The novena to Saint Anthony
Beside the nine-day novena there is a longer counted devotion: the thirteen Tuesdays before 13 June. Here is where that day and that number come from.
How it is counted
Nine days in a row for the novena, or thirteen Tuesdays in a row, or thirteen days from 31 May to 12 June. In each case one prayer a day. Missing a day means carrying on, not starting again.
Why Tuesday
Anthony died on 13 June 1231 and was buried in Padua, in the small church of Santa Maria Mater Domini, on a Tuesday, 17 June. Tradition tells of many sick people brought to the tomb that day. Tuesday has been his day since, and at the basilica the prayer is still said on Tuesdays.
Why thirteen
At first the Tuesdays were nine. They were taken to thirteen for the thirteenth of June. One tradition dates the custom to 1617 and a woman in Bologna who, so the story goes, saw the saint and understood that she should visit him for thirteen Tuesdays running.
The count, not the outcome
What is handed down is the count: thirteen times, once a week or once a day. About the outcome the devotion says nothing. There is no number to reach, and nothing happens to anyone who stops before it.
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