September 23rd - St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Priest, Mystic
Weedy
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: "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 initialing 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 recognized 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 remained opened and bleeding for fifty years.
This was
one of the reasons for which doctors, scientists, journalists and
common people
went to San Giovanni Rotondo for years, in order to meet the "Saintly
friar ".
In a letter dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio told of 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 internal and
external
senses, as well as the same faculties of the soul were in an
indescribable
quiet. There was a depth of 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 intimacy 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
stigmatized 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 50th
anniversary of the stigmata and to celebrate the fourth international
conference
of the Prayer Groups. Nobody would have imagined that at 2:30 p.m.,
September
23, 1968 was the earthly life of Father Pio of Pietrelcina to end.
<><><><>
Padre Pio Quotations
These have been taken from his writing and his oral teachings. They
are
instructions, admonitions, and advice. We, his spiritual children,
will find a
flavor and harmony of things newly rediscovered.
They are echoes and heartbeats of faithfulness and love. They are
shadows of the
hopes and joys and sorrows Padre Pio laid down at the foot of the
cross on his
own personal Golgotha.
"Do not disturb your soul at the sad spectacle of human injustice ....
One day
you will see the inevitable triumph of Divine justice over it."
"The pivot of perfection is love; he who lives in love lives in God,
because God
is love, as the Apostle says."
"To fail in charity is like wounding God in the apple of His eye. What
is more
delicate than the pupil of the eye? To fail in charity is like failing
against
nature."
"Try always to advance more in charity; enlarge your heart with
confidence for
the divine gifts which the Holy Spirit is anxious to pour into it."
"God can reject everything in a creature conceived in sin and of which
it bears
the indelible impression inherited from Adam. But He can absolutely
not reject
the sincere desire to love Him."
"Charity is the queen of virtues. As the pearls are held together by
the thread,
thus the virtues are held together by charity; as the pearls fall when
the
thread breaks, thus virtues are lost if charity diminishes."
"Humility and charity go hand in hand. The one glorifies, the other
sanctifies."
"The time spent for the glory of God and the salvation of souls is
never spent
badly."
"Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; where there is no
virtue,
there is no good. Where good is wanting, there is no love; where there
is no
love, God is absent; where God is absent, there is no heaven."
"Obey promptly! Do not consider the age or merit of the person. And in
order to
succeed, imagine you are obeying the Lord."
Bible Quote:
5 And Philip going down to the city of Samaria, preached Christ unto
them. 6
And the people with one accord were attentive to those things which
were said by
Philip, hearing, and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For many of
them who
had unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, went out. 8 And many,
taken with
the palsy, and that were lame, were healed. (Acts 8:5-8)
<><><><>
OFFERING OF HOLY COMMUNION AS VIATICUM
My God! If I am to die today,
or suddenly at any time,
I wish to receive this Communion as my Viaticum.
I desire that:
my last food may be the Body and Blood
of my Saviour and Redeemer;
my last words, Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
my last affections, an act of pure love of God
and of perfect contrition for my sins;
my last consolation,
to die in Thy holy grace and in Thy holy love.
Amen