At the request of Pope Leo XIII St. Anthony “goes back” to France!

Editorial Staff

It may happen that in some people’s heart there are projects and dreams just waiting for the right moment to be made real. A gaze, a gesture, a word can be enough to provide a solution to something that seemed too difficult just a moment before. This is what happened to Don Locatelli, a priest in the Dioceses of Padua, when he was received in a private audience that deeply transformed him, by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. But let’s proceed in order. Don Locatelli was born in Padua on the 22 of November 1839; he was baptised at home as he was “in danger of imminent death” with the name of Antonio because his mother entrusted him to St. Anthony for whom she had a special devotion. Despite his precarious health he completed his studies with success and he was ordained priest in 1863. Then he spent two years in Venice as a secretary to Cardinal Giuseppe Trevisanato. He graduated in theology in 1866 and he was called to teach in the Seminary of Verona. Later he returned to his research in the archives which was why he travelled to Rome, Germany, Spain and France. In 1881 Don Locatelli…