Antoni

 17th January

The feast day of St Antoni.

He's an Italian Saint from Padua, a Franciscan monk, protector of the poor. In Italy and Portugal he's the finder of lost property.  

Somewhere I have a recipe for an apple pie with red wine that is made in an Italian village on this day.

One of our local churches is dedicated to this Saint.

The little church down a narrow dirt road which in one part was flooded from recent rain.

We arrived at the end of the service but lit our candles and picked up a few pieces of scrummy sweet bread and a small bag of funeral wheat.

One of the housewives must have made it in remembrance of one of her menfolk named Antoni. Or it could have been a female family member, Antonia.

When we arrived the Priest had gone off with a candle bearer to a nearby house. Probably to bless someone who was ill or to give communion.

I hope my dear brother Tony had a happy name day. Not that he knew the Greek Orthodox church was celebrating the saint he's named after.