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.