Today is 13 June, the day of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Tivat. The cult of Saint Anthony is especially respected in Boka Bay, and in this city, there are three churches built in honor of this saint, in the Lepetane, Kalimanj and Tripovići settlements.
St. Anthony of Padua, who is among the most important saints of the Roman Catholic Church, was born in 1195 in Lisbon and died on 13 June 1231 in Padua. Although a nobleman, he went to the convent early and quickly ordained to be a priest.
St. Anthony was in North Africa for a short time, but because of his illness, he returned to Europe. After the death of St. Francis in 1226, at the Franciscan assembly he was elected provincial of the expanded province of Bologna in northern Italy. Still, for life, he gained his reputation and respect, and many believers thought that he possessed divine power and made miracles for the benefit of the weak and the sick.
St Anthony, as the patron saint of the city, is celebrated in Tivat from the 18th century. Earlier, the most significant number of Tivat families celebrated as the holy name of St. Savior, and Saint Simon, as witnessed by some of the oldest churches, St. George in the area of Black Plato, and Saint Simon in the same cemetery in the city. When did the Tivars begin to celebrate Saint Anthony of Padua?
Dragan Rajčević, a passionate explorer of the past of our city, reminds us of the fact that Venice was brought to Venice by Tivat.
"On 29 September 1731, a decision was made to build a church of St. Anthony at the locality of Perovo, owned by Mihovil Buće, which was completed on 29 March 1734. At that time The parish was Don Ivan Galatus, and the bishop of Kotor was Monsignor Zanobet. On 11 July 1734, a dedication was made, the blessing to St. Anthony's Church, that the first massacre held on 8 November of the same year on the occasion of the death of some of the most significant Kotorans, the saint of all citizens of Tivat," Rajčević recalls.
"You will not go swimming before St. Anthony," former citizens of Tivat told their children. This year, for this wisdom of ancestors, we have chosen the weather conditions.
In numerous churches throughout the Kotor Diocese, the Holy See of the World - Antun Padovanski, is traditionally celebrated with holy masses, devotions, blessings of children and bread.
The Holy Mass at Tivat was celebrated this morning in St. Anton's parish church in Tripovići, the chapel of Saint Anthony at Belania and the church of Saint Anthony at Lepetane. Evening prayers are scheduled at 5 pm in Lepetane, and 6 pm in the parish church in Tripovići.
