Church of St Anthony of Lisbon

Church of Saint Anthony

The Church of Saint Anthony is a building located in the parish of Santa Maria Maior (Sé), in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. It is said to stand on the site of the house where Saint Anthony was born, near the ancient Porta do Mar (Sea Gate), which was part of the wall leading into medieval Lisbon, and is considered his sanctuary. Adjacent to it is a small museum dedicated to him.

Tradition holds that young couples intending to marry should visit the church on their wedding day, pray, and leave flowers for Saint Anthony, the intercessor for newlyweds. On the way down to the crypt, there is a panel of modern azulejos (ceramic tiles) commemorating Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1982.

Inside, the crypt, accessible through the sacristy, is all that remains of the original church, which was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. The new church, a late Baroque and Pombaline-style building with sinuous lines evident in its pediment and staircase design, was begun in 1757 under the direction of Mateus Vicente de Oliveira, the architect of the Basilica da Estrela.

The entire construction was partially funded by children who would ask for “a little coin for Saint Anthony.” As can still be seen today, the chapel floor is covered in coins, and the walls display messages from devotees. In 1995, the church was renovated for the saint’s eighth centenary. The museum, housed in an adjacent building erected in 1962 on the traditionally recognized site of the saint’s birth, underwent a renewal of its exhibition between 2010 and 2012 through a project led by Ana Cristina Leite, Pedro Teotónio Pereira, and Rita Fragoso de Almeida.