Our current chapel is used for adoration by parishioners and is also the only space for the sacrament of penance. Reconciliation lines can be distracting for those who want to spend time in adoration.

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On average, 20 couples per year are told that the church is unavailable for their wedding due to its heavy sacramental use. Families cannot host their loved ones’ funerals at ideal times or on Saturdays because of scheduling conflicts. At times, families have no choice but to have funeral services at the funeral home due to lack of church availability.

St. Anthony is titled the Evangelical Doctor, Wonder-Worker and Hammer of Heretics; but more importantly he is renowned for his personal holiness. His sanctity and wisdom flowed from his profound, penetrating love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Heroically he followed the Poverello of Assisi, St. Francis, whose tender love for the poor, humble Virgin was comparable only to that of Christ Himself. St. Francis restored a dilapidated chapel in Assisi, Italy that still stands today known as Our Lady of the Angels.

As a true friar minor St. Anthony praised and glorified the Queen of the Angels from the pulpit, where with simple yet lofty doctrine he moved multitudes to savor the sweet name of Mary. Furthermore, he imitated Her with such perfection that he became, as it were, an extension of the Virgin Mother on earth.

From the outset his life was markedly Marian, being born in Lisbon on the feast of the Assumption, August 15th, 1195 A. D., and baptized in the Church of St. Mary in Lisbon. At the age of 15 he completed his studies at the Cathedral School of St. Mary. Appropriately his earthly life, ever pure and humble, was brought to a close in a similar Marian tone, for when death drew nigh he longed to be taken to the St. Mary, Mother of God Friary in Padua. After receiving Extreme Unction he intoned his favorite hymn, “O gloriosa Domina…” (O glorious Lady). He lived and died with the Virgin Mary on his lips and in his heart.

St. Anthony’s Faith in Jesus Christ overflowed in Devotion to Mary.

His devotion was founded on the solid foundation of Catholic doctrine, as all true devotion is. Consequently he has left the Church with a wealth of Mariological insight in his sermons. Reflecting upon the doctrines about our Blessed Lady through the eyes of St. Anthony one realizes with him that “in Her were gathered all the privileges of merits and rewards.”