Padre Pio

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Padre Pio, also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Italian: Pio da Pietrelcina), O.F.M. Cap.(25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), was a friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, now venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Born Francesco Forgione, he was given the name of Pius (Italian: Pio) when he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

Francesco Forgione was born to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa Di Nunzio (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, a town in the southern Italian region of Campania. His parents were peasant farmers. He was baptized in the nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls of a castle. He later served as an altar server in this same chapel. He had an older brother, Michele, and three younger sisters, Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was later to become a Bridgettine nun). His parents had two other children who died in infancy. When he was baptized, he was given the name Francesco. He stated that by the time he was five years old, he had already made the decision to dedicate his entire life to God. He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned.

Pietrelcina was a town where feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year, and the Forgione family was deeply religious. They attended Mass daily, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate, they narrated Bible stories to their children. His mother said that Francesco claimed to be able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and his guardian angel, and that as a child he assumed that all people could According to the diary of Father Agostino da San Marco (who was later his spiritual director in San Marco in Lamis) the young Francesco was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from severe gastroenteritis. At ten he caught typhoid fever

As a youth, Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies. In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was said to have been drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin who was in the countryside seeking donations. When Francesco expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Order. The friars there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed to be better educated.

Francesco's father went to the United States in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son, to meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order. It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on 27 September 1899. He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On 6 January 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars at Morcone. On 22 January, he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Friar) Pio, in honor of Pope Pius I, whose relic is preserved in the Santa Anna Chapel in Pietrelcina.. He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

PriesthoodEdit

Commencing his seven-year study for the priesthood, Fra Pio travelled to the friary of Saint Francis of Assisi in Umbria. At 17, he fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and migraines. He vomited frequently and could digest only milk and cheese. Religious devotees point to this time that inexplicable phenomena allegedly began to occur. During prayers for example, Pio appeared to others to be in a stupor, as if he were absent. One of Pio's fellow friars later claimed to have seen him in ecstasy, and allegedly levitating above the ground.

In June 1905, Pio's health worsened to such an extent that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him good. This had little impact, however, and doctors advised that he return home. Even there his health failed to improve. Despite this, On 27 January 1907, he still made his solemn profession.

In 1910, Pio was subsequently ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family until 1916 while still retaining the Capuchin habit.^[

On 4 September 1916, however, Pio was ordered to return to his community life. He moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo in the Province of Foggia. At that time the community numbered in total seven friars. He went on to remain at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death in 1968, except for a period of military service. In the priesthood, Padre Pio was known to perform a number of successful conversions to Catholicism.

First World WarEdit

When World War I started, four friars from this community were selected for military service in the Italian army. At that time, Padre Pio was a teacher at the seminary and a spiritual director. When one more friar was called into service, Padre Pio was put in charge of the community. On 15 November 1915, he was drafted and on December 6, assigned to the 10th Medical Corps in Naples. Due to poor health, he was continually discharged and recalled until on 16 March 1918, he was declared unfit for service and discharged completely.

Later life and popularityEdit

People who had started rebuilding their lives after World War I began to see in Padre Pio a symbol of hope. Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only communion wafers without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and pleasant-smelling wounds.

Padre Pio became a very well-known priest. Franciscan spirituality is characterized by a life of poverty, love of nature, and giving charity to those in need. Later Padre Pio became a spiritual director. He had five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.

He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote, "Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry". He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.

The novelist Graham Greene had two photos of Padre Pio in his wallet after attending one of his Masses. He said that Padre Pio had “introduced a doubt in my disbelief.”

Many people who heard of him traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet him and confess to him, ask for help, or have their curiosity satisfied. Padre Pio's mother died at the village around the convent in 1928. Later, in 1938, Padre Pio had his old father Grazio living with him in the village of San Giovanni Rotondo. His brother Michele also moved into the village with their father. Padre Pio's father lived in a little house outside the convent, until his death in 1946.

Pio as part of Clerical fascismEdit

San Giovanni Rotondo, a remote small town in a barren landscape, with an illiteracy rate in 1920 of more than 90%, was initially the political environment of Pio. After the First World War, Italy entered a political upheaval with civil-warlike phenomena, confronting the socialist and fascist camps. On the socialist side, there were strong anti-religious and anti-clerical currents. On October 14, 1920, a massacre occurred in San Giovanni Rotondo, during which a march of the Socialists by the conservative bloc, the Fascio d'Ordine, formed from the (Catholic) party Popular Party, Liberals and the veterans organization was attacked. Eleven peasants died, all from the socialist camp. A few weeks later, the chairman of the conservative bloc contacted Padre Pio. Later, the organization of the veterans let him bless the flag at the feast Assumption of the Virgin (15.8.1920). Mediated by a young woman whose spiritual leader was Pio, a little later the meeting between him and the fascist politician Giuseppe Caradonna from the province of Foggia happened. Pio became the confessor of Caradonna and his militia members. According to Luzzatto, the contact with Caradonna led to the establishment of a kind of praetorian guard around Pio, who was meant to prevent him from being removed from San Giuliano Rotondo by the church. From such beginnings, the clerical-fascist mixture was formed of which Padre Pio was an important part, according to the reconstruction of Luzzatto. According to Luzzatto, Pio had clearly sided with the veterans. Conversely, socialists were often anti-clerical and also publicly criticized Pio.

An important follower of Pio was Emanuele Brunatto, one of the first biographers of Pio (biography published in 1926 under the pseudonym Giuseppe De Rossi). Brunatto mediated between the followers of Pio and the leaders of the fascist movement. The publisher of this book and other biographies of Pio was Giorgio Berlutti, himself part of the intellectual support of the March on Rome. According to Luzzatto, the publication of the biographies was part of the attempt to make Padre Pio known to the fascist opinion leaders. Brunatto worked possibly from 1931, but no later than 1935 on behalf of the fascist government and funded by her in France as a spy. Pio was associated in several ways with his biographer Brunatto, who acted as executive director of a shareholder company named "Anonima Brevetti Zarlatti", which sold patents for diesel locomotives. Brunatto was involved in making Padre Pio - despite his vow of poverty - the owner of this company by donation. Trusting in Pio the shareholders bought stocks. After the company went bankrupt, the shareholders had the corresponding damage. Luzatto used handwritten notes of Pio to prove hat he was directly involved in the business of "Anonima Brevetti Zarlatti." The historian Luzzatto describes Brunatto as a "chronic liar, a ruthless extortionist, and an incorrigible double-dealer" and cheater who brought together the followers of Padre Pio with persons from the fascist hierarchy as well as leading figures from the Vatican. According Luzatto, the money for financing the hospital "Casa sollievo della sofferenza" came directly from Brunatto, who had made a fortune in black market transactions in occupied France

Investigation by Church authoritiesEdit

Because of the unusual abilities Pio was said to possess, the Holy See instituted investigations of the related accounts. The local bishop, Pasquale Gagliardi, did not believe Pio’s alleged miracles, suggesting that his Capuchin brothers were making a display out of the monk to gain financial advantage. When Pius XI became pope in 1922, the Vatican became extremely doubtful. Padre Pio was subject to numerous investigations.

The Vatican initially imposed severe sanctions on him in the 1920s to reduce publicity about him: it forbade him from saying Mass in public, blessing people, answering letters, showing his stigmata publicly, and communicating with Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director. Pio was to be relocated to another convent in northern Italy. The local people threatened to riot, and the Vatican left him where he was. A second plan for removal was also changed. Nevertheless, from 1921 to 1922 he was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such as hearing confessions and saying Mass. From 1924 to 1931, the Holy See made statements denying that the events in Pio's life were due to any divine cause.

Softening of Church restrictionsEdit

By 1933, the tide began to turn. Pope Pius XI ordered a reversal of the ban on Padre Pio’s public celebration of Mass, arguing, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." In 1934, the friar was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite never having taken the exam for the preaching license. Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, even encouraged devotees to visit Padre Pio.

In 1940, Pio began plans to open a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, to be named the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza or "Home to Relieve Suffering." The hospital finally opened in 1956. Barbara Ward, a British humanitarian and journalist on assignment in Italy, played a major role in obtaining for this project a grant of $325,000 from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). In order that Padre Pio might directly supervise this project, Pope Pius XII in 1957 granted him dispensation from his vow of poverty. Padre Pio's detractors suggested there had been misappropriation of funds.

DeathEdit

Pio died in 1968 at the age of 81. His health deteriorated in the 1960s but he continued his spiritual works. On 21 September 1968, the day after the 50th anniversary of his receiving the stigmata, Padre Pio felt great fatigue. The next day, on September 22, 1968, he was supposed to offer a Solemn Mass, but feeling weak, he asked his superior if he might say a Low Mass instead, as he had done daily for years. Due to the large number of pilgrims present for the Mass, Padre Pio's superior decided the Solemn Mass must proceed. Padre Pio carried out his duties but appeared extremely weak and fragile. His voice was weak and, after the Mass had concluded, he nearly collapsed while walking down the altar steps. He needed help from his Capuchin brothers. This was his last celebration of the Mass.

Early in the morning of 23 September 1968, Pio made his last confession and renewed his Franciscan vows. As was customary, he had his rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to say the Hail Marys aloud. Till the end, he repeated the words "Gesù, Maria" (Jesus, Mary). At around 2:30 a.m., he said, "I see two mothers" (taken to mean his mother and Mary). At 2:30 a.m. he died in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo. With his last breath he whispered, "Maria!"

His body was buried on 26 September in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace. His Requiem Mass was attended by over 100,000 people. He had often said, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death." The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side but it disappeared. Padre Pio became famous for exhibiting stigmata for most of his life, thereby generating much interest and controversy. He was both beatified (1999) and canonized (2002) by Pope John Paul II.