Two Tombs: St. Anthony & St. Dominic

Two Tombs. 

Recently, a Dominican priest from America was visiting Italy. During the course of his travels, he visited the shrine of the much beloved Franciscan, St. Anthony, in Padua. The pilgrim was very edified to see throngs of people in the church, venerating the saint’s image with much affection and praying and singing with great feeling. He was especially impressed by a large procession that formed in Anthony’s honor—a splendid, public affair, filled with spirit and emotion.

Later that day, the same friar happened to be in Bologna, at the tomb of St. Dominic. Within that church, where Dominic was finally laid to rest, only five people were present. Each was sitting alone, somewhat near the tomb, in perfect silence, studying! Those who have come to know and love Dominic can savor that scene as entirely in keeping with what he would have wanted.

Fr. Michael Monshau, OP, is a professor of Liturgy, Homiletics, and Spirituality at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.