The Hand of Providence

SEPTEMBER 12 will see a great celebration taking place at the Basilica of Saint Anthony. “We wish to remember in a solemn way the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s visit to our Basilica on September 12, 1982,” says Father Enzo Poiana, Rector of the Basilica.

“Pope John Paul II came here like a true pilgrim and sincere devotee of Saint Anthony. That sole act, as well as the memorable speeches he delivered on the occasion, have given a significant contribution to devotion to our Saint, and beyond him, to all saints in general. The late Pope sent a clear message that devotion to the saints is an essential part of our faith.”

Father Poiana, a 48-year-old Conventual Franciscan, has been Rector of the Basilica for the last two years. In the last few months he has been very busy organising this month’s celebration. The anniversary, however, has added value for Fr. Poiana, as it is also linked to his vocation to the religious life.

“I have to admit it,” Fr. Poiana continues. “Every moment I spend preparing for this event brings back personal memories. My admission to the priesthood is strictly connected with that visit by our late Pope.

That day is indelibly fixed in my memory, but I was still in the world then. I was a wayward young man with no clue as to what he wanted to do in life. On that day I would never, even in my wildest dreams, have imagined that, 23 years later, I would become the Rector of this Basilica, a place which was then quite mysterious and unapproachable for me. Yet that’s how things turned out, and I can only say, ‘God works in mysterious ways!’”

How old were you on that day?

I was only 23 yeas old. I had just returned home after having completed my compulsory military service, and had resumed work in my parents’ farm at Corona of Mariano del Friuli, near Gorizia, a town situated in close proximity to the border with Slovenia, in north eastern Italy.

I had never been to Padua before, which is just 150 kilometres from my home town. And I knew next to nothing about Saint Anthony. But the Pope’s visit was on everyone’s lips, and I couldn’t miss this occasion.

Are your parents devout Catholics?

Absolutely. We are a family of farmers, and have always been faithful to the Church. As a boy I joined the junior seminary in Gorizia, but at 18 I dropped out because I was no longer sure I really wanted to a priest after all. I still felt drawn to the priesthood, but I couldn’t stand all the rules and strict formalities at the preparatory seminary. I guess I really just wanted to be free, to do my own thing, so one day I took what was perhaps a rash decision, and decided to return home. I told my superiors I just needed time to think things over.

This crisis is typical of people in their late teens; I really felt I needed to take this step. In hindsight, I think I made the right decision, even though at the time everyone was saying that I was making a mistake.

What happened next?

 Once home I started working so I could be economically independent. Then I was called to fulfil my obligatory military service, which I would have avoided had I remained in the seminary.

As a soldier I had plenty of time to think about my future, but I still couldn’t make up my mind. On the one hand I still felt a vocation for the religious life, but also a loathing for the life in the seminary. It was a contradictory situation, just like one who would fain reach the top of a mountain, but is not willing to undergo the pain and labour of reaching the top. The turning point came during the late Pope’s visit to Padua.

Could you be more specific?

I had come to Padua by train with a group of friends. Once we got to the station we walked the mile or so separating us from the Basilica.

Once there we found that the square in front of the shrine was already packed – one could hardly walk. We waited patiently along a road leading to the Basilica. After a while we heard people clapping. Turning, I saw the pope mobile with the Holy Father advancing slowly along the road. That image is still deeply impressed in my memory.

Then the Pope entered the Basilica and celebrated Mass, while we were forced to remain outside with the crowd. All the places inside the church had already been taken. Fortunately, huge screens had been placed in various places around the shrine, so we were able to participate in the liturgy and hear the Holy Father’s discourses. Finally, after the Angelus, the Holy Father retired into the adjoining Convent. At that stage we were feeling rather hungry so we bought some sandwiches and ate them.

Around 3:00 pm most of the people had gone, and it was then that we saw some guards removing the barriers. Now, we knew that the Pope was scheduled to visit important people and places around the city, so we arranged ourselves in rows, and I managed to find a place in the front row. The pope mobile then came out and, to my astonishment, the Holy Father was walking leisurely behind it. He sought to make contact with us, common mortals, and raised his arms to bless us. Then he moved closer to shake our hands, and, thanks be to God, he also moved towards me and shook my hands as well! I couldn’t believe it. Now, when our hands touched, I felt something holy pervade me. It was like an electric discharge, something I’ll never forget.

After that contact all my doubts vanished. I now felt sure that God was calling me to the religious life.

How did you re-establish your ties with the seminary after this encounter with the Holy Father?

Because of the abrupt way I had left the seminary I had lost my credibility. I had not left a good impression behind me. Fortunately, divine providence came to my aid through a series of happy coincidences.

In November, 1982, that is, a month after the event, John Paul II nominated Father Antonio Bommarco Bishop of Gorizia, and thus bishop of my diocese. Fr. Bommarco, Minister Provincial of the Conventual Franciscans, was consecrated by the Pope himself at St. Peter’s on January 6, 1983, and I was present at the ceremony. On March 6, Bishop Bommarco came to visit my parish, and on that occasion I talked to him for the first time. His secretary, whom I knew personally, told him about my awkward situation, and the Bishop, much to my surprise, invited me over for lunch.

What did you talk about?

We had a long conversation. The bishop was very sympathetic and affectionate. I confided all my doubts about seminary life to him, and he gently invited me to look to the future with serenity, but also with courage and determination. After a further few weeks of meditation I finally decided to take the big step, so I went back to the Curia and informed the Bishop. However, other difficulties were in the way.

Of what type?

When I left the seminary I had also interrupted my high school studies. So I had to resume them if I wanted to access the tertiary education courses in Theology. In the meantime, however, the seminary had practically closed, so the Bishop told me, “I can send you to a vocational school I directed which belongs to the Conventuals. It is located in Treviso, not far from Padua. There you will be able to terminate high school, and then move on and study Theology”. This was a very generous offer, but I was turned off by something.

Which was?

That I did not like the idea of going into a Friary. I was afraid of friaries; they were the last places on earth I wanted to live in. I knew that my antipathy was silly, instinctive and irrational, but there was nothing I could do about it because I had absorbed it in childhood. I had been a rather stubborn insubordinate child, and my grandmother would reproach me with expressions like “You should be sent to a Convent! They’ll teach you to behave. They’ll force you to cut onions all day or copy manuscripts!” But I had no alternative.

How did you cope with life in the Friary?

The first week was tough. However, I gradually started to open my eyes and see things as they really were. The fraternal informal and simple lifestyle began to enthral me. It was a far cry from the cold and formal atmosphere at the seminary. Everything was alive, authentic and joyous in the Friary. I can still remember a particular episode when a friar arrived who, judging from appearances, must have been someone of importance. However, the friar had no distinguishing marks on him, no difference in dress, and, what was stranger still, everyone treated him as an equal. I inquired about his identity, and was told that he was the Minister Provincial. “What’s that?” I asked. “He’s our superior. He is the director of all the other friars in the Province, so he is like the bishop of a diocese,” I was told. I couldn’t believe it. I remember that at the seminary whenever the bishop arrived we would all relate to him with deferential respect.

We all dined with the Minister Provincial, after which he approached me and invited me for a walk. In the conversation which ensued he inquired about my life in the Friary, and said that he was more than willing to assist me in any way he could, adding, “I am a very good friend of the bishop of your diocese”.

In time I began to feel more and more at home in the Friary. I was beginning to find my true self and vocation to the priesthood within the confines and conditions of a Franciscan convent. In it I discovered order and discipline and, at the same time, freedom and joy.

During a short break from the Convent I paid a visit to Bishop Bommarco. I said to him, “My Lord Bishop, I have finally decided that I do not want to be a diocesan priest anymore, but a religious priest belonging to your Order, the Conventual Franciscans!”

I expect he must have been delighted!

No, that’s the thing. He was not at all pleased by what I told him, and relied, “You are creating a huge problem for me. My reputation with the parish priests of this diocese will be ruined! They will accuse me of diverting vocations away from the diocese to my own Order”.

This time, however, I was really sure about what I wanted. I managed to finish high school, and then went on to do my theology course. On September 6, 1986, I made my solemn profession as a Conventual Franciscan, after having spent part of my novitiate training period in the Basilica here in Padua. Then, on December 7, 1991, I was ordained to the priesthood. I was first sent to Rome as an auxiliary priest, then, in 1997 I was given a parish in Triest, which I held until 2005, when the Secretary of State at the Vatican, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, nominated me Rector of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, the very place where it all started from!

Why did the highest ranking ecclesiastic in the Catholic Church after the Holy Father nominate you for this role? Couldn’t the Minister General of the Conventual Franciscans do it?

No, because Saint Anthony’s Basilica, like all the principal shrines in the world, are under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. We answer directly to the Holy Father himself, and we are nominated by his second-in-command.

You have a prestigious role for a 48-year-old man. That means you must have distinguished yourself while you were a parish priest in Triest.

I don’t see myself that way. When in Triest I just tried to do my job as best I could. I tried to involve as many people I could in the life of the parish. My motto was, and still is, “Better to have many people do a little than to have few people do a lot”. This made many people feel important and responsible, just like in a big family.

What’s it like to be the Rector of one of the most important shrines in the world?

It’s hard work. You always have to answer to so many needs and requests from all over the world, and it has to be done in a spirit of joy and selfless sacrifice. My reward is that I direct a place which is the source of so much strength, light and beauty for millions all over the world.

Were you devoted to Saint Anthony before coming here as a novitiate?

I only knew about him from the little I had read. Here I learned to know the real Anthony; that is, as he manifests himself in the heart of his faithful, the countless men and women who testify to his greatness by their sincere devotion made visible here in their votive offerings, their petitions, their prayers, and the testimonies of his wonderful miracles.

We often speak about Anthony’s greatness as a preacher and theologian, but we tend to overlook the greatness he still manifests today through the testimony of his worldwide family. So his fame as a wonder-worker rests on something real and tangible!

How many pilgrims come here every year?

It is impossible to calculate the exact number because many come here privately. However a rough estimate would be around 5 million people annually.

John Paul II had a soft spot for Marian shrines. Why did he choose to visit this one, then?

The Poles have always had great devotion for Saint Anthony of Padua. One of the radial chapels in the Basilica is the Polish Chapel. It is called that because it has always been decorated and maintained by the Polish people. They recently restored its stained glass window and added to it the coat-of-arms of John Paul II.

So our late Pope had devotion to our Saint instilled into him since childhood, and it was only natural for him to come here. In fact he had planned to visit this shrine in the summer of 1981; that is, the year of the 750th anniversary of the Saint’s death. However, the attempt on the Pope’s life put an end to that visit, which had to be postponed to the following year.

I especially remember these words spoken by Pope John Paul II during the visit, which epitomise the secret behind our Saint’s worldwide appeal, “Saint Anthony was a truly evangelical man. This is a sign that in him sainthood was present in full measure, and that this was evident to everyone by the sheer force of his example. This conferred to his cult the maximum expansion in the world… His serene expression bestows a sweet smile to millions of homes in Christendom… so the faithful, especially the humblest and most vulnerable, see him and feel him as their special Saint”.