Day 4: The Tuesday Devotion

The fourth day of the Saint Anthony Novena turns to one of the principal traditional Catholic devotions to the saint: the Tuesday Devotion. The Catholic faithful have long associated Tuesdays with Saint Anthony, in the same way the days of the week are associated with particular Catholic devotions: Sunday with the Resurrection, Monday with the Holy Souls in Purgatory, Tuesday with Saint Anthony of Padua, Wednesday with Saint Joseph or Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Thursday with the Eucharist, Friday with the Sacred Heart, Saturday with the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Today's invocation

O glorious Saint Anthony of Padua... (the full opening prayer)

Today's meditation

The historical origin of the Tuesday Devotion is connected to Saint Anthony's burial: he died on Friday, 13 June 1231, and was buried on Tuesday, 17 June 1231. The Tuesday following his death has been preserved in the Franciscan and Catholic devotional tradition as a particular day of remembrance. The devotion expanded over the centuries to include any Tuesday throughout the year, with particular Catholic faithful undertaking either weekly Tuesday Masses in honor of Saint Anthony or the more elaborate Thirteen Tuesdays of Saint Anthony devotion (thirteen consecutive Tuesdays of Mass, novena prayers, and almsgiving in the saint's honor).

The Thirteen Tuesdays devotion is the most elaborate form of the Catholic Tuesday tradition. The thirteen Tuesdays are typically calculated to conclude on or near the feast of Saint Anthony on 13 June. The devotion includes attendance at Mass on each of the thirteen Tuesdays, the recitation of the Saint Anthony novena prayer, and (in the Franciscan tradition) the practice of Saint Anthony's Bread (almsgiving for the poor in the saint's name, traditionally an offering of bread or its monetary equivalent given for the relief of those who lack daily food).

Catholic faithful around the world keep the Tuesday Devotion in many forms. Some attend Mass weekly on Tuesdays; others reserve a particular brief prayer to Saint Anthony for each Tuesday morning; others practice the Saint Anthony's Bread tradition by setting aside a regular weekly amount for the parish food pantry. The cumulative effect over a Catholic lifetime is a sustained relationship with the saint that is more durable than the relationship formed by an isolated novena.¹

Today's intention

Today, if you have not been keeping a Tuesday Devotion to Saint Anthony, consider beginning one. Even the simplest form (a brief Tuesday morning prayer, a small Tuesday almsgiving, an attended Tuesday Mass) is a Catholic discipline that begins a real relationship with the saint.

If you have already been keeping a Tuesday Devotion, today is a fitting day to renew the commitment and to bring your principal intention to Saint Anthony in connection with the devotion.

Reflection

The Catholic spiritual tradition has long observed that the saints' weekly devotions are among the most fruitful Catholic disciplines because they integrate the relationship with the saint into the rhythm of ordinary life. The novena, prayed nine days in a row, intensifies the relationship for a brief period; the weekly devotion sustains it across the year. The Catholic faithful who keep both forms (the novena for particular crises, the weekly devotion as ordinary discipline) have the fullness of the Catholic devotional pattern.

The Tuesday Devotion to Saint Anthony is also a Catholic gift to those who feel that they cannot keep the more elaborate Catholic devotions of First Fridays or First Saturdays. The Tuesday is brief, undemanding, and integrated into the ordinary work week. The Catholic faithful in busy lives can sustain a real relationship with Saint Anthony through this simple discipline, and the cumulative spiritual fruit, by long Catholic experience, is considerable.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Saint Anthony of Padua, who is honored on Tuesdays, pray for us in our daily Catholic lives.

Footnotes

1. The Tuesday Devotion and the Thirteen Tuesdays of Saint Anthony are documented in the Franciscan devotional manuals of the medieval and modern Catholic Church. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), entry on Saint Anthony of Padua, available at newadvent.org, summarizes the traditional Catholic devotions. ↩