Portugal - Lisbon, Igreja de Santo António

The Igreja de Santo António (Saint Anthony Church) is dedicated to Saint Anthony of Lisbon, also known as Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Portugal. The significance of this church originates from it being the location of the birthplace of Lisbon’s beloved Saint Anthony. A small underground chapel marks the location where Saint Anthony was born in 1195.

Saint Anthony (or Fernando de Bulhões, as his real name was) was born in Lisbon in 1195. He was the son of a wealthy family. The site of the family house where Fernando was born, located very close to Lisbon Cathedral, was turned into a small chapel in the 15th century. This building, from which nothing remains, was rebuilt in the early 16th century, during the reign of King Manuel I. In 1730, under king João V, the church was rebuilt and redecorated. In the 1755 Lisbon earthquake the Santo António church was almost completely destroyed. It was fully rebuilt after 1767 in a Baroque-Rococo style, as it can be visited today.

Igreja Santo António has a light and welcoming interior, which is adorned with statues and images of Saint Anthony’s life. The entire atmosphere is the complete contrast - and much more inviting - to the more or less sombre Sé, Lisbon’s cathedral
( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/49372046 ), in which the Igreja de Santo António stands in the shadow of.