It is very difficult to define the word "miracle". Miracles could be considered expressions of the supernatural. Also, we can say that a miracle is a phenomenon in which the heart obeys an interior force: the will of God!
Padre Pio's life was full of miracles, but the nature of the miracles was always divine. For this reason, Padre Pio invited people to thank God, the only source of miracles.
One miracle that has been identified as Padre Pio's first miracle occurred in 1908. At that time he lived in the monastery of Montefusco. One day he gathered chestnuts growing in a nearby forest into a bag and sent the bag to Pietrelcina to his aunt Daria. She always had a great affection for him. The woman received and ate the chestnuts. She saved the bag as a souvenir. A few days later she was looking for something in a drawer where her husband usually kept the gun powder. It was in the evening so she used a candle to light up the room when suddenly the drawer caught on fire, and aunt Daria’s face got burned. After a moment, she took the bag father Pio sent and put it on her face. Immediately, her pain disappeared and no wound or burn mark remained on her face.
During the Second World War, in Italy, bread was being rationed. Padre Pio’s monastery always had a lot of guests and the poor who begged there for food. One day the Friars went to the refectory and realized that the basket only had about two pounds of bread. They prayed and sat down before starting to eat. Padre Pio went into the church, and a while later when he came back he was holding a pile of bread in his hands. The Superior asked Padre Pio: "Where did you get all these loaves of bread?" Padre Pio answered: "A pilgrim at the door gave them to me". Nobody commented, but everybody thought that only Padre Pio could meet such a pilgrim.
Once in the monastery of Padre Pio, a friar forgot to consecrate the Hosts for Holy Communion. There were only a few Hosts available. But after confessions when Padre Pio started to distribute Hosts to the people, many Hosts remained at the end of the service, more than had been consecrated before.
A spiritual daughter of Padre Pio was reading a letter from him on the side of a road. The wind blew the letter away, blowing it downhill to a meadow. The letter flew far, far away from the woman, and then suddenly it stopped flying and settled on a stone. In this way the woman got her letter back. The day after, she met Padre Pio who told her: "You have to pay attention to the wind next time. If I hadn't put my foot on the letter it would have flown far away into the valley".
Mrs. Cleonice, who was a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio, said: “During the Second World War my nephew was a prisoner. We had not received news for a year, and everybody believed he was dead. His parents were very worried about his life. His mother went one day to Padre Pio and knelt down in front of the friar who was in the confessional: “Please, tell me if my son is alive. I won’t go away if you don’t tell me!” Padre Pio sympathized with her, and some tears were on his face when he said: “Stand up and go in peace.” Some days later, I couldn’t resist the thought of pain that the parents were enduring, so I decided to ask Padre Pio for a miracle. I faithfully said: “Father I’m going to write a letter to my nephew Giovannino. I will write his name only on the envelope because we do not know where he is. You and your Guardian Angel will take the letter to him where he is.” - Padre Pio didn’t answer, so I wrote the letter. In the evening I put it on my bedside table before getting into bed. The morning after, to my great surprise, astonishment and fear, I found that the letter was not there anymore. I went in thanksgiving to Padre Pio and he told me: “Give your thanks to Our Lady.” Almost fifteen days later our nephew sent us a response to the letter. Then everybody in our family was happy and giving thanks both to God and Padre Pio.”
During the Second World War, Mrs. Luisa’s son was an officer in the Royal British Navy. At that time she prayed every day for her son’s conversion and salvation. One day an English pilgrim arrived to San Giovanni Rotondo, carrying some English newspapers. Luisa wanted to read them. She found a piece of news concerning the sinking of the warship on which her son was stationed. She immediately went crying to Padre Pio, who consoled her: “Who has told you that your son is dead?” In fact, Padre Pio was able to explain to her exactly the name and the address of the hotel where the young officer was staying after he escaped from the shipwreck in the Atlantic. He was there waiting for a new assignment again. Immediately Luisa sent him a letter, and after a couple of week she received an answer from her son.
A woman at San Giovanni Rotondo was such a good person that Padre Pio said it was impossible to find any fault in her soul to forgive. In other words, she lived to go to heaven. At the end of Lent, Paolina felt seriously ill. The doctors said there were no hopes for her. Her husband and her five children went to the convent to pray with Father Pio and ask him to help her. Two of the five children pulled Father Pio’s habit and cried. Father Pio got upset, but he tried to console them and promised to pray for them, nothing else! Some days later, at the beginning of the Seventh hour, the sainted Padre’s behavior changed. In fact, he asked for Paolina’s healing and told everybody: “She will resuscitate on Easter Day.” But on Good Friday Paolina lost consciousness as she fell into a coma. On Saturday, after some hours, Paolina finally died. Some of her relatives took her wedding dress in order to put it on her according to an old tradition of the country. Other relatives ran to the convent to ask Padre Pio for a miracle. He answered them: “She will be resuscitated” and he went to the altar for the Holy Mass. When Padre Pio started to sing the Gloria and the sound of the bells announced Christ’s resurrection, Padre Pio’s voice broke off with a sob and his eyes were full of tears. In the same moment, Paolina resuscitated. Without any help she got up from the bed, she knelt down and she prayed for the Creed three times. Then she stood up and smiled. She has recovered...or it should be better to say: “She has resuscitated.“ In fact padre Pio had not said, “she will recover” but “she will resuscitate.” When she was asked what happened during the period when she was dead, she answered: “I went up, went up, went up; when I entered into a great light, I came back.”
A woman said: “My first daughter, who was born in 1953, was rescued by Father Pio when she was eighteen months old. On the morning of January 6, 1955 my husband and I were in church attending the Holy Mass and our daughter was at home with her grandfather. There was an accident: she fell into a tub of boiling hot water. She was burned on her stomach and back. The doctor came in an hour and he said, “take your daughter to a hospital immediately because she could die from her wounds”. For this reason he did not give us any medicine. After the doctor left I started to pray for Father Pio’s help. It was nearly noon. As I was getting myself ready to go to the Hospital, my daughter who was alone in the bedroom called me: “Mommy, I don’t have a wound anymore!” “Who has taken your wound?” I asked her out of curiosity. She answered: “Father Pio has come. He took my wounds by putting his whole hand on my burn”. Actually there was no sign of burns on my daughter’s body even though the doctor had told me my daughter was going to die.
The peasants of San Giovanni Rotondo fondly remember the following event. In spring, the almond trees were blossoming and they were promising a good harvest. But unfortunately millions of voracious caterpillars arrived and devoured the leaves and flowers. They did not spare even the shell. After two days of trying to stop that infestation, the peasants, for whom the almonds were the only economic resource - decided to speak to Father Pio about the problem. Father Pio looked at the trees from the window of the convent and decided to bless them. He put on the sacred vestments and started to pray. When he finished praying he took the holy water and made the sign of the Cross in the air, in the direction of the trees. The next day, the caterpillars had disappeared but the almond trees looked like sticks. It was a disaster: the harvest had been lost. What happened next is incredible! We had the most abundant harvest; a harvest like we had never seen before, but how is it possible that trees without flowers could produce fruits? How was it possible to have fruit from trees that looked like sticks? Scientists have never been able to give any reason for this phenomenon.
In the garden of the convent there were trees; cypresses, some fruit and some pine. Especially on summer afternoons, Father Pio used to stay in the shade together with his friends and guests in order to have a little relief from the hot weather. Once when Father Pio was speaking with some people a large number of birds suddenly started to chirp and make noise from the shade of the trees. The birds had composed a symphony. Father Pio became annoyed with the symphony so, looking at the birds he said: “Keep silent!” At which point, the birds, the crickets and the cicadas fell silent. The people who were in the garden were greatly astonished! In fact Father Pio had spoken to the birds like Saint Francis.
A gentleman said: “My mother came from Foggia and was one of the Father Pio’s first spiritual daughters. She had asked Father Pio “to convert and protect my father”. In April 1945 my father was condemned to be executed by firing squad. He was in front of the platoon when he suddenly saw father Pio appear in front of him to protect him. The commander of the platoon gave the order to fire but no shots were fired from the rifles that were pointed at him. The seven members of the platoon and their commander, astonished, checked their rifles but they didn’t find any problem. So the platoon again pointed their rifles at my father and the commander ordered his soldiers to shoot again, but for a second time the rifles did not work. This mysterious and inexplicable occurrence stopped his execution. Afterward my father was pardoned due to having been awarded a medal during the war; moreover he was disabled in action during the war. After my father returned home, he converted to Catholicism, receiving the sacraments at San Giovanni Rotondo, where he had gone to thank Father Pio. In this way my mother obtained the miracles she had always asked from Father Pio: “her husband’s conversion!”
Father Onorato said: “I went to San Giovanni Rotondo with a friend of mine by motorcycle. I arrived at the convent some minutes before noon. After paying my respects to the superior, I went to the refectory to meet Padre Pio in order to kiss his hand. It should be taken into account that my motorbike model was called “wasp” so Father Pio told me: “Son, did the ‘wasp’ sting you?” I was quite surprised because Padre Pio had not seen me when I arrived at the convent, but he knew what kind of transportation I had used to get there. The next morning, we left San Giovanni Rotondo on my “wasp” motorbike and set out for Saint Michel, a little town not far from Saint Giovanni Rotondo. The gasoline tank was going empty, so we decided to fill up at Monte Saint Angelo. But as soon as we reached that little town, we had a bad surprise: all the gas stations were closed. At that point we decided to go back to San Giovanni Rotondo, and hoped to find somebody along the road who could provide us with some gasoline. I was worried about my brothers in the convent; it would be ungracious not to be back at the convent by lunchtime, for they were waiting for me. But low on gas, the engine started to make noise, and after a few feet it stopped altogether. We checked the tank; it was empty. With sadness I pointed out to my friend that we had only ten minutes to reach the convent and take part in the lunch with our brothers. We could not find any solution, and for this reason my friend stomped on the starter pedal. Unbelievable! The motorbike started again! We immediately set out for Saint Giovanni Rotondo without asking ourselves how the motorbike had started without gasoline. When we arrived in the middle of the square of the convent, the motorbike stopped working again. We opened the tank and realized it was still as dry as it was before. We were also astonished when we looked at our watches: it was ten minutes before lunchtime. That meant we had covered fifteen kilometers in five minutes: an average of 180 kilometers per hour. Without gasoline! I entered the convent as the brothers were coming down for lunch; and when I went to meet Father Pio, he was watching me and smiling.
It was the month of May in 1925. Maria had a little baby who had been ill since birth. Maria was very worried about her baby. In fact, after a medical visit, she was told her child had a very complicated illness. There was no hope for the baby: he could not recover. Maria decided to go by train to Saint Giovanni Rotondo. She lived in a very little town in the south of Puglia (a poor region in the South of Italy), but she had heard some stories concerning Padre Pio, a friar who had the stigmata like Jesus, worked miracles, healed people of their diseases, and gave hope to the hopeless. She immediately set out, but during the trip the baby died. She watched over his little body all night, then placed it in a suitcase and closed it. The following day she arrived at the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo. She had no hope, but she had not lost her faith. That evening she met Padre Pio. She was in the line of people waiting for confession, and she had in her hands the suitcase that contained her son’s body. Her son had died twenty-four hours before. When she arrived in front of Father Pio, she knelt down, cried, and asked his help. He looked at her intently. The mother opened the suitcase and showed Father Pio the corpse. The poor padre was very shocked by the mother’s sorrow. He took the little body and put his hand on the boy’s head; then he prayed, looking up to Heaven. In a moment, the poor creature was alive again. A gesture, a movement of the feet, the arms...he looked as if he had just awakened after a long sleep. Speaking to the mother Padre Pio said: “Mother, why are you crying? Your son is sleeping!” The mother’s shouts of joy, and those of the crowd, filled the church. Everyone spoke about the miracle!
In the evening an engineer was staying late at the convent, but, when he decided to leave, he noticed it was raining. So he told Padre Pio, “I do not have any umbrella! Could I stay here until tomorrow morning? If not I will get wet.” - “I am sorry my dear, it is not possible. But don’t worry! I will keep you company!” answered Father Pio. But that engineer had thought it would be much better for Father not to do that penance, although it would have been less treacherous with Padre Pio’s assistance. Anyway, he put on his hat and started to cover the two miles between the convent and the town. But as soon as he went out he realized with surprise it was not raining anymore. It was just drizzling when he arrived at the home where he was a guest. “My God!” the woman who opened the door exclaimed. “You must be wet to the bone!” - “Not at all,” the engineer answered. “It is not raining.” At that point, the peasants who were hosting him looked at each other dumbfounded. “What! It is not raining anymore? It is pouring! Listen!” They opened the door again and it was raining. They told him it had been raining for an hour without interruption. “How did you manage to come here without getting wet?" they asked him. The engineer answered, “Padre Pio told me he would have come here together with me.” Then the peasants realized it had been Padre Pio’s miracle and they were able to tell him, “Now everything is clear if Padre Pio told you that.” Everything has been cleared and they found themselves in the kitchen for dinner when the woman said, “For sure Padre Pio’s company is much better than an umbrella!”
A man from Ascoli Piceno (an Italian city) said, “Toward the end of the 1950s, I went to Saint Giovanni Rotondo with my wife to go to confession, and I received absolution after Padre Pio’s counsel and penance. In the evening I was still in the convent and Padre Pio saw me again and he said, 'Are you still here?' - 'My “little mouse” did not start,' I answered. - 'What exactly is a little mouse?' Padre Pio asked. 'It is my car,' I answered, 'a little mouse model.' - 'Let’s go and have a look,' said Father Pio. He invited me to leave the monastery, which we did without any problem. We traveled all the night and day and the following morning, I took my car to the mechanic in order to have him look at it. The mechanic told me, after his checks that the electric system of the car was out of order. And he did not believe me when I told him I had traveled in the car all night. In fact, it was impossible to cover two hundred miles, between San Giovanni Rotondo and Ascoli Piceno, with such a car, and I realized Padre Pio had helped me, so I thanked him in my mind.
A good woman’s husband was very sick. The woman ran to the convent, but she asked herself, “How do I reach father Pio?" She had to wait for at least three days if she wanted to meet him for a confession. So during the Mass she stood-up and walked from one side of the Church to the other. Finally, she decided to tell Our Lady what her problem was and asked at the same moment for Padre Pio’s help. After the Mass, she started to move into the Church again, in order to reach Father Pio. Finally, she managed to reach the famous corridor where Father Pio had to pass. As soon as father Pio watched her, he said: “Woman with a little faith, when will you finally ask for my help? Do you think I am deaf? You have already told me it five times when you were in front of me, at my back, on my right and on my left. I understood! I understood! ...Go home! Everything is OK." She went home and found her husband was healed.
In the book of the convent, on the line of October 23rd, 1953, this annotation can be read.
"This morning Miss Amelia Z., a blind girl who was born blind, who is 27 years old, has come from the province of Vicenza (Italy) and she started seeing. She has asked to padre Pio to have her sight after her confession. Padre Pio said: "Be faithful and pray a lot". In the same moment the young girl saw Padre Pio: the face, the hand, the half gloves that hid the stigmatas.
The sight has quickly increased. She informed Padre Pio about the miracle and he said: "We can say thanks to the Lord."
Then the young girl asked the complete sight from Padre Pio and he said: "Step by step and it will come."
sabato 18 aprile 2009
SAINT PIO: SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE
A lot of Saints of the Catholic Church possessed the charisma that allowed them to know distant things, or to view the future, or to see and to sense distance space using their senses and their normal intellectual abilities. Father Pio had the charisma of this supernatural knowledge. Just looking at a person he could see into the most secret parts of his soul. Many testimonies suggest this was the gift of Padre Pio.
A woman from Bologna (Italy) said: “Once my mother went to father Pio with some of her friends. She met with Father Pio in the sacristy of the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo as soon as he arrived. Padre Pio told her: “Why are you here? Go home, your husband is sick”. My mother thought she had left her husband in good condition. Anyway, she went back home on the first available train. When she arrived at home she asked about my father’s health. There was no news. But during the night my father had serious respiratory difficulties. Something pressed him in the throat. That night, at eleven p.m. my father was hospitalised brought into the operating room. The surgeon that operated on him extracted from his throat at least two basins of pus. Father Pio had seen in advance what would happen to this lady’s husband and with his suggestion and prayer he had succeeded in influencing the happy solution of the case.
A spiritual son of Padre Pio who lived in Rome omitted out of shame to make his customary small reverence when he passed near to a church in the company of some friends. Suddenly he heard Padre Pio’s voice saying: “Coward!” After a few days he went to San Giovanni Rotondo, where he was reproached by Padre Pio: “Be careful! This time I have only scolded you; next time I will give you a slap.”
One day at sunset, Padre Pio was in the garden of the monastery. He was chatting pleasantly with some of his spiritual children and others of the faithful, when he realized his handkerchief was missing. He said to one of those present, “Here is the key to my cell. Please go there and get me a handkerchief.” The man went to the cell but besides the handkerchief, he took one of Padre Pio’s half gloves and put it in his pocket. He could not pass up the opportunity to obtain a relic! But when he went back to the garden and gave Padre Pio the handkerchief, Padre Pio said to him: “Thanks, but now go back to the cell and put back in the drawer the half glove that you put in your pocket”.
A certain lady used to kneel in front of a photograph of Padre Pio every evening before going to bed to ask his blessing. Her husband, a good Catholic, thought that the gesture was an exaggeration and began laughing and teasing her each time she did so. Once he told Padre Pio about his wife’s habit. “Every evening my wife kneels in front of your photo and asks you to bless her.” Padre Pio answered, “I know, I know…and you start laughing.”
A certain man had the reputation of being a good Catholic, admired and esteemed by all who knew him. Actually he was living in sin. He had neglected his wife, and was now compensating for his loneliness by a relationship with another woman. On one occasion he went to confession to Padre Pio. In order to justify himself, he started talking about a "spiritual crisis." But he had not counted on facing an "extraordinary" confessor. Padre Pio stood up at once and shouted, “What spiritual crisis? You are a litterbug! And God is angry with you. Go away!
A gentleman said, “I had decided to give up smoking and to offer this small sacrifice to Padre Pio. Since then, every evening, with the intact packet of cigarettes in my hand, I stayed in front of his image telling him, ‘Father...it is one...’ The second day, ‘Padre, it is two…’ Three months later, I went to San Giovanni Rotondo to see Padre Pio after doing the same thing every evening. ‘Padre,’ I told him as soon as I saw him, ‘I haven't been smoking for 81 days, 81 packets...’ Padre Pio said, ‘I know everything you know, you made me count the packets every evening.’”
A bus driver who was transporting tourists on a trip to Gargano was in the sacristy waiting to leave again when Padre Pio arrived. Although the bus driver was in the middle of the group of about ten people, Padre Pio noticed him and said, “Son, don’t you even ask for a blessing?" The driver, amazed, stepped forward from the group and knelt in order to receive Padre Pio’s blessing. But instead of blessing him, Padre Pio asked him: “So, what have you done?” – “Nothing Father, I haven’t done anything. I went to confession when I was at Monte Sant’Angelo, and I have even attended Mass with the tourists I am guiding. “And afterward?" - “I have purchased some religious objects.” “Ah, it was not those holy images that made you curse but those sweets!" The astounded driver remembered that after the Mass he had cursed because the number of nougats he bought turned out to be less than was needed by the tourists. Mortified, he tried to say something; but Padre Pio drew him far from the group and said, “That's not all. On the road on the way to St. Giovanni Rotondo, you slighted and offended a driver that you have met on your road..” The man who said he hadn't done anything started to say an act of contrition.
A lady came from England to have her confession heard by Padre Pio. She went to his confessional but Padre Pio closed the window saying: “I am not available to you.” The woman stayed for several weeks and during this time, daily returned to his confessional and daily was turned away. Finally, Padre Pio consented to hear her confession. She asked the Padre why he made her wait so long to be heard. Padre Pio answered: “And You?” “How long have you made Our Lord wait?” You should wonder how Jesus could welcome you after you committed so many sacrileges. You have delayed your judgment for years, besides sinning against your husband and your mother you have received Holy Communion in mortal sin. The woman was stunned and reformed. She cried when she received absolution. She returned to England a few days later, very happy.
A gentleman tells this story. Once I ate too many figs and I felt guilty about it. I thought I had committed a sin of gluttony. Since I would have confession with Padre Pio the next day I thought I would confess it then. The following day as I was walking slowly on the road to the convent, I made an examination of conscience. The sin of gluttony did not come to mind. Padre Pio heard my confession but before concluding and before the absolution I said to him, “I think I am guilty of yet another sin but I can’t remember it.” “Don’t worry,” he answered me smiling: “for two figs”.
God sees everything we do and we will have to give him a response for everything we do. The following story illustrates that God knows even our most hidden thoughts. In 1921 a man, who had belonged to a gang of unrepentant criminals had decided to kill his wife in order to be free to marry another woman. He put together a plan that would provide him with a good alibi. His wife was a devotee of Padre Pio who lived in the small town of Gargano. Since no one in that town knew of him or his reputation he thought it would be a good place to put his homicidal plan into effect. One day he suggested to his wife that they make a trip to Gargano and while they were there she could take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Friar she admired so much. When they arrived in the town, he left his wife in a hotel, and went alone to the convent to arrange for her to have confession with Padre Pio. He thought that while his wife was at confession he would be seen in town to corroborate his alibi. He looked for an inn where he would invite some of the town’s people to have a drink with him. Then, he would make some excuse, leave the inn, go kill his wife who had just left confession, and then later return to the inn. The convent was surrounded by open country and in the faint light of evening he felt sure no one would see anything. The plan was perfect. When he reached the convent he saw Padre Pio in the confessional. At this point he felt an impulse that he couldn’t contain. He knelt in front of Padre Pio’s confessional, and began to make the sign of the cross. Before he finished, cries came from the confessional. “Go away” Go away” “Go Away” “Don’t you know that it is forbidden to kill somebody?” Then Padre Pio grabbed the man by the arm and lead him away. The man was stunned, incredulous, and dismayed. He ran away to the country where he tripped on a boulder and fell face down in the mud. For the first time he acknowledged the horrors of his life full of sin. After a while he saw all of his existence and among the torments of his mind he understood his inhumane wickedness. Tormented to the depths of his soul he returned to church and asked Padre Pio to hear his confession. Padre Pio consented and with endless sweetness spoke to him as if he were an old friend. Padre Pio listed for him his whole life, moment by moment, sin after sin, crime after crime, everything in incredible detail, until he finally came to his recent intention to kill his wife. The man listened to Padre Pio speaking about the homicide that he had planned in his own mind. He had never told anyone else about it. Exhausted but finally free the man threw himself at the feat of the monk and begged forgiveness. This was not the end. Before the absolution was finished Padre Pio asked him, “You have desired to have children haven’t you? Well, do not offend God anymore and you will have a child”. The man returned a year later to Padre Pio, totally converted and he had become the father of a child who was born from the same wife he had wanted to kill.
The friar who was the Guardian of the convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo related: "Last year a dealer from Pisa came come to Padre Pio for a healing of his daughter. The holy man looked at him and said: 'You are sicker than your daughter. I see you dead.' 'No, no, no Padre, I'm very well' answered the man. "Wretch!," Padre Pio cried. 'Unfortunate! How are you well with so many sins on your conscience? I can see at least thirty-two sins!' Everybody can image the amazement of the dealer. After his confession, he told whomever would listen to him: "He already knew everything and he has told me everything about my life!"
A priest told of an adventure that happened to a brother of his who had travelled very far to go to confession to Padre Pio. After his confession Padre Pio asked him: "My son, do you have anything else to confess?" "No, Padre." Padre Pio told him to look for something else to remember. He examined his conscience again without success; he could not find anything else to confess. Then, with sweetness, Padre Pio told him: "Son, you arrived yesterday morning in Bologna at 5.00 a.m. Churches were still closed. Instead of waiting you went to the hotel to rest before Mass. You went to bed and then you fell asleep so deeply that you woke up at three o'clock in the afternoon, when it was too late to attend a mass. I know you have not done it in malice, but it was a negligence that hurt Our Lord!"
Because of the great crowds that went to see Padre Pio, two policemen were assigned to the convent to protect him. One day in the sacristy after the celebration of Mass, while Padre Pio was disrobing the sacred vestments, he turned smiling to one of the policemen and said: "As soon I have given thanksgiving for the Mass and you are finished here, come to my room because I have to speak to you." The policeman was very happy for this invitation so, when he ended his service, he went to Padre Pio's cell. Padre Pio told him: "Listen to me! In not more than eight days you will die at your father's home, my son." The policeman answered him: "But Padre, I am feeling very well." But Padre Pio added: "Don't worry about it! You will be better in eight days. What is this life? A pilgrimage. We are on a train, my son! Ask your boss to go on leave to enjoy your family...you are going to die...and your relatives??? They do not know anything about this..." The policeman, stunned by these words, asked: "Father, can I tell what you have told me?" "Not for now," the Father answered, "you can tell it only when you will be at home." The young man went to the town of St. Giovanni Rotondo and he asked for permission to go home. His boss did not want to grant him the permission because there was no suitable motivation. However, on Padre Pio's intercession, the policeman received the permission to go home. When the policeman reached his house, he told his parents: "I've come to greet you and Padre Pio has told me that I will die." After eight days the policeman died.
The monks of the convent of Venafro, who entertained Padre Pio a few times, were witnesses of other inexplicable phenomenon besides the visions. While Padre Pio was seriously ill, he was able to know the thoughts of people. One day Friar Augustine went to find him. "This morning say a particular prayer for me, " Padre Pio requested. Going down to the church, Friar Augustine decided to remember the brother in a special way during the Mass, but then he forgot to do it. When he returned to Padre Pio, the Padre asked him: "Have you prayed for me?" "I forgot to do it," Father Augustine answered. Padre Pio told him: "Don't worry. God has accepted the intention you made while you were going down the staircase."
Padre Pio was solicited more than once to expiate the sins of a man. Padre Pio, who was praying in choir, lifted his head and severely says: "This man has made Our Lord wait for twenty-five years to confess and he is not able to wait for me for five minutes?" It was ascertained that the fact was true.
Padre Pio’s prophetic spirit as told by Padre Carmelo, who was Superior of the Convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo, is contained in this testimony: “During the last World War, we spoke of the war every day and of the uproarious military victories of Germany on all the fronts of battle. I remember one morning I was in the little parlor of the convent, and I read in a newspaper the news that the German troops were moving by now in the direction of Moscow. For me, it was important news; in fact, I saw in that news that the war would end with the final victory of Germany. Going out in the corridor, I met Padre Pio, and gladly I told him shouting: “Father, the war is ended! Germany has won!” - “Who has told you it?” asked Padre Pio. - “Father, the newspaper,” I answered. - And Padre Pio said: “Germany has won the war? Keep in your mind that Germany, this time, will lose the war, worse than the last time! Remember it! “. I told him: “Father, the Germans are already near Moscow.” He added: “Remember what I have told you!” - I said: “But, if Germany loses the war, Italy will lose the war as well!“ - And, he emphatically answered me: “We will see if together they will end the war.” - I didn’t understand those words, taking into account the alliance of Italy and Germany, but the words became clear the following year after the armistice with the English and Americans of September 8, 1943, and the Italian declaration of war against Germany.
A lady said: “I wanted to take part in a trip to St. Giovanni Rotondo, in order to meet and to approach Padre Pio. It was the year 1961. A man in the bus suddenly cried: “My wife wanted me to bring her to this “impostor.” - The reference to the dear Padre Pio was evident, for that insult had struck me to the heart. When we arrived at St. Giovanni Rotondo, we immediately went to the church to take part in Holy Mass. At the end of the Mass, Padre Pio came toward us. When he was next to us, he stopped just in front of the gentleman who had insulted him on the bus and said: “Come here! Come to this impostor.” - The man became pale; he knelt, and stammering, he said: “Forgive me Father! Forgive me!” Then Padre Pio put his hand on his head and, blessing him, added: “Stand up, I forgive you.” That gentleman converted instantly to the delight of all present.
A lady told this story: “In 1945, my mother brought me to St. Giovanni Rotondo to introduce me to Padre Pio personally and let me confess to him. There were so many people! Waiting for my turn, I thought about what I had to tell him; but when I knelt in front of him, my mind went blank. The dear Father immediately acknowledged my timidity and, he told me smiling: “Do you mind if I speak for you? “I nodded, with a sign of the head, and after in a moment, I was amazed. It didn’t seem possible! Padre Pio told me, word by word, what I would have told him. I kept calm, and mentally, I thanked him for having helped me to experience one of his gifts. I submitted to him the health of my soul and my body. He answered: “I will be your spiritual father forever!“ I left with an immense joy in my heart. While I was returning on the train and in the street, I smelled an intense perfume of flowers that I will never forget!
A young man in Padova (Italy) approached Padre Pio for a benediction but the Father looked at him and told him: "Remove your communist partnership card from your wallet (it was the time when the Russian communist regime was persecuting the Catholic Church) together with the photos of those bad women that you jealously preserve. Are you not ashamed by such photos? ". "Yes, I am" - said the guy.
"And since you have intention to do cleaning, remove also the pictures of the bad women in the drawer of the table at home."
A certain lady knew very well Padre Pio. During a confession Padre Pio reproached her. The lady said: "I can't remember well which was the reason. When I went away from the confessional, I went to make the penitence but rather than to industriously question my conscience, I begged my protecting saints in heaven to leave me to understand what the Father wanted by me.
I continued so for several days. In the following confession Padre Pio told me: "You have gone around the World by complaining."
"But, Father, I have not complained about anything with anybody" - I said.
"Oh, really? Replied the Saint.
"For sure, Father".
And he said: "So, tell me, who have put the heaven upside-down with her requests? ".
Brother Pasquale said. One day leaving the Railway station in Foggia I took a bus to go to St. Giovanni Rotondo. While the bus was crossing the landscapes of Puglia, Brother Pasquale thought: "This spiritual life sometimes looks like we have to climb on the glasses!".
When he arrived at the convent and he entered the sacristy, he asked to confess with Padre Pio.
His turn arrived and he went in beyond the curtain of the confessional for the confession. After having received the absolution, he was about to go out, but Padre Pio told him smiling: "…so, Does sometimes this spiritual life look like we have to climb on the glasses!?".
Brother Pasquale didn't say a word and he understood Padre Pio was a man of God.
Mr. Enzo said: "They had told me that you could ask something to Padre Pio even with your mind during the mass. I tried to do so. But at the end of the mass, after the Saint had finished the thanks, I went to talk to padre Pio and I told him: "Father, prays for my sister."
He said: "Have you already told it to me, haven’t you? ".
Mrs. Lucietta said: "On 25, May it was Padre Pio’s birthday. After the mass, while he retired in the sacristy, Padre Pio should pass next to me. I told inside of my mind, "Please, Lord save him for long."
After few days, at the end of the confession I told him: "Best wishes, father, since I have not been able to say to you on 25, May."
Padre Pio said: "You have already told me… ".
Mrs. Alma said: "Padre Pio was confessing the women and I was in the church three or four meters far from him. During the day I would not have had the possibility to speak to him. Then I said with the thought: "Father, send a benediction to me. I need it."
I had just ended to think my desire, when I saw that the Saint, moving outside and making a sign of cross. Then he kept on confessing.
It was the second time that Teresa saw the Father. After the confession she went to the corridor of the convent to kiss his hand. When Padre Pio arrived, he didn't stop next to Teresa and he did not give her the hand. She could not touch Padre Pio so she was dissatisfied and she complained in her heart, without saying a word.
Then the Saint went back and paternally gruff told her: "Please, kiss my hand otherwise I give to you a small slap on the face."
Mr. Joseph of St. Giovanni Rotondo had fixed his date of wedding and he went to the convent to inform Padre Pio. "Father I will get married on September, 12th. It is the day devoted to the holy name of Mary". - "No" - said the Saint - "You will get marry the 8th of September, devoted to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgo." The young man was amazed about Padre Pio words. When he went home his mother told him: "Listen! Your cousin has established to get marry on September, 12th. As the guests in the majority are the same of ours, we have to change the date of your marriage; it suitable to do it on September the 8th." Joseph didn't say anything since Padre Pio had already informed him about the change.
A Padre Pio’s spiritual daughter’s father went to St. Giovanni Rotondo. He was from Modena. It was the first time that the father of the girl went to the convent. As soon as he met with Padre Pio, the monk said: "You are Adriana's dad, is it true? ".
Father Atanasio Lonardo said: "We was in the choir for the prayers and the meditation of the evening. The superior of the convent gave the signal of the term of the common prayer. Padre Pio said: "Pray for our Provincial father that is in agony". We knew that Father Bernard of Apicella was sick of bronchus-pneumonia, but we didn't know the serious state of the illness. We prayed a long. The day after, December 31st, 1937, we knew that he was dead. After few months Padre Pio said he had entered Heaven.
Discernment
Padre Pio had the gift of Discernment. He was able to recognize that a man was a priest or if objects had been blessed. The phenomenon of “discernment” was one among many of his gifts.
One day a gentleman who wore a jacket, tie and pants was in the sacristy with the others waiting for Padre Pio’s arrival. This man was in the first row. When Padre Pio saw him, he said, “Father, you came “disguised,” but you don’t have to be ashamed. Next time, you can come dressed as priest.”
Padre Pio told another young man who was wearing only pants and a sweater that he should go away and come back wearing the cowl of St. Dominic. Confused and embarrassed, the young man confessed in front of everyone to being a Dominican priest.
Sometimes, when Padre Pio was shown objects like Crowns of the Rosary, or asked to bless sacred images, he returned some to the applicant with the precise statement: “This has been already blessed.” He was correct.
Padre Pio was able to sense if water was "blessed water". And if someone gave him a bottle water of Lourdes' water without telling him where the water came from, he would bring the bottle to his lips and kiss it.
Once the bus-driver from Rome to whom Our Lady appeared in a cave at the three fountains in Rome (the Virgin of the Revelation) went to meet with padre Pio. He related: "When I was with him - we had never met before - I handed him a little envelope without telling him what it contained. Padre Pio took the envelope, held it to his breast with passion and he didn't return it to me. The little envelope contained some earth from the cave of the Three Fountains."
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A woman from Bologna (Italy) said: “Once my mother went to father Pio with some of her friends. She met with Father Pio in the sacristy of the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo as soon as he arrived. Padre Pio told her: “Why are you here? Go home, your husband is sick”. My mother thought she had left her husband in good condition. Anyway, she went back home on the first available train. When she arrived at home she asked about my father’s health. There was no news. But during the night my father had serious respiratory difficulties. Something pressed him in the throat. That night, at eleven p.m. my father was hospitalised brought into the operating room. The surgeon that operated on him extracted from his throat at least two basins of pus. Father Pio had seen in advance what would happen to this lady’s husband and with his suggestion and prayer he had succeeded in influencing the happy solution of the case.
A spiritual son of Padre Pio who lived in Rome omitted out of shame to make his customary small reverence when he passed near to a church in the company of some friends. Suddenly he heard Padre Pio’s voice saying: “Coward!” After a few days he went to San Giovanni Rotondo, where he was reproached by Padre Pio: “Be careful! This time I have only scolded you; next time I will give you a slap.”
One day at sunset, Padre Pio was in the garden of the monastery. He was chatting pleasantly with some of his spiritual children and others of the faithful, when he realized his handkerchief was missing. He said to one of those present, “Here is the key to my cell. Please go there and get me a handkerchief.” The man went to the cell but besides the handkerchief, he took one of Padre Pio’s half gloves and put it in his pocket. He could not pass up the opportunity to obtain a relic! But when he went back to the garden and gave Padre Pio the handkerchief, Padre Pio said to him: “Thanks, but now go back to the cell and put back in the drawer the half glove that you put in your pocket”.
A certain lady used to kneel in front of a photograph of Padre Pio every evening before going to bed to ask his blessing. Her husband, a good Catholic, thought that the gesture was an exaggeration and began laughing and teasing her each time she did so. Once he told Padre Pio about his wife’s habit. “Every evening my wife kneels in front of your photo and asks you to bless her.” Padre Pio answered, “I know, I know…and you start laughing.”
A certain man had the reputation of being a good Catholic, admired and esteemed by all who knew him. Actually he was living in sin. He had neglected his wife, and was now compensating for his loneliness by a relationship with another woman. On one occasion he went to confession to Padre Pio. In order to justify himself, he started talking about a "spiritual crisis." But he had not counted on facing an "extraordinary" confessor. Padre Pio stood up at once and shouted, “What spiritual crisis? You are a litterbug! And God is angry with you. Go away!
A gentleman said, “I had decided to give up smoking and to offer this small sacrifice to Padre Pio. Since then, every evening, with the intact packet of cigarettes in my hand, I stayed in front of his image telling him, ‘Father...it is one...’ The second day, ‘Padre, it is two…’ Three months later, I went to San Giovanni Rotondo to see Padre Pio after doing the same thing every evening. ‘Padre,’ I told him as soon as I saw him, ‘I haven't been smoking for 81 days, 81 packets...’ Padre Pio said, ‘I know everything you know, you made me count the packets every evening.’”
A bus driver who was transporting tourists on a trip to Gargano was in the sacristy waiting to leave again when Padre Pio arrived. Although the bus driver was in the middle of the group of about ten people, Padre Pio noticed him and said, “Son, don’t you even ask for a blessing?" The driver, amazed, stepped forward from the group and knelt in order to receive Padre Pio’s blessing. But instead of blessing him, Padre Pio asked him: “So, what have you done?” – “Nothing Father, I haven’t done anything. I went to confession when I was at Monte Sant’Angelo, and I have even attended Mass with the tourists I am guiding. “And afterward?" - “I have purchased some religious objects.” “Ah, it was not those holy images that made you curse but those sweets!" The astounded driver remembered that after the Mass he had cursed because the number of nougats he bought turned out to be less than was needed by the tourists. Mortified, he tried to say something; but Padre Pio drew him far from the group and said, “That's not all. On the road on the way to St. Giovanni Rotondo, you slighted and offended a driver that you have met on your road..” The man who said he hadn't done anything started to say an act of contrition.
A lady came from England to have her confession heard by Padre Pio. She went to his confessional but Padre Pio closed the window saying: “I am not available to you.” The woman stayed for several weeks and during this time, daily returned to his confessional and daily was turned away. Finally, Padre Pio consented to hear her confession. She asked the Padre why he made her wait so long to be heard. Padre Pio answered: “And You?” “How long have you made Our Lord wait?” You should wonder how Jesus could welcome you after you committed so many sacrileges. You have delayed your judgment for years, besides sinning against your husband and your mother you have received Holy Communion in mortal sin. The woman was stunned and reformed. She cried when she received absolution. She returned to England a few days later, very happy.
A gentleman tells this story. Once I ate too many figs and I felt guilty about it. I thought I had committed a sin of gluttony. Since I would have confession with Padre Pio the next day I thought I would confess it then. The following day as I was walking slowly on the road to the convent, I made an examination of conscience. The sin of gluttony did not come to mind. Padre Pio heard my confession but before concluding and before the absolution I said to him, “I think I am guilty of yet another sin but I can’t remember it.” “Don’t worry,” he answered me smiling: “for two figs”.
God sees everything we do and we will have to give him a response for everything we do. The following story illustrates that God knows even our most hidden thoughts. In 1921 a man, who had belonged to a gang of unrepentant criminals had decided to kill his wife in order to be free to marry another woman. He put together a plan that would provide him with a good alibi. His wife was a devotee of Padre Pio who lived in the small town of Gargano. Since no one in that town knew of him or his reputation he thought it would be a good place to put his homicidal plan into effect. One day he suggested to his wife that they make a trip to Gargano and while they were there she could take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Friar she admired so much. When they arrived in the town, he left his wife in a hotel, and went alone to the convent to arrange for her to have confession with Padre Pio. He thought that while his wife was at confession he would be seen in town to corroborate his alibi. He looked for an inn where he would invite some of the town’s people to have a drink with him. Then, he would make some excuse, leave the inn, go kill his wife who had just left confession, and then later return to the inn. The convent was surrounded by open country and in the faint light of evening he felt sure no one would see anything. The plan was perfect. When he reached the convent he saw Padre Pio in the confessional. At this point he felt an impulse that he couldn’t contain. He knelt in front of Padre Pio’s confessional, and began to make the sign of the cross. Before he finished, cries came from the confessional. “Go away” Go away” “Go Away” “Don’t you know that it is forbidden to kill somebody?” Then Padre Pio grabbed the man by the arm and lead him away. The man was stunned, incredulous, and dismayed. He ran away to the country where he tripped on a boulder and fell face down in the mud. For the first time he acknowledged the horrors of his life full of sin. After a while he saw all of his existence and among the torments of his mind he understood his inhumane wickedness. Tormented to the depths of his soul he returned to church and asked Padre Pio to hear his confession. Padre Pio consented and with endless sweetness spoke to him as if he were an old friend. Padre Pio listed for him his whole life, moment by moment, sin after sin, crime after crime, everything in incredible detail, until he finally came to his recent intention to kill his wife. The man listened to Padre Pio speaking about the homicide that he had planned in his own mind. He had never told anyone else about it. Exhausted but finally free the man threw himself at the feat of the monk and begged forgiveness. This was not the end. Before the absolution was finished Padre Pio asked him, “You have desired to have children haven’t you? Well, do not offend God anymore and you will have a child”. The man returned a year later to Padre Pio, totally converted and he had become the father of a child who was born from the same wife he had wanted to kill.
The friar who was the Guardian of the convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo related: "Last year a dealer from Pisa came come to Padre Pio for a healing of his daughter. The holy man looked at him and said: 'You are sicker than your daughter. I see you dead.' 'No, no, no Padre, I'm very well' answered the man. "Wretch!," Padre Pio cried. 'Unfortunate! How are you well with so many sins on your conscience? I can see at least thirty-two sins!' Everybody can image the amazement of the dealer. After his confession, he told whomever would listen to him: "He already knew everything and he has told me everything about my life!"
A priest told of an adventure that happened to a brother of his who had travelled very far to go to confession to Padre Pio. After his confession Padre Pio asked him: "My son, do you have anything else to confess?" "No, Padre." Padre Pio told him to look for something else to remember. He examined his conscience again without success; he could not find anything else to confess. Then, with sweetness, Padre Pio told him: "Son, you arrived yesterday morning in Bologna at 5.00 a.m. Churches were still closed. Instead of waiting you went to the hotel to rest before Mass. You went to bed and then you fell asleep so deeply that you woke up at three o'clock in the afternoon, when it was too late to attend a mass. I know you have not done it in malice, but it was a negligence that hurt Our Lord!"
Because of the great crowds that went to see Padre Pio, two policemen were assigned to the convent to protect him. One day in the sacristy after the celebration of Mass, while Padre Pio was disrobing the sacred vestments, he turned smiling to one of the policemen and said: "As soon I have given thanksgiving for the Mass and you are finished here, come to my room because I have to speak to you." The policeman was very happy for this invitation so, when he ended his service, he went to Padre Pio's cell. Padre Pio told him: "Listen to me! In not more than eight days you will die at your father's home, my son." The policeman answered him: "But Padre, I am feeling very well." But Padre Pio added: "Don't worry about it! You will be better in eight days. What is this life? A pilgrimage. We are on a train, my son! Ask your boss to go on leave to enjoy your family...you are going to die...and your relatives??? They do not know anything about this..." The policeman, stunned by these words, asked: "Father, can I tell what you have told me?" "Not for now," the Father answered, "you can tell it only when you will be at home." The young man went to the town of St. Giovanni Rotondo and he asked for permission to go home. His boss did not want to grant him the permission because there was no suitable motivation. However, on Padre Pio's intercession, the policeman received the permission to go home. When the policeman reached his house, he told his parents: "I've come to greet you and Padre Pio has told me that I will die." After eight days the policeman died.
The monks of the convent of Venafro, who entertained Padre Pio a few times, were witnesses of other inexplicable phenomenon besides the visions. While Padre Pio was seriously ill, he was able to know the thoughts of people. One day Friar Augustine went to find him. "This morning say a particular prayer for me, " Padre Pio requested. Going down to the church, Friar Augustine decided to remember the brother in a special way during the Mass, but then he forgot to do it. When he returned to Padre Pio, the Padre asked him: "Have you prayed for me?" "I forgot to do it," Father Augustine answered. Padre Pio told him: "Don't worry. God has accepted the intention you made while you were going down the staircase."
Padre Pio was solicited more than once to expiate the sins of a man. Padre Pio, who was praying in choir, lifted his head and severely says: "This man has made Our Lord wait for twenty-five years to confess and he is not able to wait for me for five minutes?" It was ascertained that the fact was true.
Padre Pio’s prophetic spirit as told by Padre Carmelo, who was Superior of the Convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo, is contained in this testimony: “During the last World War, we spoke of the war every day and of the uproarious military victories of Germany on all the fronts of battle. I remember one morning I was in the little parlor of the convent, and I read in a newspaper the news that the German troops were moving by now in the direction of Moscow. For me, it was important news; in fact, I saw in that news that the war would end with the final victory of Germany. Going out in the corridor, I met Padre Pio, and gladly I told him shouting: “Father, the war is ended! Germany has won!” - “Who has told you it?” asked Padre Pio. - “Father, the newspaper,” I answered. - And Padre Pio said: “Germany has won the war? Keep in your mind that Germany, this time, will lose the war, worse than the last time! Remember it! “. I told him: “Father, the Germans are already near Moscow.” He added: “Remember what I have told you!” - I said: “But, if Germany loses the war, Italy will lose the war as well!“ - And, he emphatically answered me: “We will see if together they will end the war.” - I didn’t understand those words, taking into account the alliance of Italy and Germany, but the words became clear the following year after the armistice with the English and Americans of September 8, 1943, and the Italian declaration of war against Germany.
A lady said: “I wanted to take part in a trip to St. Giovanni Rotondo, in order to meet and to approach Padre Pio. It was the year 1961. A man in the bus suddenly cried: “My wife wanted me to bring her to this “impostor.” - The reference to the dear Padre Pio was evident, for that insult had struck me to the heart. When we arrived at St. Giovanni Rotondo, we immediately went to the church to take part in Holy Mass. At the end of the Mass, Padre Pio came toward us. When he was next to us, he stopped just in front of the gentleman who had insulted him on the bus and said: “Come here! Come to this impostor.” - The man became pale; he knelt, and stammering, he said: “Forgive me Father! Forgive me!” Then Padre Pio put his hand on his head and, blessing him, added: “Stand up, I forgive you.” That gentleman converted instantly to the delight of all present.
A lady told this story: “In 1945, my mother brought me to St. Giovanni Rotondo to introduce me to Padre Pio personally and let me confess to him. There were so many people! Waiting for my turn, I thought about what I had to tell him; but when I knelt in front of him, my mind went blank. The dear Father immediately acknowledged my timidity and, he told me smiling: “Do you mind if I speak for you? “I nodded, with a sign of the head, and after in a moment, I was amazed. It didn’t seem possible! Padre Pio told me, word by word, what I would have told him. I kept calm, and mentally, I thanked him for having helped me to experience one of his gifts. I submitted to him the health of my soul and my body. He answered: “I will be your spiritual father forever!“ I left with an immense joy in my heart. While I was returning on the train and in the street, I smelled an intense perfume of flowers that I will never forget!
A young man in Padova (Italy) approached Padre Pio for a benediction but the Father looked at him and told him: "Remove your communist partnership card from your wallet (it was the time when the Russian communist regime was persecuting the Catholic Church) together with the photos of those bad women that you jealously preserve. Are you not ashamed by such photos? ". "Yes, I am" - said the guy.
"And since you have intention to do cleaning, remove also the pictures of the bad women in the drawer of the table at home."
A certain lady knew very well Padre Pio. During a confession Padre Pio reproached her. The lady said: "I can't remember well which was the reason. When I went away from the confessional, I went to make the penitence but rather than to industriously question my conscience, I begged my protecting saints in heaven to leave me to understand what the Father wanted by me.
I continued so for several days. In the following confession Padre Pio told me: "You have gone around the World by complaining."
"But, Father, I have not complained about anything with anybody" - I said.
"Oh, really? Replied the Saint.
"For sure, Father".
And he said: "So, tell me, who have put the heaven upside-down with her requests? ".
Brother Pasquale said. One day leaving the Railway station in Foggia I took a bus to go to St. Giovanni Rotondo. While the bus was crossing the landscapes of Puglia, Brother Pasquale thought: "This spiritual life sometimes looks like we have to climb on the glasses!".
When he arrived at the convent and he entered the sacristy, he asked to confess with Padre Pio.
His turn arrived and he went in beyond the curtain of the confessional for the confession. After having received the absolution, he was about to go out, but Padre Pio told him smiling: "…so, Does sometimes this spiritual life look like we have to climb on the glasses!?".
Brother Pasquale didn't say a word and he understood Padre Pio was a man of God.
Mr. Enzo said: "They had told me that you could ask something to Padre Pio even with your mind during the mass. I tried to do so. But at the end of the mass, after the Saint had finished the thanks, I went to talk to padre Pio and I told him: "Father, prays for my sister."
He said: "Have you already told it to me, haven’t you? ".
Mrs. Lucietta said: "On 25, May it was Padre Pio’s birthday. After the mass, while he retired in the sacristy, Padre Pio should pass next to me. I told inside of my mind, "Please, Lord save him for long."
After few days, at the end of the confession I told him: "Best wishes, father, since I have not been able to say to you on 25, May."
Padre Pio said: "You have already told me… ".
Mrs. Alma said: "Padre Pio was confessing the women and I was in the church three or four meters far from him. During the day I would not have had the possibility to speak to him. Then I said with the thought: "Father, send a benediction to me. I need it."
I had just ended to think my desire, when I saw that the Saint, moving outside and making a sign of cross. Then he kept on confessing.
It was the second time that Teresa saw the Father. After the confession she went to the corridor of the convent to kiss his hand. When Padre Pio arrived, he didn't stop next to Teresa and he did not give her the hand. She could not touch Padre Pio so she was dissatisfied and she complained in her heart, without saying a word.
Then the Saint went back and paternally gruff told her: "Please, kiss my hand otherwise I give to you a small slap on the face."
Mr. Joseph of St. Giovanni Rotondo had fixed his date of wedding and he went to the convent to inform Padre Pio. "Father I will get married on September, 12th. It is the day devoted to the holy name of Mary". - "No" - said the Saint - "You will get marry the 8th of September, devoted to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgo." The young man was amazed about Padre Pio words. When he went home his mother told him: "Listen! Your cousin has established to get marry on September, 12th. As the guests in the majority are the same of ours, we have to change the date of your marriage; it suitable to do it on September the 8th." Joseph didn't say anything since Padre Pio had already informed him about the change.
A Padre Pio’s spiritual daughter’s father went to St. Giovanni Rotondo. He was from Modena. It was the first time that the father of the girl went to the convent. As soon as he met with Padre Pio, the monk said: "You are Adriana's dad, is it true? ".
Father Atanasio Lonardo said: "We was in the choir for the prayers and the meditation of the evening. The superior of the convent gave the signal of the term of the common prayer. Padre Pio said: "Pray for our Provincial father that is in agony". We knew that Father Bernard of Apicella was sick of bronchus-pneumonia, but we didn't know the serious state of the illness. We prayed a long. The day after, December 31st, 1937, we knew that he was dead. After few months Padre Pio said he had entered Heaven.
Discernment
Padre Pio had the gift of Discernment. He was able to recognize that a man was a priest or if objects had been blessed. The phenomenon of “discernment” was one among many of his gifts.
One day a gentleman who wore a jacket, tie and pants was in the sacristy with the others waiting for Padre Pio’s arrival. This man was in the first row. When Padre Pio saw him, he said, “Father, you came “disguised,” but you don’t have to be ashamed. Next time, you can come dressed as priest.”
Padre Pio told another young man who was wearing only pants and a sweater that he should go away and come back wearing the cowl of St. Dominic. Confused and embarrassed, the young man confessed in front of everyone to being a Dominican priest.
Sometimes, when Padre Pio was shown objects like Crowns of the Rosary, or asked to bless sacred images, he returned some to the applicant with the precise statement: “This has been already blessed.” He was correct.
Padre Pio was able to sense if water was "blessed water". And if someone gave him a bottle water of Lourdes' water without telling him where the water came from, he would bring the bottle to his lips and kiss it.
Once the bus-driver from Rome to whom Our Lady appeared in a cave at the three fountains in Rome (the Virgin of the Revelation) went to meet with padre Pio. He related: "When I was with him - we had never met before - I handed him a little envelope without telling him what it contained. Padre Pio took the envelope, held it to his breast with passion and he didn't return it to me. The little envelope contained some earth from the cave of the Three Fountains."
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/knowledge.htm
SAINT PIO : THE APPARITIONS
Padre Pio started to have apparitions when he was a child. The little Francesco didn’t speak of it because he believed that the apparitions normally happened to all people. The apparitions were of Angels, of Saints, of Jesus, and of Our Lady, but sometimes, also of devils. In the last days of December, 1902, while he was meditating on his vocation, Francesco had a vision. Here is the description that he gave several years later to his confessor. “Francis saw on his side a stately man of rare beauty, shining as the sun, that picked him up by the hand and encouraged him with the precise invitation: ‘It is convenient for you to come with me and fight like a good warrior.’ He was conducted to a spacious country, among a crowd of men divided into two groups: on one side were men with very beautiful faces and dressed in white dresses, candid as the snow. On the other side there were men with horrid faces and dressed in black dresses; they looked like dark shades. Francesco was situated in the middle of these two groups of spectators and he saw that a tall man, so tall that he could touch the clouds with his forehead and with an ugly face, came toward him. The character that shined exhorted Francesco to fight against this monstrous character. Francesco prayed in order to avoid the fury of the strange character but the bright character didn’t disappear: ‘Your resistance is useless. It is worthwhile to fight against this bad character. Please, be faithful and enter confidently in the struggle. I will be nearby you; I will help you and I won’t allow him to defeat you.’ Francesco agreed and the fight was terrible. With the help of the bright character that always was nearby him, Francesco won the fight. The monstrous character was forced to run away and he dragged with him the big crowd of men with horrid faces, among howls, curses and cries. The other crowd of men with beautiful faces roared with applause and praises for him who had assisted the poor Francesco in that great battle. The splendid and bright character, more bright than the sun, put down on the head of victorious Francesco a wonderful crown that is not possible to describe. But then the crown was removed from Francesco’s head and the good character said: ‘Another crown, more beautiful than this one, I have preserved for you if you will fight with that character with which you have now fought. He will always return to the assault; you will fight without having any doubt of my help. Do not worry about his strength; I will be nearby you, I always will help you, and you will succeed in winning.’” Such visions were followed by real clashes with the Devil. Padre Pio had several clashes against the “enemy hostile to souls” during his life. In fact, one of Padre Pio’s first goals was to tear souls from the clutches of the Devil.
One evening Padre Pio was in a room, on the ground floor of the convent, turned guesthouse. He was alone and had just laid down on the cot when, suddenly, a man appeared to him wound in a black mantle. Padre Pio was amazed and arose to ask the man who he was and what he wanted. The stranger answered that he was a soul in Purgatory. “I am Pietro Di Mauro” he said “I died in a fire, on September 18, 1908, in this convent. In fact this convent, after the expropriation of the ecclesiastical goods, had been turned into a hospice for elderly. I died in the flames, while I was sleeping on my straw mattress, right in this room. I have come from Purgatory: God has granted me to come here and ask you to say Mass for me tomorrow morning. Thanks to one Mass I will be able to enter into Paradise”. Father Pio told the man that he would say Mass for him..., “but…“padre Pio said: “I, wanted to accompany him to the door of the convent. I surely realised I had talked to a dead person, in fact when we went out in the church square, the man that was at my side, suddenly disappeared”. I have to admit that I re-entered in the convent rather frightened. Padre Paolino of Casacalenda, Superior of the convent, noticed my nervousness, after explaining to him what happened, I asked “permission to celebrate Holy Mass for the deceased soul,” A few days later, Father Paolino, wanting to verify the information, went to the office of the registry of the commune of St. Giovanni Rotondo. He required and got the permission to consult the register of the deceased in the year 1908. The story of Father Pio Father was true. In the register of deaths of the month of September, Father Paolino found the name, last name and cause of death: “On September 18, 1908 in the fire of the hospice, Pietro Di Mauro died.”
Mrs Cleonice Morcaldi of St. Giovanni Rotondo was one of the Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters. Her mother had died. One month after the death of her mother, Father Pio told Mrs Cleonice at the end of the confession: “This morning your mother has gone to Heaven, I have seen her while I was celebrating Holy Mass.”
Padre Pio told this story to padre Anastasio. “One evening, while I was alone in choir to pray, I heard the rustle of a suit and I saw a young monk that stirred next to the High altar. It seemed that the young monk was dusting the candelabra and straightening the flower vases. I thought he was Padre Leone rearranging the altar, and, since it was supper time, I went to him and I told him: “Padre Leone, go to dine, this is not the time to dust and to straighten the altar”. But a voice, that was not Father Leone’s answered me”: “I am not Padre Leone”, “and who are you? “, I asked him. “I am a brother of yours that made the noviciate here. I was ordered to clean the altar during the year of the noviciate. Unfortunately many times I didn’t reverence Jesus while passing in front of the altar, thus causing the Holy Sacrament that was preserved in the tabernacle to be disrespected. For this serious carelessness, I am still in Purgatory. Now, God, with his endless goodness, sent me here so that you may quicken the time I will enjoy Paradise. Take care of me.” I believed to be generous to that suffering soul, so I exclaimed: “you will be in Paradise tomorrow morning, when I will celebrate Holy Mass”. That soul cried: “Cruel!” Then he wept and disappeared. That complaint produced in me a wound to the heart that I have felt and I will feel my whole life. In fact I would have been able to immediately send that soul to Heaven but I condemned him to remain another night in the flames of Purgatory.”
Friar Pio wrote some experiences in his letters to his spiritual father:
Letter to Friar Augustine, on April 7, 1913, “My dear Father, I was still in bed on Friday morning, when Jesus appeared to me. He was battered and disfigured. He showed me a great crowd of priests, among whom were different ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating or where donning or removing their vestments. To see Jesus in this condition caused me much pain. I wanted to ask him why he suffered so much. He did not answer me, but showed me that priest being punished. But shortly after, he looked sadly at these priests and I noticed, to my great my horror, two tears running down his face. Jesus went away from that crowd of priests and with a great expression of disgust on his face, cried’: “Butchers!” Then He told me: “My Child, do not believe that my agony has been only three hours, no; actually I will be in agony till the end of the world because of the souls I love. During the time of the agony, my child, nobody can sleep. My soul goes looking for some drop of human pity, but they leave me alone under the weight of their indifference. The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers increase the agony for me. They badly respond to my love! The greater torment for me is that these people add their contempt to their indifference and disbelief. How many times my wrath was to strike them like lightning, but I was stopped by the angels and the souls who love me..... Write to your confessor and describe to him what you saw and heard from me this morning. Tell him to show your letter to the Provincial... “Jesus continued to talk but I may never reveal what he said...”
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to Father Agostino of (February 13, 1913): “Don’t worry, I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength” - Jesus reveals to me. - “I desire that your soul be purified and tried with daily hidden martyrdom; don’t be frightened if I allow the Devil to torment you, and the world to disgust you, because nobody will win against those who suffer under the cross for my love, for I have decided to protect them. “
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to father Agostino, (November 18, 1912), “... Jesus, his dear Mother, the Guardian Angel with the others to encourage me, that they not forget to tell me that the victim, to be called victim, has to lose all his blood”.
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to father Agostino, of (March 12, 1913), “... my father, listen to our sweet Jesus’ complaints: “My love for men is repaid with so much ingratitude! Those people would have offended me less if I had loved them less. My father doesn’t want to tolerate them anymore. I would like to stop loving them, but... (And here Jesus kept silent and, afterward taken aback) but my heart is made for loving! The tired men don’t try to overcome the temptations. Rather these men enjoy their iniquities. The souls I love more than the other’s when they suffer a temptation, when they don’t succeed in withstanding. The weak souls are dismayed and desperate. The strong souls trust Jesus. They leave me alone at night and in the morning in Church. They don’t take care of the sacrament of the altar; they don’t speak of this sacrament of love anymore; also, the people who do speak of the sacrament do it with so much indifference and coldness. My Heart has been forgotten; nobody cares for my love; I am always saddened. My house has become a theatre of plays for a lot of people; even my priests that I have always protected carefully, that I have loved as the apple of my eye; they should comfort my sorrowful heart; they should help me in the redemption of the souls, instead.... Who would believe it? I receive ingratitude from them. I see, my Son, a lot of them that... (Here he stopped, sobs tightened his throat, he wept) that under false semblance they betray me with sacrilegious communions, stamping on the light and the strength that I continually give them... “.
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/App.htm
One evening Padre Pio was in a room, on the ground floor of the convent, turned guesthouse. He was alone and had just laid down on the cot when, suddenly, a man appeared to him wound in a black mantle. Padre Pio was amazed and arose to ask the man who he was and what he wanted. The stranger answered that he was a soul in Purgatory. “I am Pietro Di Mauro” he said “I died in a fire, on September 18, 1908, in this convent. In fact this convent, after the expropriation of the ecclesiastical goods, had been turned into a hospice for elderly. I died in the flames, while I was sleeping on my straw mattress, right in this room. I have come from Purgatory: God has granted me to come here and ask you to say Mass for me tomorrow morning. Thanks to one Mass I will be able to enter into Paradise”. Father Pio told the man that he would say Mass for him..., “but…“padre Pio said: “I, wanted to accompany him to the door of the convent. I surely realised I had talked to a dead person, in fact when we went out in the church square, the man that was at my side, suddenly disappeared”. I have to admit that I re-entered in the convent rather frightened. Padre Paolino of Casacalenda, Superior of the convent, noticed my nervousness, after explaining to him what happened, I asked “permission to celebrate Holy Mass for the deceased soul,” A few days later, Father Paolino, wanting to verify the information, went to the office of the registry of the commune of St. Giovanni Rotondo. He required and got the permission to consult the register of the deceased in the year 1908. The story of Father Pio Father was true. In the register of deaths of the month of September, Father Paolino found the name, last name and cause of death: “On September 18, 1908 in the fire of the hospice, Pietro Di Mauro died.”
Mrs Cleonice Morcaldi of St. Giovanni Rotondo was one of the Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters. Her mother had died. One month after the death of her mother, Father Pio told Mrs Cleonice at the end of the confession: “This morning your mother has gone to Heaven, I have seen her while I was celebrating Holy Mass.”
Padre Pio told this story to padre Anastasio. “One evening, while I was alone in choir to pray, I heard the rustle of a suit and I saw a young monk that stirred next to the High altar. It seemed that the young monk was dusting the candelabra and straightening the flower vases. I thought he was Padre Leone rearranging the altar, and, since it was supper time, I went to him and I told him: “Padre Leone, go to dine, this is not the time to dust and to straighten the altar”. But a voice, that was not Father Leone’s answered me”: “I am not Padre Leone”, “and who are you? “, I asked him. “I am a brother of yours that made the noviciate here. I was ordered to clean the altar during the year of the noviciate. Unfortunately many times I didn’t reverence Jesus while passing in front of the altar, thus causing the Holy Sacrament that was preserved in the tabernacle to be disrespected. For this serious carelessness, I am still in Purgatory. Now, God, with his endless goodness, sent me here so that you may quicken the time I will enjoy Paradise. Take care of me.” I believed to be generous to that suffering soul, so I exclaimed: “you will be in Paradise tomorrow morning, when I will celebrate Holy Mass”. That soul cried: “Cruel!” Then he wept and disappeared. That complaint produced in me a wound to the heart that I have felt and I will feel my whole life. In fact I would have been able to immediately send that soul to Heaven but I condemned him to remain another night in the flames of Purgatory.”
Friar Pio wrote some experiences in his letters to his spiritual father:
Letter to Friar Augustine, on April 7, 1913, “My dear Father, I was still in bed on Friday morning, when Jesus appeared to me. He was battered and disfigured. He showed me a great crowd of priests, among whom were different ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating or where donning or removing their vestments. To see Jesus in this condition caused me much pain. I wanted to ask him why he suffered so much. He did not answer me, but showed me that priest being punished. But shortly after, he looked sadly at these priests and I noticed, to my great my horror, two tears running down his face. Jesus went away from that crowd of priests and with a great expression of disgust on his face, cried’: “Butchers!” Then He told me: “My Child, do not believe that my agony has been only three hours, no; actually I will be in agony till the end of the world because of the souls I love. During the time of the agony, my child, nobody can sleep. My soul goes looking for some drop of human pity, but they leave me alone under the weight of their indifference. The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers increase the agony for me. They badly respond to my love! The greater torment for me is that these people add their contempt to their indifference and disbelief. How many times my wrath was to strike them like lightning, but I was stopped by the angels and the souls who love me..... Write to your confessor and describe to him what you saw and heard from me this morning. Tell him to show your letter to the Provincial... “Jesus continued to talk but I may never reveal what he said...”
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to Father Agostino of (February 13, 1913): “Don’t worry, I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength” - Jesus reveals to me. - “I desire that your soul be purified and tried with daily hidden martyrdom; don’t be frightened if I allow the Devil to torment you, and the world to disgust you, because nobody will win against those who suffer under the cross for my love, for I have decided to protect them. “
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to father Agostino, (November 18, 1912), “... Jesus, his dear Mother, the Guardian Angel with the others to encourage me, that they not forget to tell me that the victim, to be called victim, has to lose all his blood”.
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
Letter to father Agostino, of (March 12, 1913), “... my father, listen to our sweet Jesus’ complaints: “My love for men is repaid with so much ingratitude! Those people would have offended me less if I had loved them less. My father doesn’t want to tolerate them anymore. I would like to stop loving them, but... (And here Jesus kept silent and, afterward taken aback) but my heart is made for loving! The tired men don’t try to overcome the temptations. Rather these men enjoy their iniquities. The souls I love more than the other’s when they suffer a temptation, when they don’t succeed in withstanding. The weak souls are dismayed and desperate. The strong souls trust Jesus. They leave me alone at night and in the morning in Church. They don’t take care of the sacrament of the altar; they don’t speak of this sacrament of love anymore; also, the people who do speak of the sacrament do it with so much indifference and coldness. My Heart has been forgotten; nobody cares for my love; I am always saddened. My house has become a theatre of plays for a lot of people; even my priests that I have always protected carefully, that I have loved as the apple of my eye; they should comfort my sorrowful heart; they should help me in the redemption of the souls, instead.... Who would believe it? I receive ingratitude from them. I see, my Son, a lot of them that... (Here he stopped, sobs tightened his throat, he wept) that under false semblance they betray me with sacrilegious communions, stamping on the light and the strength that I continually give them... “.
Epistolary I (1910-1922) PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA: a cura di Melchiorre da Pobladura e Alessandro da Ripabottoni - Edizioni "Padre Pio da Pietrelcina" Convento S.Maria delle Grazie San Giovanni Rotondo - FG
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/App.htm
SAINT PIO OF PIETRALCINA: BILOCATION
Bilocation can be defined as the simultaneous presence of a person in two different places. Numerous witnesses connected to the Christian religious tradition have reported events of bilocation, which have been attributed to many Saints. Padre Pio had this charisma and had been seen by eyewitnesses in different places at the same time. Here are several testimonials.
Mrs. Maria, one of Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters, said that one evening her brother was praying when suddenly he fell asleep. He was immediately awoken by a slap on his right check. He realised that the hand which hit him was covered with a half glove. He suddenly thought of Padre Pio. The next day he asked Padre Pio if he had slapped him. Padre Pio answered; “this is the way to cast away sleeping while praying?” With a slap Padre Pio had “awakened” the attention of the praying man.
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Bilo.htm
One day, a former Italian Army Officer entered the sacristy and watching Padre Pio said; “Yes, here he is! I am not wrong!” He approached Padre Pio, and kneeling in front of him crying, he said; “Padre, thank you for saving me from death.” Afterwards, the man told the people present there, “I was a Captain of the Infantry and one day on the battlefield in a terrible hour of battle, not far from me I saw a friar who said; ‘Sir, go away from that place!’ I went towards him and as soon as I moved, a grenade burst in the place where I was before and opened a chasm. I turned around in order to find the friar, but he was not there anymore.” Padre Pio, who was bilocating, had saved his life.
Father Alberto, who met Padre Pio in 1917, stated “I saw Padre Pio standing in front of the window, looking at the mountain. He was speaking to himself. I approached him in order to kiss his hand, but he did not notice my presence and I noticed that his hand was rigid. At that time, I heard that he was clearly giving absolution and pardon to someone. After a while, Padre Pio shook like awakening from a nap. He looked at me and said; ‘you are here. I did not realize it!’ After some days, a telegram from Turin was delivered. Someone was thanking the superior of the convent for having sent Padre Pio to Turin to assist a dying person. I realized that the man was dying in the same moment Padre Pio was blessing him in San Giovanni Rotondo. Obviously, the superior of the convent had not sent Padre Pio to Turin, but he had bilocated there.”
In 1946, an American family went from Philadelphia to Saint Giovanni Rotondo in order to thank Padre Pio. In fact, their son, a bombardier plane pilot (during World War II), had been saved by Padre Pio in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. The son explained; “the airplane was flying near the airport on the island where it was going to land after it had loaded its bombs. However, the airplane was struck by a Japanese attack plane. The aircraft exploded before the rest of the crew had the chance to parachute. Only I succeeded in going out of the airplane. I don’t know how I did it. I tried to open the parachute, but I didn’t succeed. I would have smashed to the ground if I had not received a friar’s help who had appeared in midair. He had a white beard. He took me in his arms and put me sweetly at the entrance of the base. You can imagine the astonishment inspired by my story. Nobody could believe it, but given my presence there, they had no choice. I recognized the friar who saved my life some days later while on home leave, I saw the monk in one of my mother’s pictures. She told me she had asked Padre Pio to look after me.”
A woman was at her daughter’s home in Bologna. She had a tumor in her arm. So she agreed with her daughter to go for surgery. The surgeon told her to be patient and to wait some days before establishing a date for the surgery. In the meanwhile, her son-in-law sent a telegram to Padre Pio asking him to pray for his mother-in-law. At the moment when the telegram reached Padre Pio, the woman, who was in the dinning room alone, saw a capuchin friar enter through the door. “I am Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,”he said. Then, after asking her what the doctor had said and encouraging her to trust in Our Blessed Mother, he made the sign of the Cross on her arm and went out of the room. At that point, the woman called for the maid, her daughter and son-in-law. She asked them why they allowed Padre Pio to enter without announcing him. They responded that they had not seen Padre Pio and furthermore, they had not opened the door to anyone. The next day, the surgeon did a medical check-up on the woman in preparation for surgery; however, he could not find any tumor.
Padre Pio visited the Bishop who had ordained him on the 10 August 1910 in the Cathedral of Benevento. It happened before the Bishop’s death. Padre Pio bilocated there in order to give the Bishop his spiritual support.
Even Blessed don Orione spoke about padre Pio’s bilocation. He said: “I was in Saint Peter’s Church in Rome in order to attend the celebration of Saint Teresa’s beatification. There also was Father Pio, despite the fact that he was in his convent at the same time. I saw him. He was smiling and coming towards me through the crowd, but when I was not far from him, he disappeared.
In 1951, Father Pio celebrated Holy Mass for a convent of nuns in Czechoslovakia. After Mass, the nuns went to the sacristy to offer Father Pio coffee in order to thank him for his unexpected visit, but they did not find the holy man in the sacristy. Thus the nuns realised that Father Pio had bilocated there.
In 1956, Padre Pio served Holy Mass for Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary in his Budapest prison. Someone who had news of the imprisonment had asked Father Pio directly: “Father Pio you have served the Mass to the Cardinal of Hungary, so you have spoken to him! So you have been in jail with him and you have seen him!” - Father Pio answered: “Of course, if I had spoken to him I have also seen him”. He was bilocating.
Mother Speranza, who founded the order of the Handmaids of the Merciful Love, said she had seen Padre Pio every day for one year in Rome. He had bilocated there. We know that padre Pio had never been to Rome, except once in 1917, in order to take his sister to a convent she had decided to enter..
An Italian General of the Army, called Cadorna, felt in such condition of depression after the defeat of Caporetto, that he was contemplating suicide. One evening he went to his room and he commanded his orderly not to allow anybody to come in. He took his gun from a drawer and pointed the gun at his head, but suddenly he heard a voice: “Oh General, why do you want to do such stupid thing?” The voice and the presence of the Friar helped the general change his mind. He wondered how it was possible that a Friar had entered his room. He asked for explanations from his orderly but he answered he had seen nobody going into his room. Some years later, the General read in a newspaper of a Friar that worked miracles in the Gargano area. He secretly went there but he was astonished when father Pio said to him: “Hello General, you ran a great risk that evening, didn’t you?”
Father Agostino wrote: “A Nun, in Florence, told me after the communion Padre Pio had appeared to her to comfort her and to bless her. So I wanted to ask to Padre Pio.
I told him: "Do you do some trips to Florence from time to time? " "A nun has told this to me."
"Yes, I do, Father" He humbly said me.
It was clear Padre Pio had gone to Florence in bilocation
The last bilocation of Padre Pio occurred the afternoon before the day of his death. Padre Pio has gone to greet in Genova (Italy) the brother Umile who was wounded.
Around 16.30, in September 22nd , in 1968 Sister Ludovica goes to father Umile to bring him a cup of tea. The religious feels a strong perfume of flowers that floods the whole environment. Since she doesn't know the origin of the perfume she looks at the monk for an explanation.
Father Umile with naturalness and spontaneity says: "Padre Pio has come to greet me and he has given to me his last goodbye."
The following day the news of the death of Padre Pio spreads around the World.
Mrs. Maria, one of Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters, said that one evening her brother was praying when suddenly he fell asleep. He was immediately awoken by a slap on his right check. He realised that the hand which hit him was covered with a half glove. He suddenly thought of Padre Pio. The next day he asked Padre Pio if he had slapped him. Padre Pio answered; “this is the way to cast away sleeping while praying?” With a slap Padre Pio had “awakened” the attention of the praying man.
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Bilo.htm
One day, a former Italian Army Officer entered the sacristy and watching Padre Pio said; “Yes, here he is! I am not wrong!” He approached Padre Pio, and kneeling in front of him crying, he said; “Padre, thank you for saving me from death.” Afterwards, the man told the people present there, “I was a Captain of the Infantry and one day on the battlefield in a terrible hour of battle, not far from me I saw a friar who said; ‘Sir, go away from that place!’ I went towards him and as soon as I moved, a grenade burst in the place where I was before and opened a chasm. I turned around in order to find the friar, but he was not there anymore.” Padre Pio, who was bilocating, had saved his life.
Father Alberto, who met Padre Pio in 1917, stated “I saw Padre Pio standing in front of the window, looking at the mountain. He was speaking to himself. I approached him in order to kiss his hand, but he did not notice my presence and I noticed that his hand was rigid. At that time, I heard that he was clearly giving absolution and pardon to someone. After a while, Padre Pio shook like awakening from a nap. He looked at me and said; ‘you are here. I did not realize it!’ After some days, a telegram from Turin was delivered. Someone was thanking the superior of the convent for having sent Padre Pio to Turin to assist a dying person. I realized that the man was dying in the same moment Padre Pio was blessing him in San Giovanni Rotondo. Obviously, the superior of the convent had not sent Padre Pio to Turin, but he had bilocated there.”
In 1946, an American family went from Philadelphia to Saint Giovanni Rotondo in order to thank Padre Pio. In fact, their son, a bombardier plane pilot (during World War II), had been saved by Padre Pio in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. The son explained; “the airplane was flying near the airport on the island where it was going to land after it had loaded its bombs. However, the airplane was struck by a Japanese attack plane. The aircraft exploded before the rest of the crew had the chance to parachute. Only I succeeded in going out of the airplane. I don’t know how I did it. I tried to open the parachute, but I didn’t succeed. I would have smashed to the ground if I had not received a friar’s help who had appeared in midair. He had a white beard. He took me in his arms and put me sweetly at the entrance of the base. You can imagine the astonishment inspired by my story. Nobody could believe it, but given my presence there, they had no choice. I recognized the friar who saved my life some days later while on home leave, I saw the monk in one of my mother’s pictures. She told me she had asked Padre Pio to look after me.”
A woman was at her daughter’s home in Bologna. She had a tumor in her arm. So she agreed with her daughter to go for surgery. The surgeon told her to be patient and to wait some days before establishing a date for the surgery. In the meanwhile, her son-in-law sent a telegram to Padre Pio asking him to pray for his mother-in-law. At the moment when the telegram reached Padre Pio, the woman, who was in the dinning room alone, saw a capuchin friar enter through the door. “I am Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,”he said. Then, after asking her what the doctor had said and encouraging her to trust in Our Blessed Mother, he made the sign of the Cross on her arm and went out of the room. At that point, the woman called for the maid, her daughter and son-in-law. She asked them why they allowed Padre Pio to enter without announcing him. They responded that they had not seen Padre Pio and furthermore, they had not opened the door to anyone. The next day, the surgeon did a medical check-up on the woman in preparation for surgery; however, he could not find any tumor.
Padre Pio visited the Bishop who had ordained him on the 10 August 1910 in the Cathedral of Benevento. It happened before the Bishop’s death. Padre Pio bilocated there in order to give the Bishop his spiritual support.
Even Blessed don Orione spoke about padre Pio’s bilocation. He said: “I was in Saint Peter’s Church in Rome in order to attend the celebration of Saint Teresa’s beatification. There also was Father Pio, despite the fact that he was in his convent at the same time. I saw him. He was smiling and coming towards me through the crowd, but when I was not far from him, he disappeared.
In 1951, Father Pio celebrated Holy Mass for a convent of nuns in Czechoslovakia. After Mass, the nuns went to the sacristy to offer Father Pio coffee in order to thank him for his unexpected visit, but they did not find the holy man in the sacristy. Thus the nuns realised that Father Pio had bilocated there.
In 1956, Padre Pio served Holy Mass for Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary in his Budapest prison. Someone who had news of the imprisonment had asked Father Pio directly: “Father Pio you have served the Mass to the Cardinal of Hungary, so you have spoken to him! So you have been in jail with him and you have seen him!” - Father Pio answered: “Of course, if I had spoken to him I have also seen him”. He was bilocating.
Mother Speranza, who founded the order of the Handmaids of the Merciful Love, said she had seen Padre Pio every day for one year in Rome. He had bilocated there. We know that padre Pio had never been to Rome, except once in 1917, in order to take his sister to a convent she had decided to enter..
An Italian General of the Army, called Cadorna, felt in such condition of depression after the defeat of Caporetto, that he was contemplating suicide. One evening he went to his room and he commanded his orderly not to allow anybody to come in. He took his gun from a drawer and pointed the gun at his head, but suddenly he heard a voice: “Oh General, why do you want to do such stupid thing?” The voice and the presence of the Friar helped the general change his mind. He wondered how it was possible that a Friar had entered his room. He asked for explanations from his orderly but he answered he had seen nobody going into his room. Some years later, the General read in a newspaper of a Friar that worked miracles in the Gargano area. He secretly went there but he was astonished when father Pio said to him: “Hello General, you ran a great risk that evening, didn’t you?”
Father Agostino wrote: “A Nun, in Florence, told me after the communion Padre Pio had appeared to her to comfort her and to bless her. So I wanted to ask to Padre Pio.
I told him: "Do you do some trips to Florence from time to time? " "A nun has told this to me."
"Yes, I do, Father" He humbly said me.
It was clear Padre Pio had gone to Florence in bilocation
The last bilocation of Padre Pio occurred the afternoon before the day of his death. Padre Pio has gone to greet in Genova (Italy) the brother Umile who was wounded.
Around 16.30, in September 22nd , in 1968 Sister Ludovica goes to father Umile to bring him a cup of tea. The religious feels a strong perfume of flowers that floods the whole environment. Since she doesn't know the origin of the perfume she looks at the monk for an explanation.
Father Umile with naturalness and spontaneity says: "Padre Pio has come to greet me and he has given to me his last goodbye."
The following day the news of the death of Padre Pio spreads around the World.
venerdì 17 aprile 2009
SAINT PIO OF PIETRALCINA: BIOGRAPHY
Pio (Francesco Forgione) was born to Mamma Peppa and Grazio Forgione in the little town called Pietrelcina, in Southern Italy, during the month of flowers, May 25th 1887. He was fifth of eight children. His Mamma Peppa confided he was different from other boys: “he was never impolite or misbehaved”. He had celestial visions and diabolical oppressions from the age of five years and he saw and spoke with Jesus and Our Lady and with his Guardian Angel, but unfortunately this heavenly life was interwoven with hell and with the devil.
In 1903, Discipline and ill health had been woven together to crown the youth of Pio. Doctors diagnosed him as consumptive and were sure he would die. Strong in spirit Pio received the Capuchin Franciscan garb initialling religious life and therefore; Noviciate with its intense study, prayer, austerity, penance and finally vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
In 1909, we find him at Pietrelcina because of his illness, at his mother’s side. Now another intense chapter of extraordinary life opens with mystical afflictions an invisible stigmata and terrible battles with devils that wanted to destroy him began. Yet, “It all happened here”, he said, his whole future was prepared here. On August 10, 1910, he was ordained a Priest in the Cathedral of Benevento.
In 1916, we find him in the church of San Giovanni Rotondo, soon to become his Jerusalem, with the mystical and historical calvary of Gargano, where he was soon recognised as the “saintly friar” by the locals. Here he became a “victim of love”, by the reparation for sin, propitiator and regenerator of the many crowds who flocked to him, to venerate his bleeding wounds of his hands and feet. This very important event occurred in Father Pio’s life on September 20, 1918, while he was praying in front of a Crucifix located in the choir in the little old church, when a strange personage like an angel, gave him the stigmata. Those stigmata have been remained opened and bleeding for fifty years. This was one of the reasons for which doctors, scientists, journalists and common people have gone to San Giovanni Rotondo for years, in order to meet the “Saintly friar “.
In a letter dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio told his experience of crucifixion: “... What I can tell you about my crucifixion? My God! What a confusion and what humiliation I feel when I try to show somebody else what you have done in me your scanty creature! It was the morning of the 20th. (September) and I was in choir, after the celebration of the Holy Mass, when a rest, similar to a sweet sleep surprised me. All the inside and external senses, as well as the same faculties of the soul were in an indescribable quiet. There was a depth silence around me and inside me; a peace overcame me and then it all happened in a flash I felt abandonment with the complete deprivation of everything. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious appearance, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn’t intervened and strengthened my heart, which was about to burst out of my chest! The appearance disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood”. You can imagine the torment that I experienced then and that I am almost experiencing every day. The wound of the heart assiduously bleeds, particularly from the evening of Thursday until Saturday. My God, I die of pain, torment and confusion that I feel in the intimate of the soul. I am afraid I’ll bleed to death! I hope that God listens to my moans and withdrawals this operation from me... “
He usually woke up in the early morning (we could say at night) in order to get himself ready for the Holy Mass. In fact, every morning, at 4 a.m. there were always hundreds and sometimes even a thousand people waiting for the door of the church to open. After the Mass he used to spend most time of his day in prayer and confessions. After fifty years of stigmata he died September 23, 1968, thus he closed his mission of the Heart’s desire, with the real cross and the real crucifixion of his body.
Then, for years, from every part of the world, the believers went to this stigmatised priest, to get his powerful intercession from God. Fifty years lived in the prayer, in the humility, in the suffering and in the sacrifice, whether to effect his love, Padre Pio had two initiatives in two directions: the vertical one toward God, with the constitution of the “Groups of prayer”, the horizontal one toward his suffering community, with the construction of a modern hospital: “House Relief of the Suffering.”
In September 1968, thousands of devotees and Padre Pio’s spiritual children were assembled in conference at St. Giovanni Rotondo to commemorate together the 50 anniversary of the stigmata and to celebrate the fourth international conference of the Prayer Groups. Nobody would have imagined that at 2:30 a.m., September 23, 1968 we the earthly life of Father Pio of Pietrelcina would end.
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Biogr.htm
In 1903, Discipline and ill health had been woven together to crown the youth of Pio. Doctors diagnosed him as consumptive and were sure he would die. Strong in spirit Pio received the Capuchin Franciscan garb initialling religious life and therefore; Noviciate with its intense study, prayer, austerity, penance and finally vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
In 1909, we find him at Pietrelcina because of his illness, at his mother’s side. Now another intense chapter of extraordinary life opens with mystical afflictions an invisible stigmata and terrible battles with devils that wanted to destroy him began. Yet, “It all happened here”, he said, his whole future was prepared here. On August 10, 1910, he was ordained a Priest in the Cathedral of Benevento.
In 1916, we find him in the church of San Giovanni Rotondo, soon to become his Jerusalem, with the mystical and historical calvary of Gargano, where he was soon recognised as the “saintly friar” by the locals. Here he became a “victim of love”, by the reparation for sin, propitiator and regenerator of the many crowds who flocked to him, to venerate his bleeding wounds of his hands and feet. This very important event occurred in Father Pio’s life on September 20, 1918, while he was praying in front of a Crucifix located in the choir in the little old church, when a strange personage like an angel, gave him the stigmata. Those stigmata have been remained opened and bleeding for fifty years. This was one of the reasons for which doctors, scientists, journalists and common people have gone to San Giovanni Rotondo for years, in order to meet the “Saintly friar “.
In a letter dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio told his experience of crucifixion: “... What I can tell you about my crucifixion? My God! What a confusion and what humiliation I feel when I try to show somebody else what you have done in me your scanty creature! It was the morning of the 20th. (September) and I was in choir, after the celebration of the Holy Mass, when a rest, similar to a sweet sleep surprised me. All the inside and external senses, as well as the same faculties of the soul were in an indescribable quiet. There was a depth silence around me and inside me; a peace overcame me and then it all happened in a flash I felt abandonment with the complete deprivation of everything. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious appearance, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn’t intervened and strengthened my heart, which was about to burst out of my chest! The appearance disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood”. You can imagine the torment that I experienced then and that I am almost experiencing every day. The wound of the heart assiduously bleeds, particularly from the evening of Thursday until Saturday. My God, I die of pain, torment and confusion that I feel in the intimate of the soul. I am afraid I’ll bleed to death! I hope that God listens to my moans and withdrawals this operation from me... “
He usually woke up in the early morning (we could say at night) in order to get himself ready for the Holy Mass. In fact, every morning, at 4 a.m. there were always hundreds and sometimes even a thousand people waiting for the door of the church to open. After the Mass he used to spend most time of his day in prayer and confessions. After fifty years of stigmata he died September 23, 1968, thus he closed his mission of the Heart’s desire, with the real cross and the real crucifixion of his body.
Then, for years, from every part of the world, the believers went to this stigmatised priest, to get his powerful intercession from God. Fifty years lived in the prayer, in the humility, in the suffering and in the sacrifice, whether to effect his love, Padre Pio had two initiatives in two directions: the vertical one toward God, with the constitution of the “Groups of prayer”, the horizontal one toward his suffering community, with the construction of a modern hospital: “House Relief of the Suffering.”
In September 1968, thousands of devotees and Padre Pio’s spiritual children were assembled in conference at St. Giovanni Rotondo to commemorate together the 50 anniversary of the stigmata and to celebrate the fourth international conference of the Prayer Groups. Nobody would have imagined that at 2:30 a.m., September 23, 1968 we the earthly life of Father Pio of Pietrelcina would end.
http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/Biogr.htm
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