On May 25, 1887, in a small Italian village called Pietrelcina, a special boy was born!
His parents baptized him: Francesco Forgione!
(Later, he would be known worldwide as Padre Pio!)
The family was very poor! But very Catholic!
Papa Grazio worked in the fields! Mama Giuseppa prayed a lot!
And Francesco, from infancy, showed he was different...
The Boy Who Saw Angels
From very young, Francesco saw things others didn't see!
He talked to his guardian angel as if he were a friend!
"Mom, my angel told me it's going to rain today!" he would say.
And it would rain!
"Dad, my angel warned me you were going to arrive now!"
And his father would arrive at that moment!
The family thought it was cute! "What an imagination!" they thought.
But it wasn't imagination! Francesco really saw and heard his angel!
But it wasn't just the angel!
Francesco also saw Jesus and Our Lady!
Sometimes, while playing, he would stop and stare at nothing!
"Francesco, what are you seeing?" they would ask.
"La Madonnina!" (Our Lady) he would respond smiling.
"And what does she say?"
"That she loves me! That she's always with me!"
Other times he saw Jesus! He talked to Him naturally!
For Francesco, this was normal! He thought everyone saw them!
The Battle Against the Devil
But Francesco also faced something terrible from childhood!
The devil attacked him!
At night, he heard frightening noises in his room! Black figures appeared!
Horrible voices shouted: "You won't be a saint! Give up!"
Francesco was afraid! He screamed! He cried!
But he prayed! He called Jesus! He called Mary! He called his angel!
And they came! They protected him! They expelled the devil!
These attacks continued all his life!
Padre Pio would later say: "The devil beats me almost every night!"
He appeared in frightening forms! Like animals! Like monsters!
He made terrible noises! Broke things! Pushed Francesco!
But Francesco didn't give up! He prayed more! He fasted! He offered it to God!
And he always won with the help of Jesus and Mary!
The Vocation
From age 5, Francesco knew what he wanted to be: a priest!
He had no doubts! It was absolute certainty!
When he saw a priest passing in the street, he was amazed!
"Mom, I'm going to be a priest! Jesus told me!"
His mother smiled: "If God wills it, son!"
But there was a problem: the family was very poor!
To study to be a priest, money was needed!
What to do?
Father Grazio made a courageous decision!
He would emigrate to America (United States) to work!
There, he would earn money! He would send it home! Francesco could study!
It was an enormous sacrifice! To be away from family for years!
But the father loved his son! He wanted him to follow his vocation!
Grazio went! He worked hard! He sent money!
And Francesco could begin his studies!
Entering the Convent
At age 15, in 1903, Francesco entered the convent of the Capuchin Friars!
The Capuchins are Franciscans who live with extreme poverty and austerity!
They wear brown habits with hoods! Long beards! Sandals!
Francesco loved it! It was exactly what he wanted!
When he entered, he received a new name: Friar Pio (of Pietrelcina)!
Pio means "pious," "devout"!
Life in the convent was hard!
They woke at 2 AM to pray!
They fasted frequently!
They slept on hard board beds!
They worked hard!
But Friar Pio loved it! He didn't complain!
On the contrary! He wanted more penances! More sacrifices!
He wanted to suffer for Jesus! To imitate Jesus!
Constant Illnesses
But Friar Pio had a problem: he was always sick!
He had constant fever! He coughed blood! He fainted!
Doctors didn't understand! They did tests! They found nothing!
But the fever continued! Sometimes it reached 48 degrees Celsius!
(Normal temperature is 36-37 degrees! 48 degrees is naturally impossible!)
The superiors worried: "Friar Pio is going to die!"
They sent him home! To the country air! To recover!
But he didn't want to! He wanted to stay in the convent! With Jesus in the Tabernacle!
Later, they understood: the fevers were supernatural!
When Friar Pio entered into ecstasy (deep union with God), his body heated up!
It was the fire of divine love burning in him!
Just like it happened with Saint Philip Neri! (Who also had supernatural heat!)
Doctors confirmed: it wasn't physical illness! It was a mystical phenomenon!
August 10, 1910: Ordination
On August 10, 1910, at age 23, Friar Pio was ordained a priest!
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina!
It was one of the happiest days of his life!
He celebrated his first Mass in his small native village!
The whole family was there! His father had returned from America specially!
When Padre Pio elevated the Host for the first time, something extraordinary happened!
He entered into ecstasy! He became motionless! Elevated! Radiant!
He saw Jesus physically there in the Host!
From that day on, every Mass of Padre Pio was like this!
It lasted a long time! Sometimes more than an hour!
Why? Because he saw! He experienced! He suffered!
When he reached the Consecration, he lived Christ's Passion!
He saw Jesus being crucified! He suffered with Him!
He cried! He trembled! He sweated!
People who attended were impressed!
"This priest really sees something we don't see!" they said.
The First Mystical Phenomena
In the following years, Padre Pio began to experience extraordinary things!
He had frequent visions of Jesus and Mary!
He talked to them like friends!
His guardian angel remained always at his side!
Sometimes, the angel translated letters for him! (Padre Pio received letters in Greek and other languages he didn't know, but the angel told him the contents!)
Padre Pio also began to read hearts!
He knew what people thought and felt!
He knew sins before they were confessed!
Once, a man came to confess hiding a serious sin!
Padre Pio looked at him and said: "And that mortal sin? Aren't you going to tell me?"
The man was shocked and confessed everything!
This happened constantly! Padre Pio could not be deceived!
September 1910: The Invisible Wounds
In September 1910, just one month after ordination, something terrible and marvelous happened!
Padre Pio was praying alone in the church!
Suddenly, he saw Jesus crucified!
Jesus looked at him with immense love!
And from His wounds came rays of light!
The rays struck Padre Pio's hands, feet and side!
He felt indescribable pain! As if he were being pierced!
He screamed! He fainted!
When he woke up, he looked at his hands, feet, side!
He didn't see wounds! But he felt terrible pain!
They were invisible wounds!
The pain was real! Constant! Unbearable!
But there were no visible marks!
Padre Pio prayed: "Jesus, thank you for this grace! But I ask: let the pains remain, but the marks disappear! So that no one knows!"
And Jesus answered! For 8 years, Padre Pio suffered the wounds without anyone seeing!
1916: San Giovanni Rotondo
In 1916, Padre Pio was sent to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo!
It was a small village in southern Italy, in the mountains!
An isolated, poor, forgotten place!
Padre Pio arrived sick, feverish, suffering!
No one imagined that this sick priest would transform that place!
No one knew that San Giovanni Rotondo would become one of the most visited places in the world!
September 20, 1918: The Visible Wounds
On September 20, 1918, the most extraordinary moment happened!
Padre Pio was praying alone before the crucifix in the church choir!
Suddenly, he saw the crucified Jesus descending to him!
Jesus embraced him! And from the embrace came luminous rays!
The rays pierced his hands, feet and side!
Padre Pio screamed in pain! He fell to the ground!
When he woke up, he looked at his hands!
He had open wounds! Bleeding! Pierced from side to side!
Padre Pio looked at his feet! Same thing! Open wounds!
He touched his side! It was bleeding!
They were the stigmata! The wounds of Christ!
Padre Pio tried to hide them! He put gloves on his hands!
But he couldn't completely conceal them!
Soon the other friars discovered!
They were shocked! Frightened! Amazed!
"Padre Pio has the wounds of Christ!" the news spread!
Doctors examined Padre Pio!
They confirmed: the wounds were real! Deep! They bled constantly!
But they didn't get infected! They didn't smell bad! (On the contrary, they had a scent of flowers!)
They didn't heal! But they didn't worsen!
It was medically inexplicable!
The stigmata would remain until Padre Pio's death - 50 years later!
Fame Begins
News of the stigmata spread rapidly!
Newspapers published it! Magazines published it!
"Priest in Italy has the wounds of Christ!" the headlines said!
Thousands of people began going to San Giovanni Rotondo!
They wanted to see! They wanted to touch him! They wanted his blessing!
Padre Pio was embarrassed! He didn't want attention!
But he couldn't stop it! People came!
And they didn't come just out of curiosity!
They came because miracles were happening!
The sick were healed! Sinners converted! Unbelievers returned to faith!
Padre Pio prayed for them! He blessed them! He heard their confessions!
And God worked wonders!
San Giovanni Rotondo, the forgotten village, became a pilgrimage center!
And it was only the beginning...
Reflection
