Padre Pio, the Living Portrait of Christ Crucified

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Reposting from the above link:

The July-September 2018 issue of Le Chardonnet (#340) includes an article by Fr. François-Marie Chautard on Padre Pio, the stigmatized priest who died 50 years ago on September 23,1968. 

One of Padre Pio’s missions was to “make the cross of Jesus Christ visible”. Christ took on the human form in order to make the invisible visible. This revelation of God did not end with His Ascension, for upon His return to His Father, Our Lord sent the Spirit of Holiness. Since then, every century has had its share of saints whose perfect lives in imitation of Christ seem to renew His Incarnation. The exterior life of some saints sometimes espouses that of Christ so perfectly that they relive His Passion in their own flesh.

St. Francis of Assisi is the most well-known of them all, and many an artist has illustrated the Poverello receiving the stigmata. Other saints also experienced this extraordinary phenomenon: St. Catherine of Sienna, or Madame Acarie (Blessed Marie de l’Incarnation), whose stigmata were invisible.

But until September 20, 1918, not a single priest, despite their sacramental union with Christ the High Priest, had ever yet been chosen to renew in his own flesh the mystery of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

On September 20, 1918, as he was praying before a crucifix hung before the monks’ choir, rays of light from the crucifix pierced his hands, feet and side like arrows. The young 31-year-old Capuchin did not know it yet, but for the next fifty years, until September 20, 1958, he would bear the visible marks of the Passion of Christ that he relived every day.

One of Padre Pio’s missions had begun: that of making the cross of Jesus Christ visible, of enlightening souls as to the reality of the sacrifice renewed on the altar and reminding priests and faithful of the priest’s vocation as a victim: “Unless the grain of wheat dies, it will not bear fruit.” “Do as you have seen Me do.”

Born on May 25, 1887, into a peasant family, little Francesco Forgione was the fourth of seven children. His parents had a very simple life and lived in a poor home in Pietrelcina. They were solid Christians and hard workers.

The parish church is dedicated to St. Pius I, pope and martyr, and it was in his honor that the young Capuchin chose the name of Fra Pio.

As a young boy, Francesco was already favored with visions and extraordinary phenomena. From his earliest years until the end of his life, Padre Pio was used to receiving visits from angels, Marian apparitions and.... being subjected to diabolical violence. At first, the child thought all other boys his age experienced the same things.

Beware, dear reader, for this is where devotion to Padre Pio could go astray. As the spiritual authors explain, extraordinary phenomena are not sanctity; they sometimes, and even often, go hand in hand; they can occur without sanctity, but they must be carefully distinguished from it. If Padre Pio is a saint, it is not because of his bilocation and other exceptional phenomena, but because of his heroic virtues.

And little Francesco practiced heroic virtue from the very start. Did his mother not find him sleeping on the ground, with his head on a rock? His piety was solid, his obedience absolute, his diligence in his studies and duties more than admirable, and his friendship exemplary.

At the age of fifteen, a strange vision implicitly revealed his future to him: an angel invited him to fight against a giant much stronger than him. Reluctantly, the young teenager fought and won. With this divine commemoration of David and Goliath, Providence announced to Francesco the violence of the battles to come.

A few weeks later, on January 22, 1903, at the age of fifteen, he entered the Capuchin novitiate of Morcone, and took the name Fra Pio da Pietrelcina.

His mother was there, but his father was in the United States, working to pay for his children’s studies. For seven years in all (3 and then 4), this admirable father was separated from his no less admirable wife and his dear children in order to provide for them all.

The young novice’s studies continued until 1909. The young monk proved serious, studious and satisfactory, but not brilliant. Towards the end of his studies, he rapidly ascended the sanctuary steps; after receiving the first minor orders in 1908, he was ordained a deacon the following year in July 1909.

But health troubles came to try the young monk. He had to interrupt his studies and even the convent life and was ordered to go rest at his family’s home in Pietrelcina. This temporary rest would last…seven years. Despite this difficulty, he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Benevento on August 10, 1910, and celebrated his first Mass in Pietrelcina on August 14.

Separated from the other Capuchins, and a prey to terrible interior trials, he corresponded regularly during this period with Fr. Agostino, his spiritual director, who told him to write down his interior combat and the extraordinary graces he received.

One superior planned to send him away to live as a secular priest, but he was told to return to the convent in 1911. The devil was furious, and he attacked and beat the young mystic so violently that the guardian of the convent, moved by a very Franciscan inspiration, ordered Padre Pio to ask for the grace to be tormented… in silence from then on. This grace was granted that very evening, to the great joy of the Capuchins who were a bit tired of the noise and the villagers who were beginning to be a bit worried.

But Padre Pio’s weak health soon forced him to return to Pietrelcina. The doctors had a hard time finding a diagnosis. One of them even announced he would not last more than a week.

He left Pietrelcina again to go to Foggia, where the air did not suit him at all. On July 28, 1916, he was advised to go to San Giovanni Rotondo to rest for a few weeks. He would remain there until his death…

Half-alive, he was still enlisted, until they took a closer look. There is a photo from this time of the Capuchin friar as a conscript, wearing a uniform and holding a gun; he had never shot a firearm and looks a bit out of place in the picture. It was during this period that he bilocated for the first time. The Italians had just been severely defeated in Caporetto on October 24, 1917, and the commander-in-chief, General Cardonna, decided to commit suicide; as he was raising his gun, a Capuchin entered his office and persuaded him to change his mind. The general did so, then thanked the good priest and showed him out. He immediately asked his subordinates who the priest they had let in was. No one had seen him go in or out. The general only recognized him in a photograph many years later.

Upon returning to his convent after his time in the military, he received the grace of a wound of love on May 30, 1918. On August 5, he received a transverberation, and on the 20th, the stigmata, with intense pain. But do not be mistaken. As he wrote to Fr. Agostino, his spiritual director, “in comparison with what I suffer in my flesh, the spiritual combats I am undergoing are far worse (…); I am living in a perpetual night… Everything troubles me, and I do not know if I am doing good or evil. I can see that these are not scruples, but the doubt I feel about whether I am pleasing God or not crushes me.”

At first, Padre Pio tried to heal his wounds. It was useless. To hide them. In vain. The pilgrimages to San Giovanni Rotondo began.

From 1918 to 1921, the priest’s apostolate grew and the doctors who observed his wounds were convinced of their inexplicable nature. Pope Benedict XV even went so far as to say that “Padre Pio is one of those men God sends to the earth once in a while to convert nations.”

The year 1921 changed the course of events. An ecclesiastical conspiracy of corrupt priests living with women and presided over by a bishop who practiced simony was influential in Rome. The bishop of Manfredonia, the diocese the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo belongs to, even claimed he had seen Padre Pio put on perfume and powder and pour nitric acid on his wounds to deepen the stigmata! And the canons of San Giovanni Rotondo, at least some of them, gossiped about the juicy profits the Capuchins were making off their “stigmatist”. The worst is that they were taken seriously.

Worried by these episcopal claims and canonical revelations, Rome was wary… of the Capuchins. A difficult period followed for Padre Pio, as the apostolate entrusted to him was little by little taken away. There was even talk of transferring him to another convent. This was enough to stir up the locals, who were determined to keep and defend their “santo”. A rebellion was not far off. Thinking he was going to leave this little village perched on the headland of Gargano, Padre Pio wrote this touching letter, whose final words are now engraved in the crypt where he used to be buried.

“I will always remember this generous people in my poor and assiduous prayer, imploring for them peace and prosperity; and as a sign of my affection, being able to do nothing else, I express the desire that as long as my superiors do not object, my bones will be laid to rest in a tranquil corner of this ground.”

A Capuchin superior even considered sneaking Padre Pio out in a large barrel on a cart. Obedient, but neither servile nor stupid, the Father Guardian refused this masquerade.

Punishments continued to rain down upon the poor priest. On March 23, 1931, the Holy Office forbade him all ministry, any public celebration of Mass and any contact with any Capuchins outside of his convent. After remaining stoic when he discovered in the refectory the letter that his brothers had put off revealing to him out of discretion, he burst into tears upon reaching his cell. A good brother who witnessed the scene felt sorry for him, but Padre Pio gave him an answer worthy of that given to the holy women of Jerusalem: he was weeping not for himself but for all the souls that were going to be deprived of graces of conversion.

As a recluse, Padre Pio was able to spend time reading. The History of the Church by Rorhbacher and in a single day, the Divine Comedy – paradoxically suffering from headaches upon reaching Paradise.

In 1933, the sanctions began to be lifted. Padre Pio resumed his ministry, especially in the confessional, where he regularly spent up to 10 hours a day.

The peaceful years passed. In 1940, a sick man if ever there was one, Padre Pio launched the project for what would become the Casa Sollievo della Sofferanza, a large hospital with modern material and eminent doctors. As in all providential undertakings, there was no lack of obstacles, but the hospital was inaugurated in May 1956. It still exists today.

At the same time, Padre Pio created prayer groups throughout the entire world mainly thanks to his spiritual sons and daughters that included Freemasons, swindlers, a famous tenor (Gigli) and women of little virtue.

Pius XII confided prayer intentions to him, but his death in 1957 opened a new and painful chapter in the life of the Capuchin. Some of his high-ranking brothers showed an anything but religious interest for the enormous sums that passed through his hands. They wanted them for themselves. A “brotherly” conspiracy supported by the authorities of the Order was formed; they even went so far as to put microphones in the Padre’s cell and confessional. The affair was discovered – the priest complained to some of his friends – and the brothers guilty of this far from evangelical surveillance were relieved of their functions and sent to other convents.

The end of his life was more peaceful, though still spent in the all-absorbing ministry to souls.

Two events in the last few months of his life are worth mentioning. The New Mass promulgated in 1968 was preceded by normative Masses. Padre Pio asked to be allowed to keep the Mass of all time and this permission was granted to him.

During the same year, 1968, Paul VI’s encyclical on birth control was promulgated. Padre Pio, with only two months left to live and at the summit of his mystical life, sent a letter to the pope thanking him for this encyclical that caused so much controversy.

This second Curé d’Ars felt the end approaching. On the night of September 20 to 21, 1968, fifty years to the day after they appeared, his stigmata disappeared: the skin on his hands became smooth and clean without the mark of a scar. His jubilee of blood was complete.  Eternity was approaching, and on the night of September 22 to 23, Padre Pio went to be with his Maker.

Dearest Padre Pio, please pray for us!

Stabat Mater Dolorosa: At the Cross Her Station Keeping

The wee hours of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is now here! : )) A happy and O so beautiful feast day for all of us as we labour through Passion Week!!!

It was on this day so many years ago, in the Holy House of Loreto (Nazareth), that Our Dearest Mamma Mary humbly said YES to God, through the Angel, so that Our Dearest Saviour, Jesus could come into this world. 

1) The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.

And She conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee, Blessed art Thou amongst women and Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

2) Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary ...

3) And the Word was made flesh.

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary ...

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

So great was this huge decision that was made, that this changed the entire course of events for the whole world. It was because of this decision that dearest Mother Mary, through the grace of the Most High, made, that allowed for the Saviour of the world to come into this darkness.

It was this decision, that thereby, the fate of all souls since the beginning of time to the end of time was changed. She was the one that said yes to God and thus, to a certain extent, helped accomplish for us, our salvation. In a sense, she made the first committed step, and there was no turning back after she said yes to God. This is one of the reasons why the dearest Blessed Virgin has been given the title, the Co-Redemptrix of mankind, our salvation, because, by virtue of this huge decision she made, she helped save mankind. That is why, we Catholics love her as our dearest Mother.

We need to remember something that St Pio wrote / said:

"Even Mary, the Mother of Jesus, knew that through His death, man would be redeemed, and yet She cried and suffered, and suffered much."

My favourite Stabat Mater Dolorosa: At the Cross Her Station Keeping hymn

Stabat Mater Dolorosa is considered one of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time. It is based upon the prophecy of Simeon that a sword was to pierce the heart of His mother, Mary (Lk 2:35). The hymn originated in the 13th century during the peak of Franciscan devotion to the crucified Jesus and has been attributed to Pope Innocent III (d. 1216), St. Bonaventure, or more commonly, Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306), who is considered by most to be the real author.

The hymn is often associated with the Stations of the Cross. In 1727 it was prescribed as a Sequence for the Mass of the Seven Sorrows of Mary (September 15) where it is still used today. In addition to this Mass, the hymn is also used for the Office of the Readings, Lauds, and Vespers for this memorial. There is a mirror image to this hymn, Stabat Mater speciosa, which echoes the joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the birth of Jesus.

STABAT Mater dolorosa iuxta Crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat Filius.	AT, the Cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.
Cuius animam gementem, contristatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.	Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed.
O quam tristis et afflicta fuit illa benedicta, mater Unigeniti!	O how sad and sore distressed was that Mother, highly blest, of the sole-begotten One.
Quae maerebat et dolebat, pia Mater, dum videbat nati poenas inclyti.	Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son.
Quis est homo qui non fleret, matrem Christi si videret in tanto supplicio?	Is there one who would not weep, whelmed in miseries so deep, Christ's dear Mother to behold?
Quis non posset contristari Christi Matrem contemplari dolentem cum Filio?	Can the human heart refrain from partaking in her pain, in that Mother's pain untold?
Pro peccatis suae gentis vidit Iesum in tormentis, et flagellis subditum.	Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender Child All with bloody scourges rent:
Vidit suum dulcem Natum moriendo desolatum, dum emisit spiritum.	For the sins of His own nation, saw Him hang in desolation, Till His spirit forth He sent.
Eia, Mater, fons amoris me sentire vim doloris fac, ut tecum lugeam.	O thou Mother! fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, make my heart with thine accord:
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum in amando Christum Deum ut sibi complaceam.	Make me feel as thou hast felt; make my soul to glow and melt with the love of Christ my Lord.
Sancta Mater, istud agas, crucifixi fige plagas cordi meo valide.	Holy Mother! pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified:
Tui Nati vulnerati, tam dignati pro me pati, poenas mecum divide.	Let me share with thee His pain, who for all my sins was slain, who for me in torments died.
Fac me tecum pie flere, crucifixo condolere, donec ego vixero.	Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live:
Iuxta Crucem tecum stare, et me tibi sociare in planctu desidero.	By the Cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give.
Virgo virginum praeclara, mihi iam non sis amara, fac me tecum plangere.	Virgin of all virgins blest!, Listen to my fond request: let me share thy grief divine;
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem, passionis fac consortem, et plagas recolere.	Let me, to my latest breath, in my body bear the death of that dying Son of thine.
Fac me plagis vulnerari, fac me Cruce inebriari, et cruore Filii.	Wounded with His every wound, steep my soul till it hath swooned, in His very Blood away;
Flammis ne urar succensus, per te, Virgo, sim defensus in die iudicii.	Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, lest in flames I burn and die, in His awful Judgment Day.
Christe, cum sit hinc exire, da per Matrem me venire ad palmam victoriae.	Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, by Thy Mother my defense, by Thy Cross my victory;
Quando corpus morietur, fac, ut animae donetur paradisi gloria. Amen.	While my body here decays, may my soul Thy goodness praise, safe in paradise with Thee. Amen.

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From the Liturgia Horarum. Translation by Fr. Edward Caswall (1814-1878)The Stabat Mater speciosa: By the Crib Wherein Reposing Stabat Mater speciosa is considered one of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time and one of the tenderest. It is based upon the Gospel account of the birth of Jesus. The hymn originated in the 13th century and has been attributed to Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306). There is a mirror image to this hymn, Stabat Mater dolorosa, which echoes the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the crucifixion and death of Jesus. STABAT Mater speciosa iuxta faenum gaudiosa, dum iacebat parvulus.  BY, the crib wherein reposing, with His eyes in slumber closing, lay serene her Infant-boy,  Cuius animam gaudentem laetabundam et ferventem pertransivit iubilus.  Stood the beauteous Mother feeling bliss that could not bear concealing, so her face o'erflowed with joy.  O quam laeta et beata fuit illa immaculata, mater Unigeniti!  Oh, the rapture naught could smother of that most Immaculate Mother of the sole-begotten One;  Quae gaudebat et ridebat, exultabat, cum videbat nati partum inclyti.  When with laughing heart exulting, she beheld her hopes resulting In the great birth of her Son.  Quisquam est, qui non gauderet, Christi matrem si videret in tanto solatio?  Who would not with gratulation see the happy consolation of Christ's Mother undefiled?  Quis non posset collaetari, Christi Matrem contemplari ludentem cum Filio?  Who would not be glad surveying Christ's dear Mother bending, praying, playing with her heavenly Child  Pro peccatis suae gentis Christum vidit cum iumentis et algori subditum.  For a sinful world's salvation, Christ her Son's humiliation She beheld and brooded o'er;  Vidit suum dulcem Natum vagientem, adoratum, vili deversorio.  Saw Him weak, a child, a stranger, yet before Him in the manger kings lie prostrate and adore.  Nato, Christo in praesepe caeli cives canunt laete cum immenso gaudio.  O'er that lowly manger winging, joyful hosts from heaven were singing canticles of holy praise;  Stabat, senex cum puella non cum verbo nec loquela stupescentes cordibus.  While the old man and the maiden, speaking naught, with hearts o'erladen, pondered on God's wondrous ways.  Eia, Mater, fons amoris me sentire vim ardoris fac, ut tecum sentiam.  Fount of love, forever flowing, with a burning ardor glowing, make me, Mother, feel like thee;  Fac, ut ardeat cor meum in amatum Christum Deum ut sibi complaceam.  Let my heart, with graces gifted all on fire, to Christ be lifted, and by Him accepted be.  Sancta Mater, istud agas, prone introducas plagas cordi fixas valide.  Holy Mother, deign to bless me, with His sacred Wounds impress me, let them in my heart abide;  Tui Nati caelo lapsi, iam dignati faeno nasci, poenas mecum divide.  Since He came, thy Son, the Holy, to a birth-place, ah, so lowly, all His pains with me divide.  Fac me vere congaudere, Iesulino cohaerere, donec ego vixero.  Make me with true joy delighted, to Child-Jesus be united while my days of life endure;  In me sistat ardor tui, puerino fac me frui dum sum in exilio.  While an exile here sojourning, make my heart like thine be burning with a love divine and pure. Spotless Maid and sinless Woman, make us feel a fire in common, make my heart's long longing sure.  Virgo virginum praeclara, mihi iam non sis amara, fac me parvum rapere.  Virgin of all virgins highest, prayer to thee thou ne'er denyest, let me bear thy sweet Child too.  Fac, ut pulchrum infantem portem, qui nascendo vicit mortem, volens vitam tradere.  Let me bear Him in my bosom, Lord of life, and never lose Him, since His birth doth death subdue.  Fac me tecum satiari, Nato me inebriari, stantem in tripudio.  Let me show forth how immense is the effect on all my senses of an union so divine. All who in the crib revere Him, like the shepherds watching near Him, will attend Him through the night,  Inflammatus et accensus, obstupescit omnis sensus tali me commercio.  By thy powerful prayers protected, grant, O Queen, that His elected may behold heaven's moving light.  Fac, me Nato custodiri, verbo Dei praemuniri conservari gratia.  Make me by His birth be guarded, by God's holy word be warded, by His grace till all is done;  Quando corpus morietur, fac, ut animae donetur tui nati gloria. Amen.  When my body lies obstructed, make my soul to be conducted, to the vision of thy Son. Amen.  From Latin Hymns, March, 1894. Translation by Denis Florence MacCarthy