SAINT PIO OF PIETRELCINA

Picture: A friar bends over the coffin of Padre Pio

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, was an Italian priest, a mystic, stigmatist, and saint of the Roman Catholic Church. His original name was Francesco Forgione and he was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, on 25 May 1887. He was the fourth of eight children and his parents, Grazio and Maria, were deeply religious peasant farmers. At the age of five, he already knew that he belonged to God and had decided to devote his entire life to God. Throughout his childhood, he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies and spoke with Jesus and Mary. When he was 15, he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Morcone, Italy, and was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Benevento, Italy, on 10 August 1910, by Monsignor Paolo Schinosi. 

Although Padre Pio started to experience the first symptoms of the stigmata in 1910, it was not until 1918 that the stigmas became visible and there was mysterious bleeding on his hands, feet and side. His wounds were bleeding profusely that the Vatican had to send its senior exorcist to look into the matter. Pio had received stigmata, wounds in his hands, feet and side like those found on Christ's body after the crucifixion, and had tried unsuccessfully to cover the wounds and hide them.

Padre Pio could not have anticipated the antagonism he met within the Church when his secret was revealed. Many churchmen claimed that he faked his stigmata and accused him of sexual misconduct, but believers flocked to his friary to ask for his blessings and forgiveness. In the 1920s, the Vatican imposed increasingly harsh restrictions on Padre Pio's priestly duties to reduce publicity about him to the extent that he was almost hidden away from the public and only allowed to celebrate Mass in private. He had limited access to the people and was banned from exercising his responsibilities and duties of a priest until Pope Pius XI ended the ban in 1933. According to Pope Pius XI, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." After Pope Pius XI lifted all the restrictions on his priestly duties, life was somewhat better for Padre Pio, but the spiteful attacks against him continued. Some fellow clergy were drawn to him while others found him disgusting and even called him "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath." However, despite all the slander and injustice against him, Padre Pio remained humble, patient and dedicated as he only wanted "to be a poor friar who prays."

Padre Pio's had lived a life of prayer, holiness and sacrifice. His teachings were simple and direct and his parishioners were deeply impressed by him. He recommended meditation twice daily - once in the morning to prepare for the day and once in the evening to reflect. He also recommended weekly confession which, he said, was comparable to the weekly house cleaning. His motto was "Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."

For years, Padre Pio had wanted to build a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo. His dream finally came true when the Capuchins built, in the friary grounds, a House for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital that was founded for the purpose of healing the bodies and souls of the sick and suffering. Known as the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, it was inaugurated on 5 May 1956. Pope Pius XII had repeatedly requested Padre Pio to form prayer groups for the hospital. Apart from the Padre Pio prayer groups, the saint also spent long hours praying and meditating on the Way of the Cross. According to him, "In books we seek God, in prayer we meet him. It is prayer, this united strength of all good souls, that moves the world, that renew consciences, that supports the Casa."

Even though Padre Pio's health deteriorated in 1959, he began broadcasting his spiritual thoughts on national radio and his sermons had truly reinforced the fact that. "Prayer is the best weapon we possess. It is the key that opens the heart of God." The saint also emphasized that we should "speak to Jesus not only with our lips, but with our heart" and that we must pray with all our soul because God does not want empty prayers. His words of faith have always been an inspiration for prayer groups around the world and, to date, there are more than 3000 Padre Pio prayer groups worldwide.

Because of his supernatural gift of perception, deep compassion and down-to-earth advice, Padre Pio became an extremely popular confessor. It is said that he had the ability to read hearts and could tell his penitents all the sins they have tried to conceal and afraid to confess. However, after exposing their secrets, he always assured them that God would forgive them as long as they would repent and live a virtuous life. Padre Pio's fame spread far and wide and people from all over the world came to see him to make confessions to him. The queues outside his confessional were always so long that the superiors of his monastery had to impose the rule that those who wanted to make confessions had to make a reservation first.

Padre Pio had an invisible crown of thorns. Only the wounds on his hands could be seen as the wounds on his right shoulder, the lance wound and nail wounds in his feet were covered by his clothing and slippers. He had to wear fingerless gloves to cover the stigmata and absorb blood on his hands. Despite his fame and wondrous gifts from God, he remained a simple and humble friar who lived the Passion of Christ and spent his entire life in his friary. He seldom left the monastery and had never traveled far from San Giovanni Rotondo. The most distant place he had ever traveled was to Rome in 1917.

In 1947, a young Polish priest who was doing his doctoral studies at the Pontificium Athenaeum Internationale Angelicum in Rome (now known as the Pontifical Unversity of Saint Thomas Aquinas, PUST) traveled to Southern Italy to meet Padre Pio at his monastery. Padre Pio heard the priest's confession and prophesied that one day this young man would "become pope". The young priest was Father Karol Wojtyla. He was elected as pope on 16 October 1978 and took the pontifical name of John Paul II. Aged 58, he was the youngest pope of the 20th Century.

Padre Pio lived with his stigmata for fifty years. He passed away peacefully on 23 September 1968 at age 81 and was buried at San Giovanni Rotondo. More than 100,000 people attended his funeral. He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on 2 May 1999 and canonized on 16 June 2002. Around 300000 people attended his canonization ceremony at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. Despite his canonization, the affectionate name for this Capuchin friar and beloved saint is still Padre Pio.

The miraculous cure of a 7-year-old boy, Matteo Pio Colella, who was suffering from acute fulminant meningitis, was the miracle that paved the way for Padre Pio's canonization. When Colella went into a coma in the hospital, his mother prayed for his recovery at Padre Pio's tomb. According to Colella, he saw Padre Pio in his dream and the friar told him that he would be cured. Like Lazarus, the boy was resurrected and came back to life.  

Padre Pio's feast day is celebrated on 23 September. He is revered by countless people around the world as one of the greatest miracle working saints of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of people claimed that they were healed of serious and / or deadly illnesses through the intercession of Padre Pio. Today, this mystic monk has become internationally famous and perhaps even as popular as Jesus. Every year, around 8 million pilgrims visit the Shrine of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, the second most popular Catholic Shrine in the world.

You may also like to read ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA and Prayer to St. Anthony and the Miraculous Letter Delivery. To view the content page of this blog, please click here.


References:
1. Paul, Tessa. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Saints. Hermes House.
2. Craughwell, Thomas J. (2016). Heaven Help Us. Chartwell Books.
3. Miracles: The Presence of God in Our Lives, Life Books.