2. Houses of the Holy

Saint Anthony of Padua Parish

New Bedford, MA
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From Saint Anthony of Padua Parish

  • The stations are said to be the largest interior stations of any Church in the United States.
  • An angel underneath the clerestory. Angel refers to the office of divine messenger, and we see the angel bearing a message from God. Notice the emblem of St. Anthony’s above the angel’s head.
  • Picture of the nave of St. Anthony’s Church, which is 241 feet long and seats, within the nave, about 1480 persons (with room for 300 more in the first loft and another couple of hundred in the pews of the chancel!)
  • A seraph with the stained glass window of Christ the King and the clerestory in the background. The seraphim have trumpets and adorn the four principle arches of the Church.
  • The sanctuary, main and high altar. Notice the six enormous cherubim looking down at the altar from above, with their huge wings, which distinguish them from the angels below the clerestory. The splendor of the Cross of Christ dominates the sanctuary.
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  • The Vision of Saint Anthony, when the child Jesus appeared to St. Anthony at Camposanpiero, near Padua. St. Anthony, before going to bed for the night, was reading his Bible. Suddenly, the Infant Jesus appeared resting on the Bible and proceed to come into the arms of St. Anthony and stroked St. Anthony’s face. The Word of God was appearing to the man who had so well preached His Word. For this reason, most images of St. Anthony depict him holding a Bible with the Infant Jesus.
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  • Saint Anthony of Padua Paris - Facing the Entrance
  • Looking right up to the ceiling.
  • Image of the Holy Spirit surrounded by the four evangelists
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  • A seraph with a trumpet heralding the presence of the Son of God on the altar. The models for the face came from parishioners when the Church was being built.
  • Angels praising God with timbrel, harp, and stringed instruments.
  • One the top right: Round fresco of Melchisedek, the King of Salem, whose offering of bread and wine to God was a foreshadowing of what Christ, the King of Kings, would do in Jeru-Salem about 1800 years later. Christ was a priest “according to the order of Melchisedek,” not according to the Old Testament levitical order. Melchisedek, therefore, is an image of Christ the High Priest and of all those priests of the New Covenant ordained, like Christ, in the order of Melchisedek. The image is found over the pews in the chancel.
  • Altar of St. Joseph in the chancel. He is depicted with the staff by which he led the Holy Family into Egypt and back, and each year three times up to the Temple in Jerusalem. Above him is a round fresco of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which is a symbol of the Church universal of which St. Joseph is the patron and protector.
  • The altar of St. Anne, the grandmother of God, to the right of the main sanctuary. This altar is used for baptisms and as the altar of repose on Holy Thursday night.
  • Picture of the nave of St. Anthony’s Church, which is 241 feet long and seats, within the nave, about 1480 persons (with room for 300 more in the first loft and another couple of hundred in the pews of the chancel!).
  • "38 Angels"<br /> February 2010
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