Patron saint statue was a gift from Portugal
EN 150th Anniversary // Major Stories & Events
Renowned preacher was canonized less than a year after his death
René A. Guzman, Staff Writer
Feb. 13, 2015 Updated: Feb. 17, 2015 3:41 p.m.
1of10San Antonio artist Cakky Brawley paid homage to Saint Anthony of Padua, the city's namesake, in her grotto sculpture at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.Courtesy photoShow MoreShow Less
2of10St. Anthony of Padua lived in Italy in the 13th century./Terry Scott Bertling / San AntonShow MoreShow Less
3of10The base of the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua near San Fernando Cathedral notes that the statue was a gift to the city by the Order of the Alhambra in 1955.Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
4of10The seven-foot statue of Saint Anthony of Padua on the River Walk was created by Portuguese sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida.Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
This is the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua in the renovated Chapel of the Solemnity of the Annunciation. A special Mass was held at the chapel to rededicate the building. The chapel is behind Assumption Seminary's main building near the headquarters of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
John Davenport / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
6of10Construction workers move the restored statue of Saint Anthony at San Fernando Cathedral after it was damaged by a vandal who went on a destructive rampage in 2004.John Davenport / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
7of10An iron sculpture on the River Walk titled "Padre Damian Massanet's Table" by Rolando Briseno symbolizes the first Mass celebrated in San Antonio on June 13, 1691, the Feast Day of Saint Anthony. A day earlier, according to an inscription on a marker at the site, Capt. Domingo de Teran and Padre Damian Massanet led a Spanish expedition that reached the stream the Indians called Yanaguana — "place of restful waters" and named the "Rio de San Antonio" for the saint. The sculpture is on a small island on the River Walk, near the Hotel Contessa.San Antonio Express-News / File photoShow MoreShow Less
8of10"Saint Anthony of Padua with Saints Paul and Mary Magdalene" was displayed in the McCreless Art Gallery at the University of the Incarnate Word's library in 2007.San Antonio Express-News / File photoShow MoreShow Less
9of10The seven-foot bronze statue of Saint Anthony of Padua on the River Walk was created by Portuguese sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida and presented to the city during the 1968 HemisFair.Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
10of10The statue of Saint Anthony of Padua on the River Walk was presented to the city during the 1968 HemisFair when the Portugal Pavillion opened.Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
San Antonio has long been the culmination of what could be called humble ambition — a major metropolitan area that grows in population and technological advancement while maintaining its deep and modest roots and embracing its history.
And for the embodiment of such forward thinking with a passion for tradition, look no further than the man for whom the city is named — Saint Anthony of Padua.
"We began as an act of faith — faith that this patron would help us through good times and through bad — and that there is this heavenly power looking over the city," said Fr. David Garcia, archdiocesan director of the Old Spanish Missions.
As Garcia points out, there's more to St. Anthony than his name on a map, let alone invoking it over misplaced keys or other lost or stolen items.
"It was both his preaching as well as his simple lifestyle that really struck people," Garcia said.
Born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal, on Aug. 15, 1195, Anthony left his wealthy family life to immerse himself in theological study at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, Portugal. A subsequent meeting with friars in Coimbra drew him deeper into the mendicant evangelical life, as he joined that new Franciscan order and adopted the name Anthony.
Anthony would become a renown preacher and follower of Francis of Assisi, revered as much for his passionate delivery as for his erudite knowledge of scripture. Pope Gregory IX, who would later canonize Anthony, referred to him as "Ark of the Testament."
Anthony died June 13, 1231, in Padua, Italy. He was canonized May 30, 1232, the second-fastest canonized saint after St. Peter of Verona.
Centuries later in 1691, Franciscan chaplain Father Damian Massanet bestowed the name San Antonio de Padua on the Yanaguana River on June 13, the feast day of Saint Anthony. The river ran alongside a Payaya Indian settlement, which Massanet came upon while part of an expedition led by Domingo Teran de los Rios, the first governor of Spanish Texas.
The river and subsequent Spanish mission built near it would become the heart of a settlement that has since flourished into what is now the seventh largest city in the nation.
Hence it's only fitting that a life-size statue of Saint Anthony overlook the banks of the River Walk, the Christ child standing in its arms as if blessing those very waters so connected to San Antonio's past, present and future.
"San Antonio of Texas is a symbol of human resourcefulness and man's belief in taming what was considered to be untamable," said Portugal ambassador Vasco Vieira Garin in a 1968 address at HemisFair, a presentation that officially opened the Portuguese pavilion and gave the city that very statue from Portugal.
"His vision was universal," Garin said, "despite the kind of society prevailing in the 13th century."
Garin called that time an age of despair, hate and unprecedented rivalry between men and nations. He lauded Anthony as "a legend in his own time," one with a unifying approach to faith and family whose preaching had a profound impact on people from creeds other than Catholic.
While San Antonio remains predominantly Catholic, Garcia said the city has likewise prospered by unifying its various faiths. He noted how local Jewish, Catholic and Episcopalian religious leaders convinced the business community to desegregate during the civil rights era with no violence. And that City Council receives an interfaith communal blessing in San Fernando Cathedral every time new members are voted in.
"This was a town that was founded by both church and state working together," Garcia said.
You could even say Anthony has embodied the city's military lineage, which includes its historic Air Force presence and ever-present population of active and retired military.
Garin recalled Anthony was the patron of various regiments in Portugal and especially Brazil, the latter of which had his name added to a regiment. He noted how Anthony's name rose through the ranks of captain, major, colonel and even general. A fitting tribute to a man who's name as a city fits with another San Antonio sobriquet — Military City, USA.
"Who knows if the memory of patron Saint Anthony did not inspire those heroic men at the Alamo, who wrote one of the greatest pages in the American history," Garin said.
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As for that casual prayer "Tony, Tony, look around. Something's lost and can't be found," legend has it that a novice friar once took Anthony's handwritten book of psalms and left the order. Anthony prayed for the book's return. Both stolen book and novice came back.
Anthony is likewise referred to as the patron saint of miracles, which may well explain his canonization less than a year after his death. Anthony was also declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946, a title given for an individual's outstanding contribution to theology or doctrine.
Garcia said it's good to have Saint Anthony statues and other commemoratives around the city. Besides the one on the River Walk, another statue of the saint stands in front of San Fernando Cathedral downtown.
And while he said he knows San Antonians don't live everyday in Anthony's shadow, they do welcome all into their city's tradition of faith, and values that come from faith, much like Saint Anthony himself.
"(The) city is proud to say this is our name and this is our heritage," Garcia said.
rguzman@express-news.net
Twitter: @reneguz
René A. Guzman
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René A. Guzman is a features writer for the San Antonio Express-News. He writes about geek and pop culture as well as consumer gadgets and technology, and writes a blog called Geek Speak that covers comic books, tabletop gaming and other geek culture in San Antonio and beyond. He has also written about health and fitness and other consumer topics. In addition to the Express-News, Guzman's work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Beaumont Enterprise, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the Express-News in December 1998, the San Antonio native co-owned a college humor magazine named Bitter, for which he wrote, designed and edited, as well as distributed at various campuses and businesses citywide.