Padre Pio: A Catholic priest
who worked miracles and bore the wounds of Jesus Christ on His Body
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Padre
Pio: A Catholic Priest who worked miracles and bore the wounds of Jesus Christ
on his body
Bro. Michael Dimond, O.S.B.
Padre Pio
was a Franciscan Capuchin priest who bore the five wounds of Jesus Christ on
his body visibly for more than fifty years. Padre Pio was also a seer, mind-reader,
prophet, miracle-worker, confessor, mystic, ascetic, and missionary on a
world-wide scale.[i] Hundreds of books and articles have been
written about Padre Pio. Lengthy
articles about
him have
appeared in many magazines including Newsweek,
Time, and The New York Times Magazine.[ii]
The event of Padre Pio receiving the Stigmata
Having the stigmata means having on one’s body the
“marks resembling wounds on the crucified body of Christ.”[iii] There have only been about sixty accepted
instances of the stigmata in the Catholic Church’s history.[iv]
Padre Pio
was the first priest in the history of the Catholic Church to receive the
visible stigmata. He had the visible
stigmata for over fifty years, and his loss of blood over the years was so
great that, according to medical science, he could not have survived for very
long – certainly not fifty years.[v]
Padre Pio
actually received the stigmata invisibly on August 14, 1910.[vi] Padre Pio prayed that his stigmata would
remain invisible and hidden from the eyes of men.[vii] But on September 20, 1918, while making his
thanksgiving after a Mass, he received the visible stigmata. He was commanded by his spiritual director to
describe everything that happened
on that
day. Padre Pio described the event:
“…I saw a mysterious visitor before me …feet
and side were dripping blood. The sight
frightened me… Then the vision of the visitor passed away, and I saw that my hands,
feet and side were pierced and dripping blood.
You will imagine the pain I felt then and that I kept experiencing
almost every day continually.[viii] The heart wound bleeds continually,
especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of
the wound and the resulting embarrassment …I will raise my voice and will not
stop imploring Him until in His mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain,
which is impossible because I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these
outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.”[ix]
His
stigmata were very deep wounds at the center of his hands and feet and on the
left side of his body. His hands and
feet were pierced all the way through; you could even see light through the
membrane that covered his wounds. He
wore half-gloves over his hands (except during Mass), and stockings on his
feet.[x] Over the years, thousands of people saw Padre
Pio’s wounds exposed at his Masses.[xi] The bandage that was located on his side
wound would become soaked with blood during the night, and had to be changed
the following morning. His stigmata was
examined by doctors on several occasions.
The unbiased conclusion that they reached was that
his wounds
were unexplainable. Without direct
permission of his superiors, no one was able to
see the
wounds.[xii]
Dr. Bignami
examined the wounds shortly after Padre Pio received them. He stated: “…I do not understand how these
wounds have persisted for nearly a year now without getting better or worse.”[xiii]
Corroborating
the conclusion of the doctors, that the presence of the stigmata was
unexplainable and miraculous, was the fact that Padre Pio had operations for a
hernia and for a cyst. These conditions
healed normally, but his stigmata didn’t heal normally.[xiv] Amazingly, Padre Pio’s wounds on his hands
were often open and exposed, but remained completely free from infection. He lost about a cup-full of blood every day
from the wound on his side, which was covered always by a linen cloth.[xv]
Another
doctor, Dr. Sanguinetti, told a friend: “If you or I would suffer one-tenth of
the pain that Padre Pio suffers from his wounds, we’d be dead.”[xvi]
Padre Pio
was asked why the wound in his side was in a slightly different place than the
place where Our Lord’s wound was. He
responded: “It would be too much if it were exactly like the Lord’s.”[xvii] Besides the stigmata, Padre Pio suffered the
crowning with thorns and the flagellation almost once a week.[xviii]
The blood
around the stigmata of Padre Pio gave off at times a pleasant fragrance “like a
mixture of violets and roses.” One
doctor added, “One should consider that of all the parts of the human organism,
blood is the quickest to decompose. In
any case blood never gives off a pleasant odor.”[xix]
This
miraculous pleasant fragrance was also smelled on things that belonged to Padre
Pio and on some things that he touched.
Some devotees of Padre Pio have smelled a pleasant fragrance, roses,
wild flowers or a cigar smoke scent.
They believe this indicates his presence, a warning or a message of some
kind.
In the
archives at Our Lady of Grace Friary, there are volumes of testimonies from
more than a thousand different people who were pronounced hopelessly ill by
doctors, but were cured of incurable maladies and the effects of crippling
injuries through the intercession of Padre Pio.[xx] Padre Pio also caused numerous conversions to
occur among unbelievers, atheists and agnostics – and people who claimed to be
Catholics, but had lapsed in the practice of the Faith.[xxi]
Padre Pio’s childhood
Padre Pio’s
mother gave birth to eight children, three of whom died at a very early age.[xxii] Padre Pio was born on May 25, 1887, named
Francesco Forgione, and was baptized the following day.[xxiii] At five years of age, Francesco was extremely
sensitive to matters concerning God. At
this time, he began to have visions – visions of holy things as well as visions
of very evil things. These horribly evil
visions scared him and caused him to cry.[xxiv] Francesco (Padre Pio) didn’t like to go out
and play with children his age because, as he said, “They are not honest; they
use bad language, and they swear.”[xxv]
Francesco
was a meditative and docile child. At
five years old, he said that he already pledged fidelity to St. Francis of
One time,
as a youngster, he saw a girl that he knew toiling away with her needle, sewing
a band on a dress. He told her:
“Andrianella, today we don’t work. It’s
Sunday.” Showing her annoyance, the girl
replied: “Little boy, you are too small to talk like that.” Francesco left her, and came back with a pair
of scissors. He then grabbed the band
she had been working on and cut it into pieces.[xxix]
When
Francesco Forgione (Padre Pio) was fourteen (1901), he was sent to work on a
high school program under the direction of Angelo Caccavo. In 1902, Caccavo assigned Francesco the task
of writing a paper entitled “If I Were King.”
This is what the fifteen year old Francesco Forgione wrote under the
theme “If I Were King”:
“[If
I Were King] I would fight, first against divorce, which so many wicked men
desire, and make people respect as much as possible the sacrament of
matrimony. What happened to Julian the
Apostate, who was brave, self-controlled, and studious, but who made the big
mistake of denying Christianity, in which he was educated, because he decided
to revive Paganism? His life was wasted
because he did not attain anything but the despicable name of apostate.”[xxx]
On January
6, 1903, Padre Pio entered religious life
as a
Capuchin monk.[xxxi] Padre Pio’s health was so bad that his
theology professor said to him: “Your health is not good, so you cannot become
a preacher. My hopes for you are that
you will be a great and conscientious confessor.”[xxxii]
The
statement was prophetic, for it would be fulfilled in an incredible way. Padre Pio was ordained as a priest of the
Catholic Church on August 10, 1910.[xxxiii]
Confessions
John 20: 21-23: “As the Father hath
sent me, I also send you. When He had
said this, He breathed on them; and He said to them: Receive ye the Holy
Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive,
they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are
retained.”
In the
Gospel of John, we see the power to forgive sins conferred by Jesus Christ upon
the Apostles. The power to forgive sins
conferred upon priests validly ordained by a bishop would play a prominent role
in the life and miracles of Padre Pio.
From 1918 to 1923, Padre Pio heard confessions fifteen to nineteen hours
every day. In the 1940s and 1950s, he
generally heard confessions somewhat less than that, but still five to eight
hours every day.[xxxiv]
The average
confession made to Padre Pio lasted only three minutes. According to one estimate, Padre Pio heard a
total of approximately five million confessions.[xxxv]
So many
people wanted Padre Pio to hear their confessions that they generally had to
wait two or three weeks before their turn came.[xxxvi] The number of people became so large that it
was necessary to open an office to give tickets out. The tickets were numbered; they indicated
where people were in line for Padre Pio’s confessional.[xxxvii] This numbering system began to be implemented
in January, 1950.[xxxviii] There was also a rule instituted that you
couldn’t go to confession to Padre Pio more than once every eight days.
One man
from
Padre Pio
demanded that each confession be a true conversion. He didn’t tolerate a lack of honesty in
the
explanation of sins. He was very hard on
those who made excuses, spoke insincerely, or lacked a
firm
resolution to change. He demanded
frankness and total honesty from the penitent.
He also required a true and sincere sorrow of heart, and an absolute
firmness in a person’s resolutions for the future.[xl]
Many of
Padre Pio’s penitents made the astounding statement that, when in his
confessional, they would experience the awesome impression of being before the
judgment seat of God.[xli]
If the
penitent wasn’t honest, or just read through the list of his or her sins
without the firm resolution to change, Padre Pio would often growl “get out.”[xlii] Many people said that Padre Pio was brusque
and irate, that he would sometimes snap shut the panel in the penitent’s
face. Padre Pio would often denounce a
penitent with a searing phrase.[xliii]
One man who
was thrown out of the confessional by Padre Pio stated: “What kind of
blackguardly monk is that? He did not
give me time to say a word, but straightway called me an old pig and told me to
get out!” Another person said to this
man that Padre Pio probably had good reasons for calling him an old pig and
treating him in this way. “I can’t think
why,” said the man who had been thrown out of the confessional; and then, after
a pause, the man said: “unless it is because I happen to be living with a woman
who is not my wife.”[xliv]
Padre Pio
also threw certain priests and bishops out of his confessional.[xlv] Padre Pio once told a priest: “If you knew
fully what a fearful thing it is to sit in the tribunal of the
confessional! We are administering the
Blood of Christ. We must be careful that
we do not fling it about by being too easy-going or negligent.”[xlvi]
Another man
went to confession to Padre Pio in order to test him. He wanted to see if Padre Pio could pick up
that he was lying. The man told Padre
Pio that he wasn’t there to confess his sins, but to ask for prayers for a
relative. This wasn’t true, and Padre
Pio knew it immediately. Padre Pio
struck him across the face and ordered him out of the confessional.[xlvii]
One woman
who came on a long trip to see Padre Pio said to him in confession, “Padre Pio,
four years ago
I lost my
husband and I haven’t gone to church since then.” Padre Pio replied: “Because you lost your husband, you also lost
God? Go away! Go away!”
as he
quickly closed the door of the confessional.
Shortly
after this event, the same woman recovered her faith, attributing it to the way
Padre Pio treated her – probably acknowledging how she had put her attachment
to her husband above God.[xlviii]
Andre
Mandato spoke about the time he went to confession to Padre Pio: “I had been
going to church every Sunday but I had no strong belief in confession. I went very seldom. I started to believe in confession only after
I went to Padre Pio. The first time I
confessed to him, he told me what sins I had committed.”[xlix]
Katharina
Tangeri described going to confession to Padre Pio:
“…Padre
Pio began with his asking us how long it had been since our last
confession. This first question
established contact between Padre Pio and the penitent; it suddenly seemed as if
Padre Pio knew everything about us. If
our [the penitent’s] answers were unclear or inexact, he would correct them; we
would get the feeling that… his eye could see our soul as it really was before God.”[l]
Padre Pio
commented on the amount of confessions he heard, and how he was able to do it:
“There have been periods when I heard confessions without interruption for
eighteen hours consecutively. I don’t
have a moment to myself. But God helps
me effectively in my ministry. I feel
the strength to renounce everything, so long as souls return to Jesus and love
Jesus.”[li]
John
McCaffery went to confession to Padre Pio, and he writes of his extraordinary
experience. McCaffery wanted Padre Pio
to pray for some of his friends.
McCaffery
recalls: “So, during a pause, I began to say ‘And then, Padre…’, but he interrupted me smilingly and said:
‘Yes, I shall remember your friends too!”[lii]
A woman
named Nerina Noe went to Padre Pio for confession. She told him that she was thinking about
giving up smoking; she didn’t anticipate the gruff reply Padre Pio gave her:
“Women who smoke cigarettes are disgusting.”[liii]
Frederick
Abresch was one of those penitents who had been converted after going to Padre
Pio for confession. Here are some of the things he described about the story of
his incredible conversion:
“In
November of 1928, when I went to see Padre Pio for the first time, it had been
a few years since I had passed from Protestantism to Catholicism, which I did
out of social convenience. I did not have
the faith; at least now I understand that I was merely under the illusion of
having it. Having been raised in a
highly anti-Catholic family and imbued with prejudices against dogmas to such a
degree that a hasty instruction was unable to wipe out, I was always
avid
for secret and mysterious things.
“I
found a friend who introduced me into the mysteries of spiritism. Quite quickly, however, I got tired of these
inconclusive messages from beyond the grave; I went fervently into the field of
the occult, magic of all sorts, etc.
Then I met a man who declared, with a mysterious air, that he was in
possession of the only truth: ‘theosophy’.
I quickly became his disciple, and on our nightstands we began
accumulating books with the most enticing and attractive titles. With self-assurance and self-importance, I
used words like Reincarnation, Logos, Brahma, Maja, anxiously awaiting some
great and new reality that was supposed to happen.
“I
do not know why, although I believe it was above all to please my wife, but
from time to time I still continued to approach the holy Sacraments. This was my state of soul when, for the first
time, I heard of that Capuchin Father who had been described to me as a living
crucifix, working continual miracles.
“Growing
curious… I decided to go and see with my own eyes… I knelt down at the
confessional [and told Padre Pio that]… I considered confession to be a good
social and educational institution, but that I did not believe in the divinity
of the Sacrament at all… The Padre, however, said with expressions of great
sorrow, ‘Heresy! Then all your
Communions were sacrilegious… you must make a general confession. Examine your conscience and remember when you
last made a good confession. Jesus has
been more merciful with you than with Judas.’
“Then,
looking over my head with a stern eye, he said in a strong voice, ‘Praised be
Jesus and Mary!’ and went over to the church to hear the women’s confessions,
while I stayed in the sacristy, deeply moved and impressed. My head was spinning and I could not
concentrate. I still heard in my ears:
‘Remember when you last made a good confession!’ With difficulty I managed to reach the
following decision: I would tell Padre Pio that I had been a Protestant, and
that although after the abjuration I was rebaptized (conditionally), and all
the sins of my past life were wiped out by virtue of holy Baptism,
nevertheless, for my tranquility I wanted to begin the confession from my
childhood.
“When
the Padre returned to the confessional, he repeated the question to me: ‘So
when was the last time you made a good confession?’ I answered, ‘Father, as I
was…’ but at that point the Padre interrupted me, saying, ‘…you last made a
good confession when you were coming back from your honeymoon, let’s leave
everything else aside and begin from there!’
“I
remained speechless, shaken with a stupor, and
I
understood that I had touched the supernatural.
The Padre, however, did not leave me time to reflect. Concealing his knowledge of my entire past,
and in the form of questions, he listed all my faults with precision and
clarity… After the Padre had brought all my mortal sins to light, with
impressive words he made me understand the gravity of these faults, adding in
an unforgettable tone of voice, ‘You have sung a hymn to Satan, while Jesus in
His ardent love has broken His neck for you.’
Then he gave me my penance and absolved me… I believe not only in the
dogmas of the Catholic Church, but also in the least
of
its ceremonies… to take away this faith, one would have to take away my life as
well.’’[liv]
Joe Greco,
now a great devotee of Padre Pio, had a dream in which he met Padre Pio on a
road and asked him to save his sick father.
Joe’s father suddenly recovered after the dream. In order to thank Padre Pio, Joe decided to
travel down to see him in person. After
waiting four days, Joe managed to go to Padre Pio for confession. Joe described the meeting:
“This is
what did it really, when Padre Pio saw me
he said:
‘Well your father is all right, then.’
Well it shattered me really because I never had been down
in San
Giovanni Rotondo before. I had never
been down in that part of the world, nor did I know anyone down there. And yet I posed in my mind a question to him,
I was saying ‘was it you, was it you?’
And he replied, ‘in the dream, in the dream.’ Well, I started shaking, I was scared stiff
to tell you the truth. I said, ‘yes
Father, in the dream, Father.’ I told
him my sins, and before he gave me absolution he said to me: ‘now then, there
is something else you know’ [that you didn’t mention in confession]. I said, ‘well Father, I can’t remember
anything else.’ Padre Pio went on to
describe an incident with a girl in the park when I was first in the army. Well it all came back to me. I wished the ground had opened up and
swallowed me, I was so embarrassed. I
then said to Padre Pio, ‘Yes Father, it all comes back to me and I’m afraid I
forgot to tell it in confession, I’m so ashamed.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you have been carrying this
sin around with you ever since 1941, and the place was
I said, ‘Oh
no Father, truly there is nothing else I can remember.’ I thought it was about some sin. And he said: ‘look in your pocket.’ So I took my rosary beads out [of my pocket],
I gave them to him, he blessed them and gave them back to me. And that was it.”
One man
said to Padre Pio in confession: “But I am attached to my sins, for me they are
a necessary way of life. Help me find a
remedy.” Padre Pio handed him a prayer
to St. Michael the
Don Nello
Castello, a priest from
“I
went to confession to Padre Pio at least a hundred times. I recall the first time, his words both
jolted and enlightened me. The counsels
he gave me reflected exact knowledge of my whole life both past and
future. At times he would surprise me
with suggestions unconnected with the sins confessed.
But
later events made it clear that his counsel had been prophetic. In one confession in 1957, he spoke five
times with insistence on the same question, using different words, and
reminding me of an ugly fault
of
impatience. Furthermore, he enlightened
me on the underlying causes that provoked the impatience. He described to me the behavior I should
follow to avoid impatience in the future.
This happened without my having said a word about the problem. Thus he knew my problems better than I did
and advised me how to correct them.”[lvi]
Among those
who came to see Padre Pio, there were professed unbelievers. Some of them came to see him out of
curiosity, others to mock both Padre Pio and God.
Two
Freemasons, who were bitterly opposed to God and the Catholic Church, decided
to make mock confessions to Padre Pio of sins they simply made up. Their goal was to desecrate the Sacrament of
Penance. These men went to him at
separate times. As they began to confess
their made up sins, Padre Pio stopped them, told them he knew what they were
doing, and then began to tell each of them their real sins, as well as the
time, the place and how they committed them.
The two men were so overwhelmed that a few days later they repented of
their sinful lives and converted.[lvii]
An
unbelieving Communist also came to Padre Pio for confession. At the time he still hadn’t abandoned his
evil beliefs. Padre Pio chased him out
of the confessional, saying: “What are you doing in front
of God’s
tribunal if you don’t believe? Go! Go away!
You are a Communist!”[lviii]
In the
confessional, Padre Pio would say things such as:
“Why
did you sell your soul to the Devil? ... How irresponsible! ...You are on the
way to Hell!”... O you careless man, go first and get repentance, and then come
here…!”[lix]
One person
in confession questioned the very existence of Hell. Padre Pio responded, “You
will
believe it when you get there.”[lx]
Padre Pio
considered going to confession frequently to be something necessary for growth
in the spiritual life. He went to
confession at least once a week. He
never wanted his spiritual children to go without confession more than ten
days.[lxi]
One time
Padre Pio was asked: “We confess everything that we can remember or know, but
perhaps God sees other things that we cannot recall?” He responded: “If we put into [our
confession] all our good will and we have the intention to confess [all mortal
sins]… all that we can know or remember – the mercy of God is so great that He
will include and erase even what we cannot remember or know.”[lxii]
For this
reason one should say at the end of a confession, “and I confess any sins that
I may have forgotten and did not mention in this confession.”
Padre Pio on modern-day fashions
1 Timothy 2:9: “In like manner I
wish women also in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and
sobriety…”
Galatians 5:19: “Now the works of
the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty…”
Padre Pio
had extremely strong views on female fashions in dress. When the mini-skirt craze started, no one
dared to come to Padre Pio’s monastery dressed in such an inappropriate
fashion. Other women came not in mini
skirts, but in skirts that were shortish.
Padre Pio got very upset about this as well. One woman tried to change her skirt before
going to confession; she borrowed a longer one from a friend. When she entered the confessional, he drew
back the little shutter, and then snapped it shut again, stating: “Well? Have we been dressing up for a carnival,
then?”[lxiii] Any woman who came into his confessional
wearing a skirt that was not eight inches below the knees was sent away
immediately without being able to go to confession.[lxiv] Other women, who managed to enter dressed
somewhat improperly, were ordered out by Padre Pio, with him sometimes shouting
“out! out! out!”[lxv]
Padre Pio
tolerated neither tight skirts nor short or low-necked dresses. He also forbade his spiritual daughters to
wear transparent stockings. His severity
increased each year. He would dismiss
women from the confessional, even before they got inside, if he discerned their
dress to be inappropriate. Many mornings
he drove one out after another – ending up hearing only very few
confessions. He also had a sign fastened
to the church door, declaring:
“By
Padre Pio’s explicit wish, women must enter his confessional wearing skirts at
least eight inches below the knees. It
is forbidden to borrow longer dresses in church and to wear them for the
confessional.”
Padre Pio
would rebuke some women with the words, “Go and get dressed.” He would at times add: “Clowns!” He wouldn’t give anyone a pass, whether they
were people he met or saw the first time, or long-time spiritual
daughters. In many cases, the skirts
were many inches below the knees, but still weren’t long enough for Padre Pio’s
severity. Boys and men also had to wear
long trousers, if they didn’t want to be kicked out of the church.[lxvi]
On Sins of Impurity
Jacinta of
It was well
known among the older priests that Padre Pio was not against using harsh,
rough, and shocking language, as we saw already. This was especially true when he was dealing
with cases of impurity, scandal, calumny, and sins against Motherhood. He didn’t forgive these people without a
rebuke, and often a very severe one.
While serious sinners were often admonished with a severe warning,
others were refused absolution because they were not sufficiently prepared.[lxvii] Padre Paolo Rossi, the postulator general of
the Capuchins, stated: “Padre Pio had a rough character.”[lxviii]
A man who
was being unfaithful to his wife confessed to Padre Pio that he was having “a
spiritual
crisis.” Padre Pio stood up and yelled,
“What spiritual crisis? You’re a vile
pig and God
is angry
with you. Go away!”[lxix]
Another
young woman confessed that she had committed sins against purity. However, she knew that when she returned home
she would fall back
into the
same temptation and commit the sin again.
She lacked the firm purpose of amendment (the firm resolution to change
her life and cease sinning) – an essential component in making a valid
confession. Padre Pio refused to absolve
her. She came back again and made the
same confession, but Padre Pio again did not absolve her. This happened four times in a row. Right before her fifth confession, she
thought to herself: “I’d rather die than commit this sin again,” and she
thought about this during her whole confession.
Padre Pio examined her closely, and then absolved her.[lxx]
A woman who
had an abortion met Padre Pio. She said,
“I never knew abortion was a sin.” He
replied: “What do you mean, you didn’t know that this was
a sin? That’s killing… it’s a sin, a great sin.”[lxxi]
One woman
said she had read immoral books.
Padre Pio
said: “Have you confessed this before?” “Yes,”
she replied. “What did your confessor
say to you?” Padre Pio asked. “I wasn’t to do it anymore,” she said. Without saying a word, Padre Pio closed
the
confessional door in her face and began to hear the next confession.[lxxii]
Padre Pio’s Influence with People
God’s use
of Padre Pio to miraculously intercede with others was so well known that the
people in the area had a profound, even absurd attachment to him. When it was said that Padre Pio might be
transferred to a different location, the local people attempted to prevent it
by threatening violence if he were transferred.
This was, of course, a terrible and sinful decision on the part of these
people. It serves to show, however, that
Padre Pio’s miraculous intercession was well-known among the people.
In August
1923, Padre Pio’s superiors told him he
was going
to be transferred. On August 10, 1923,
a man named
Donato came up to Padre Pio and pointed a gun at him, saying, “Dead or alive,
you’re going to stay with us here in this village.” Instantly, the people surrounded Donato and
disarmed him.[lxxiii]
People used
to snip pieces of Padre Pio’s habit and keep the pieces as relics. Padre Pio said about this: “Look at what they
do! This is paganism! I have to be harsh with them.”[lxxiv]
Padre Pio restores sight to the blind
A blind man
begged Padre Pio to restore his sight “even if only in one eye,” so that he
might again see the faces of his dear ones.
Padre Pio questioned him repeatedly,“Only in one eye?” Padre Pio told the man to be of good heart
and that he would pray for him. Some
weeks later the man returned in tears to thank Padre Pio because his sight was
restored! Padre Pio said: “So, you are
seeing normally again?” The man replied,
“Yes, from this eye here, not from the other.”
Padre Pio said: “Ah! Only from
one eye? Let that be a lesson to
you. Never put limitations on God. Always ask for the big grace!”[lxxv]
One young
man asked Padre Pio to cure him of his blindness. Padre Pio asked him: “Do you want to have
your sight restored, or to save your soul?”
The man responded: “If it is a strict choice, I should rather save my
soul.” “It is a strict choice,” said
Padre Pio, and it was a very bitter and hard thing for the young man to accept.[lxxvi]
In 1919, a
priest named Padre Carlo Naldi came with his Jewish friend, Lello Pegna. The priest explained that Pegna had recently
become totally blind. They had come to
Padre Pio to see if he could be healed.
Padre Pio told Pegna: “The Lord will not grant you the grace of physical
sight unless you first receive sight for your soul. After you are baptized, then
the Lord
will give you your sight.”
Months
later, Pegna came back without the dark glasses that he normally wore. Pegna explained to Padre Pio that, despite
opposition from his family,
he had
become a Christian and was baptized. At
the beginning, he was discouraged when his blindness continued, but after a
number of months his sight returned. The
physician who had earlier told Pegna that he was hopelessly blind now had to
admit that his eyesight was in perfect condition. Fr. Paolino
kept in
contact with Lello Pegna for nearly thirty years, and reported that his vision
was still perfect.[lxxvii]
A Girl Without Pupils Sees!
Gemma di
Giorgi was a child born without pupils in her eyes. Gemma was declared to be incurable by a
number of specialists. At the age of
seven (1947), Gemma’s grandmother brought her to meet Padre Pio.[lxxviii] About half way there Gemma began to see. Gemma’s grandmother and other friends
marveled at this miraculous occurrence; they called it a miracle! When Gemma arrived, Padre Pio, although never
having seen Gemma before, called Gemma by name in front of the congregation at
church, and heard her confession. During
the confession, despite the fact that Gemma mentioned nothing of her blindness,
Padre Pio made the sign of the cross over each eye. At the end of the confession, he blessed her,
and said: “Be good and saintly.”[lxxix]
Decades after
this event, Gemma sees perfectly and still undergoes eye examinations by
specialists who agree that there is no explanation for her ability to see. Gemma has no pupils, and it is a scientific
fact that without pupils a person cannot see. Gemma’s grandmother also said:
“Many eye doctors have arrived here in our home and all have declared the same
thing: that without pupils in one’s eyes one should not be able to see and
that, therefore, this is
a miracle.”[lxxx]
A Mrs.
Dryden explains how Padre Pio was involved in the healing of her daughter.
“When my daughter became ill with cancer of the cervix six years ago, her
doctor gave her five years to live. At
her last check up she was told that she was completely cured. I believe this is all due to Padre Pio. A Catholic friend told me about him, so I
prayed to him and put my trust in him. I
am not a Catholic, but I believe this was a miracle.”[lxxxi]
Stories
such as the one above are numerous.
There are many stories of physical healings and special interventions of
Padre Pio, but I won’t cover more of these, since this booklet is not focused
on his miraculous physical healings. One
can read testimonies of people who were miraculously healed through the
intercession of Padre Pio in many books; some of these are dedicated primarily
to this topic.[lxxxii]
Personal Stories
Padre Pio
spoke to a recently-widowed woman; her husband had left her and their two
children to live with another woman for over three years. Suddenly cancer had taken his life. He consented to receive the last sacraments
before his death, after many pressing appeals.
The woman
asked: “Where is his soul, Padre? I
haven’t slept, worrying.” “Your
husband’s soul is condemned forever,” Padre Pio responded. The woman replied: “Condemned?” Padre Pio sadly nodded. “When receiving the
last Sacraments, he concealed many sins.
He had neither repentance nor a good resolution. He was also a sinner against God’s mercy,
because he said he always wanted to have a share of the good things in life and
then have time to be converted to God.”[lxxxiii]
Another
woman told her fiancé that she couldn’t go through with marriage unless he
agreed to return to the Church. Upset
and cynical, he agreed to go with her to Padre Pio’s monastery. They went together to the very early
One day a priest
brought a husband and wife to Padre Pio so that he could bless them. Three of
their sons
were in prison for burglary. Padre Pio
said to
them:
“I
absolutely refuse to bless you! You
didn’t pull in the reins when your children were growing up, so don’t come
along now when they are in jail and ask for my blessing.”[lxxxv]
Alberto Del
Fante was a journalist who despised Padre Pio.
He denounced him in magazines as a charlatan who preyed upon gullible
people. A few
years
later, Del Fante’s grandson, Enrico, was struck with kidney disease and
tuberculosis. The doctors gave little
hope that Enrico would recover.
Relatives of Enrico traveled to see Padre Pio and ask him to pray for
him. Padre Pio assured them the boy
would recover. Desperate and distraught,
Del Fante himself even said: “If Enrico gets well, I will make a pilgrimage to
San Giovanni Rotondo myself.” He was
convinced that nothing would happen, but the boy was healed. Del Fante was deeply moved by this miracle,
and went to see Padre Pio who helped him turn to God. After Del Fante’s conversion, he became a
dedicated promoter of Padre Pio.[lxxxvi]
A woman
came to Padre Pio whose daughter had
just died
in the process of giving birth. The
woman couldn’t think of anything else but the loss of her daughter. Padre Pio said to her: “And why are you
weeping so much for her when she is already in
One young
man in
An elderly
lady said to Padre Pio: “Padre, today
I’m
sixty. Say something nice to me.” Padre Pio whispered to her: “Death is near.”[lxxxviii]
One time
Padre Pio was coming around the altar and spoke to a man taking
photographs. He told the man that he
must take no more than one or two photographs during the mass. The person agreed, but then shot two whole
spools. They all came out blank.[lxxxix]
A doctor
took a single camera shot of Padre Pio,
and then
decided he would take some more pictures.
When the doctor re-adjusted his camera and was about to shoot, Padre Pio
said: “No, Doctor; no photographs, please!” “Right Padre, sorry!” And then the doctor proceeded to take one
photograph after another. They all came
out blank except the
one picture
the doctor shot before being forbidden.[xc]
Cesare
Festa was a lawyer and the cousin of Padre Pio’s personal physician. Festa decided to go and
see the
famous priest whom his cousin had told him so much about. When they met, Padre Pio said, “You are a
Mason.” In an arrogant expression of
loyalty
to the
lodge, Festa said: “Yes, Father.” “And what is your task as a Mason?” Padre Pio
asked. “It is to carry on our fight
against the Church in the political sphere,” Festa replied. Padre Pio then said things to Festa that
convinced him that he couldn’t have had such knowledge of him and his past
except by supernatural means.[xci]
A Communist
approached Padre Pio and started to speak to him. Padre Pio interrupted him saying, “May I see
your membership card?” The man took
it from his
wallet and gave it to him. Padre Pio
took the card and tore it to pieces.[xcii]
One time
Padre Pio said to a man named Antonio, “How can you call yourself a Catholic
and a Communist at the same time? Take
your pick. You are one or the other, but
you can’t be both.” These statements
jolted Antonio, and caused him to renounce Communism and return to the Catholic
Faith.[xciii]
Giovanni da
Prato was a taxi-driver and a violent Communist. When he would get drunk, da Prato would
sometimes beat up his wife. One evening
he had done just that, and was staggering into his bedroom, and he threw
himself on the bed. At that moment, he
began to feel the bed being shaken strongly from the lower bed-rail, and
looking down in amazement he saw a friar holding the rail and looking at him
angrily. The friar told him very clearly
what he thought of him and his activity, and then seemed to disappear. The violent Communist Giovanni sprang from
his bed, quickly locked the front door, and then shouted to his wife: “Now
then, where’s that so-and-so monk?”
Pushing
aside her denials and protests, Giovanni searched the house and found no
one. As some time passed, he got sober
enough to be convinced by his wife’s sincerity.
His wife had been praying to Padre Pio for help; she wondered if this
event was the answer to her
prayers. She told her husband that she
believed it was Padre Pio who had appeared in the bedroom. Giovanni said sternly, “Look, no monk makes a
monkey out of me. I’m going down to have
a look at this Padre Pio of yours and hear what he has to say for himself. I’ll also find out if he flies!”
Some days
later, true to his word, Giovanni made a long trip in his taxi to see Padre
Pio. He arrived and found Padre
Pio. He recognized Padre Pio, and spoke
to him. He was thunder-struck and Padre
Pio led him to make a confession. After
his confession, Giovanni admitted: “What I forgot, he recalled for me. I was weeping…” And at the end of the confession, Giovanni
pulled out his Communist Party Membership Card and asked Padre Pio to destroy
it. “Yes, I shall. But you have another of these cards in the
drawer by the head of your bed. Destroy
that too when you go home.” Padre Pio
then said to him, “You have given great scandal, and now you must do something
to make up for it. For your penance you
will go every Sunday to Holy Communion at the last Mass in the main church
until I tell you to stop.” In those
days, the fasting rule was to abstain from all solid foods from midnight until
Holy Communion. Giovanni had to do this
for the better part of a year.
Giovanni
had been an important figure among his Communist companions, but now he was
just a regular “holy Joe.” He challenged
some of the Communists that he knew by saying: “Why don’t
you come
down with me and see how you make out?”
Month after month Communists would go down to see Padre Pio; they were
always impressed and sometimes converted.[xciv]
One man
named
Another
interesting story sent to the magazine was the story of R. Van Gisbergen: “I’m
a twenty-eight year old man from
“Anyway, I
phoned my mother and told her about this dream.
She asked me to come over. I came
up to her place and she showed me a book which was titled: Padre Pio from Pietrelcina.
My mother opened it and I smelled a kind of perfume… Then she turned the
pages and I couldn’t believe my eyes because the photo showed the same monk of
my dream. I shouted, ‘…this is the same
man as in my dream.’
My mother
was full of wonder… suddenly I heard
in Dutch,
‘come to my grave, come to my grave.’
his voice
was so clear… and last year I thanked
Padre Pio…
at his grave.’’’[xcvi]
Bilocation
Padre Pio
was also known to have the gift of bilocation: the ability to be in more than
one place
at a
time. Though he almost never left his
monastery, a bishop saw Padre Pio at the beatification of
St.
Therese. Padre Pio was also seen at the
tomb
of Pope St.
Pius X.[xcvii]
In 1916, an
Italian General Cadorna suffered a terrible defeat in battle. Under his leadership there had been many
casualties, and he was relieved of his command as a result. The general picked up his gun, and was about
to commit suicide, when Padre Pio simultaneously appeared in front of him in
his tent. Padre Pio told him to lay
aside his gun. After the
war was
over, the general, who had never before
met Padre
Pio, visited the monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo. He immediately recognized Padre Pio
as the monk
who had appeared in his tent.[xcviii]
Padre Pio seen in the Air
During
World War II, some American and English pilots were ordered to bomb the area of
San Giovanni Rotondo in
the
quarters.”[c]
On his relationship with angels
Padre Pio often
recommended that if people wanted to send him a message or a petition they
could send him their guardian angel. Fr.
Dominic, who handled the American mail for Padre Pio, asked him: “Padre… a
woman wants to know if she sends her guardian angel to you, does he come?” Padre Pio replied: “Tell her that her angel
is not like she is. Her angel is very
obedient, and when she sends him, he comes!”[ci]
Padre Pio
lived in close contact with his guardian angel, who taught him to translate
letters in French and Greek. The angel
would keep Padre Pio up at night so that they could both chant God’s
praises. Padre Pio’s angel would also
ease the pain that he suffered from beatings that he received from demons.[cii]
Padre Pio
had many titles for his guardian angel, including: little angel, friend,
brother, companion, conductor, secretary, heavenly messenger,
companion
of my infancy, and others.[ciii]
Padre Pio, Letter, April 20, 1915: “Often repeat
the beautiful prayer: ‘Angel of God, my guardian to whom the goodness of the
heavenly Father entrusts me, enlighten, protect and guide me now and forever.’”[civ]
A lawyer
named Attilio De Sanctis was completely amazed by the fact that he had driven
his car for twenty-seven miles while asleep without an accident. During a visit to see Padre Pio, he asked him
what had happened that night that he had driven for miles while asleep. Padre Pio told De Sanctis: “You fell asleep
and your guardian angel drove your car.”[cv]
Padre Pio
said about the angels: “The angels envy
us for one
thing only: they cannot suffer for God.”[cvi]
Padre Pio
wrote the following to his spiritual director on November 5, 1912:
“I
cannot tell you the way these scoundrels [the demons] beat me. Sometimes I feel I am about to die. On Saturday, it seemed to me that they
intended to put an end to me and I did not know what saint to invoke. I turned to my angel and after he had kept me
waiting a while, there he was hovering close to me, singing hymns to the divine
Majesty in his angelic voice… I rebuked him bitterly for having kept me waiting
so long when I had not failed to call him to my assistance. To punish him, I did not want to look him in
the face; I wanted to get away, to escape from him. But he, poor creature, caught up with me
almost in tears and held me until I raised my eyes to his face and found him
all upset. Then he said: “I am always
close to you, my beloved young man…”[cvii]
Padre Pio on the Devil
Padre Pio
once told a group of people that the number of devils active in the world is
greater
than all
the people who had been alive since Adam.[cviii]
Padre
Pio also said: “If all the devils that are here were to take bodily form, they
would blot out the light of the sun!”[cix]
At one period
during his life, Padre Pio served as a spiritual director of boys at a
seminary. One night a boy was awakened
by scornful laughs, the noise of iron pieces being twisted around and dropping
on
the ground,
and of chains hitting against the floor, while Padre Pio was heard to sigh over
and over again, “O my Madonna!” The
following morning,
the boy
examined the ironwork supporting the curtain around Padre Pio’s bed, and
discovered all the pieces twisted. He
also looked at Padre Pio and saw him “with a swollen, sick-looking eye.”[cx] This story was circulated among the
seminarians, who asked Padre Pio about it.
Padre Pio replied and described what had transpired in order to convince
the boys of the absolute necessity of prayer in the battle with the Devil. Padre Pio said:
“You
want to know why the devil gave me a terrific beating? It is because I, as your spiritual father, am
willing to defend one of you.”
Identifying the boy
by
name, he continued, “He was suffering a strong temptation against purity, and
when he called on the Madonna, he was spiritually also calling on me for
help. I rushed at once to assist him,
and with the help of Our Lady’s Rosary I was successful. The boy that had been tempted slept until
morning, while I went through the battle, suffered the blows, but won the
fight.”[cxi]
A former
seminarian, for whom Padre Pio had been a spiritual director and confessor,
wrote that he and his fellow students heard the frightening noise of iron bars
banging together in Padre Pio’s room.
They also heard a sound like a train traveling at high speed through a
tunnel.[cxii] One of the students, who became Fr. Matrice,
also explained how one night he woke up because of a terrible uproar coming
from the area where Padre Pio was sleeping.
He described hearing “a burst of derisive laughter and the sound of
iron-bars being twisted as well as of chains clamoring on the floor.”[cxiii]
The Astounding Tortures the demons put Padre Pio
through
Padre Pio
was in his room mainly at night. Loud
thuds were heard that scared the friars.
When they would go to Padre Pio’s room they would discover him “drenched
in sweat, and his clothes had to be changed from head to foot.”[cxiv]
Certain
people who came to the friary didn’t believe the reports of such strange
occurrences; they laughed at it as the product of a monk’s imagination. One time Bishop Andrea D’Agostino was a guest
at the monastery. He looked at Padre
Pio’s story as a fabulous, medieval tale.
However, while he was eating with the friars, he was startled by a great
rumbling noise above in the ceiling. He
turned pale and trembled.[cxv] The bishop’s assistant, who was eating in the
guest room, ran into the refectory filled with fear. The bishop was so scared that he didn’t want
to sleep alone that night. The next
morning he left the monastery and never came back.[cxvi]
Early one
morning, after everyone had fallen asleep, Padre Pio heard a knock on his
door. It seemed to be Fr. Agostino (his
spiritual director) asking to come in.
Padre Pio said, “Come in… why have you come… How did you get here?” Fr. Agostino said: “God sent me. He is displeased with you.” Padre Pio was stunned: “What?” said Padre Pio
as he swung his legs over the bed and began to get out of bed. “No, no, no need to rise. I only came to say God does not approve of
your practice of penance.” Padre Pio
said: “If you are truly here at God’s request, you must give me a sign. I ask you to say the name of Jesus.” At that moment Agostino’s lips parted and he
started to laugh; his voice changed.
Padre Pio tried to reach out and touch his brown robe. The apparition vanished, leaving behind a
strong smell of sulphur.[cxvii] Speaking about this event in a letter on July
28, 1914, Padre Pio said: “The Devil, as you know, is a great artificer of
evil… he could deceive you by some diabolical illusion or apparition disguised
as an angel of light… This unhappy apostate even knows how to disguise himself
as a Capuchin and to act the part quite well.
I beg you
to believe one who has undergone an experience of this nature.”[cxviii]
In a letter
to his spiritual director on December 18, 1912, Padre Pio said: “The other
night the Devil appeared to me in the likeness of one of our Fathers and gave
me a very strict order from the Father Provincial not to write to you any more,
as it is against poverty and a serious obstacle to perfection. I confess my weakness, dear Father, for I
wept bitterly, believing this to be a fact.
I should never have even faintly suspected this to be one of the ogre’s
snares if the angel had not revealed the fraud to me.”[cxix]
Padre Pio
was attacked quite frequently by devils which were called by Padre Pio “impure
fiends” and “ugly monsters.” There were
interior and exterior assaults, which included howls, tremors, noises, and
flying objects. One incident he
described to his spiritual director:
“It
was late at night and they began their assaults with devilish noise. Although I saw nothing at first,
I
understood who was producing the strange sound.
Instead of getting terrified, I prepared for the battle
by
facing them with a sneering smile. Then they came before me under the most
detestable appearances. Then to get me
to abuse God’s grace, they began to treat me with kid gloves. But thank heaven I told them off good, and
dealt with them according to what they were worth. When they saw their efforts go up in smoke
they hurled themselves on me, threw me to the floor, and gave me terrific
blows, throwing into the air pillows, books, and chairs, at the same time
letting out desperate cries and uttering extremely filthy words.”[cxx]
Padre Pio’s
letter to his spiritual director, October 14, 1912 states: “The Devil wants the
absolute ending of all relations and communications with you. He threatens that if I obstinately refuse to
pay attention
to him, he
will do things to me that the human mind could never conceive.”[cxxi]
Speaking
about the Devil and his demons, Padre Pio revealed the mind-boggling ferocity
of their devilish malice: “The ogre won’t admit defeat. He has appeared in almost every form. For the past few days, he has paid me visits
along with some of his satellites armed with clubs and iron weapons and, what
is worse, in their own form as devils.”[cxxii]
Padre Pio revealed
more of the incredible sufferings the Devil put him through: “Who knows how
many times he has thrown me out of the bed and dragged me around the room?
...The other night was one of the worst.
From ten o’clock when I went to bed until five o’clock in the morning,
that evil one did not stop beating me… I really thought that it was the last
night of my life; or, if I did not die, I would go insane. At five o’clock in the morning, when the evil
one left, my whole being was enveloped in such cold I was shivering from head
to foot. It lasted a few hours.
I was
bleeding from the mouth…”[cxxiii]
Another
time Padre Pio described the demons’ reaction when he received a letter from
his spiritual director: “When I received your letter recently and before I had
opened it, those wretches told me to tear it up or else throw it in the
fire. If I did this, they would withdraw
for good and would never trouble me again.
I kept silent without giving them any answer, while in my heart I
despised them. Then they added: ‘We want
this merely as a condition for our withdrawal.
In doing so you will not be showing contempt for anyone.’ I replied that nothing would make me change
my mind. They flung themselves upon me
like so many hungry tigers, cursing me and threatening to make me pay for
it. My dear Father, they kept their
word! From that day onward they have
beaten me every day.”[cxxiv]
The Devil
appeared sometimes in the form of an ugly black cat, or as a naked young woman
performing an impure dance, or as a prison-guard who would whip him, or under
the appearance of Christ Crucified, his spiritual father, his Father
Provincial, his guardian angel, Our Lady, or St. Francis.[cxxv] Other times the Devil would spit in his face
and torment him with deafening noises.[cxxvi]
Padre Pio sometimes
referred to the Devil and demons as: “the ogre, scoundrel, evil spirit, filthy
wretch, foul beast, woeful wretch, hideous faces, impure spirits, those
scoundrels, wicked spirit, horrible beast, accursed beast, infamous apostate,
impure apostates, howling wild beasts, malignant deceiver, prince of darkness.”[cxxvii]
On the
evening of July 5, 1964, a cry for help was heard in the friary: “My brothers,
help me!” It was Padre Pio asking for
help. His brothers ran to help him and
found Padre Pio lying on the floor, bleeding from the nose and forehead, and
with a number
of wounds
above his right eyebrow.”[cxxviii]
One time
the evil one spoke through a possessed person, and shouted: “Padre Pio, don’t
snatch the souls from us and we will not molest you!”[cxxix]
A spiritual
son said to Padre Pio, “Father, some people deny the existence of the Devil”;
Padre Pio responded: “How can one doubt his existence
when I see
him around me all the time?”[cxxx]
One time
the Devil entered the confessional and pretended to make a confession. Padre Pio recalled the incredible occurrence:
“One
morning, while I was confessing the men, a tall, thin man dressed in a rather
refined manner and with good manners presented himself to me. When he knelt down, this stranger began to
confess his sins which were of every kind against God, against his neighbor,
against the moral law; they were all aberrant!
One thing struck me. After my
reprimanding all those accusations, using the word
of
God, the Teaching of the Church, and the moral teaching of the saints to back
up my words, this puzzling penitent counterbalanced my words, justifying, with
great ability and rare gentility, all types of sins, emptying them of all
malice and trying, at the same time, to make all sinful acts appear to be
normal, natural, humanly indifferent.
And this did not only concern horrifying sins against Jesus, Our Lady
and the Saints… but also sins that were morally so dirty and coarse that they
reached the most nauseating levels imaginable.
“The
replies that this mysterious penitent gave every now and then to my arguments,
with able subtlety and with cotton-wooled malice, made a terrible impression on
me. I thought to myself: ‘Who is
this? What world does he come from? Who is he?’
And I tried to look at him carefully in the face in order to perhaps
eventually read something from between the lines of his face, and at the same
time I listened very carefully to his every word so that none of them would
escape me and I could weigh them up in all their significance. At a certain point, by way of an interior,
vivid and brilliant light, I clearly perceived who it was before me. And with a decided and urgent tone I said to
him: ‘Say: Live Jesus! Live Mary!’ As soon as I pronounced these most sweet and
powerful names, Satan immediately disappeared in a flicker of fire, leaving
behind him a suffocating stench.”[cxxxi]
In a letter
on March 2, 1917, Padre Pio said: “You must turn to God when you are assaulted
by the enemy; you must hope in Him and expect everything that is good from Him. Don’t voluntarily dwell on what the enemy
presents to you. Remember that he who
flees wins…”[cxxxii]
Padre Pio
also explained that the Devil cannot harm us spiritually unless we let him in:
“The
Devil is like a mad dog tied by a chain.
Beyond the length of the chain he cannot catch hold of anyone. And you, therefore, keep your distance. If you get too close you will be caught. Remember, the Devil has only one door with
which to enter into our soul: our will.
There are no secret or hidden doors.
No sin is a true sin if we have not willfully consented.”[cxxxiii]
Padre Pio
said: “I don’t have a minute of free time; it is all spent releasing brethren
from the grip of Satan. Blessed be
God! The greatest charity is that of
liberating souls captivated by Satan and winning them for Christ.”[cxxxiv]
At the end
of Padre Pio’s life (at the age of 80) he was not able to even turn over by
himself in bed. Padre Pio had to be
lifted into and out of his chair. At
times when he would be in his chair, praying the rosary, he would suddenly be
thrown out of the chair and onto the ground by the Devil.[cxxxv]
Padre Pio
said: “If the Devil is making an uproar, it is an excellent sign: what is
terrifying is his peace and concord with a man’s soul.”[cxxxvi]
Padre Pio’s sufferings
One of the
main reasons that the Devil hated Padre Pio so much is that he was winning so
many souls through his sufferings. He
often remarked on the extent of these astounding sufferings.
Padre
Pio: “The heavenly Father has not ceased to allow me to share in the sufferings
of his Only-Begotten Son, even physically.
These pains are so acute as to be absolutely indescribable and
inconceivable.”[cxxxvii]
Padre Pio
said that his sufferings could be compared “to that which the martyrs
experienced when burned alive or brutally put to death when giving witness to
their faith in Jesus Christ.”[cxxxviii]
Padre Pio,
November 25, 1915: “My condition is becoming unbearable and I remain alive only
by
a miracle.”[cxxxix]
Padre Pio, Letter, November 3, 1915: “The Lord
caused me to experience the pains the damned endure in the infernal regions.”[cxl]
Padre Pio, Letter, August 13, 1916: “…I am not exaggerating when I say
that the souls in Purgatory certainly suffer no greater pain.”[cxli]
Padre Pio:
“…I am suffering immensely and I feel
I am dying
at all times.”[cxlii]
Speaking to
a person about some of his physical sufferings, Padre Pio said: “It is not so
much the days. You see, when the events
of the day begin, one thing carries me on to the next, and so the day passes. It is the nights. If I ever allow myself to sleep, the pain of
these (and he held up his wounded hands to indicate the stigmata) is multiplied
beyond measure.”[cxliii]
Responding
to a person who asked him if his stigmata hurt, Padre Pio replied: “Do you think
that the Lord gave them to me for a decoration?”[cxliv]
Padre Pio:
“Just imagine the anguish that I felt then and I still experience practically
every day. The wound in the heart bleeds
abundantly…”[cxlv]
“…I have
been aware that there is in me something that feels like a sheet of iron that
extends from the bottom part of my heart to the lower right side of
my
back. It causes very sharp pain and
doesn’t let
me get any
rest…”[cxlvi]
Padre Pio
refused all types of artificial heat, gas or electric heaters, even charcoal
heat for the cold winter nights.[cxlvii]
One time
Padre Pio went for twenty-one days without eating. He only received Holy Communion. “You must eat,” said the superior. “Please, I cannot eat.” “You must,” the superior insisted and within
minutes Padre Pio vomited everything he tried.[cxlviii] Padre Pio often had a lack of appetite,
spells of vomiting and perspiring. He
had periods of high fever that baffled all the doctors, who didn’t know how to
treat him.[cxlix]
Some of
Padre Pio’s temperatures were so high that the mercury shot out of the
thermometer. Some ordinary thermometers
broke under his armpit.[cl]
On one
occasion, using a different thermometer that didn’t break, his temperature came
out to 127.4 degrees Fahrenheit.[cli]
The
temperatures in excess of 125 degrees Fahrenheit would sometimes come on
without any reason whatsoever. Fr.
Michaelangelo, a Franciscan who lived with him, said: “No ordinary thermometer
could measure Padre Pio’s temperature… I was present once when the doctor
wanted to take his temperature and see if it would break his thermometer. Padre Pio said: ‘No, the thermometer will
break!’ In an instant, Bang! The mercury shot up and broke it
immediately.”[clii]
One doctor,
who was speaking to another doctor about Padre Pio’s high temperatures, stated:
“When I took his temperature, it went right off the scale. I had to have a special thermometer sent
down, and it registered 125 degrees last night and 120 degrees this
morning. He shouldn’t even be alive.”[cliii]
Padre Pio
said about suffering: “No suffering borne out of love for Christ, even poorly
borne, will go unrewarded in eternal life.
Trust and hope in the merits of Jesus and in this way even poor clay
will become the finest gold which will shine in the palace of the king of
heaven.”[cliv]
Our Lord once
spoke to Padre Pio about his sufferings in the following manner: “My son, I
need victims in order to appease my Father’s justifiable and divine anger:
renew your sacrifice and make it without reservations.”[clv]
Padre Pio:
“If people would only understand the value of suffering, they would not seek
pleasure,
but only to
suffer.”[clvi]
Padre Pio
also complained of problems with blindness as far back as November 18, 1912.[clvii]
On January
30, 1915, Padre Pio wrote: “…my
sight …has
improved from time to time.”[clviii]
Padre Pio
had an additional suffering of being drafted into military service for a period
of time, despite the incredibly terrible state of his physical health.[clix]
Another
suffering (although not physical) was the fact that although God often made
clear the status of the souls of others, Padre Pio remained in the dark about
his own soul.[clx] Padre Pio said: “In other souls, through the
grace of God, I see clearly, but in my
own I see
nothing but darkness.”[clxi]
Padre Pio wanted to be a missionary
When there
was the possibility of Padre Pio being transferred to a different location, he
was ready to go, but he preferred the mission field. He even wrote to his superiors for permission
to work as a missionary in
Padre Pio
said: “How much I desire, and how happy I would be, if I could find myself
there in
Food and sleep
In 1945,
Padre Pio’s intake of food was measured at three and one half ounces a day, yet
he weighed more than one hundred and seventy pounds.[clxiv] The amount of food and drink that Padre Pio
consumed would not have sustained the life of an infant.[clxv]
When Padre
Pio was able to sleep well, which was not often, he slept for about two to
three hours. Many nights were spent
without sleeping at all. This lack of
sleep amazed doctors; they were baffled as to how he could work without being
refreshed by sleep.[clxvi]
Prayer and Padre Pio
When Padre
Pio’s spiritual Father asked Padre Pio to redouble his prayers, Padre Pio said
that this was not possible because his time was “all spent in prayer.”[clxvii]
Padre Pio
said: “What mankind lacks today is prayer.”[clxviii]
Padre Pio:
“We seek God in books, but it is in prayer that we find Him. Prayer is the key that opens the heart of
God.”[clxix]
Padre Pio:
“All prayers are good when they are accompanied by good intentions and good
will.”[clxx]
Padre Pio
recommended people to make short mental prayers, offering everything they did,
no matter how trivial, to Jesus Christ.[clxxi]
Padre Pio, Letter, December 14, 1916: “Try to practice
mental prayer, that is holy meditation, and let this habitually be on the life,
passion and death of Jesus.”[clxxii]
Padre Pio
would have his penitents recite the following prayer: “My past, O Lord, to your
Mercy, My
present to Thy Love, My future to
Thy
Padre
Pio said: “The Lord only allows me to recall those persons and things he wants
me to remember. In point of fact, on
several occasions our merciful Lord has suggested to me people whom I have
never known or even heard of, for the sole purpose of having me present them to
Him and intercede for them, and in this case He never fails to answer my poor
feeble prayers. On the other hand, when
Jesus doesn’t want to answer me, he makes me actually forget to pray for those
persons for whom I had firmly decided and intended to pray.”[clxxiv]
In a letter
on September 16, 1916, Padre Pio said: “Pray for the re-establishment of God’s
reign; for
the
propagation of the Faith; for the exaltation and triumph of our holy mother,
the Church. Pray for
… the unfaithful,
for heretics and for the conversion of sinners.”[clxxv]
Padre Pio
on distractions in prayer: “You must not
be
distracted voluntarily. But if you are
distracted, continue to pray, and you will have great merit, for Our Savior
knows that you are not an angel praying to Him, but a poor woman. Go on praying without ceasing. And when you find it difficult to
concentrate, don’t waste more time stopping to consider the why and the
wherefore. It’s like a traveler who
loses his way. As soon as he realizes he
is on the wrong road, he immediately sets himself on the right road again. So you must continue to meditate without
stopping to reflect on your lack
of
concentration.”[clxxvi]
Padre Pio on the Blessed Mother and the Rosary
Padre Pio’s
devotion to the Virgin Mary was rooted in the truth that Jesus specifically
wills such devotion. Jesus chose to come
to earth through Mary. Similarly, Jesus
chooses that we come to Him through her; for her soul magnifies the Lord. As Scripture teaches:
“And Mary said: My soul doth magnify
the Lord: And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. Because he hath regarded the humility of his
handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done great things
to me.” (Luke 1:46-49)
Scripture
gives us a clear prophecy about the devotion which “all generations” of
Christians (Catholics) will give to the Mother of God. It even uses the very word used in the Hail
Mary, which Catholics pray: “Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”
Sacred
Scripture also indicates that the Virgin Mary is the
Luke 1:35: “And the Angel answering,
said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most
High shall overshadow thee. And
therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son
of God.”
In the
Gospel of Luke the Virgin Mary is clearly identified as the new and perfect Ark
of the Covenant, the living tabernacle of the Divine Presence, Jesus
Christ. Consider the amazing parallel
that Scripture gives us between what happened to the Ark of the Old Covenant in
the first two books of Kings (or Samuel), and what happened to the Ark of the
New Covenant, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Luke’s Gospel.
2 Kings (or 2 Samuel) 6:9: “And
David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord
come to me?”
Luke 1:43: “[
David says:
“How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?” while
2 Kings (or 2 Samuel) 6:11: “And
the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom, the Gethite, three
months: and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.”
Likewise,
in Luke chapter 1 we read that Mary (the
Luke 1:56: “And Mary abode with
her [
Also notice
that as the
for three
months the Lord blessed his household. Likewise, as Mary (the
for three
months, the Lord blessed her household
by granting
her a new child, as we read in Luke 1:57.
We then
read that David leapt and danced before
the
2 Kings (or 2 Samuel) 6:16: “And
when the ark of the Lord was come into the city of David, Michol, the daughter
of Saul, looking out through a window, saw King David leaping and
dancing before the Lord: and she despised
him in her heart.”
In the same
chapter of Luke we read that the infant
in
Luke 1:41: “And it came to pass,
that when
In the
Apocalypse we also see that the Virgin Mary
is
identified with the Ark of the Covenant.
Apocalypse 11:19: “And the
When the
Bible was written it wasn’t written with chapters and verses indicated. The division of the Bible into chapters and
verses came in the 12th century.
So, the author of the Apocalypse,
As we’ve
seen, God uses types and foreshadowing throughout Scripture. The Old Testament type – a true event in the
history of God’s people – foreshadows the New Testament fulfillment. The necessity of having God’s chosen people
pass through the water of the
The New
Testament fulfillment is always greater than the Old Testament type. Our Lady, as the living tabernacle of the
Divine Presence, is greater than the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant. The
Since the
New Testament fulfillment is always
greater than
the Old Testament type, the Ark of the New Covenant’s (Mary’s) power over God’s
enemies is even greater than that of the Old Testament Ark.
Padre Pio
understood all of this. Padre Pio said
many times: “I wish I had a voice loud enough to tell all the sinners of the
world to love Mary. She is the ocean
across which one must travel in order to reach Jesus.”[clxxvii] Above Padre Pio’s door were the words: “Mary
is the reason of all my hope.”[clxxviii]
Padre Pio
instructed: “Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.”[clxxix]
One person
said: “We always saw him with his rosary in his hand – in the friary, in the
halls, on the stairs, in the sacristy, in the Church, even in the brief
interval when going to and coming from the confessional.”[clxxx] Another person added, “When at the end he did
not talk to us anymore, we told him our thoughts. We asked for help. And all he did was to show
us the rosary, always, always.”[clxxxi]
Speaking of
Our Lady, Padre Pio said: “Each grace passes through her hands.”[clxxxii]
Padre
Pio instructed his spiritual children: “In all
the
free time you have, once you have finished your duties of state, you should
kneel down and pray the Rosary. Pray the
Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament or before a crucifix.”[clxxxiii]
Concerning
the Rosary, Our Lady herself said to Padre Pio: “With this weapon you will
win.” Convinced of the power of the
Rosary, Padre Pio always held the Rosary in his hands. When his death was approaching, he
recommended the Rosary to his spiritual children by saying: “Love Our Lady and
make her loved. Always recite the
Rosary.”[clxxxiv]
Padre Pio on the Rosary as the Weapon
As Padre
Pio was getting into bed (a few days before he died), he said to the friars who
were in his room, “Give me my weapon!”
And the friars, surprised and curious, asked him: “Where is the
weapon? We cannot see anything!” Padre
Pio replied: “It is in my habit, which you have just hung up!” After having gone through the pockets of his
religious habit, the friars said to him: “Padre, there is no weapon in your
habit! ...we can only find your rosary beads there!” Padre Pio immediately
said: “And is this not a weapon? ...the true weapon?!”[clxxxv] Padre Pio wore the Rosary around his arm at
night.[clxxxvi]
Some other Visions given to Padre Pio
Padre Pio
received many fascinating and startling visions during his life. In March 1913, Padre Pio wrote his confessor,
Fr. Agostino, and told him the following:
“Friday
morning I was still in bed when Jesus appeared to me. He was very sad and upset. He showed me a multitude of priests regular
and secular, among them various ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of
the
“The
sight of Jesus in distress gave me much pain, so I asked Him why He was
suffering so much. He did not reply, but
kept looking towards those priests. When
He became tired of looking, He glanced away.
He raised his eyes towards me and two tears ran down his cheeks. He walked away from the crowd of priests with
an expression of disgust and scorn, crying: ‘Butchers!’ Turning to me He said: ‘My
son, do not believe that my agony lasted only three hours. No, I shall be in agony until the end of the
world because of those for whom I have done the most. During my agony, my son, we must not
sleep. My soul seeks a few drops of
human pity. But alas, they leave me
alone under the weight of indifference.
The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers make my agony more
difficult to bear. Alas, how they return
my love. What pains me even more is that
they add scorn and unbelief to their indifference. How many times I was ready to destroy them,
but I was held back by the angels and the souls that love me. Write to your confessor and tell him what you
have seen and what you have heard this morning.
Tell him to show your letter to the Provincial.”[clxxxvii]
While
praying in church, Padre Pio heard Jesus say the following: “With what
ingratitude is my love for men repaid! I
should be less offended by them if I had loved them less. My Father does not want to bear with them any
longer. I myself want to stop loving
them, but, alas! My heart is made to
love! Weak and cowardly men make no
effort to overcome temptation and indeed they take delight in their
wickedness. The souls for whom I have a
special predilection fail me when put to the test, the weak give way to
discouragement and despair, while the strong are relaxing by degrees. They
leave me alone by night, alone by day in the churches. They no longer care about the Sacrament of
the altar. Hardly anyone ever speaks of
this Sacrament of love, and even those who do, speak, alas, with great
indifference and coldness. My heart is
forgotten; Nobody thinks anymore of my love and I am continually grieved. For many people my house has become an
amusement center…
I behold,
my son… many people who act hypocritically and betray me by sacrilegious
communions, trampling under foot the light and strength which I give them
continually…”[clxxxviii]
Padre Pio and Purgatory
2 Machabees 12:46: “It is therefore
a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from
sins.”
Matt 12:32: “…but he that shall
speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this
world, nor in the world to come.”
1st Cor 3:13,15: “Every
man’s work shall be manifest: for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because
it shall be revealed in fire: and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what
sort it is. If any man’s work burn, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”
One night
Padre Pio was sitting alone in a room absorbed in prayer when an old man
entered and sat next to him.
“I
looked at him but never thought of how he managed to get in the friary at that
hour. I asked
him:
‘Who are you? What do you want?’ The man answered: ‘Padre Pio, I am Pietro di
Mauro, nicknamed Precoco. I died in this
friary [in a fire] on September 18, 1908, in room number 4. I am still in Purgatory, and I need a Mass to
free my soul from it. God has given me permission to come to you and
ask for your prayers.’ After I had
listened to his story, I said: ‘You can rest assured that I will celebrate Mass
tomorrow for your liberation.’”
Padre Pio
then said that the Mass he celebrated the next day freed the man’s soul from
Purgatory. One
of the
other priests at the friary later on checked the village records and found that
such an individual
had indeed died
under the circumstances described by Padre Pio.[clxxxix]
One day,
some of the friars saw Padre Pio abruptly leave the table and begin to speak,
as if he were speaking to someone. But
no one was around Padre Pio to whom he could have been speaking. The friars thought Padre Pio was going crazy,
and they asked him who he was speaking to.
“Oh don’t worry, I was talking to some souls who were on their way from
Purgatory to Heaven. They stopped here
to thank
me because
I remembered them in my Mass this morning.”[cxc]
Padre Pio
said: “More souls of the dead from Purgatory than of the living climb this
mountain
to attend
my Masses and seek my prayers.”[cxci]
One time
someone asked Padre Pio how Purgatory could be avoided. He replied, “By accepting everything from
God’s hand. Offering everything
up to Him
with love and thanksgiving will enable
us to pass
from our deathbed to paradise.”[cxcii]
Heaven
1ST Cor. 2:9 “…eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what
things God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
Padre Pio
said of Heaven: “Heaven is total joy, continuous joy. We will be constantly thanking God. It is useless to try to figure out exactly
what heaven is like, because we can’t understand it. But when the veil of this life is taken off,
we will understand things in a different way.”[cxciii]
“…at night
when I close my eyes the veil is lifted and I see paradise open up before me:
and gladdened by this vision I sleep with a smile of sweet beatitude on my lips
and a perfectly tranquil countenance…”[cxciv]
Padre Pio didn’t know everything
Since Padre
Pio was given miraculous gifts that surpass even the greatest saints of Church
history, some have fallen into the false idea that he somehow knew
everything. But Padre Pio, being a mere
human and an instrument of God’s will, only knew what the Lord revealed to him
and what the Lord wanted him to know.
Like everyone else, he remained ignorant of many other things.
For
instance, his spiritual director, Fr. Agostino, asked Padre Pio whether a
physician who died in a war was saved or lost.
Padre Pio said: “I know nothing.”
Fr. Benedetto asked Padre Pio about Fr. Luca who could not be found
after a battle. Padre Pio replied:
“Concerning Fr. Luca of happy memory, I know nothing... But my mind tells me
that he must not be sought among the living.
May it please God to disprove my presentiment.” Padre Pio was proven
to be
wrong: Fr. Luca turned up alive.[cxcv]
Sometimes
Padre Pio’s judgments and assessments were incorrect. For instance, there is the case of Padre
Pio’s nephew. Padre Pio’s nephew, Ettore
Masone, had been kicked out of college because the administration discovered
that he had epilepsy, and the college didn’t want the responsibility of taking
care of him. When Padre Pio learned that
his cousin was no longer in school, he presumed that he had dropped out. “Get away from me, you bum!” shouted Padre
Pio to his nephew. “You have a lot
of gall
just to come into my presence!” he said.
“Why are you talking to me this way, Uncle?” his nephew replied. “Because you dropped out of college. Go away!”
“Uncle, read this letter.” When
Padre Pio read the real reason for Ettore being asked to leave,
he put his
head on his desk and began to cry.[cxcvi]
On the Church, his order, the justice of God, the
world, and souls being lost to Hell
Concerning
his
Padre Pio
could also see that the almost universal apostasy and desolation was growing
and well in place all the way back in 1914.
In a letter
on April 20, 1914, Padre Pio said: “…it afflicts my heart to see so many souls
apostatizing from Jesus. What freezes
the blood close to my heart is the fact that many of these souls become
estranged from God solely because they are deprived of the divine word. The harvest is great but the laborers are
few. Who is then to reap the harvest in
the fields of the Church when it is almost ripe? Will it be scattered on the ground by reason
of the scarcity of workers? Will it be
reaped by Satan’s emissaries who are, unfortunately, both numerous and
extremely active? Ah, may the most sweet God never allow
this to happen. May He be moved to pity
for the poverty
of men
which is becoming extreme.”[cxcviii]
Padre Pio, Letter, April 25, 1914: “Let us pray to
our most merciful Jesus to come to the aid of His Church, for her needs have
become extreme.”[cxcix]
Padre Pio, Letter, February 16, 1915: “…she would
need to have a director [spiritual] who is very enlightened in the ways of
God. But where is such
a one to be
found in these dreadful times? The most
merciful Jesus Himself has complained of this.
Oh, my dear Father, what very sad times are these! ... May the divine
Father soon put an end to this disastrous situation!”[cc]
Padre Pio, Letter, August 28, 1917: “Pray for this
soul that
weeps over the universal desolation and especially over the desolation of our
poor Province.”[cci]
Padre Pio
lamented to God the Father thus: “Father, I entreat you, either quickly put an
end to the world or put an end to the sins that are continually committed
against the adorable Person of your only-begotten Son.”[ccii] Padre Pio saw World War I as a punishment for
man’s unbelief.[cciii]
In July of
1946, Padre Pio sent striking words to the Archbishop of Benevento, Italy: “
as a
punishment for the Archbishop… Worse, not even after this punishment from God
is the Archbishop willing to understand his responsibility. He is truly hard of heart… souls are being
lost and
the enemies
of God are wreaking havoc, all because the Archbishop sleeps…”[cciv]
Padre Pio on the necessity of the Catholic faith, on
the necessity of works with faith, and on other religions and sects
The Athanasian Creed: “Whoever
wishes to be saved,
needs above all to hold the Catholic
faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a
doubt perish in eternity.”
The Profession of Faith of the
Council of
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence,
“Cantate Domino,” 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not
only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal
life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and
his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives;
that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only to
those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do
fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian
militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how
much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of
Christ, unless he has persevered in
the bosom and unity of the Catholic
Church.”
John 3:5: “Jesus answered: Amen,
amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost,
he cannot enter the
Mark 16:16: “He that believeth, and
is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned.”
Matthew 18:17: “And if he will not
hear them: tell the church. And if he
will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican.”
Matthew 16:18-19: “…thou art Peter;
and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And I will give to
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in
heaven.”
1st Timothy 3:15: “…the
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
James 2:24: “…Do you see that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only?”
Apocalypse 20:12-15: “And I saw the
dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the
dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the
dead that were in it: and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them:
and they were judged every one according to their works. And hell and death were cast into the pool of
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.
Apocalypse 22:12: “Behold, I come quickly:
and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works.
The letters
from Padre Pio clearly prove that he didn’t respect false religions and that he
held firmly to the dogma that it is necessary for salvation to be a Catholic.
Here’s what
Monsignor George Pogany (who personally knew Padre Pio) said about Padre Pio’s
view of other religions. “…Padre Pio insisted that the Catholic faith was the
only religion founded by Jesus Christ.
He accepted everyone as a man, but he was convinced that other religions
were founded by different men, as by Luther, as by Calvin, or by Zwingli…”[ccv]
Padre Pio, Letter, January 27, 1918: “…the Church;
this dear
and sweet dove, which alone can lay the eggs, giving birth to the little doves
of the Bridegroom. Continually thank God
that you are
a daughter
of the Church…”[ccvi]
Speaking
about mankind’s sins, Padre Pio said: “He (Jesus) sees all the ugliness and the
malice of creatures in committing them.
He knows to what extent these sins offend and outrage the Majesty of
God. He sees all the infamies,
immodesties, blasphemies which proceed from the lips of creatures accompanied
by the malice of their hearts, of those hearts and those lips which were
created to bring forth hymns of praise and benediction to the Creator. He sees the sacrileges with which priests and
faithful defile themselves, not caring about those sacraments instituted for
our salvation as necessary means
for it;
now, instead, made an occasion of sin and damnation of souls.”[ccvii]
A blind man
named Pietruccio asked Padre Pio
what a
person has to do to save his soul. Padre
Pio
answered: “It is enough if you keep the commandments of God and of the Church.”[ccviii]
Padre Pio
was once heard to say about a kind
doctor,
“What a pity he is a Jew.”[ccix]
In a letter
on April 7, 1913, Padre Pio said: “How many wretched brothers of ours respond
to Jesus’ love by casting themselves with open arms into
the
infamous sect of Freemasonry!”[ccx]
During
Padre Pio’s days, various non-Catholic sects were actively trying to convert
Italian people. One of these sects
opened a kindergarten near Padre Pio.
Padre Pio knew that the children were being exposed to criticism of the
Catholic faith. Padre Pio was very
angry; he said to the superior: “Do something quickly! Go in my name to the archbishop and get
permission to open a kindergarten right near theirs…” A kindergarten was started, and in a short
period of time the sect had to close their kindergarten and move out.[ccxi] Padre Pio fought evil not only with prayer,
but also with action.
On Spiritual
Padre Pio
said: “If the reading of holy books has the power to convert worldly men into
spiritual persons, how very powerful must such reading be in leading spiritual
men and women to greater perfection.”[ccxii]
Padre Pio, Letter, December 14, 1916: “Continue
with your spiritual reading because if it is the soul that speaks to God in
meditation, in spiritual reading it
is God who
speaks to the soul through the
correct reading of those books.”[ccxiii]
On people who seek the extraordinary
While
extraordinary events were common in Padre Pio’s life, he counseled others not
to seek the extraordinary; and he often admonished those seeking it that they
lacked faith or worse. He stated: “I am convinced that so many people don’t
want to live by faith, but seek the extraordinary.” Padre Pio advised those who responded to
letters from people seeking the miraculous to answer them by writing: “Live by
faith!”[ccxiv]
Some women
would sometimes grab at him, and he often shouted: “Oh, get away, get
away!” He would take his cord and twirl
it menacingly towards them. At times, he
roared: “This is paganism! This is
fanaticism!” More than once, Padre Pio
remarked: “There should be a big fence around this area with the sign, ‘Lunatic
Asylum.’”[ccxv]
One young
woman believed she was having visions of Jesus.
Padre Pio told her not to believe the visions. The lady refused to let Padre Pio guide her
in this matter. She said that Padre Pio
was contradicting the things that Jesus told her in her visions. After a couple of months the woman committed
suicide.[ccxvi]
Padre Pio on getting to Heaven and the fewness of the
saved
1st Peter 4:18 “And if
the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the wicked and the sinner
appear?”
Matthew 7:13 “Enter ye in at the
narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to
destruction, and many there are who enter by it.”
Padre Pio, Letter to a priest, February 23, 1915:
“May Jesus and Mary assist you always and may they give your words the power to
convert and to stem the headlong rush of many souls towards the precipice.”[ccxvii]
Padre Pio
said: “Don’t you know that we must
be alert on
the road to salvation? Only the fervent
succeed in reaching it, never the tepid or those
who sleep!”[ccxviii]
In a letter
on May 27, 1914, Padre Pio said: “Dear God!
If all were aware of your severity as well as
of your
tenderness, what creature would be so
foolish as
to dare to offend you?”[ccxix]
One of the
brothers asked Padre Pio, “Why do you cry?”
Padre Pio responded: “Why should I not cry seeing humanity damning
itself at all cost.”[ccxx]
Speaking of
the Divine Blood of Jesus: “Only a few will profit by It, the greater number
run the way of perdition.”[ccxxi]
Padre Pio on the Faith
Padre Pio:
“We must remember that faith is the greatest gift that God has offered man on
this earth, because from an earthly man he becomes a citizen of Heaven. Let us guard this great gift jealously. Woe to him who forgets himself, who forgets
Heaven, whose faith grows weak, and worse still who denies his faith. This is the greatest affront that man can
offer to God.”[ccxxii]
Padre Pio:
“…renew your faith in the truths of Christian doctrine, especially at times of
conflict.
And renew
in a most particular way your faith in
the
promises of eternal life which our most sweet Jesus makes to those who fight
energetically and courageously. You
should be encouraged and comforted by the knowledge that we are not alone
in our
sufferings, for all the followers of the Nazarene scattered throughout the
world suffer in the same manner and are all exposed like ourselves to the
trials and
tribulations of life.”[ccxxiii]
Padre Pio:
“In temptations against faith, invoke
St. Michael
and
Padre Pio on pleasing God alone
In a letter
on December 3, 1916: “You must try to please God alone, and if He is content
everybody
is
content.”[ccxxv]
Padre Pio on the world
In a letter
on August 4, 1915, Padre Pio said:
“Keep
far away from… profane assemblies, from corrupt and corrupting entertainment,
from all ungodly company.”[ccxxvi]
Padre Pio:
“…do not bother about the ridicule of the foolish. Know that the saints were always sneered at
by the world and worldlings; they have trampled them under foot and have
triumphed over the world and its maxims.”[ccxxvii]
Padre Pio, Letter, March 16, 1921: “…the world is
full of malice, and no prudence of vigilance is sufficient to avoid being
contaminated. Only by fleeing from it
can it be beaten.”[ccxxviii]
Padre Pio, Letter, September 13, 1920: “I praise
your resolution to desire to consecrate yourself entirely to God in the shadow
of the sacred cloister. Therefore,
if your
father is not in absolute need of you, try by every means, even by running
away, to carry out
this holy
plan. The Lord’s calling must be followed
immediately, otherwise we place our salvation in danger.”[ccxxix]
Padre Pio on Pride
In a letter
to a spiritual child on January 30, 1915, Padre Pio wrote: “You tell me you
want to remain unnoticed because you are afraid of falling into pride. I myself cannot see how a person can become
proud on account of the gifts he recognizes in himself. It seems to me that the richer he sees
himself to be, the more reason he has to humble himself before the Lord, for
the Lord’s gifts increase and he can never fully repay the giver of all good
things. As for you, what have you in
particular to be proud of? What have you
that you did not receive? If then you
received all, why do you boast as if it were your own? Oh, whenever the tempter wants you to be puffed
up with pride, say to yourself: all that is good in me I have received from God
on loan and I should be a fool to boast of what is not mine.”[ccxxx]
Speaking
about humility, Padre Pio said: “Don’t you see?
It is as if someone here gave you a beautiful gold watch to take up to
Padre Pio on the Mass
Matthew 26:26-28 “…Jesus took bread,
and blessed, and broke, and gave to His disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat:
This is my body. And taking the chalice
He gave thanks: and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament
which shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins.”
1st Cor. 10:16 “The
chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ? And the bread which we break, is
it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?”
1st Cor. 11:26-29 “For as
often as you shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice, you shall shew the
death of the Lord until He come.
Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord… For
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to
himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.”
According
to some estimates, around twenty million people have seen Padre Pio offer the
Concerning
the value of the Mass, Padre Pio said: “If men only appreciated the value of a
holy Mass they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep
the crowds in order.”[ccxxxiii]
Padre Pio
was asked what his Mass meant to him. He
responded: “It is a sacred participation in the passion of Jesus. All that the Lord suffered in His passion, I
suffer, to the extent that it is possible to a human being. And that is apart from any merit of mine, but
entirely due to His goodness.”[ccxxxiv]
Before
Padre Pio offered the unconsecrated host on his paten, he would run his fingers
around the host
to make
sure there were no loose particles.[ccxxxv]
Padre Pio:
“Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects,
abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know. It is easier for the earth to exist without
the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the
Padre Pio:
“I am going to the wine-press of the Church, to the holy altar, where from the
Blood of that delightful and unusual Grape, is distilled the sacred Wine with
which only a few fortunate people are permitted to become inebriated.”[ccxxxvii]
Padre Pio on Receiving Communion
John 6:54-55 “Then Jesus said to them:
Amen, amen,
I say to you: Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of man,
and drink His blood, you shall not
have life in you. He
that eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Padre Pio
was asked about receiving Holy Communion.
He responded: “It is an internal
and
external mercy. An embrace.”
Question:
“When Jesus comes does he visit
only the
soul?”
Padre Pio:
“The whole being.”
Question:
“What does Jesus do at Communion?”
Padre Pio:
“He finds delight in His creature.”
Question:
“Is Communion an incorporation?”
Padre Pio:
“It is a fusion. Like two candles that
melt
together and are no longer distinguishable.”[ccxxxviii]
Padre Pio, Letter to a spiritual child on receiving
Communion: “Continue to receive Communion,
and don’t
worry about not being able to receive
the
Sacrament of Penance. Jesus will prize
your
good
will. Remember what I have told you so
often: as long as we are not certain of being in serious sin, we need not
abstain from Communion.”[ccxxxix] “Unless you are positive that you are in
mortal sin you ought to take Communion every day.”[ccxl]
Padre Pio:
“My heart feels drawn by a higher
power
before being united with Him in the Blessed Sacrament. I have such hunger and thirst before
receiving Him that it would take little more for me
to die of
longing… And rather than remain satisfied after I have received the Sacrament,
this hunger and thirst increases even more.
At the moment that I am in possession of this greatest good, then yes,
the plenitude of sweetness is truly so great that I almost say to Jesus:
Enough! I cannot stand any more! I forget that I am even in this world. The mind and heart desire nothing more… I
sometimes ask myself
if there
are souls that do not feel their chest burn with divine fire, especially at the
moment that they find themselves before Him in the Blessed Sacrament. It seems to me impossible, particularly if
the individual is a priest or religious.”[ccxli]
Special Devotions of Padre Pio
Padre Pio always
carried with him the holy relic of the Cross.
He wanted his spiritual children to carry one also or to wear a crucifix
permanently around their necks.[ccxlii]
Padre Pio
had a special devotion to the Passion of
Our Lord,
Our Lady and St. Michael the
him always
during temptations. Padre Pio also
recommended people to go to Monte St. Angelo
in order to
venerate Saint Michael.[ccxliv]
Padre Pio on marriage
Padre Pio
had a very special place in his heart for
the large
family. He would say “matrimony is for
children,” and, as the Bible states, “Children are a
gift of the
Lord”(Ps. 126:3).[ccxlv]
The good
hope he had for marriages was that
their
marriage would be “beautifully crowned
with
children,” in order to “populate the earth
and
paradise.”[ccxlvi]
Padre Pio
forcefully refused to accept anyone who
of set
purpose refused the begetting of children.
He refused
them absolution. One time he said to
a person:
“May the Lord’s vengeance not fall upon you.”
And he said to someone else: “When you married, God made the decision of
how many children He ought to give you.”[ccxlvii]
Some of the
sins that upset Padre Pio the most were sins against motherhood; the limitation
of families; sins against life; cursing; blasphemy; lying; calumny; and the
scandal of dressing immodestly.[ccxlviii] Padre Pio didn’t want to deviate from traditional
Catholic doctrine at all.[ccxlix]
The End of Padre Pio’s Life
When Padre
Pio died in 1968, he was receiving five thousand letters per month.[ccl] Padre Pio received so many letters which were
saved by the friars that they built a storehouse as large as a garage to keep
them. There were an estimated two
million letters from around the world.[ccli]
When Padre
Pio heard about the growing number of radical priests, nuns, and laity, as well
as dissent from Catholic teaching and the lack of vocations, he was reported to
have remarked more than once: “Thank God I am old and near death!”[cclii] Padre Pio urged the frequent recitation of
the prayer, “O Jesus, save the elect in the hour of darkness.”[ccliii] And contrary to what some have said, Padre
Pio never celebrated the New Mass. Padre
Pio died in 1968; the New Mass wasn’t promulgated until April 3, 1969.
Since Padre
Pio was so well known and sought after for his extraordinary gifts from God (he
was the most photographed person in the world at his time),[ccliv]
it’s not surprising that certain people – perhaps to advance a particular
agenda – have circulated certain stories about him which are not true. Certain people claim that he said and did
certain things which, in fact, he never said or did. For instance, it was widely circulated that
Padre Pio supposedly told a particular person that “one day you will be Pope,”
when he never did. The person who was
supposedly told this by Padre Pio later publicly admitted in a prominent
magazine that Padre Pio never said this to him.
Some claimed that Padre Pio made a prophecy about the three days of
darkness, when he didn’t. Others claim
that Padre Pio respected false religions, or admired those who practiced them.
This is not true; it finds
no basis
in, and is contradicted by, his personal letters which show that he absolutely
rejected a false ecumenical religion and held that the Catholic Faith
is
necessary. Of course Padre Pio didn’t
respect other religions or admire those who practiced them, for then he would
be testifying that all his efforts and sufferings (such as hearing confessions,
which he
held to be
necessary to forgive serious sins) were meaningless.
Perhaps as
a warning of the growing Great Apostasy, a few days before his death, when
greeted by a spiritual daughter, Padre Pio placed his hand on her head and said
twice in a forceful way: “Daughter, be constant and persevering in the faith of
our fathers.”[cclv]
Shortly
before his death, on September 23, 1968, the wounds of Padre Pio’s stigmata
miraculously healed up. By the time
Padre Pio died, there were no traces of the stigmata.[cclvi] Doctor Sala declared that the healing of the
wounds was clinically unexplainable.
Padre Pio had always wanted the stigmata to be invisible and Jesus
granted his prayer at the very end of his life.[cclvii] Fr. Onorato pointed out well that as the
ministry of Padre Pio was ending, the signs were also ending.[cclviii] On the evening before the death of Padre Pio,
the crypt that would hold his body was completed and blessed.[cclix] During the four days and nights after the
death of Padre Pio around two hundred thousand people passed before his casket.[cclx]
For most
prospective Saints, the cause for canonization includes about five cartons of
documentation that is submitted to the
Congregation
for the Causes of the Saints.
In Padre
Pio’s case, over one hundred cartons
of
documentation were initially submitted.[cclxi]
In 1968,
when Padre Pio died, he left behind a huge hospital called The Home for the Relief of Suffering, which The New York Times described as “one of the most beautiful as well
as one of the most modern and fully-equipped hospitals in the world.”[cclxii] His legacy included 726 prayer groups with
68,000 members. There are also
twenty-two Padre Pio centers for handicapped children and one center for the
blind. As an example of the profound
influence of his life,
in 1997 six
and a half million people visited Padre Pio’s tomb.[cclxiii]
Padre Pio
said what he would do after he died. “I
have made a pact with the Lord: when my soul has been purified in the flames of
purgatory and deemed worthy to be admitted to the presence of God, I will take
my place at the gate to paradise, but I shall not enter until I have seen the
last of my spiritual children enter.”[cclxiv]
www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com
[i] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 24.
[ii] Padre Pio. The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[iii] The
[iv] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 130.
[v] Padre Pio. The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[vi] Augustine McGregor,
Padre Pio, His Early Years, National
Centre for Padre Pio,
[vii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[viii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[ix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[x] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 160.
[xii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xiii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[xiv] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[xv] Radio Replies
Press, Inc., Who is Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[xvi] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[xvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[xviii] Fr. Alessio
Parente, Send Me Your Guardian Angel,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[xix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xx] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xxi] Bert Ghezzi, Mystics & Miracles, Loyola Press,
[xxii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[xxiii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[xxiv] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xxv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[xxvi] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
[xxvii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[xxviii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xxix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xxx] Renzo Allegri, Padre Pio Man of Hope, Servant Pub., Ann
Arbor, MI. pp. 18-19.
[xxxi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 42.
[xxxii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xxxiii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 73.
[xxxiv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 294.
[xxxv] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[xxxvi] Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, Walking in the Footsteps of
Jesus Christ, The Leaflet Missal Company,
[xxxvii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[xxxviii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[xxxix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xl] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xli] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xlii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[xliii] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 57.
[xliv] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic
Books, Fort Collins, CO. p. 59.
[xlv] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[xlvi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[xlvii] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 59.
[xlviii] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[xlix] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[l] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[li] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[lii] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 54.
[liii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[liv] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[lv] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lvi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[lvii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[lviii] Radio Replies
Press, Inc., Who is Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[lix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[lx] A Celebration of
Padre Pio, Pray, hope and don’t worry, National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[lxii] Padre Pio, The
Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[lxiii] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 88.
[lxiv] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 299.
[lxvi] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lxvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lxviii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 404.
[lxix] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 297.
[lxx] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lxxi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 297.
[lxxii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lxxiii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[lxxiv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[lxxv] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 71.
[lxxvi] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 86.
[lxxvii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 171.
[lxxviii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxxix] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxxx] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxxxi] Fr. Alessio
Parente, God’s Graces Through Padre Pio’s
Intercession, Vol. 2,
National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 504.
[lxxxii] Fr.
Alessio Parente, God’s Graces Through
Padre Pio’s Intercession, Vol. 2, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
[lxxxiii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[lxxxiv] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 80.
[lxxxv] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 133.
[lxxxvi] Bert Ghezzi, Mystics & Miracles, Loyola Press,
[lxxxvii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[lxxxviii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 118.
[lxxxix] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 30.
[xc] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 40.
[xci] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[xcii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[xciii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 131.
[xciv] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. pp. 29-30.
[xcv] Fr. Alessio
Parente, God’s Graces Through Padre Pio’s
Intercession, Vol. 2,
National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 331-332.
[xcvi] Fr. Alessio
Parente, God’s Graces Through Padre Pio’s
Intercession, Vol. 2,
National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA.
p. 493-494.
[xcvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[xcviii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[xcix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[c] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 251.
[ci] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[cii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ciii] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[civ] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. II,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cv] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cvi] Fr. Alessio
Parente, Send Me Your Guardian Angel,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cvii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cviii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 141.
[cix] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 367.
[cx] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[cxi] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate, New Bedford, MA., pp. 61,62.
[cxii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cxiii] Augustine McGregor,
Padre Pio, His Early Years, National
Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxiv] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[cxv] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[cxvi] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cxvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[cxviii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. II,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxx] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxxi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxii] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxiii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cxxiv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxv] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cxxvi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cxxvii] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxviii] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxix] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxx] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxi] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxiii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxiv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cxxxv] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[cxxxvi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxvii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxviii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxxxix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
Our Lady of Grace Friary, San
[cxl] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxli] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxlii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxliii] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 64.
[cxliv] Radio Replies Press,
Inc. Who is Padre Pio, TAN Books,
[cxlv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cxlvi] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cxlvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[cxlviii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[cxlix] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[cl] Gerardo Di Flumeri, The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA. p. 16.
[cli] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[clii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[cliii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[cliv] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clv] Augustine McGregor,
Padre Pio, His Early Years, National
Centre for Padre Pio,
[clvi] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[clvii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[clviii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clix] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[clx] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 113.
[clxi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 218.
[clxii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 197.
[clxiii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[clxiv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 237.
[clxv] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clxvi] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[clxvii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clxviii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clxix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Walking in the Footsteps of
Jesus Christ,
The Leaflet Missal Company,
[clxx] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[clxxi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 143.
[clxxii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxiii] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[clxxiv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. II,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxvi] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[clxxvii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxviii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clxxix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[clxxx] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Spirituality
Series, National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Spirituality
Series, National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxiii] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[clxxxiv] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxv] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxvi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Spirituality
Series, National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxvii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[clxxxviii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[clxxxix] Padre Pio The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxc] Padre Pio The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxci] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxcii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxciii] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s
Chapel,
[cxciv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxcv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 182.
[cxcvi] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday Visitor,
Huntington, IN. p. 319.
[cxcvii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxcviii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cxcix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. II,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cc] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cci] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cciii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 121.
[cciv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 273.
[ccv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 417.
[ccvi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccvii] Radio Replies
Press, Inc. The Agony of Jesus, TAN
Books,
[ccviii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[ccix] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 300.
[ccx] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxi] Gennaro
Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio,
Society of St. Pauls,
[ccxii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 138.
[ccxiii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxiv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 145.
[ccxv] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 293.
[ccxvi] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[ccxvii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxviii] Madame Katharina
Tangari, Stories of Padre Pio, TAN
Books,
[ccxix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxx] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[ccxxi] Radio Replies
Press, Inc., The Agony of Jesus, TAN Books,
[ccxxii] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[ccxxiii] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[ccxxiv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxxv] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxxvi] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. I,
Our Lady of Grace Friary, San
[ccxxvii] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[ccxxviii] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxxix] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. III,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxxx] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters Vol. II,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxxxi] John McCaffery, Blessed Padre Pio, Roman Catholic Books,
Fort Collins, CO. p. 68.
[ccxxxii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ccxxxiii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ccxxxiv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[ccxxxv] Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People, Alba House,
[ccxxxvi] Gerardo Di Flumeri, The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA. p. 16.
[ccxxxvii] Gerardo Di Flumeri, The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA. p. 27.
[ccxxxviii] Gerardo Di Flumeri, The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA. p. 50.
[ccxxxix] Gerardo Di Flumeri, The Mystery of the Cross in Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina, National Centre for Padre Pio, Barto, PA. p. 51.
[ccxl] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 138.
[ccxli] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[ccxlii] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxliii] Clarice Bruno, Roads to Padre Pio, Seventh Edition,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxliv] Fr. Tarcisio, The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
[ccxlv] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ccxlvi] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ccxlvii] Fr. Stefano Manelli,
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Franciscans
of the Immaculate,
[ccxlviii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[ccxlix] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[ccl] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 13.
[ccli] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[cclii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 364.
[ccliii] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[ccliv] Fifty Years of
Thorns and Roses
(video). National Centre for Padre Pio,
[cclv] Fr. Stefano
Manelli, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,
Franciscans of the Immaculate,
[cclvi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cclvii] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
[cclviii] Fr. John A. Schug, Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre
Pio,
[cclix] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cclx] Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Walking in the Footsteps of
Jesus Christ,
The Leaflet Missal Company,
[cclxi] Padre Pio, The Wonder Worker, Our Lady’s Chapel,
[cclxii] C. Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Our Sunday
Visitor, Huntington, IN. p. 286.
[cclxiii] Patricia Treece, Quiet Moments with Padre Pio, Servant
Publications,
[cclxiv] Gennaro Preziuso, The Life of Padre Pio, Society of St.
Pauls,
Bibliography
Allegri,
Renzo. Padre Pio, Man of Hope.
Publications, 2000.
Bruno,
Clarice. Road Trips to Padre Pio.
Center for Padre Pio, 1981.
Bruschi,
Mario, William M. Carrigan, Mario E. Rossi, Elena W. Wenzel,
and Fr. Armand Dasseville. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina; Walking in
the
Footsteps of Jesus Christ.
1993.
Di
Flumeri, Fr. Gerardo. Homage to the
Blessed Padre Pio. San Giovanni
Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace Capuchin
Friary, 1999.
Franciscan
Friars of the Immaculate. Padre Pio, The
Wonder Worker. New
Franciscan
Friars of San Giovanni Rotondo. Acts of
the First Congress of
Studies on Padre Pio’s Spirituality. San Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of
Grace Capuchin Friary, 1973.
Gaudiose,
Dorothy M. Prophet of the People; A
Biography of Padre Pio.
Manelli,
Fr. Stefano M. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.
Franciscans of the Immaculate, 1999.
McCaffery,
John. Blessed Padre Pio; The Friar of San Giovanni.
McGregor,
Fr. Augustine. Padre Pio, His Early
Years. San Giovanni
Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace Capuchin
Friary, 1985.
Parente,
Fr. Alessio. God’s Graces Through Padre
Pio’s Intercession, San
Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace
Capuchin Friary, 1996.
――.“Send
Me Your Guardian Angel” Padre Pio.
San Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, 1983.
Pio,
Padre. The Agony of Jesus.
――.Letters I (Correspondence
with his Spiritual Directors:1910-1922). San
Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace
Capuchin Friary, 1984.
――.Letters II (Correspondence with Raffaelina Cerase: 1914-1915). San
Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace Capuchin
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――.Letters III (Correspondence with his Spiritual Daughters: 1915-1923).
San
Giovanni Rotondo: Our Lady of Grace
Capuchin Friary, 2001.
Preziuso,
Gennaro. The Life of Padre Pio – Between
the Altar and the
Confessional.
Ruffin,
C. Bernard. Padre Pio: The True Story.
Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1991.
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Rev. John A. Padre Pio.
Padre Pio, 1995.
Tangari,
Madame Katharina. Stories of Padre Pio.
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Fr. The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio.
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Treece,
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Who is Padre Pio?.
Videos
Fifty Years of Thorns & Roses, National Centre for Padre Pio,
Barto, PA.
Pray, Hope & Don’t Worry, National Centre for Padre Pio,
Padre Pio: the Marked Man, National Centre for Padre Pio,
Padre Pio: the Stigmatist, National Centre for Padre Pio,
Padre Pio never
preached a sermon,
National Centre for Padre Pio,
My Friend Padre Pio, National Centre for Padre Pio,
I can refuse no one, National Centre for Padre Pio,
At the Gates of Heaven, National Centre for Padre Pio,
Sanctus, Padre Pio Man of God, National Centre for Padre Pio,
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