Source: The Boston Globe
On Sunday August 26, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that the annual festival in Boston's North End honoring St. Anthony of Padua drew thousands of Italian-Americans. At the center of the festival "stood a shrine to one of the most revered and holy saints in Catholicism: the life-size statue of St. Anthony and the 'blessed relics,' believed to be fragments of the 800-year-old remains of the saint himself...[that] made the trip from Padua, Italy...Event organizers estimated that more than 50,000 people-most of Italian decent-attended the festival...St. Anthony is the patron saint of the poor, lost articles, and several Italian provinces...and some believe [the relics] give added powers to prayers." Organizers "expect more than 150,000 people to visit them before they are returned to Italy."