue?

Then head to Padua. It’s there, in the enormous Romanesque basilica dedicated to the saint, a structure that somehow seems to be both squatting and rising at the same time. Tour and pilgrimage busses come and go, vendors peddle images of the Franciscan, candles and rosaries, scarves and dolce de santo – piles of sweet cakes wrapped in plastic, an image of Anthony holding, as he does, most of the time, the infant Jesus.

St. Anthony was one of the early Franciscans, so early that he knew Francis himself and it was Francis who perceived his intelligence and told him, “I would like you to teach the brothers theology.” Known for his love of Scripture, his personal devotion to Christ – a feature of all the Franciscans - Anthony had been born in Lisbon, but joined the friars after seeing relics of five of them martyred in Morocco. He studied, he taught he managed, he died outside of Padua at a fairly young age, and was fast-tracked to canonization just a year later.

What he was most known for, though, was his preaching. He preached everywhere to anyone – including, the story goes, to fish, when his original audience of heretics rejected his message. He preached on the nearby riverbank, the fish gathered to listen, and the heretics were so impressed, yes, they converted.

So that’s why the relic the pilgrims go to find in the enormous shrine is his tongue, the only part of Anthony’s body uncorrupted when they opened his tomb years after he died.

Preacher, teacher…and one more thing:

Tony, Tony, look around – something’s lost that can’t be found.

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It was working, it was smooth, I might have even claimed it was near flawless, this trip, both in the micro – this particular train segment from Lausanne to Padua – and in the macro which was the months-long journey I designed to force my own hand in that fall of 2012.

Force my hand to what?

To homeschool, is what.