Saint Anthonys Chapel

The chapel on the Şumuleu Mic hill, which honours Saint Anthony, was created from the reconstruction of a smaller chapel from the 17^th century. The construction of the original chapel is legendarily linked to the Turkish-Mongolian attacks in 1661. A legend says that a monk survived the attacks because he took shelter on the Şumuleu Mic hill. As he saw the monks of his order being chased out, he made a promise to Saint Anthony of Padua that, should he survive, he would build a chapel in that place with his own hands. He kept his promise and built the predecessor of the present chapel in 1673. The date is revealed by an inscription on a brick found during reconstruction in 1775, which also bears the name of the monk - Johan[n]es Mak (Mák János). The original chapel was much smaller than the present one, about the same size as the present sanctuary.

As the cult of Saint Anthony was more and more popular, the reconstruction of the chapel became a necessity. Then the head of the monastic order inscribed the following text in Latin on a brick ”The Franciscan priest Tót Sebestyén discovered it in the old shrine in 1774 and put it back in 1775”. The inscribed brick can be seen nowadays in the northern wall of the nave, behind a glass. During the reconstruction, carried out between 1773 and 1775, the chapel gained its present shape. The reconstruction was financed by countess Karolina Haller de Hallerkő, the wife of cavalry general Gyulai Ferenc.

The chapel consists of a nave and a smaller polygonal sanctuary. There is a small Hussar tower to the west. The nave walls are each pierced by three Baroque windows, one of which was walled in. Two windows ensure light goes in the sanctuary. In the north part of the nave, there is a small pulpit. The only entrance in the chapel is in the west. Above it, there is a quatrefoil opening for a window. The pediment is decorated with three Baroque cassettes with tulips, oak leaves and the inscription of the year 1775.

The interior of the chapel and the furniture are very simple. The most interesting element is the wooden balustrade, made up of five cassettes painted with flowers. The interior furniture includes an altar painting of Saint Anthony, which was probably made towards the end of the 18^th century, and the beginning of the 19^th century, part of a lateral shrine, a crucifix and the statue of Saint Anthony.

In the tower there are two bells: a smaller one, without any inscription, and a slightly bigger one with an inscription, according to which the latter bell was donated by Apor István in 1682 and restored by László János in 1781. During the 20^th century, Saint Anthony’s Chapel was restored several times. The shingle roof was first replaced with a tile one, and later with a galvanized sheet one. The most recent restoration works were carried out in 2008.