Attend Mass
The feast is celebrated on the same day in both the old calendar and new calendar.
If you would like to attend a traditional Mass for the feast, find a Traditional Latin Mass near you (click here to explore).
Receive the traditional blessing of lilies
Fisheaters.com suggests:
At Mass today, your priest might bless lilies for you to keep (this isn’t a universal practice). The blessing of lilies, which remind us of St. Anthony’s purity and have always been a symbol for him, stems from a miracle which took place in Revolutionary France: many priests and religious were murdered, so many churches and convents destroyed, but the faithful still showed up at a surviving church on the Feast of St. Anthony. Months later, it was discovered that lilies that had adorned the church at that feast were still fresh. Let the lilies beautify your house, or carry them with you, or press them in a book, etc. If your priest doesn’t bless lilies, you can still use them non-sacramentally to remind you of one of the greatest Saints ever. The English of the Blessing of the Lilies is as follows:
The Blessing of Lilies on the Feast of St. Anthony
The priest vests in surplice and white stole, and says:
P: Our help is in the name of the Lord.
All: Who made heaven and earth.
P: The Lord be with you.
All: And with thy spirit.
P: Let us pray.
God, the Creator and Preserver of the human race, the Lover of holy purity, the Giver of supernatural grace, and the Dispenser of everlasting salvation; bless + these lilies which we, Thy humble servants, present to Thee today as an act of thanksgiving and in honor of St. Anthony, Thy confessor, and with a request for Thy blessing. Pour out on them, by the saving sign + of the holy cross, Thy dew from on high. Thou in Thy great kindness hast given them to man, and endowed them with a sweet fragrance to lighten the burden of the sick. Therefore, let them be filled with such power that, whether they are used by the sick, or kept in homes or other places, or devoutly carried on one’s person, they may serve to drive out evil spirits, safeguard holy chastity, and turn away illness–all this through the prayers of St. Anthony–and finally impart to Thy servants grace and peace; through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Then he sprinkles the lilies with holy water, saying:
P: Sprinkle me with hyssop, Lord, and I shall be clean of sin. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Pray for us, St. Anthony.
All: That we may be worthy of Christ’s promise.
P: Let us pray. We beg Thee, O Lord, that Thy people may be helped by the constant and devout intercession of Blessed Anthony, Thy illustrious confessor. May he assist us to be worthy of Thy grace in this life, and to attain everlasting joys in the life to come; through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
After this the lilies are distributed to the people.
Practice the St. Anthony’s Bread Devotion
St. Anthony’s Bread is an expression of devotion reminding of St. Anthony’s love and aid to the poor when he was alive. The tradition dates back to the 13th century, stemming from a story when a young child fell into a barrel of water and drowned. The mother begged St. Anthony to help, promising to donate grain the weight of her child to the poor if her daughter was restored. The child arose as if asleep, and this began giving alms to the poor for favors in St. Anthony’s intercession.
The actual name of “St. Anthony’s Bread” came from a French woman named Louise Bouffier in 1890, who promised loaves of bread for the poor when St. Anthony helped her with opening the broken lock of her small linen shop. After his help, her shop was the basis of St. Anthony’s Bread.
In some places the term “St. Anthony’s Bread” refers merely to alms and there is no actual bread exchanged, but money given to the poor will help them buy food.
You could bring bread to your parish priest to request this blessing:
Heavenly Father, we praise you and give you glory for the gift of bread, fruit of the earth, work of human hands and source of our daily nourishment.
Bless + this bread in honor of St. Anthony.
Teach us to share all your gifts with the poor, the forsaken and the hungry.
All praise be to you through Jesus Christ, our Savior, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
Have a (san) antonio cocktail
An after-dinner Antonio Cocktail will do the job nicely for this feast day as well, especially because one of the locations in which Maraschino liqueur is made, Torreglia, is practically next door to Padua (but let’s canonize the cocktail and call it a San Antonio). And believe it or not, there is a St. Anthony of Padua stained glass window cocktail shaker currently for sale by Artist4God in which to prepare it.
(San) Antonio Cocktail
- 1 oz. gin
- 1 oz. brandy
- ½ oz. white crème de menthe
- ½ oz. Maraschino liqueur (rough substitute: Cherry Heering, etc.)
Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake forty times. Strain into a cocktail glass.
(Foley, Michael P.. Drinking with the Saints [p. 133-134]. Regnery History. Kindle Edition.)
Read from a sermon by St. Anthony
The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since He himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.
But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! For some men speak as their own character dictates, but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah: So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them, and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the Lord.
We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment, insofar as He infuses us with His grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God.