FIESTAN SAN ANTONIO

GUPOT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA

Hunio dia 13

Tamuning's fiesta?  Well, one of them.

When the church we know today as Saint Anthony's was built in Tamuning after World War II, the original patron (and co-patron to this day) was Saint Victor.  America's victory in WWII can easily be seen as the connection.

But Chamorros didn't have a devotion to Saint Victor, and eventually Saint Anthony was added as a co-patron and eventually superceded Saint Victor for prime place.  The reason?

First of all, because Saint Anthony was greatly venerated by Chamorros, to the extent that his relic was venerated in all of Guam's churches every Tuesday.

Secondly, because prior to the war, there was a district (barrio) of Hagåtña called San Antonio, and the Spanish Capuchins built a chapel there in his honor, with at least one Sunday Mass there.  The barrio of San Antonio is where Padre Palomo Park, the U.S. Naval Cemetery and the now-defunct auto dealership are, in the old Ada's commercial area where Meskla restaurant is.  After the war, that entire area became commercial and the chapel was never rebuilt.  The devotion needed a locus, so Tamuning inherited it.