Church of St. Anthony of Padua

Church · BeyoğluIstanbul, Turkey

Long before he became Pope John XXIII, Angelo Roncalli spent a decade preaching from the pulpit of St. Anthony of Padua, learning Turkish to reach his Istanbul flock. The church he knew is the largest Catholic sanctuary in the city, built between 1906 and 1912 after its two-century-old predecessor was cleared to make way for a tram line. The Italian-Levantine architect Giulio Mongeri raised it in red brick and terracotta, an Italian take on the Gothic set back from the boulevard behind a forecourt framed by twin brick apartment blocks. You step off İstiklal through the courtyard gate, and the roar of the avenue thins away. Inside, pointed arches march toward a rose window, candlelight pools in the side chapels, and the air carries the hush of a working parish rather than a museum. Franciscan friars still run it, and Mass is said in Italian, English, Polish and Turkish for a congregation drawn from across the world. A bronze figure of Roncalli stands in the forecourt — a reminder that this brick nave once held the man Turkey still calls the Turkish Pope.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The twin apartment blocks are part of the design — Mongeri drew the flanking St. Antoine apartments together with the church; their brick and detailing were tuned to frame the facade, so the avenue reads it all as one composition.
The building rewards a quiet hour — slip in when no service is underway and the nave is calm enough to trace the brick vaulting and follow the pointed arches up to the rose window without a congregation in the way.
Tuesday is Saint Anthony's day — Catholic devotion to the saint has long centred on Tuesdays, so the weekday most İstiklal walkers ignore is quietly when the parish feels fullest.

Things to do

1
Step through the gate
On İstiklal, most walkers stream straight past the iron gate set between the twin brick apartment blocks. Step through it instead: the gabled facade and its rose window rise at the end of a short forecourt. Turn back from the steps to see how completely the avenue swallows a full-sized church the crowd never glances at.
2
Sit in on a Mass in another tongue
Slip into a back pew during a service and just listen; the language shifts with the hour, and the congregation with it. Mass here is said in Italian, English, Polish and Turkish, so what you hear depends on when you walk in. You need not be Catholic to sit quietly through it.
3
Light a candle to the finder of lost things
Near the side chapels you will find the candle stands. Take a taper, touch it to one already lit, and set it among the burning rows. Many who come do exactly this, to ask Saint Anthony for the return of something lost. Add yours and watch it join the steady tally of flames.
4
Meet the Turkish Pope in bronze
In the forecourt, find the bronze figure of Roncalli, the envoy who became John XXIII. The statue has already moved once: it was unveiled across town during Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 visit to Istanbul, then brought here, to the parish Roncalli actually served. Pause at its base before you go in, since this is the church where he preached for nearly ten years.