PADRE PIO: A MYSTIC, PROPHET, HEALER AND CONFESSOR

1. Life

Francesco Forgione who came to be known as Padre Pio was born in May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy. His parents, Orazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio, were poor peasants. From his early years he loved virtue and abhorred all forms of vice. He entered the Novitiate of the Capuchins in 1902 at Morcone. From the time Francesco entered the Novitiate until his death he never enjoyed good health. His life of prayer and penance was interfered with constant fever and attacks from the evil one. He was sent to the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo after his ordination as his ill health demanded such a place. It was on 20th September 1918 Padre Pio received the five wounds of Christ visibly in his body. For fifty years be bore witness to Christ in his body and breathed his last on September 23, 1968.

2. Content of Padre Pio’s Spiritual Gifts

If we could point out one chief purpose of all the spiritual gifts that God in His kindness bestowed on Padre Pio that would be the conversion of souls, turning people back to God.[1] He had the gifts of reading the conscience of people, visions[2], prophecy[3], bilocation[4] and healing[5]. His message is one of holiness and humility. He advised those who sought him after to pray fervently lest they deprive themselves of realizing God’s love. He wished to pour out himself to save everyone whom he came to know. To this end he urged his spiritual sons and daughters to pray. He once remarked: “I do not want anything but a friar who prays,” (Adolf Faroni, The Heart of Padre Pio, 44). For Padre Pio prayer is to be in communion with God, our source. Cut off from Him we are nothing and will wither away. It is therefore essential for us to be united to the Lord in fervent prayer. He warned everyone against false piety[6], fanaticism and reacting against the religious authorities.[7]

Padre Pio had a very specific mission in the Church. It was relaunching the authentic reconciliation of souls back to God and make known seriousness of the sacrament of reconciliation. His method of treating the penitents was one of Jesus: “Sin no more.” However, he was very firm in telling the penitents how they cannot make compromises in life. He even turned certain persons who were not better disposed to approach this sacrament. He also emphasized the need to be devoted to the Blessed Virgin, who is the guide to the souls, and the importance of seeking the help of one’s the guarding angel.

3. Importance and Effects of Revelation Granted to Padre Pio

            Padre Pio was truly a man of God whom popular piety canonized much before the Church.[8] He was a mystic friar filled with God and was longing to serve his fellow brothers and sisters in whatever way he could. His faith remained unshaken even in the most trying times of his life. His importance in the Catholic Church is for all of us to see as devotion to him has not ceased even years after his departure from us. He is the first Catholic priest to receive the stigmata in his body. Padre Pio was not only an excellent master of souls but also a humanitarian who foresaw the needs of the people and established a hospital in the remotest corner of Italy. There are very many things that the life of Padre Pio remind us today. I would like to state three of them here. First of all, his spiritual sons and daughters keep increasing in numbers everywhere point to the fact that holiness as our call is not the fabrication of the bygone centuries but the call of all the time and all of us. Secondly, today the life of Padre Pio calls us to examine our life of prayer, our communion with Jesus. Thirdly, the year of mercy beckons all of us to have recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation to renew our lives to experience God’s abundant goodness and mercy. Padre Pio is indeed an excellent guide on our pilgrimage to see God face to face in paradise.

Reference

Faroni, Adolf. The Heart of Padre Pio. Bangalore: Literature Bureau, 2002.
Mortimer Carty, Charles. Padre Pio: The Stigmatist. Rockford: Tan Books, 1989.
Ruffin, C. Bernard. Padre Pio: The True Story. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1982.


[1] Padre Pio is recognized and presented as a model confessor and master of the spirit.
[2] It is said of him that he spoke in visions to Jesus, Holy Virgin and to his guardian angel.
[3] He told a young polish priest who came to meet him that someday he would be the Pope. That was Pope John Paul II.
[4] He was seen in many different places, far away from his monastery ministering to people in need.
[5] Number of healings are attributed to the intercession of Padre Pio.
[6] A piety that does not reach out to others in charity.
[7] Padre Pio’s is a wonderful example to this. He was questioned, humiliated and shunned by some of the ecclesial authorities. But he bore them all with God’s help without complaining and rebelling.
[8] Pope John Paul II declared Padre Pio, a saint on June 16, 2002. Over 300,000 Christians gathered in the Vatican to partake in the event. 

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