Father Mollinger was the primary driving force behind the erection of the chapel and the collection of relics housed therein. Mollinger's great personal devotion to Saint Anthony of Padua prompted him to dedicate a chapel in his name. He made several trips to Europe in order to collect relics, an unprecedented amount of which were floating in the market at the time due to political upheavals due to the so-called "Kulturkampf" in Germany and the unification of Italy. Most of the 4,000 to 5,000 relics in the chapel have original certificates of authenticity, the oldest of which dates from August 12, 1716.