As Mother Maddalena and her sister, Mother Mary Constance, left Rome to take the ship that would carry them to America, they stopped briefly in Padua. Mother Maddalena wrote in her Chronicle: Next morning, we went to the world-famed Basilica of St. Anthony, the wonder-worker of the world. We were astonished at the imposing dimensions of the church, of its cupola, and so forth. We attended two holy Masses. We placed our foreheads to the sacred tomb that holds the body of the great saint. The [Father guardian] brought us to a special chapel where the tongue of the great wonder-worker is kept in an elaborate reliquary of gold and precious stones. The blessed tongue can be seen; the good Father blessed us with it in order that through his intercession the Saint might obtain for us the grace that our tongues, like his, would always praise God and make him known in that far-off country.