On Thursday December 10, 2020, the program for the “Antonio 20-22 Project” was presented live on the Facebook page @fratidisantantoniodipadova. The program was presented by the Vicar Provincial, Friar Roberto BRANDINELLI, currently leading the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua (Northern Italy); Friar Paolo FLORETTA, the Project Coordinator; and Friar Oliviero SVANERA, the Rector of the Pontifical Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua.
Participants in the Project will walk 1990 km [1236 mi.] in ninety-seven days. They will walk from Sicily to Padua, to celebrate the three great Antonian anniversaries during the 2020-2022 three-year period: the anniversary of Anthony’s Franciscan vocation, his shipwreck in Italy and his first meeting with St. Francis of Assisi, when Anthony was revealed to the world to be a great preacher and saint.
On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, the participants will set out from Capo Milazzo in the Province of Messina, Italy. That is where St. Anthony first arrived in Italy. The central stop will be Assisi on May 29, 2021. That is the precise anniversary of the great Chapter of Mats in 1221, when St. Francis gathered all his friars around himself, including Anthony. On November 13, 2021, the participants are scheduled to arrive at the Basilica in Padua, the place where St. Anthony’s mortal remains are enshrined. The whole event will conclude the next day.
Along the journey, different cultural and religious events will be organized. They will be presented from time to time on the new website at: www.antonio2022.org and on the Project’s social media platform.
Due to the pandemic, this event had to be postponed, but the friars are confident they will be able to complete the program, under the protection of St. Anthony who is so dear to all the faithful in Italy and around the world.
To learn more about this project, go to: https://areastampa.messaggerosantantonio.it/content/antonio-20-22-oltre-3-milioni-di-passi-sulle-orme-di-santantonio and https://www.antonio2022.org.
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