More than 45,000 pilgrims celebrate the feast of the Portuguese saint in Nghe An province. Pilgrims thronged the 124-year-old shrine to seek divine peace, mercy and healing through the saint’s intercession. According to the local Catholics, the shrine is a common house that warms up people’s cold and heavy hearts, poverty and misery.
Newsroom (16/06/2022 7:11 PM Gaudium Press) In the scorching sun on June 13, tens of thousands of St. Anthony of Padua devotees in Vietnam followed the saint’s examples of how to promote communion, participation and mission.
More than 45,000 pilgrims, including some from other faiths, thronged the St. Anthony of Padua Pilgrim Center for the feast of the Portuguese saint. The centre is located in Trai Gao in Nghi Loc district of Nghe An province.
On June 11-13, people attended Masses, recited the rosary and Divine Mercy prayers in front of a big statue of St. Anthony and tried to touch the statue around the clock. They carried a saint image and attended a Eucharist adoration led by Bishop Long.
They spent nights on the ground and bought rosaries, crosses, pictures of St. Anthony and other Catholic items as souvenirs and had them blessed by priests.
The faithful were encouraged to come to the saint to get closer to Christ and overcome the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bishop Alfonse Nguyen Huu Long of Vinh and Auxiliary Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Vien concelebrated the special Mass, joined by 40 priests.
Bishop Long stressed that St Anthony came from a rich family but gave up everything and joined the Franciscan Friars and lived a life of synodality in the church through his virtues. He enthusiastically united all people in Christ to fight against anti-Catholic heresies and led a simple and poor life to proclaim the Good News to other people.
Noting the saint worked with all Christians to make a commitment to creating unity in their environment, he urged local pilgrims to bravely make sacrifices and overcome temptations to listen to one another and join hands to foster unity in their communities and parishes.
The prelate said St. Anthony endlessly brought God’s word to all people in all places. His evangelization was highly effective due to his loving care and charity for patients, the marginalized and people in delicate situations. Consequently, many found Jesus’ presence in his life and bravely followed the Lord.
He urged pilgrims to bear witness to divine love and mercy in their daily life.
Bishop Long called on them to be always wise to discern rampant bad information coming from social media promoting division, separation, hatred and malice. They should have true, holy and beautiful hearts to spread messages of love, peace and unity.
It is neither right nor proper- he warned- that many Catholics only seek peace for themselves and pay attention to their faith, but they ignore other people and fail to join lay groups.
“All Christians must be united in taking part in community activities. They should build a community of faith, hope, love, participation and mission,” he said.
Pilgrims thronged the 124-year-old shrine to seek divine peace, mercy and healing through the saint’s intercession. According to the local Catholics, the shrine is a common house that warms up people’s cold and heavy hearts, poverty and misery.
(Via UCAN )
Compiled by Raju Hasmukh