Portuguese saint triggers devotion in Bangladesh

A devotee kisses the statue of St. Anthony. (Photo: Piyas Biswas/UCA News)

For the past three years, Badhon Gomes has started preparing several weeks in advance for the annual pilgrimage at St. Anthony of Padua shrine in Panjora village in Bangladesh's Gazipur district.

Gomes, 30, is a Catholic from Parowan, one of 16 villages including Panjora that make up St. Nicholas of Tolentino Church (1695) of Nagari, one of the oldest Catholic churches in the country.

For the fourth consecutive year, Gomes coordinated distribution of free lunches to hundreds of devotees of the Portuguese saint during the annual feast day, celebrated on Feb. 7.

“We offered free meals to 500 devotees, but our target was more than 1,000. Due to restrictions on vehicle movements around the shrine, many devotees missed out,” the father of one told UCA News.

Christian and Hindu villagers from Parowan and neighboring Bhasania, under St. Augustine of Hippo Catholic Church, have been supporting the initiative. Between 800 and 1,200 people have received free food from Gomes’ group in the past three years.

“It is a matter of pride that we have St. Anthony shrine in our area. People believe they can receive special blessings from the great saint by serving his devotees,” Gomes added.

Panjora village houses a chapel with a small but extremely popular centuries-old statue of St. Anthony that is believed to have miraculous power to fulfil any wish of devotees.

The shrine, under Dhaka Archdiocese, is the most popular among about the dozen Catholic shrines in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Other shrines are mostly dedicated to Mother Mary, barely attracting 5,000 to 7,000 devotees during annual pilgrimages.

This year two Masses at St. Anthony shrine drew more than 70,000 devotees including Hindus and Muslims. About 6,000 devotees attended every day during the nine-day novena preceding the feast day, church officials said.

A burning flame of enlightenment for 100 years

Guests and dignitaries on stage during the 100-year jubilee celebrations of church-run St. Nicholas High School in Gazipur district near Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Jan. 2. (Photo: Robin Noel)

Subir Kashmir Pereira is disappointed that he missed out on an event that he had been looking forward to for years: attending the centenary jubilee celebrations of his beloved alma mater, St. Nicholas High School.

Geographical distance and other complications restricted him from attending the Catholic school's reunion in the first week of January.

Pereira, 49, is a Bangladeshi-born American citizen who settled in Maryland in 2007 with his wife and daughter.

St. Nicholas, where he studied from 1988 to 1991, is located in Nagari in Gazipur district of central Bangladesh, about 40 kilometers from the capital Dhaka.

"When the school marked 75 years [in 1995], I could not attend due to personal reasons. I told myself that I would have to attend the 100-year jubilee, but I missed out again. This failure is likely to upset me for the rest of my life," said Pereira, a Catholic.

Employed at a pharmacy of a multinational company in the US capital Washington, Pereira was a youth activist back home. He is also a seasoned poet with several titles published in recent years.

He credits his days at St. Nicholas, run by the Brothers of Holy Cross, for laying the foundation for what he has become today.

The saint who means even more than just miracles

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A statue of St. Anthony of Padua at Panjora village in Gazipur, near Dhaka

I’ve just found time to write about the pilgrimage I went on at the start of February. Along with about 40,000 devotees, both Catholic and non-Catholic, I went to the shrine of St. Anthony of Padua at Nagari Church in Panjora, about 45 kms east of Dhaka.

I have been coming to it for longer than I can remember, ever since I was a small child.
Although St. Anthony’s feast day is June 13, this event is held in February when the weather is cooler and more comfortable for the pilgrims. In fact this year it was cold when we set out in the early morning.

Although the numbers were slightly down on other years – sometimes it has attracted more than 50,000 – this is still the largest Christian gathering in the country. I haven’t seen more than 5,000 Catholics at the Sacred Heart of Jesus celebration in June and the various Marian pilgrimages attract 10,000 people at most.

The devotion to St. Anthony is unique and incredible here. Many people in Bangladesh claim that their prayers were granted miraculously by the saint; he has helped them find lost valuables, conceive a child, get over an illness and more.

In fact, I remember one priest saying in jest, “it seems St. Anthony is more powerful than Jesus and Mary. They take a long time to fulfill people’s prayers but St. Anthony does it fast!”

This tradition of popular devotion to St. Anthony dates back over two centuries.

In the 1700s, the son of a wealthy Hindu was kidnapped by Mogh pirates. While in captivity he dreamed about St. Anthony. Then a Portuguese missioner priest came and rescued him.
Inspired by this, he converted to Christianity and the priest named him Dom (or ‘Prince’ in Portuguese) Anthony.

He started preaching in the Bhawal and Atharogram areas near Dhaka, which are still two of the oldest and largest Catholic settlements in the country. Dom Anthony also wrote various books and composed songs in praise of the saint. Those songs are still popular today.

Another local story from around the same time involves a statue of St. Anthony which miraculously disappeared and reappeared at a different place. A small chapel was built to commemorate it, not far from the existing church in Nagari.

On this year’s pilgrimage I was accompanied by foreign guest who said something that really made me think.

“This devotion is not inspired by miracles,” he said, “because I don’t believe that all the women who prayed to the saint for a child got pregnant. But still they come here and that means even more than a miracle.”

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