On June 13th the Church calendar remembers Saint Anthony of Padua, one of the most celebrated figures in the history of sainthood. Also remembered as the Saint of Miracles, this Saint of Portuguese origins enjoys an ancient and widespread devotion even in Romagna, the land of priest-eaters par excellence. And it was instead a great faith that every year, at the beginning of the last century and on the occasion of the feast of the Saint, an elderly woman from Conselice took on a pilgrimage to Padua. A pilgrimage that the rice weeder Maria Cantelli always made on foot, to reach Padua in five days and resting every night with peasant families. This up to the age of one hundred. An incredible story, that of the centenarian marathon runner which is also confirmed in the ‘Strange but true’ column of the ‘Settimana Enigmistica’ of 7 May 1983. The centenarian Maria Cantelli appears dressed as a runner and engaged in a super marathon between Conselice and the basilica of Padua. Many years later, among the last elderly people of Conselice there are still some relatives who confirm the veracity of these incredible pilgrimages of the “Ciribina” (as she was called in the village), a laborer who in the first years of her life had moved from the Ferrara area in Conselice and where he had always lived.
Renzo Rossi
