Padre Pio/en

Padre Pio

Padre Pio was the famous twentieth-century Italian monk who for fifty years bore on his hands, feet and side the wounds of the crucified Christ, called the stigmata.

His life

This gentle, humble priest was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887, in one of the poorest and most backward areas of southern Italy. At the age of fifteen, he entered a Franciscan Capuchin monastery, and he was ordained into the priesthood in 1910.

He served in World War I in the medical corps, but was too sickly to continue. In 1918 he was transferred to the small sixteenth-century friary of Our Lady of Grace, about two hundred miles east of Rome. From then on, he never left this isolated mountain area. Yet, by the time of his death in 1968, he was receiving five thousand letters a month and thousands of visitors. He had become renowned for his piety and his miracles.

Padre Pio is thought to be the first Catholic priest to bear the wounds of Christ. (Saint Francis was the first person known to have received the stigmata.) He also had the gifts of spiritual clairvoyance, conversion, discernment of spirits, visions, bilocation, healing and prophecy. It is said that once when a newly ordained Polish priest came to see him, Padre Pio remarked: “Someday you will be pope.” As prophesied, that priest became Pope John Paul II.

Author Kenneth L. Woodward writes in his book Making Saints:

From early adolescence on, Padre Pio spoke frequently in visions with Jesus, Mary and his own guardian angel. Those were the good times. Many a night, he reported, was spent in titanic struggles with the Devil, which left him bloodied, bruised and exhausted in the morning.

Author Michael Grosso speaks further of these struggles. He says:

These encounters were physical. In one monastery where he served, you can still see claw marks and splattered ink spots made by the alleged demons. Once, the iron bars of the monk’s cell were found twisted out of shape after a night of grappling with invisible forces. Although no one beside the Padre ever saw the demons, the din they made was often heard by eavesdropping monks. Even more striking, Padre Pio was often found unconscious, sometimes on the floor beside his bed, covered with bruises from the uncanny assaults. On another occasion he was found with broken bones in his arms and legs.

The point I want to make about “demons” and evolution is this: It does appear, as a matter of psychological fact, that the more one advances in higher states of consciousness, the greater the likelihood of attracting combative, destructive forces that try to drag you back down to ordinary reality. The story of the Buddha struggling to meditate on the Immovable Spot under the Bo tree is a classic Eastern illustration.

In Pio’s case, the combat occurred at two levels: Throughout his life he was molested by invisible, “diabolic” forces. But throughout his life he was also persecuted by jealous, envious and malicious human beings, often individuals within the Church hierarchy.

For ten years he was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or hear confessions.

Padre Pio with the Christ Child

His service as a confessor

One of the things Padre Pio was most famous for was his ability as a confessor. Kenneth Woodward writes: “Most of Padre Pio’s energies were devoted to intense prayer, celebrating Mass and, above all, hearing confessions.” People from around the world flocked to his doorstep to have him hear their confessions. Woodward says:

Padre Pio is credited with the gift of “reading hearts”—that is, the ability to see into the souls of others and know their sins without hearing a word from the penitent. As his reputation grew, so did the lines outside his confessional—to the point that for a time his fellow Capuchins issued tickets for the privilege of confessing to Padre Pio. Sometimes, when a sinner could not come to him, Padre Pio went to the sinner, it is said, though not in the usual manner.

Without leaving his room, the friar would appear as far away as Rome to hear a confession or comfort the sick. He was endowed, in other words, with the power of “bilocation,” or the ability to be present in two places at once.

Padre Pio had the ability to help souls walk the razor's edge. Like a guru in the Eastern tradition, he was able to wake up people to their true state of ignorance and turn souls back to God.

Father Alberto D’Apolito tells this story of a blind man who was converted by what he called Padre Pio’s “loving rudeness.” A priest from the region of Salento told Father Alberto:

“Father Alberto, there will come to you a blind man of my parish, who had gone to San Giovanni Rotondo for confession. But Padre Pio, upon seeing him, without allowing him to come close, shouted: ‘You filthy person, go away!’ I think that Padre Pio was too harsh with him.”

Father Alberto said:

“I cannot say anything, for I do not know the reason for such severity. He certainly must have had his reasons. When I meet this blind person, I will question him.”

In fact, one morning after Mass, a few days after my arrival in that town, a blind man accompanied by a little girl came to me and said: “Do you know Padre Pio well?”

At my affirmative reply, he added: “Would you say he is a saint?”

“No,” I replied. “In order to be a saint, he must first die, and then, after a rigorous process, he must be canonized by the Church."

Then the man said: “Father Alberto, I went to San Giovanni Rotondo to go to confession. I was about to approach the confessional when Padre Pio, seeing me, shouted: ‘You filthy person, go away!’ Offended and angry, I went away swearing. If he were a saint, he would not receive sinners in this manner.”

I replied: “Yes, Padre Pio has been very harsh. He used a strong manner with you. He may have had a reason that is unknown to us.”

Meanwhile, I already suspected the reason for which Padre Pio had called him a filthy person and sent him away. But I wanted to be sure, through the words of the blind man himself.

As Father Alberto questioned the man, he found out that he was sleeping with the young woman who was assisting him but refused to marry her. When the man revealed this fact Father Alberto said:

“Now I can tell you that Padre Pio is a saint, a chosen one of God. He sent you away, calling you a filthy person, without knowing you, because he smelled from a distance the stench of your sins; because the Lord made him see the abyss in which your soul has fallen and the mud that covers it and disfigures it. You went to San Giovanni Rotondo with the hope of gaining the grace of the sight of the body, and not of the soul. This is the reason why Padre Pio called you a ‘filthy person,’ and sent you away—to make you reflect, to shake you and convert you.”

Not convinced by my words, the blind man got up and went away. [But] after a few days he returned, and approaching the confessional where I was, he said to me: “Father, I need to speak with you.”

Without making him wait, I left the confessional and went with him behind the main altar. Sitting down, he said to me: “Father, I have meditated for a long time on your words. Yes, what you told me last time was true. I had gone to Padre Pio with the hope of receiving the miracle of my sight, and not to change my life. Padre Pio was right in calling me a filthy person, for I have always been one. I, too, am convinced that Padre Pio is a saint. The young woman who assists me and I have decided to get married as soon as possible. Now, I beg of you to hear the confession of my sins, and to reconcile me with God. As soon as our situation is rectified, we will go to San Giovanni Rotondo to thank Padre Pio for this great grace obtained from God, with his prayers and his loving rudeness.”

One of his devotees wrote:

If he is sometimes severe, it is because many people approach the confessional lightly, without giving the sacrament its true importance.

Padre Pio celebrating Mass

His celebration of the Mass

Many people were transformed who came to hear Padre Pio celebrate the Mass. The same devotee writes:

When the hour of Mass approaches, all faces are turned toward the sacristy from which the Padre will come, seeming to walk painfully on his pierced feet. We feel that grace itself is approaching us, forcing us to bend our knees. Padre Pio is not an ordinary priest, but a creature in pain who renews the Passion of Christ with the devotion and radiance of one who is inspired by God.

After he steps to the altar and makes the Sign of the Cross, the Padre’s face is transfigured, and he seems like a creature who becomes one with his Creator. Tears roll down his cheeks, and from his mouth come words of prayer, of supplication for pardon, of love for his Lord of whom he seems to become a perfect replica. None of those present notice the passage of time. It takes him about one hour and a half to say his mass, but the attention of all is riveted on every gesture, movement and expression of the celebrant.

At the sound of the word “Credo” pronounced with such tremendous conviction, there is a great wave of emotion through the throng. And the most recalcitrant of sinners is carried along as on a stream that is bringing him to the confessional and the renunciation of his old way of life.

Miracle-worker

Author Stuart Holroyd relates just a few of the many stories of Padre Pio’s miraculous intercession. He writes:

During World War I, an Italian general, after a series of defeats, was on the point of committing suicide when a monk entered his tent and said: “Such an action is foolish,” and promptly left. The general didn’t hear of the existence of Padre Pio until some time later, but when he visited the monastery, he identified him as the monk who had appeared at a crucial moment and saved his life.

During World War II an Italian pilot baled out of a blazing plane. His parachute failed to open but he miraculously fell to the ground without injury, and he returned to his base with a strange story to tell. When he had been falling to the ground, a friar had caught him in his arms and carried him gently down to earth. His Commanding Officer said he was obviously suffering from shock, and sent him home on leave.

When he told his mother the tale of his escape, she said: “That was Padre Pio. I prayed to him so hard for you.” Then she showed him a picture of the Padre. “That is the man!” said the young pilot.

He later went to thank the padre for his intervention. “That is not the only time I have saved you,” said Padre Pio. “At Monastir, when your plane was hit, I made it glide safely to earth.” The pilot was astounded because the event the Padre referred to had happened some time before, and there was no normal way he could have known about it.

His service today

In 1975, some seven years after his death, the ascended lady master Clara Louise told us that Padre Pio is an ascended master. Padre Pio is instrumental in assisting the Church the masters have founded in the Aquarian age. He is also renowned for his ability to answer prayers for healing. Padre Pio was officially recognized as a saint of the Catholic Church on June 16, 2002.

Sources

Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and Their Retreats, s.v. “Padre Pio.”

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, December 31, 1995.

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, January 3, 1993.