This Tuesday, 23^rd September, the Church celebrates the Feast of St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968). Few saints of our time have captured the imaginations and stirred hearts as much as him. We have a fine statue of him in St Mary’s donated by the Italian community in the Chapel of St George on the right hand aisle of the church.

On 20^th September 1918, Padre Pio was kneeling in front of a large crucifix in his Friary when he received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ) on his hands, feet and side. Doctors and sceptics came to investigate, and they found no medical explanation for it. The wounds neither healed nor became infected, and they remained for fifty years, and disappeared shortly before his death in 1968. They would continually bleed and give him great pain, but he bore them patiently for the salvation of souls.

He was also known for astonishing miracles. Gemma di Giorgi was born in 1939 with no pupils in her eyes, and was therefore blind from birth. In 1947 Padre Pio cured her, and yet she still has no pupils in her eyes, which makes this an ongoing miracle. Gemma is still alive today and can see clearly the things around her.

Padre Pio also had the ability to read souls. In the confessional, he would tell people exactly what their sins were before they even had time to confess them, and even sins they had forgotten! Soon huge numbers of penitents would flock to him and he would spend ten to twelve hours a day hearing confessions. For countless souls, Padre Pio’s confessional was the doorway to conversion. He also had the gift of bilocation, which is the ability to be in two places at once, and many soldiers during wartime testified to Padre Pio appearing to them in times of danger, and yet he never left his monastery. Multiple witnesses also claimed to have seen him at the canonisation of St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-97) in St Peter’s, Rome in 1925. From a very early age he saw his Guardian Angel and would converse with him and even send him on errands! He also suffered physical attacks from the devil. Souls suffering in Purgatory would appear to him and ask for his prayers for their release from Purgatory and for him to celebrate Mass for them – we should always remember that having Masses offered for the dead is the best help we can give our deceased loved ones.

Those who witnessed Padre Pio celebrate Mass never forgot it. He offered the Holy Sacrifice with such reverence and intensity that many present wept openly, convinced they were standing at Calvary itself (which they were – see last weekend’s newsletter). He never criticised the Church publicly, but he loved the ancient liturgy and was reluctant to embrace the huge liturgical changes of the 1960s. For him, the traditional Latin Mass wasn’t just a form. It was a lifeline where heaven and earth met, and where Christ’s sacrifice became present anew.

Pope St Paul VI (1897-1978) said Padre Pio was a man of suffering and of prayer. So why did God allow Padre Pio to suffer so much and for so long? Padre Pio was a victim soul in that he suffered, like Our Lord did, for the salvation of souls. He himself said his sufferings give glory to God, and through them he made reparation for sin. With his conformity to Christ through the stigmata, like St Paul, he could say, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Padre Pio’s life was also a living out of the message of Our Lady of Fatima and he said the Rosary many times a day. Our Lady asked us to make sacrifices and to do penances for the conversion of sinners that they might be saved. Padre Pio really lived this. Let us be inspired by this great saint to do the same.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC