Photos: St. Anthony of Padua Procession

My town has a traditionalist attitude, especially when it comes to religious practices.

For most of my life, I’ve participated in activities of devotion to the town’s patron, St. Anthony of Padua.

I got this excerpt about St. Anthony from the St. Anthony.org website:

St. Anthony of Padua is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular saints. Saint Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost and stolen articles, was a powerful Franciscan preacher and teacher. He’s typically portrayed holding the child Jesus—or a lily—or a book—or all three—in his arms.  Many people give alms to St. Anthony Bread in thanksgiving to God for blessings received through the prayers of St. Anthony.

St. Anthony of Padua’s life is what every Christian’s life is meant to be; a steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with crisis great and small, and to have our feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence on God.

St Anthony is beloved throughout the world and is responsive to all people and all needs.  His intercessory powers before our God are awesome.

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Going for daily novena masses in devotion to St. Anthony is a good way for me to get in touch with my faith, and to cherish the traditions of our community. My uncle drove the pick-up truck that St. Anthony was on (a local organization decorated it with flowers).

On the way, there were altar set-ups during the procession. Even the simplest house had flowers and candles set up. It was a pretty nice thing.

It’s not a very flattering picture, but this little kid in the store was looking on while the procession was going on, and he was calling out, “Papa Jesus! Papa Jesus!” I thought it was cute.

Lechon is a highly popular food that’s served during the fiesta, and there were many pigs being sold by sellers. So, on the roadside, Ma and I saw this pig kneeling while St. Anthony was about to pass by and then it got up when it’s owner nudged it. 🙂 Of course, I don’t really think he was kneeling to the saint, but it was pretty cute… 🙂

A little baby made it to the procession…

As I was mentioning to my ma, they had this little red heart sewn onto the baby Jesus’ shirt front…

Ah, the flower grabbing part. 🙂 Ever since I was a kid participating in these religious events, I’ve always seen this “flower frenzy”… What it is, is that after the priest blesses the effigy with holy water, people keep the flowers that are used for decorations to put on their own altars at home.