|
|
St. Padre Pio The inspiration for this Evangelization
outreach. A great Saint of our day that all can learn from.  In the small agrarian town of Pietrelcina, Italy a future miracle man was born: Francesco Forgione on May 25,
1887. Being raised by a poor, devoutly religious family, Francesco learned humility and charity from the beginning. Francesco's
parents and their parents were illiterate, but they still strived to memorize Scripture passages and Biblical stories for
their children and also pray the Rosary nightly. He had an older brother and three younger sisters, one of which became a
nun. Early in his life, Francesco desired to
devote his life to God. At ten years old, Francesco met a wondering priest who was looking for donations throughout the countryside;
it was that day that he knew he would become a priest. He had already completed three years of school, but that was not enough
to get him accepted into the Capuchin Order. Francesco was told he would need more schooling. This, however, presented a major
problem for him. His family was quite poor, and could not afford to get him the education he needed. For this, his father
Grazio went to America to work to pay for Francesco's schooling. When Francesco turned fifteen, he entered the Capuchin Order and became known as Fra (brother
in Italian) Pio, in honor of the Patron Saint of Pietrelcina, St. Pius V. It was said by others around him that "There was something which distinguished him from the other students. Whenever I saw him, he was
always humble, recollected, and silent. What struck me most about Brother Pio was his love of prayer." While in
the Notiviate, Fra Pio was attacked by a demonic force that came in the form of a large black dog with red eyes. At age twenty-two,
after seven years in the Novitiate, Fra Pio was ordained to the Holy Priesthood and was known as Padre Pio.  Celebrating Mass was what Padre Pio lived for. His
first Mass was said at Our Lady of the Angels parish. At times, the priest would make long, contemplative
pauses in the Liturgy and people were indifferent towards that. In July of 1918 Pope Benedict XV implored for all Christians
to pray for the end of WWI. Padre Pio asked God to make him a sacrifice so that the war might end. On September of 1918, while
praying in front of a crucifix, a pierced figure appeared in front of him. After being in a state of
ecstasy Padre Pio looked down and saw blood coming from his feet, hands and side. Padre Pio experienced the visible Stigmata,
the five wounds of Jesus Christ. He bore these on his body for the following fifty years of his life. The good Padre was surrounded by miracles
of bilocation, levitation, prophecy, healings, ability to read hearts, speaking in tongues, mass conversions to the Church,
and a mystical fragrance from his wounds. Throughout being blessed with this, Padre Pio remained humble and continued to give
glory to God for it. He would listen to Confessions for sixteen hours a day and could tell when people were lying to him in
the Confessiona  l to test him. Because of this ability to read hearts, many were converted to
Christ's Church. Mostly, however, it was his love for Jesus, his simplicity, respect for the Liturgy and overwhelming piety that brought the most converts and showed.Padre Pio attracted many followers all over the world, so much that they donated enough money for him to build a
hospital for the orphans called the House for the Relief of Suffering. For a few years, the Church was very skeptical of this
mystic priest. They suspended his rights to say Mass and hear confessions. This yearly killed him. After a thorough
investigation behind him and his healings, Rome deemed him suitable for ministry again and apologized. Throughout his time
on earth until his death in 1968, Padre Pio inspired many, while under intense persecutions from others inside the Church
and outside. Many were skeptical, and wanted to try to exploit him for lying, yet the allegations were proven false. The priest
through Christ's power, healed a girl born without pupils in 1947. To this day Gemma de Giorgi sees perfectly without
having pupils. Ocular experts were baffled and could not explain how she saw perfectly. There is incredible mystery attributed to this saintly man, more than can be recorded here. We made St. Pio the Patron
of this Evangelization outreach, not because of his Stigmata, or other miracles attached to him, but for his love for souls.
While St. Pio was a part of the Latin Church, Catholics from all of the different Churches acknowledge him as a Saint and
love him. We can all learn that from this poor Capuchin friar. It is because of his love for souls, that we can see how much
Christ loves us. So in closing, we would like to thank Christ for such a powerful witness, and also "Pray for Us St.
Padre Pio!" Amen.
|