Padre Pio was proclaimed as a living saint for the wounds he bore for Christ, but his vast reputation for sanctity became yet another kind of wound.
“Six Degrees of Separation,” a famous play by John Guare, became a 1993 film starring Will Smith, Donald Sutherland, and Stockard Channing. The plot revolved around a theory proposed in 1967 by sociologist Stanley Milgram and Frigyes Karinthy. Wikipedia describes “Six Degrees of Separation” as:
“The idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of ‘a friend of a friend’ statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.”
It’s an intriguing idea, and sometimes the connections are eerie. In June I wrote “A Day Without Yesterday” about my long-time hero, Fr. Georges Lemaitre, the priest-physicist who changed the mind of Albert Einstein on the creation of the Universe. A few weeks after my post, a letter arrived from my good friend, Pierre Matthews in Belgium. Pierre sent me a photo of himself as a young man posing with his family and a family friend, the famous Father Lemaitre, in Switzerland in 1956. In a second photo, Pierre had just served Mass with the famous priest who later autographed the photo.
When I wrote of Father Lemaitre in June, I had no idea there are but two degrees of separation between me and this Belgian priest-scientist I’ve so long admired. The common connection we share with Pierre Matthews – not to mention the autographed photo – left me awestruck. The mathematical odds against such a connection are staggering. Something very similar happened a year ago, also involving Pierre Matthews. It still jolts my senses when I think of it. The common bond this time was with (Saint) Padre Pio, and I wrote of it in “Stigmatized” last year for Padre Pio’s feast day on September 23.
When Pierre visited me in prison last year, I told him about These Stone Walls which had been launched just two weeks earlier. When I told Pierre that I chose Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Padre Pio as the patrons of TSW, Pierre quietly and modestly said, “I’ve met Padre Pio.”
Pierre’s casual remark dropped like a bomb on our conversation. Just a day earlier, I decided to write “Stigmatized,” my post for Saint Pio’s Feast Day last year. It was then that I added Padre Pio’s name to our “About” page making him one of the patrons of TSW. What were the odds that a day later I would be sitting at a table in the prison visiting room with a man who traveled from Europe to tell me of how he met Padre Pio. The saint imposed his wounded and bandaged hands in blessing upon Pierre’s head over a half century earlier. I wrote of their encounter in “Stigmatized“:
“The labyrinthine ways of grace are far beyond my understanding . . . Pierre told me that as a youth growing up in Europe, his father enrolled him in a boarding school. When he wrote to his father about a planned visit to central Italy, his father instructed him to visit San Giovanni Rotondo and ask for Padre Pio’s blessing. Pierre, a teenager at the time, went to San Giovanni and waited for hours. Padre Pio was nowhere to be seen.
Pierre then approached a friar and asked if he could see Padre Pio. ‘Impossible!’ he was told. Just then, he looked up and saw the famous Stigmatic walking down the stairs toward him. Padre Pio’s hands were bandaged and he wore gloves. The friar, following the young man’s gaze, whispered in Italian, ‘Do not touch his hands.’ Pierre trembled as he approached Padre Pio who placed his bandage hands upon Pierre’s head and whispered his blessing.
Fifty-five years later, in the visiting room of the New Hampshire State Prison, Pierre bowed his head and asked for my blessing. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I placed my hand upon Pierre knowing that the spiritual imprint of Padre Pio’s blessing was still in and upon this man, and I was overwhelmed to share in it.”
This wasn’t the first time I shared space with Padre Pio. A few years ago (November 2005) we shared the cover of Catalyst, the Journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. I also share a painful date with Padre Pio. September 23 was the date he died in 1968. On September 23, 1994 I was put into chains and taken to prison to begin a life sentence for a crime that never took place.
That’s why we shared that cover of Catalyst. Catholic League President Bill Donohue wrote of his appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on October 13, 2005 during which he spoke of my trial and imprisonment declaring, “There is no segment of the American population with less civil liberties protection than the average American Catholic priest.” That issue of Catalyst also contained my first major article for The Catholic League, “Sex Abuse and Signs of Fraud” written from prison in 2005.
THE INDICTMENT OF HEROIC VIRTUE
Padre Pio was on that Catalyst cover because three years after he was canonized by Pope John Paul II, Atlantic Monthly magazine carried a brief article by Tyler Cabot entitled “The Rocky Road to Sainthood” (November 2005). Of one of the most revered priests in Church history, Cabot wrote:
“Despite questions raised by two papal emissaries – and despite reported evidence that he raised money for right wing religious groups and had sex with penitents – [Padre] Pio was canonized in 2002.”
I’m not sure whether the bigger scandal for Tyler Cabot and Atlantic Monthly was the sexual accusation or “raising money for right-wing religious groups.” Bill Donohue expressed surprise that such a “highly regarded magazine would publish such trash.” I was more dismayed than surprised by the irresponsibility. Yes, it’s irresponsible to tell half the story and present it as the truth.
It wasn’t the first time such attacks were launched against Padre Pio. Four years before his canonization, and thirty years after his death, The New York Times (September 24, 1998) carried an article charging that Padre Pio was the subject of no less than twelve Vatican investigations in his lifetime, and one of the investigations alleged that “Padre Pio had sex with female penitents twice a week.” It’s true that this was alleged, but it’s not the whole truth. The New York Times and Atlantic Monthly are simply following an agenda I’ve described before. That should come as no surprise to anyone. I’ll describe below why these wild claims fell apart under scrutiny.
But first, I must write the sordid story of why Padre Pio was so accused. That’s the real scandal. It’s the story of how Padre Pio responded with heroic virtue to the experience of being falsely accused repeatedly from within the Church. This heroic virtue in the face of accusation is a space we simply do not share. It far exceeds any grace ever given to me.
TWICE STIGMATIZED
Early in the morning of September 20, 1918, at the age of 31, Francesco Forgione, known to the world as Padre Pio, received the Stigmata of Christ. He was horrified, and he begged the Lord to reconsider. Each morning in the month to follow, Padre Pio awoke with the hope that the wounds would be gone. He was terrified. After a month with the wounds, Padre Pio wrote a note to Padre Benedetto, his spiritual advisor, describing in simple, matter of fact terms what happened on that morning:
“On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass . . . I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. The sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should die and really should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest.”
“The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands and feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday.
Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition.
Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away . . . these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.” (Letters 1, No. 511).
And so it began. What Padre Pio faced that September morning set in motion five decades of suspicion, accusation, and denunciation not from the secular world, but from the Catholic one. From within his own Church, Padre Pio’s visible wounds brought about exactly what he feared in his pleading letter to his spiritual director. The wounds signified in Padre Pio exactly what they first signified in Christ: utter humiliation.
Within a year, as news of the Stigmata spread throughout the region, the people began to protest a rumor that Padre Pio might be moved from San Giovanni Rotondo. This brought increased scrutiny within the Church as the stories of Padre Pio’s special graces spread throughout Europe like a wildfire.
By June of 1922, just four years after the Stigmata, the Vatican’s Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) began to restrict the public’s access to Padre Pio who was accused of self-inflicting his own wounds and sexually abusing penitents. He was even accused of being a political agitator for a fascist group, and helping to incite a riot. His accusers included fellow friars, and neighboring priests, bishops, and archbishops increasingly threatened by Padre Pio’s growing fame and influence. A physician and founder of Rome’s Catholic university hospital labeled Padre Pio, sight unseen, “an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited peoples’ credulity.”
Padre Pio and I have this one thing in common. You would not believe some of the things I’ve been called, sight unseen, by people presenting themselves as the voice of the faithful.
From 1924 to 1931, accusation after accusation was investigated by the Holy See which issued a series of official statements denying the supernatural origin of Pio’s wounds and the legitimacy of his gifts. At one point, the charge that his wounds were self-inflicted was withdrawn. Several legitimate examinations found no evidence for this. It was then charged that Padre Pio’s wounds were psychologically self-induced because of his “persistent concentration on the passion of Christ.”
Finally, in the one instance in which I can personally relate to Padre Pio, he responded with sheer exasperation at his accusers: “Go out to the fields,” he wrote, “and look very closely at a bull. Concentrate on him with all your might. Do this and see if horns grow on your head!”
By June of 1931, Padre Pio was receiving hundreds of letters daily from the faithful asking for prayers. Meanwhile, the Holy See ordered him to desist from public ministry. He was barred from offering Mass in public, barred from hearing confessions, and barred from any public appearance as sexual abuse charges against him were formally investigated – again.
Finally, in 1933, Pope Pius XI ordered the Holy Office to reverse its ban on Padre Pio’s public celebration of Mass. The Holy Father wrote, closing the investigation: “I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed.” Over the succeeding year his faculties to function as a priest were progressively restored. He was permitted to hear men’s confessions in March of 1934 and the confessions of women two months later.
ONE AMONG YOU WILL BETRAY ME
The accusations of sexual abuse, insanity, and fraud did not end there. They followed Padre Pio relentlessly for years. In 1960, Rome once again restricted his public ministry citing concerns that his popularity had grown out of control.
An area priest, Father Carlo Maccari, added to the furor by once again accusing the now 73-year-old Padre Pio of engaging in sex with female penitents “twice a week.” Father Maccari went on to become an archbishop, then admitted to his lie and asked for forgiveness in a public recantation on his deathbed.
When Padre Pio’s ministry was again restored, the daily lines at his confessional grew longer, and the clamoring of all of Europe seeking his blessing and his prayers grew louder. It was at this time that my friend, Pierre Matthews encountered the beleaguered and wounded saint on the stairs at San Giovanni.
The immense volume of daily letters from the faithful also continued. In 1962, Padre Pio received a pleading letter from Archbishop Karol Wotyla of Krakow in Poland. The Archbishop’s good friend, psychiatrist Wanda Poltawska, was stricken with terminal cancer and the future pope took a leap of faith to ask for Padre Pio’s prayers. When Dr. Poltawska appeared for surgery weeks later, the mass of cancer had disappeared. News of the miraculous healing reached Archbishop Wotyla on the eve of his leaving for Rome on October 5, 1962 for the convening of the Second Vatican Council.
Former Newsweek Religion Editor Kenneth Woodward wrote a riveting book entitled Making Saints (Simon & Shuster, 1990). In a masterfully written segment on Padre pio twelve years before his canonization, Kenneth Woodward interviewed Father Paolo Rossi, the Postulator General of the Capuchin Order and the man charged with investigating Padre Pio’s cause for sainthood. Fr. Rossi was asked how he expects to demonstrate Padre Pio’s heroic virtue. The priest responded:
“People would better understand the virtue of the man if they knew the degree of hostility he experienced from the Church . . . The Order itself was told to act in a certain way toward Padre Pio. The hostility went all the way up to the Holy Office, and the Vatican Secretariat of State. Faulty information was given to the Church authorities and they acted on that information.” (Making Saints, p.188).
It is one of the Church’s great ironies that Saint Padre Pio was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 just as the U.S. bishops were implementing a response to the newest media furor about accused U.S. priests. The irony is that if the charter the bishops adopted was imposed in Italy forty years earlier, Padre Pio may have been denied any legitimate chance of ever clearing his name. The investigations that eventually exposed those lies simply do not take place in the current milieu.
I’ll live with that irony, and I’m glad Padre Pio didn’t have to. Everything else he wrote to his spiritual director on that fateful morning of September 20, 1918 came to pass. He suffered more than the wounds of Christ. He suffered the betrayal of Christ, and the humiliation of Christ, and the scourging of Christ, and he suffered them relentlessly for fifty years. As Father Richard John Neuhaus wrote of him in First Things (June/July 2008):
“With Padre Pio, the anguish is not the absence of God, but the unsupportable weight of His presence.”
Fifty years after receiving the Stigmata, Padre Pio’s wounds disappeared. They left no scar – no trace that he ever even had them. Three days later, on September 23, 1968, Padre Pio died. I was fifteen years old – the age at which he began religious life.
Last April, the body of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina was moved from its shrine at San Giovanni Rotondo to a new church named in his honor by Pope Benedict XVI. Padre Pio’s tomb is the third most visited Catholic shrine in the world after the Vatican itself and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
The New York Times might still spread another story, but the people of God have spoken. Padre pio was canonized by the sensus fidelium – by the near universal acclaim of believers long before the Church ratified their belief. Padre Pio is a saint of the people.
Last year, a priest in Dallas – who hadn’t read “Stigmatized” and didn’t even know that I wrote it – sent me a relic of Saint pio encased in plastic. He later wrote that he doesn’t know why he sent it, and realized too late that it might not make it passed the prison censors. Indeed, the relic was refused by prison staff because they couldn’t figure out what it was. Instead of being returned to sender as it should have been, it made its way somehow to the prison chaplain who gave it to me.
The relic of Saint Pio is affixed on my typewriter, just inches from my fingers at this moment. It’s a reminder, when I’m writing, of his presence behind These Stone Walls, the ones that imprison me and the one I write for. The relic’s card bears a few lines in Italian by Padre Pio:
“Due cose al mondo non ti abbandonano mai, l’occhio di Dio che sempre ti vede e il cuore della mamma che sempre ti segue.”
“There are two things in the world that will never forsake you: the eye of God that always sees you, and the heart of His Mother that always follows you.” (Padre Pio)
Saints alive! May I never forget it!
For more information on Padre Pio’s life, Words of Light (Paraclete Press, 2008) is a wonderful selection of the thousands of letters written by Padre Pio to people who sought his counsel. The Padre Pio Foundation of America based in Cromwell, CT has a website at www.PadrePio.com.
Tochi says
August 11, 2015 at 9:29 AMI know of that name Padre Pio,but never searched or make effort to know more until few days ago a Lady came to a book shop to buy a prayer book of St padre Pio,since then I had his name constant in my head and one day decided to search on him.Never knew he was this great and so famous.st Padre Pio please beg the Lord to give me the grace to suffer in this life for for sinners and souls in purgatory.Nice site
Cathy Pequeño says
June 23, 2014 at 2:09 AMDear Fr. Gordon,
I am making my way through all your posts and feel compelled to share my Padre Pio story. I’ll try not to make it too long.
I was six years old in September 1968. I was living with my Mom in Palermo. That September, together with my Aunt, who was a nun, we went to San Giovanni Rotondo. We arrived there on September 22 and were taken aback at how crowed it was. My mother found out that it was the 50th anniversary of his stigmata. We were able to find a small hotel room. As soon as we were settled, we hurried to the Church for Padre Pio’s Mass. I don’t remember much about the Mass, other than we were somewhere in the middle of the Church and I couldn’t see anything. But after Mass my Mother took my hand and together with my Aunt made our way to whatever rooms were behind the Sanctuary.
My Mom approached a friar and asked: “Is it possible for us to see Padre Pio?” “Impossible,” was the answer. “People make reservations months in advance to see Padre Pio.” I began to cry, quietly but very sorrowfully. “At least let my little girl see him,” my Mom pleaded. “Wait here,” the friar said. When he came back he motioned to all three of us to follow him. But, he cautioned us, we were not to talk to or touch Padre Pio. He led us into a long, narrow room. People were lined up along the two long sides of the room. Each of the two shorter sides had a door. Padre Pio, sitting on his wheel chair would be pushed in one door, across the room and out the other door.
I was intelligent enough in my six years to know which rules a little girl could break and get away with it. So when Padre Pio was close to me, I stepped forward and presented my petition to him. Padre Pio looked at me and he nodded.
The next morning, as we hurried to the church, we saw many people walking away from the church crying and weeping. “He is dead, he is dead,” some of them exclaimed. We picked up our pace and reached the church. A young man my Mom and Aunt had met the day before saw us and helped us reach the front of the church right next to the railing. A friar had just finished collecting items from the faithful to touch to Padre Pio’s body and return them to their owners. My mother called to him and handed him the only two object she had: a white shawl and the ring she was wearing. The ring, white gold with a pearl, was MY ring, but I was too young to wear it. My mom was borrowing it. The friar took the two items and walked to Padre Pio’s casket. When he gave all the items back to the faithful, my ring was missing. The friar went back to Padre Pio’s casket and looked for it, but could not find it. He promised my mother that the friars would search for the ring and return it to her.
In the meantime, the young man I spoke of, picked me up took me to Padre Pio’s casket and bent down so that I could kiss his face. Then later that day, after most of the faithful had left the church, my Mom was speaking with some of the friars. One of them took my hand and led me to Padre Pio’s casket so that I could kiss him again. I kissed his hand, the left one I think.
The story of my ring made it into the magazine “Voce Di Padre Pio.” It told how the friars looked for my ring as they placed Padre Pio’s body in another casket. They even looked up his sleeves. I can only wonder at the reason why he kept my ring and what he has given me in return.
Sorry for such a long post. But I thought you would like this story.
Greetings also to Pornchai and Skooter
Liz says
September 22, 2012 at 12:52 AMIt was my 16-year old son who came back from his boarding school with a pamphlet on St. Pio when I think I first began to really pay more attention to this great saint. My son was insistant that I read about him. While I knew that a lot of people really loved St. Pio (and I had reason myself to be grateful for his intercession…long story) but it wasn’t until this little pamphlet that I began to cherish him.
You are very much in my prayers this weekend and especially this Sunday, Father Gordon. I can’t believe you are going passing this milestone again, but please know that you are not alone.
God does have some sort of plan that is much more beautiful than any of us could ever imagine.
Mary Elizabeth says
March 10, 2012 at 1:10 AMHere I am all these months later, having read this very fine post, and just needing to tell you Fr. how much I enjoyed it. We can all see the similarities between you and Padre Pio. It is wonderful to think that now you have a relic right there on your typewriter. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.
I am almost finished reading “Padre Pio Man of Hope”. I have enjoyed it immensely. I appreciate all the facts you brought out in your post which I have now read about in this book.
I was 12 years old in ’62 and in the 7th grade, being taught by a great nun, my all time best teacher, who used to speak about Padre Pio to us. We knew he had the stigmata, and that he was a truly holy priest. Other than he being Italian, I really knew not another thing about him.
I happened upon this book in my parish library recently, and it sparked interest. I think I liked the “man of hope” part. Curious how the future pope, JPII, during that year of the opening of Vatican II, had asked Padre Pio to intercede with prayers for his sick friend. Curious how he was the one who would later canonize Padre Pio. I remember the time and had known a parish friend in Illinois who had a special devotion to Padre Pio and attended the canonization in Rome that year.
JPII was really a big player in my own conversion in the faith. I don’t know. So many things came to my mind as I read this post tonight. I really want to ask Padre Pio for a special favor. I have a son I am very worried about and I need his intercession. I am hoping he will help. I do believe in miracles. They happen all the time.
I am running on, but wanted to thank you for reminding me to read this in your latest post’s links.
God bless you Fr. MacRae. You are a winner.
Edward.Fullerton says
September 22, 2011 at 5:56 AMHi Fr Gordon, Constantly will I Pray for you and those you are with& your relatives.Kindly remember mine who have suffered mental health problems.Pray constantly for ,ecclesia domestican,yours in,Quis ut Deus.
Frank Dias says
March 11, 2011 at 12:11 AMThis is a great story. I have been buying medals and cards with Father Pio’s medal. I wear his medal because there is no way i believe the media of yesterday or today. In my heart Father Pio is a truly Saint that is healing people every day, including myself.
I remember back after i got back from vietnam, i was confronted with rotten media and spewing lies. I was in hiding and nearly drank myself to death because the way our Marines and myself were treated. I felt so much anxiety and no peace of mind for many years. Since then of course through accepting God and going to communion. Receiving the Eucharist and knowing God’s presence. I no longer feel as an outcast because I chose to fight for my country… Today I just pray for justice of our corrupt media, nothing has changed. The Devil is hard at work but we must call on our blessed Mother every day to drive these devils out.
Frank D
combat vet
Vietnam.. Our prayers Father G.
Patricia Cornell says
October 13, 2010 at 8:28 AMI appreciate this email, Father and pray for your continued help in leaving prison as soon as God allows. I have loved St. Padre Pio for many years and really appreciate this story of his life. The book sounds wonderful and I hope to read it soon.
I love St. Louis as there are so many Catholic activities and for every other reason as well!
In His Name, Patricia from St. Louis, MO
Kelly says
September 29, 2010 at 11:16 AMDear Father Gordon-
I attempted to send a comment on this post last week, and in a similar fashion to your loss of your current post–had it disappear by accident–doh! Of course, not in THAT similar of a fashion. But disappear it did-
I still have in my heart the desire to thank you for your blog in general, I do love reading it and am always inspired.
This post, as others have noted, taught me more than I already knew about Padre Pio, especially the late in life sexual allegations. I couldn’t help but superimpose that onto today, where there are people out to tarnish the memory and reputation of Mother Teresa, even supposedly some who worked with and knew her. Now I don’t believe any of it; but I agree with you that in this era, allegations like that are not investigated, at least not on a high level, so there are those who run about spouting them as truth. How threatened people are at the presence of modern day saints among us!
My prayer for you is that you remain at peace, even in the midst of your suffering, and that you be lifted up by the prayers of the faithful. We who have sufferings and prisons of our own to contend with can join in solidarity with you and offer what we have for His glory.
May God bless and keep you, shine His face upon you, and give you peace.
Kelly
~ a note for Donald~ how wonderful to hear of your conversion! from one convert to another, blessings and peace.
Paramedicgirl says
September 28, 2010 at 11:03 PMPadre Pio is one of my favourite saints – the other being the Cure of Ars. I knew Padre Pio had been falsey accused of some things and investigated by the Church – he was such a holy man, and I guess God willed his trials. I am going on a pilgrimmage to the holy palces of Italy and will spend two days at San Giovanni Rotondo in February. I will try to remember to pray for you there, Father.
Denise says
September 24, 2010 at 2:46 PMHi Father,
Reading your article about Fr Pio has awakened the desire to Love God more intensely thru my own trials and sufferings,to also realize that I should look more intensley at how Our Lord suffered and to follow in his footsteps.Thank you Father for your writting this beautiful article it opens me to Gods Grace.
God Bless you,Denise
mm says
September 23, 2010 at 11:36 PMHi Father Gordon,
I rarely comment but I always never missed reading any of your posts but St. Pio is one of my fave saints and I just had to comment to say thank you for this inspiring post on this great feast day of his. I never knew about this suffering Padre Pio had to go thru and now it makes me have a stronger devotion to him ever more, thank you and know that you are always in my prayers, God bless.
Pax et bonnum!
Sharon says
September 23, 2010 at 9:52 PMSeptember 23rd. You are still in chains but so very much alive , vibrant, enjoyable, creative, intelligent and using your moments so wisely and courageously. This day must be a hard one to live each year. Sharon. Hi Father Gordon. Hi Pornchai!
Helen says
September 23, 2010 at 9:41 AMGod bless You, Fr. Gordon…
What a blessing and joy it is to read Your article which had me covered in goosebumps, head to toe.
Two of my favorite saints just happen to be St. Padre’ Pio and St. Maximilian Kolbe… Your words are like reading about family members…and I guess, spritually, they are brothers.
Father Gordon, I lack the strength of words, to express to You the sense of the Holy Spirit I experience when I read about You and/or from You. I am so very blessed to experience the blessing of our Living God with having brought YOU into my own life. Although it is doubtful I will ever
meet You, in this life, He’s confirming so many things, and explaining so much, just by ‘having discovered and knowing’ You.
I am so taken back by the injustice in this world…which emphasises, more and more, the Words of Jesus…”If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20).”
I know, for myself, that it is so very hard to take the insults of others….and especially, my own life-long weakness, when I am NOT guilty. It is primarily thru this sensitivity of
my own that I see the strength of our Jesus claiming You as His Very Own and using You for His greater glory. May He continue to give You strength; glorify Himself
to, thru and in You, and save souls thru Your very own sufferings. You’ve ministered to me thru what You stand for…and I continue to pray our God’s continued glory in, to and thru You and, in His greatest mercies, open the doors of Your prison..and set You free to minister to the lost in the world at large.
Fr. Gordon, I believe that You are a living Saint in the making. I realize that Padre’ Pio suffered greatly in his walk on this earth..but I see You suffering, greatly, too. May Abba Father
keep You strong during Your Purgatorial hours on earth.
God bless You as You have blessed us for Him…
Helen.
Patricia says
September 22, 2010 at 9:09 PMThank you so much Fr. Gordon for such an inspiring post. I love to hear about St. Padre Pio. His life I can see has been an inspiration and source of strength for you. I will continue to pray for you daily and I am truly amazed at the depth of your writings. The part about your friend that was blessed by St. Pio and eventually blessed by you is such a gift from God.
In His Name,
Patricia
Heb.13:3
dolores crowley says
September 22, 2010 at 5:30 PM..well done, fr. gordon;….i wrote a response to your first fr. pio
post last yr….about an army officer who visited fr.pio and asked
for prayers for his navy son in the pacific…fr. pio told him not to
worry about him, he was going to be a priest some day…the father
never told his son about it…only on the day his son was ordained,that priest was a good friend of my husband….now, i have a story from a friend of mine from montana, i worked with
his priest brother at the parish…..this friend was a navagator on
a plane in italy during WWII and as they arrived near the village
where fr. pio was, they hear stories about a holy priest…so he and
one of his men ‘hopped’ a jeep and drove to find fr. pio…he
writes about kneeling with him during mass, receiving holy
communion from him and seeing his hands…..i think i sent the
article he wrote about the experience to you….if not, i will have
Charlene send it…my printer is out…..blessing on your hands
and heart as you write and pray……..dee
Kathy Maxwell says
September 22, 2010 at 2:51 PMThank you once again, Father Gordon,
I had no idea that St. Padre Pio had suffered in the way he did. I don’t usually read biographies of saint ( I did read a biography of St.Padre Pio) because they are usually so…unreal. I want to find out about the real people and somehow, the bios seem to be all holy and light. I hope you can recommend a good biography of St. Padre Pio. The one I read was not very good.
Your writing is inspiring and beautiful. Perhaps it has grown out of your sorrow. I will continue to pray for you daily and I will continue to be proud to be your sister and your friend,
Kathy
Donald Spinner says
September 22, 2010 at 2:27 PMMy name is Donald and I am in prison with Pornchai and Fr. Gordon. Fr. G gave me a photo and prayer of St. Pio and told me about him. I knew then that this prayer was meant for me to have. I became a Catholic last year and Pornchai and Fr. G were both witnesses. I struggle with confession always holding back. I read that St. Pio could see into our hearts and could confess the sins that we have hidden away. Reading about him gives me strength to be honest. Fr. G let me read this post before he mailed it. I admire St. Pio’s courage even among false allegations against him. It gives me courage with my own struggles. I also admire his determination to carry on even with his stigmata. The picture Fr. G gave me comforts me. St. Pio’s gaze gives me peace and makes me feel at ease knowing about his life. I am proud to have St. Pio as my companion on this journey.
Mary says
September 22, 2010 at 9:54 AMFather G
Thank you for such interesting facts about Padre Pio I owe him a great debt because he revived my belief in My Guardian Angel and I love the way he has taken you under his wing by ensuring his relic reached you.
You both continue to be an inspiration in my own efforts to hold on to and deepen my faith.
God Bless
Karin says
September 22, 2010 at 8:44 AMDear Father,
Thank you so much for this post on this amazing saint. I never knew what Padre Pio suffered from those within the Church. I never quite understood why such attacks come from the place one would least expect them- whether it be with saints such as Padre Pio or priests such as yourself who are falsely accused. All I do understand is that the father of lies himself is behind it all. If he gets to our priests and takes them away, there is no Eucharist, no Eucharist- well I really don’t want to think past that!
I thank God that Padre Pio was raised to sainthood and pray continuously for justice for you and others who suffer this horrible persecution as well.
God bless!
Olu says
September 22, 2010 at 1:21 AMWow. Interesting article. How is your spirit holding up, father? Most importantly, when are you due again in court for a second chance at justice? You are in my prayers. Amen.
Olu