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Padre
Pio and the Stigmata
Padre
Pio, a humble Capuchin priest from San Giovanni Rotondo,
Italy, was blessed by God in many wonderful and mysterious
ways. The most dramatic was the stigmata. Padre Pio wounds
bleed everyday for fifty years!
Among
his other gifts were perfume, bilocation, prophecy, conversion,
reading of souls, and miraculous cures. People are still
being cured through his intercession in ways that cannot
be explained by medicine or science.
More
important, if less spectacular, are the spiritual healings
that take place in all parts of the world! Padre Pio is
a powerful intercessor!!
On
October 22, 1918, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual
advisor, Padre Benedetto, describing how he received the
stigmata. "On the morning of the 20th of last month,
in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass, I yielded to
a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. All the internal
and external senses and even the very faculties of my
soul were immersed in indescribable stillness. Absolute
silence surrounded and invaded me. I was suddenly filled
with great peace and abandonment which effaced everything
else and caused a lull in the turmoil. All this happened
in a flash.
"While
this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious person
similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August.
The only difference was that his hands and feet and side
were dripping blood. The sight terrified me and what I
felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should
die and really should have died if the Lord had not intervened
and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out
of my chest.
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"The
vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands,
feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony
I experienced and continue to experience almost every
day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially
from Thursday evening until Saturday. |
Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds
and the resulting embarrassment I feel in my soul. I am
afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear
my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition.
Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will
he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these
outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop
imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the
wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to
be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which
cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation".
The
doctor who examined Padre Pio could not find any natural
cause for the wounds. Upon his death in 1968, the wounds
were no longer visible. In fact, there was no scaring
and the skin was completely renewed. He had predicted
50 years prior that upon his death the wounds would heal.
The wounds of the stigmata were not the only mystical
phenomenon experienced by Padre Pio. The blood from the
stigmata had an odor described by many as similar to that
of perfume or flowers, and the gift of bilocation was
attributed to him. Padre Pio had the ability to read the
hearts of the penitents who flocked to him for confession
which he heard for ten or twelve hours per day. Padre
Pio used the confessional to bring both sinners and devout
souls closer to God; he would know just the right word
of counsel or encouragement that was needed.
Even
before his death, people spoke to Padre Pio about his
possible canonization. He died on September 23, 1968 at
the age of eighty-one. His funeral was attended by about
100,000 people.
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