Postscript to Lisbon and San Antonio de Padua
PARIS, France – While we have already landed in Paris, and will soon go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, after we did a wonderful religious visit to Fatima, I remember Lisbon and the Church of San Antonio de Padua. Our pilgrimage chaplain, my cousin Fr. Rey Gella, said Mass, which we attended, in that historic and holy church where there is a crypt containing the relic of St. Anthony of Padua. He was born there in that same spot where the church now stands, which was visited by St. John Paul II. Thus in the basement of the church, the crypt exists which is visited by hundreds of thousands lining up to pay respect to this famous saint. It is a very holy place.
Lisbon is a hilly place and to reach the San Antonio de Padua Church, we took the tourist bus and in between the bridge of Vasco de Gama and the Discoveries Monument, we stopped at the Plaza Real and walked uphill just like walking from the lower to the upper portion of Baguio's Session Road, multiplied by three in distance, less crowded than our summer capital but a bit cooler. Lisbon is a clean and green city with no traffic mess. There are more tourists than locals and the pace is not too hurried even during rush hour. After the Mass, we ate Pastella de Lisboa, and bought some gold-plated Portuguese sardines. We also bought some souvenir items, mostly religious for the friends and relatives who expect to get some when we arrive home.
Lisbon is called Lisboa here and Belen is called Belem, while Virgen is called Vergem. San Pablo is Sao Paulo and when you want to say thank you it is "Obrigado''. We enjoyed Lisbon with its rich history and culture, with its clean and green environment and its fine food and wines. A small city with a population less than the city of Makati, is teeming with tourists coming from US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, China, and Japan. There are so many monuments, historical landmarks and museums, libraries and cathedrals, churches, and chapels. Most of the people are Catholics and I have not seen some traces of Islam although we know that the Moors used to dominate them.
The 58-kilometer Roman Aqueduct built during the era of the Roman Empire is a testimony to the genius of ancient architects and engineers who never went to college to study or to take any board exams. Having survived many centuries, like the Belem Tower which is a smaller but more compact than our Fort San Pedro, along the Tagus River (the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, and the one that divides, Portugal and Spain), the aqueduct symbolizes the power and the grandeur of the Portuguese in those ages of ancient history. The Monastery of Saint Jeronimos is also many centuries old and has survived many wars, disasters, and calamities. Lisbon is a city that testifies to the fortitude of the Portuguese people, amidst the onslaught of modernity's less stress on history, culture, and arts.
If not for this visit to Lisbon a few days ago, I would not have realized that San Antonio de Padua, the patron saint of lost objects, was not born in Italy but in Portugal. If not for our pilgrimage to Fatima, and now Lourdes, I would not have deepened my devotion to the Virgin Mother.
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