Large numbers of pilgrims are expected to flock to a Dublin church today to pay homage to one of Ireland's favourite saints.
The sacred remains of St Anthony will be flown into Dublin this afternoon before being transferred to the Church of Our Lady of the Visitation in Fairview.
Cardinal Desmond Connell will preside over the official ceremony to welcome the relics of St Anthony when they arrive at the church at 7 p.m.
Hundreds of thousands of devotees are expected to visit churches during the nine-day tour of Dublin and Carlow.
The Italian Franciscan monk, famous for finding lost objects, is hugely popular and the Franciscan order is expecting crowds similar to those which flocked to see the relics of St Therese of Lisieux. An estimated one in four Irish people visited the remains of the saint known as the Little Flower two years ago.
Father Xavier Goulet, a Franciscan Conventual friar, said he has been in talks with gardaí about crowd control.
He said: "The relics will be flown in on a plane and brought to our church with a Garda escort. The formal reception to welcome the relics will be held in the church. Cardinal Connell will preside and Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Lazzarotto will preach."
He said a large bust of the saint containing a relic will be brought to various churches in Dublin and Carlow over the nine-day tour, which continues until June 13th.
The relics arrived in Ireland before for a few hours but this is the first time they will be viewed by the public.
The saint died in 1232 and his tomb was opened for the first time in 1260. The two relics which were removed at that time are still on display in the Basilica in Padua, Italy.
Two more relics, which were removed in the 1980s, are being flown to Ireland.
The welcoming ceremony will last about 40 minutes. Then people will be allowed to visit the relic up until 10 p.m.
St Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195 and died in Vercelli, Italy, on June 13th, 1231.
He is reported to have completed a number of miracles during his life. He is said to have made poisoned food harmless by making the sign of the cross, and rejoined a young boy's amputated foot.
The relics will visit Fairview Church, Dublin, St Anthony's church in Clontarf, the Poor Clares in Dublin, the Poor Clares in Carlow, the Franciscans in Church Street and Merchants Quay in Dublin.