Padre Pio: A City On a Mountain, written by Pascal P. Parente, STD, PhD, JCB, relates true events in the life of Saint Padre Pio, the stigmatist who bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty years. (Padre Pio also had many other spiritual gifts from God, including bilocation—the ability to be in more than one place at a time.) Pascal Parente, Professor of Ascetical and Mystical Theology at the Catholic University of America, wrote his book circa 1958, when Padre Pio had already suffered through forty of the fifty years of his stigmatization. Pascal observed first-hand the life of Padre Pio, so we can trust what he wrote in Padre Pio: A City On a Mountain. Now out of print, the book came to me via my dear friend Dorothy Gaudiose who worked for Padre Pio at his Italian monastery for three years. Please allow me to now share some of the true details about Padre Pio’s life as recounted in Pascal’s book:

During the fifty years of his stigmatization, Padre Pio led an austere, holy life, witnessed by millions of people who traveled from all over the world to see and hear him; to ask for his prayers; to be healed by God through Padre Pio’s intercession; to receive the Body and Blood of Christ during Mass from St. Padre Pio’s stigmatized hand. God was able to use Padre Pio in mighty ways because Padre Pio gave up everything to follow Christ, and also because Padre Pio daily “emptied” himself of himself through sacrifices and through his austere lifestyle. Pascal Parente, in his book, says that Padre Pio ate very little each day. “According to Dr. Festa,” wrote Pascal, “who personally observed Padre Pio at table many times in his repeated visits to the monastery, the nourishment he takes was extremely meager.” Pascal went on to say that Padre Pio ate no breakfast, drank no milk at any time, had one noonday meal at which he ate mostly vegetables. He ate meat and eggs “only rarely. Certain meats he avoided entirely.” But did Padre Pio’s meager eating cause him sickness? According to Pascal, “His health is perfect, and he continues his heavy schedule without the least indication of a breakdown.”

In addition to his meager diet, Padre Pio, according to Pascal, did “not sleep more than three or four hours, and generally rose at 3:30 a.m.” At that time Padre Pio said “the Little Hours” and prepared for Mass in his monastery cell.

St. Padre Pio voluntarily-made sacrifices, such as those I mentioned above, helped Padre Pio to empty himself of himself, as I said earlier, so that God could better use him to help all those in need who came to the Padre for help. But I haven’t mentioned those sacrifices, those austerities of Padre Pio in order to make you think you, dear friend in Christ, should also practice those austerities. No! Living well your daily life as best you can, carrying your cross daily as Christ asks you to do, and following in Christ’s footsteps—these will help you to lead a holy life and to grow closer to Jesus. You don’t need to add any austerities to those. But for you and for all, St. Padre Pio—and the other Saints of God—offered up extra austerities and prayers to God so that He could better use them to help others, to help you! So, do you have a great need today? Is a loved one or friend, too, in need of a miracle? What if you take your needs—and theirs—to St. Padre Pio? He’ll hear your plea; trust me. And he’ll do whatever he can for you. Remember this truth: he is now in Heaven and so he is now closer than ever to the Source of Life, the Ruler of All Nature, Jesus Christ, God. As Padre Pio always said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”

I love you, my friend.

Saint Padre Pio Tells Us How to Pray

According to Dorothy Gaudiose, a close friend of mine who worked three years for Saint Padre Pio at his monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy: one day an elderly woman in a long black dress grabbed Padre Pio’s sleeve while he stood in the monastery hallway after saying Mass. “Please tell me how to pray,” she pleaded with him. “I’m always distracted by something.”

“Don’t be voluntarily distracted,” Padre Pio told her kindly, “but if you are distracted unintentionally, continue to pray, and you will have great merit, for Our Savior knows that you are not an angel praying to Him, but a poor woman. Go on praying without ceasing. And when you find it difficult to concentrate, don’t waste more time stopping to consider the why and the wherefore. It’s like a traveler who loses his way. As soon as he realizes he is on the wrong road, he immediately sets himself on the right road again. So you must continue to meditate without stopping to reflect on your lack of concentration.”

According to Dorothy, Padre Pio advises that we place ourselves in God’s Presence whenever we pray. “The first reason for that,” he said, is to render to God the honor we owe Him. This can be done without Him speaking to us or us to Him. Our obligation of honoring God is fulfilled in recognizing that He is our God and we His humble servants, prostrate in spirit, awaiting His commands. … The second reason is that we may speak to Him and hear His voice through His inspiration and illumination. … When God answers us, He spreads over us a thousand precious soothing and fragrant oils which bring great joy to the soul.” (Dorothy Gaudiose, Prophet of the People)

May you, my sweet friend in Christ Jesus, enjoy the beautiful fruits of prayer, all the days of your life. And remember what Saint Padre Pio always said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” Amen.

A True Story of Healing through St. Padre Pio's Intercession

Are you suffering because of something someone said or did to you? Saint Padre Pio said, “Suffer with patience all the iniquities you receive from your fellow people, because God will reward you with His Love in Heaven—tenfold.” (page 49 in PADRE PIO AS I KNEW HIM, by Lina Pancaro) That is so hard to do, though, isn’t it? To love those who are less-than-nice to us. Nevertheless, we can do it, if we ask for divine help, and we can get that help through the intercession of St. Padre Pio, so why don’t we simply ask for it? If you do that, if you ask for the help you need—for anything at all—Jesus is sure to help you through His servant St. Padre Pio. Padre Pio bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified for fifty years—in his hands, feet, and side—which can be for us a sign of God’s Presence and Love in our world. If you go to Padre Pio and ask for his intercession, don’t be surprised if you smell soon a sweet odor that doesn’t seem to have a natural origin. That odor is a sign that Padre Pio has heard your prayers and will see what he can do for you.

Here is a true story Lina Pancaro tells in her book which I mentioned above. This story backs up the truth about the sweet odors people often smell after asking for St. Padre Pio’s help. “Believe me,” wrote Lina, “such messages from Padre Pio [the sweet odors] my family has experienced.

“Our fifth daughter Fernanda had been admitted to the hospital for the birth of her first child. …” Fernanda soon delivered a “darling little girl.” But suddenly Lina received the startling phone call, “the ugliest shock in my life,” said Lina. Fernanda was calling her mother Lina from her hospital bed to tell her she was “going through hell.” Fernanda was going through what the doctors called a “postpartum psychosis” She was on the verb of losing her mind.

When Lina and her husband arrived at the hospital, she suddenly noticed that her husband was a nervous wreck over Fernanda’s dire condition. “He knew better than I did what could happen,” said Lina. “God forbid—a daughter in a mental institution, a small baby to be taken care of! It was indeed a very difficult situation.”

Then, Lina’s husband looked at her “with a perplexed expression and said, ‘Do you note a beautiful aroma of flowers?’” Lina did not smell anything, but she looked around to see if there was a bouquet of flowers anywhere that someone may have brought to the hospital for a sick person. No. No flowers in sight.

“You must be imagining things,” Lina told him.

“Oh, no,” he said, “I am sure it is a SIGN. I was just making a supplication to Padre Pio, thinking how you once told me in San Giovanni Rotondo [where St. Padre Pio lived in his monastery]—during a time when I was discouraged—not to fear, and that our children would be St. Padre Pio’s children, too, if I entrusted them into his care. So a few moments ago, here at the hospital, I said to him, ‘Please now help us, Padre Pio.’”

Moments later, when Lina and her husband entered their daughter’s hospital room, they were appalled to find her delirious and hallucinating. “She was so confused,” said Lina, “she kept saying that the nurses were ‘out to get her.’ I recall one particular nurse who said to us, ‘She is so angry with all of us, she tells us all to get the hell out of the room!’ We are afraid to go near her. She is so strong, she tore the drapes around her bed yesterday, and she even scratched the doctor! But we understand that she is going through a very, very bad state of psychosis.’ The doctors wanted Fernanda to have shock treatment, but her husband would not allow it.

Lina felt sorry for the doctor and nurses. Her husband had brought a book with Padre Pio’s picture on it to the hospital, and before he and Lina left, he put the book in Fernanda’s hands. She burst into tears. That night a “very strong fragrance of flowers enveloped the room, in spite of the fact that no flowers were present, none even in the hallway. Lina and her husband believed the fragrance was another sign that Padre Pio was answering her husband’s plea.

“To shorten the story,” said Lina, “I can assure you our daughter left the hospital with a darling little angel. Today the child is six and my daughter is well and her usual self. She had NO shock treatment, no tranquilizers, no medicine of any kind. … We firmly believe that Padre Pio helped us through this storm.” (pages 49-52, in PADRE PIO AS I KNEW HIM, by Lina Pancaro)

Do you have a great need today? Just ask St. Padre Pio to help you, and he will. After all, he is now closer than ever to the Source of Life, the Ruler of All Nature, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our God. And if, as you await an answer, you smell the sweet aroma of flowers that seems to have no natural origin, it is indeed a sign from St. Padre Pio that he is interceding for you with our Divine Lord.

Love,
Eileen
Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

Saint Padre Pio's Love for the Mother of God

Please let me share with you today the truth about Saint Padre Pio’s love for the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of God.

Saint Padre Pio, the famous stigmatist who bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified for fifty years, intensely loved Jesus' mother. Padre Pio began having visions of her when he was only five years old in his home in Pietrelcina, Italy. In later years, when he shared about his visions with a fellow friar, the friar said, "But why didn't you tell us sooner about seeing Our Lady?" St. Padre Pio replied, "I thought everyone saw her!"

Padre Pio liked to call Our Lady "My little Mother," or "La mia Madonnina" in his native Italian. Often when he spoke to others about her, tears would flow from his eyes, his love was so intense. But did he love her more than he loved Jesus, her divine Son? He said to Our Lady, "You are so beautiful and sweet, if we humans did not know better, we would make you into a goddess." But Padre Pio never placed her above Jesus, above God. He knew she was a creature, just as he was a creature.

One day he said, "She treats me as if I were her only child on earth!" As Padre Pio always did, if you, my dear friend in Christ, turn to Our Lady right now and ask for her intercession, for her help, she will never fail you. How can she? She is always in the Presence of the Source of Life, the Ruler of All Nature, her Son, the One she bore in her womb. She is the Ark of the New Covenant (see Revelations). She is the New Eve. (See Genesis.)

Please take encouragement from St. Padre Pio. Even though he led a virtuous life, constantly in touch with God and Our Lady and his Holy Guardian Angel, he still needed to pray—all the time. He carried his rosary beads with him everywhere. He called them "our weapon." Even if you never pray the rosary, please seriously consider carrying rosary beads with you. They have the Cross of Christ Crucified on them, the sign of faith that the devil and all evil spirits hate. St. Padre Pio said, "Hold on tightly to your rosary. Be very grateful to the Madonna because it was she who gave us Jesus."

And if we have Jesus, we have Everything! Amen.