Later, in memory of the thirteenth of June, the Tuesdays became thirteen. To confirm this, there was the popular conviction that the Saint worked miracles on every thirteenth of the month, thanks to the thirteen prayers in the days preceding the Festivity of the Patron saint of Padova.
Thirteen was also the number of loaves to distribute among friends and family, as has been said.

This last devotion is known by the name of “Il pane dei poveri” (the bread of the poor).

Also this one finds its origin in a miracle which took place towards the end of the thirteenth century (yet again we find the repetition of thirteen, this time in the ordinal form). It is said that a woman, asking the saint to give back life to her son, who had drowned in a washtub, promised a distribution of bread corresponding to the weight of the boy. The unhappy mother insisted in her request and her promise and at last was granted the joy of seeing her son come to life again. The woman honoured her promise and distributed the loaves among the poor. Once the story became known, other believers began to accompany their requests with offers of loaves for the poor and hungry. “Thus was born the devotion which brings together through Christian charity those who need celestial help and those in need of earthly help” (A.F. Pavanello).

This tradition, at first was known as Peso dei fanciulli (weight of the children) and with the passing of the years it took foot more and more. Even the Caulonian people have always highly venerated this Saint (V. Naymo, in a document found and published by him under the name of Un ritratto di Castelvetere nel seicento (A portrait of Castelvetere in the sixteen hundred), testifies how, even from the second half of the XVII century, a church was consecrated in the name of the Saint in the Historical Centre of the town, consistent proof of how the cult of the Saint was very much alive and has been since very remote ages).

The statue, according to a verbal tradition, came from the Castelvetere monastery of Santa Maria di Prima Luce, a convent suppressed a first time in 1783 (in the same location we now find the cemetery of Caulonia).
The information sounds credible, more so if one considers that the convent belonged to Cappuccini friars, then Franciscan friars and that the statue has the characteristics of a convent’s sculpture which most probably dates back to the XVIII century. (To sustain all that has been said one may refer to Padre Fiore in his Calabria sagra where he brings to one’s attention that our Cappuccini convent had a chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony).

Another verbal source maintains that our sculpture was commissioned in the XIX century by Mr. Luigi D’Aquino, father of don Antonio D’Aquino, devoted priest of our Saint: proof of this lies in the fact that in more recent times, for several decades, his procession was set up by the reverend father Francesco D’Aquino, nephew of Luigi and priest whose memory is always alive in the hearts of the Caulonian people.

Today the statue is found in the Matrice Church on the altar of the homonymous chapel, enclosed by a wrought iron gate (made by local artisans of the XIX century) and surmounted by a characteristic basilian dome, which gives it an incomparable stance. In more recent times, the new inhabited area of Caulonia Marina was consecrated in the mane of our Saint who, along with Saint Ilarione, shares the protection of the area.

A grandiose sculpture in marble dust stands on a pedestal panelled with sheets of Travertino marble in the small square bearing the Saint’s name. The Saint is represented as well as with his traditional attributes, lily and baby Jesus, also with a book testifying his status as doctor of the Santa Romana Chiesa.

Our mothers turned to him ever more numerously to ask for his protection for their children.

During the month dedicated to the devotion of the Saint, there were many so called fantolini dressed in small Franciscan garbs, similar to those used by our Saint. It was also customary to call upon Saint Anthony every time something was lost via the recital of a prayer known as the Dispensorio di Sant’Antonio:

"Sant’Antoni meu benignu
di pregari non su degnu
pe’ sta cosa chi perdivi
a Sant’Antoni ricurrivi
ricurrivi o Tabernaculu
Sant’Antoni faci u miraculu
Sant’Antoni meu marinaru
Cacciatimi sta cosa o chjianu".

The person, told to repeat these verses, had to do so in silence and one could only be sure of the Saint'’ help in successfully finding the lost object if the verses were said fluently without hesitation and without interruption and not omitting any word or verse.

It was very common practice to turn to our Saint in order to find lost objects. On this matter A.F. Pavanello writes: “It certainly dates back to the most ancient times because the Si quoeris contains the known verses:

Membra resque perditas
Petunt et accipiunt
Iuvenes et cani
(youths and elders seek and receive lost things)

There are no specific facts which gave origin to this trust on behalf of the believers. Some think that Giuliano da Spira, in his Responsorio, was alluding to the Salterio stolen from the Saint by a novice and subsequently returned. In telling the story of the Saint’s activities in Montpellier we haven’t omitted the extraordinary circumstances which were the reason for the restitution. In the story our guide was the liber miraculorum (the book of miracles), but the origin of the devotion is unknown. It is reasonable to say that experience justifies and confirms this devotion almost as if Our Lord destined Saint Anthony to make thieves give back stolen things”. Even the following innocent tongue twister was linked to the Saint:

"Sant’Antoni jia e ‘bbenia
mentri lu pani lu benedicia
e lu mari si fici ogghjiu
Sant’Antoni na grazia vogghjiu"

A particular devotion to the Saint was found in our young women, of marriageable age, who with a Faith not wholly disinterested, would pass the day in the church at the feet of his statue with the strong wish of being able to be married soon. Before reciting the Santo Rosario in chorus, each girl asked the saint in silence and surely with a mixture of some malice and some modesty the following verses:

"Sant’Antonio mio glorioso
tutto amabile amoroso
ottenetemi da Dio
quanto spera il cuore mio"
( "My glorious Saint Anthony
lovable and loving
obtain for me from God
what my heart wants" )

In our dialect the verse was more outspoken:

"Sant’Antoni meu benignu
vui sapiti pecchì vegnu
ca la doti è preparata
vorria  essiri maritata".

On the same theme we cite the most interesting song in verses in the shape of a dialogue:

figghjiu

"Mamma mi vinni ‘nsonnu Sant’Antoninu
e mi dissi « ’O Cavaleri randi e poderusu
quantu mi voi dari mu ti sanu tutti i toi doluri ? »
« Ti dugnu la me’rrobba e lu dinaru
puru lu meu palazzu e lu me stari ! »
« Non ‘bbogghjiu la to ‘rrobba nè dinaru
nemmeno lu toi palazzu e lu to stari
eu n’orfana ti dugnu a maritari
chi all’artaru meu soli veniri. »

mamma

« Figghjiu non dari creditu allu sonnu
jiamu alla chiesa pe ’non fari errori. »
Jiru alla chiesa e la’ trovaru dani,
e pedi d’u sant’artaru chi ciangia.
« Levati figghjia e non ciangiri cchjiuni
ca eu ti vegnu mamma e tu mi veni nora. »
Nu vecchjiu vestitedu nci cacciaru
Nu riccamentu d’oru nci mentiru
comu lu matrimoniu si dicia
lu Cavaleri m’pedi si lurgia.
Quandu lu matrimoniu s’annunciau
lu Cavaleri ‘mpedi caminau.
Viti chi miraculu divinu
chista la maritau Sant’Antoninu

The musicality of the popular verse which has the innate pleasure of telling its story, manifests itself in the ardour of a lullaby which underlines a visceral love for the Saint; by and by the intensity of the words make it more familiar so much that it ends with the soft pet name “Sant’Antoniu”.

The highest manifestation of the devotion to the Saint on behalf of our people is still represented by the rite of making the thirteen loaves of bread.