St Anthony of Padua

St Anthony’s — the oldest Italian-Catholic church in America — sits right across Houston Street from my NY apartment building. The other day, as I was taking my laundry to the laundromat, I saw that they were replacing their old St Anthony statue, high over the front door, with a new one flown in from Italy. Later the priest told me that they can’t do away with the old statue — it’s 130 years old and protected under New York preservation law — so they are keeping it around the side at ground level.

Okay, call me an aesthetic reactionary, but I think the old St Anthony (main blip) is much nicer than the new one (extra). I do understand, though, that if he was dropping his limbs on passersby, he had to be replaced.

The baby in his arms is the Christ Child, with whom St Anthony of Padua is often pictured. Since this Portuguese saint was not born until 1195 AD, it’s not clear to me how they ever met — but hey, what do I know?