#34 of 45 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

#34 OF 45 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONE.BLOGSPOT.COM - SAT. NOV. 16/19

 

Padre Pio - The True Story by C Bernard

Chapter 14 - The Rumor of Sanctity p.166-180 

 

    "Pope Benedict seems to have been fully convinced that Padre Pio was genuine. He told a prominent attorney, "Padre Pio is truly a man of God. Some people have doubted this,but you help make him knownTo Fernando Damianil a prominent Churchman from Salto, Uruguay, he said, "Truly Padre Pio is an extraordinary man, the like of whom God sends to earth from time to time for the purpose of converting men." To Archbishop Gagliardi of Manfredonia, who was passing on to the Vatican the denunciatory letters of Miscio, Fraccacreta, and others, Benedict warned, "You must proceed cautiously concerning Padre Pio. It's bad to be unbelieving." As long as he lived, Benedict XV would keep Padre Pio's enemies at bay. p. 180

 

"By the middle of 1919, Padre Pio's hope that the war, terrible as it was, might prove a health-giving purge for Italy, as well as the dawn of a spiritual reawakening... The news of Padre Pio's stigmata, coming as it just did after the end of the Great War, found especial fertile soil. Large numbers of people were looking for someone who was truly close to God, someone who had answers to life problems....

 

"It was not until March 1919 that Padre Benedetto was able to come to San Giovanni to examine Padre Pio's stigmata. To Padre Agostino, who, in late September, had noted a spot on Pio's hand, the provincial wrote, "They are not spots or blemishes, but real wounds, perforating the hand and feet... The wound in the side is a real gash that issues either blood or bloody fluid. Friday it issued blood."....

 

"Padre Benedetto at this time ordered the formal examination of Padre Pio's stigmata by Professor Luigi Romanelli, which took place on May 15 and 16. Unfortunately, Padre Raffaele of San Giovanni Rotondo, who had recently been assigned to the friary, leaked part of Romanelli's report to the Naples Mattino which ran an article on Padre Pio.... Benedetto flew into a rage, and reprimanded Padre Paolino, warning him he was risking the fury of the Holy See by permitting the leakage of confidential information to the press...

 

"Padre Pio often put in a sixteen-hour day, mostly spent in hearing confession. He spent his evening hours trying to keep up with correspondence with his spiritual daughters and usually did not retire until one o'clock in the morning. That left him with little more than two hours of sleep... Inevitably there was criticism. The secular clergy of San Giovanni took an especial jaundiced view of Padre Pio's celebrity. Great numbers of people began to forsake the city churches to worship at Our Lady of Grace and make their confessions to the friars, dismissing the arch-priest Don Giuseppe Prencipe and his staff as hypocrites and spiritual bankrupts....

 

"So that he could greet those unable to find a place either in the cramped church or tiny sacristy, Padre Pio was allowed to go to a window and bless the throngs that gathered in the courtyard at certain hours. The blessing of the crowd, however, drew immediate criticism from the city clergy, who claimed that this was proof that the Capuchins were putting the stigmatist on display....

 

"In June 1919, a young woman identified only as "the niece of the archpriest of Cagli" asked Padre Pio for the grace of healing. Her legs were so unequal in length that she just could barely touch the ground with the tip of the foot of the shorter leg. Immediately after speaking to Padre Pio, she was able to rest both feet squarely on the ground and walk normally. According to Paolino, this event took place in front of numerous witnesses."...

 

"I spoke (with Padre Pio) for about ten minutes snd would have continued to speak until nightfall if conscience had not stopped me... As he kissed Padre Pio's hand, Klugkist smelled the "strong perfume which emanated from the stigmata." Leaving his presence he concluded, "I found myself with the divine Ego. In [Pio]  alone I found no trace of the human ego." Other spiritual teachers he was convinced "were men more or less imbued with the divine, while he, on the other hand, is nothing but an instrument of the divine. He has reached the goal of Union."...    

George H. Kubeck