Newsletter #127 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

“I shall stand at the gates of Paradise until all my spiritual children have entered.” (Saint Padre Pio)
     There were many saints who were renowned for their fiery devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist. Saints like Peter Julian Eymard and Philip Neri should come to our mind. But, surely, as Brian Kelly writes in his biography, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina is among the most seraphic of all adorers because he was literally nailed to the Cross with Christ as he offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
     (N.B. One of the evil fruits of Vatican II was changing the rules for canonization of saints in the Catholic Church, which has resulted in many “canonized” saints that will most likely be declared by the future prophesized Holy Pontiff to be null and void. However, no sincere Catholic would doubt the fact that Padre Pio is a true saint, even though canonized by the novus ordo church, which promotes a counterfeit faith, not the True Catholic Faith).
     When the Capuchin friar died on September 23, 1968, at the age of eighty-one, in his monastery high in the Gargano mountain range in southern Italy, one million people from every corner of the globe began making their way by plane, train, bus, and automobile to the Church of Our Lady of Grace to pay him tribute. His body would lie there in state for three days as his devoted children would file past him one by one to pay their respects and ask him to remember them in eternity.
     Who was this humble old friar who for fifty-two years never left his monastery (except to vote) and what did he do that would move so many people of every race?
A NOODLE WITHOUT SALT
     He was Francesco Forgione, the son of Grazio Maria Forgione and Giuseppa De Nuncio, poor farmers of the small village of Pietrelcina in the province of Benevento in the region of Campania. He was born on May 25, 1887, the fourth of eight children, two of whom had died in infancy.
     Reared in the Catholic Faith by his devout parents, young Francesco treasured the truths of the one true religion with a zeal that was far more mature than his years. Even as a child he loved to go off alone and pray, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. Although he did not avoid normal activities with boys in the neighborhood, he was shy by nature and non-aggressive by temperament. Other than his extraordinary attraction to solitude and prayer, Francesco was in every other sense unremarkable. His own self-effacing description of his childhood personality is typical of the saint’s gritty wit: I was like “a noodle without salt,” i.e., not very colorful.
     The local parish priest knew differently. At times, the priest would find Francesco alone in church in a state of ecstasy. It was not until he was a young priest that Padre Pio revealed to his confessor that he had visions of Jesus and Mary from the time he was five years old. Fully aware that his son was especially graced, Grazio (or Orazio as he came to be called) once told him, rather prophetically, that he was not made for outdoor work, but would labor indoors. It was his way of saying that his son would be a monk. This was all the more obvious when a Franciscan Capuchin, Brother Camillo, would come to town to beg for the friars in the monastery at Morcone. Francesco was fascinated by him and by his long black beard. When he told his father that he wanted to be that kind of religious, with a large hood and beard, Grazio realized that he needed to supplement Francesco’s mere three years of primary education. That meant more money than he had. So, off he went to America, where one third of the men in impoverished Pietrelcina had already gone in order to make enough so that they could feed their families back home. This was a tremendous sacrifice on Orazio’s part; but, had he not done so, the world may have never known Padre Pio the saint.
FRA PIO, THE SICKLY CAPUCHIN
     After some years of private tutoring, Francesco Forgione was ready to apply for acceptance with the bearded friars at Morcone. Although only fifteen at the time the friars were happy to take him in; however, they warned him that the life was strict and rigorous and the meals far more frugal even than that of the poor farmers. At his investiture young Francesco took the name Pio in honor of St. Pius V. Fra Pio was beloved by all his confreres for he was the model of humility and obedience and his disposition was always joyful. Nor did his gift of tears, which manifested itself from the start of his religious life, ever quench his joy. He wept over the Passion of Christ and the sins of Catholics. His poor health, however, was a serious problem and it would continue to be so until he received the visible wounds of Christ crucified in 1918.
     During these early years of religious life Fra Pio gave himself to long hours of private prayer and he practiced many mortifications, but it was a strange illness that caused him a most intense suffering. He could not hold down food; he could not sleep; and his fevers were so hot that thermometers burst in the attempts to measure them. (One of these thermometers is on display today in the monastery relic room.) With temperatures exceeding 120, and the constant vomiting and the spitting up of blood, there was no human explanation for the young novice’s remaining alive. After some months his superiors had no choice but to send him home in the hopes that he would recuperate with more maternal care.
     While home with “Mamma Peppa” he was examined by several doctors. The first could find no cause for the racking symptoms, the second diagnosed him as tubercular, the third as having chronic bronchitis. In time his health did improve, and the Capuchins received him back, but when his condition worsened again, they tried moving him to another monastery, then another, then another, thinking changes in climate might help him. They did NOT. Once more Fra Pio had to be sent back to his family home in Pietrelcina, where his mother Guiseppa, all alone, was raising five other children while her husband earned bread in America to pay for their son’s education.
FRA PIO BECOMES PADRE PIO
     In due time Fra Pio regained some strength and he was able to return to his monastery and finish his courses in theology. He was now twenty-three, still too young to be ordained, but due to the severity of his illness he received a dispensation lest he die without being able to offer the holy sacrifice. On August 10, 1910, in the cathedral of Benevento, in the presence of his family, Fra Pio became Padre Pio. Only his father was unable to be there, having to work across the ocean in order to make this day possible. Four days later Padre Pio offered Mass in his home parish, where he had been baptized, in Pietrelcina. Here obedience declared that he must remain and give his lungs and intestines a longer period to heal. Five years past. Pio, the priest, offered Mass daily in the local Church, giving the rest of the day to prayer and study. Don Salvatore Pannullo, the pastor, was well aware of the mystical experiences of the “convalescing” friar, and he gave him all the privacy he needed. Padre Pio had made himself a little hut on the family farm lot where he lived the life of a hermit most of the day, practicing severe mortifications and fasting. Despite this he maintained a steady weight of about 165 lbs on his 5’10” frame.
THE FIRST STIGMATA
     It was only a month after his ordination, that Jesus and Mary came to Padre Pio as he was praying in his favorite hideaway. The humble friar had offered himself as a victim for the sins of the world. The date was September 7, 1910. Suddenly, as he was conversing with them in prayer, he felt a sharp pain in his hands and feet. His offering had been accepted. He was pierced with the wounds of the Crucified. The wounds were not open and appeared on both sides of his hands and feet as red marks about a half-inch in diameter. He told no one of about this, except Father Pannullo. The pastor did not know what to think at first, so he had a doctor, who knew the Forgiones, and was aware of Padre Pio’s extraordinary holiness, examine them. The doctor had no explanation.
     One day when Giuseppa called for her son to come home for dinner she found him shaking his hands in the air as he walked toward the house. “Are you playing the guitar?” she asked. “No, mamma,” he answered, “but my hands are stinging in great pain.” He quickly covered them under the long sleeves of his habit. In writing to his spiritual director, Father Benedetto, a year later, Padre Pio explained how frightened he was at receiving the visible marks of the stigmata. It was too much for him at the time, so great was his desire to lead a hidden life. He wanted to suffer without anyone knowing the cause. Father Pannullo understood, and so they both prayed together that the wounds would disappear. Soon after they did disappear and the pain did remain, but not permanently. Sometimes it would go away, then return again. It was a prelude to what was to come later.
     What came first was World War I (1914-1918). And, Italy’s masonic republic made no exceptions for the clergy in the draft. Padre Pio was summoned to serve. This, of course, only made his lungs worse, and, in the cold barracks of the camps the future saint almost coughed himself to death. Eventually, he was honorably discharged.
     When the “soldier priest” returned home early in 1916, his spiritual director, who knew all of Padre Pio’s mystical experiences, counseled him to return to the Capuchins. Father Benedetto had found a place where he was sure Padre Pio would fare well. And there he went in the cold of February, eighteen hundred feet above sea level, in the mountains of Gargano, to San Giovanni Rotundo, to the monastery of Our Lady of Grace. And there he would remain until his death fifty-two years later.
THE VISIBLE STIGMATA
     On August 5, 1918, while hearing the confessions of some students a “mysterious person” appeared above Padre Pio brandishing a glowing sword. He thrust the sword deep into the saint’s side causing him inexpressible pain. Several other saints have experienced this piercing (or, transverberation, as it is called in mystical theology) of the heart, but in Padre Pio case the wound was physical. It left an open gap, which had the shape of a cross and issued blood. Then, on September 20, while making his thanksgiving in the choir loft after Mass, the saint was put into an ecstasy. The same “mysterious person” appeared again with blood issuing from open wounds in his hands and feet. “The sight terrified me,” he wrote his confessor, “I thought I should die . . . my heart was about to burst out of my chest.” When he was released from the vision he cried out from the excruciating pain that was in his hands and feet. His fellow friars ran up to the loft and found their brother unconscious on the floor bleeding profusedly. The invisible stigmata, that had come and gone over the years, was now visible, permanent, and even more painful. Just three days before the friars had celebrated the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. It was also on this day, eight years before, that Padre Pio first received the temporary stigmata as previously described.
PADRE PIO’S MASS
     The visible stigmata of Padre Pio never healed, no matter what salves doctors applied, nor was there any infected tissue around the gaping holes. From his side alone he lost a cup of blood a day. More blood was shed on Fridays when the saint underwent the scourging and crowning with thorns. Equally inexplicable was the heavenly fragrance that the wounds emitted. Except for when he offered the Mass, Padre Pio’s hands were always covered with gloves cut open for his fingers. His Mass lasted an hour and a half. During the un-bloody sacrifice the stigmatist endured even greater agony from his wounds. His Mementos for the living and deceased would last fifteen minutes each because he prayed for so many souls. At the consecration he would pause for long periods of adoration, especially of the Sacred Host become the Body of Christ. The friar assisting him would have to wipe away the tears that fell in abundance from his transfixed eyes. Sometimes, prior to ascending the altar, the saint would show his irritation if there was any talking by the faithful in the Church: “Silenzio,” he would shout, “silenzio!”
THE CONFESSOR
     A typical day for Padre Pio began at 3:30 A.M. after three hours sleep. His Mass began at 5:00. After Mass he made a long thanksgiving until breakfast time. For his ‘prima colazione’, he took a glass of water, then he went to the sacristy to hear the confessions of men. At noon he took his only meal, which was always very light and rarely included meat. He preferred fish, cheese, vegetables, and occasionally eggs. It is a marvel that a man who slept only three hours and consumed only three or four hundred calories a day would be able to hear hundreds of confessions every day, sometimes for eighteen hours. In the afternoon he heard the women’s confessions. Female penitents were turned away if their dresses were not modest. Peering into the soul of a penitent if he saw lack of proper contrition or poor preparation, he was not immune to denying absolution. To one woman who had had an abortion and already confessed it, he said, “I hear a baby crying.” Although her sin was forgiven, he admonished her to do more penance.
DAILY LIFE AT OUR LADY OF GRACE MONASTERY
     Always fingering his Rosary beads, it was believed that Padre Pio could do two things at the same time. This would account for the fact that in addition to saying all the hours of the divine office he was able to say forty Rosaries daily. A period each day he set aside to work at his desk, sipping a big glass of water or bowl of coffee, while reading and writing letters. Padre Pio’s life as a Capuchin was not all work, however; he would join in recreation with his confreres, take walks in the gardens, and enjoy light conversations with friends and guests. In addition, there are so many testimonies to his quick wit and humor that, were it not for his slow gait and the shuffling of his feet as he walked, one could forget that he was in uninterrupted agony. “Do your wounds hurt, Padre,” someone once asked him. His answer came quick: “Do you think God gave them to me for a decoration?”
BI-LOCATION
     There are many books written about Padre Pio detailing a life full of miracles. Bi-location is one of the more fascinating of his gifts, physically to be in two places at the same time. There are numerous, documented accounts of his appearing in a certain place while never leaving his monastery at San Giovanni Rotundo. One of these accounts, personally delivered to Pope Pius XI by a priest friend who witnessed it, helped convince the pope to lift the restrictions that had been imposed on Padre Pio by the Vatican in 1931. When Pope Benedict XV first heard about Padre Pio’s stigmata in 1918, he had ordered pictures taken of the friar’s wounds, and that was about as far as the investigation went.
     But during the pontificate of Pius XI several priests had gone to Rome and spoken ill of the stigmatist and the friary, thereby giving the Holy Office an erroneous impression of him. Two of these calumniators were very influential. One was a very proud psychology professor, the founder of Sacred Heart College in Milan; the other was a luxury prone archbishop, the head of the diocese of Manfredonia, in which diocese San Giovanni Rotundo was situated. The false information, and lies, that these and a few other detractors told the Holy Office made poor Padre Pio even more conformed to the Crucified, who Himself suffered the same kind of malediction.
     For two years Padre Pio was forbidden to offer Mass in public, hear confessions, have visitors, or write letters. He was even forbidden to correspond with Father Benedetto, his director. Then, in 1933, two things happened to change all this. First, an important document, authenticating the divine origin of Padre Pio’s stigmata, was found after having been misplaced in the Vatican. Padre Pio revealed to a friend where this document was to be found, and the friend got the word to Pope Pius, who discovered it to be exactly where the stigmatist said it was. Second, a certain priest who had received permission to pray privately at the tomb of St. Pius X, upon entering the crypt (which he needed a key to get into), found Padre Pio praying at the tomb. Upon hearing this priest’s report, Pius XI called Padre Pio’s superior, who assured him that the stigmatist had never left his monastery.
     Several other priests had also seen Padre Pio praying at Pius X’s tomb or at other holy places, including the Holy House of Loreto. Blessed Don Orione, disciple of Don Bosco, counselor of popes, founder of many schools, missions, and the Sons of Divine Providence, personally told Pope Pius XI that he had seen Padre Pio bi-located in Rome. Another holy priest, Padre Domenico da Cese, who entered the Capuchin cloister at Manoppello, Italy, to venerate all his life the Veil of the Holy Face that is there, claimed that he saw Padre Pio praying before the holy image on the night of September 21, 1968, the night before the saint died.
     There are many other Padre Pio bi-location stories. One of my favorites is that of the U.S. Army pilot whose plane was shot down somewhere in northern Italy during a dogfight with the Germans in World War II. He had managed to eject his seat after the hit, but the parachute got ripped and he was left falling to certain death – that is, until a robed man grabbed him in mid-air and carried him safely to the ground. The pilot found his way to the American camp, and much to his chagrin, his story drew nothing but compassionate smiles and blank stares. Nevertheless, that story, and one other involving a flying friar who waved off a WWII bomber pilot from dropping his load on the wrong target, made it into the U.S. military’s official records. When the first pilot returned home, his mother, whom he had told by letter about the miraculous rescue, showed him a prayer card that she had of Padre Pio. “That’s the man!” he exclaimed, “that’s the man who saved my life.”
HIS MANY CHARISMATA
     Another gift of Padre Pio was his ability to be present somewhere invisibly. Thus, in 1942, when his spiritual director, Padre Benedetto was on his deathbed, his confreres expressed sorrow that Padre Pio was not there, for, in fact, the confessor had been assured by the stigmatist that he would be there to help him at that hour. The holy padre just smiled at his brethren and quietly said: “He is here.”
     When necessary Padre Pio could read souls and prophesy; he knew what needed to be known of a penitent’s past, he could see things hidden from the senses, at times things hidden even from the angels, such as future events. He is recorded to have said before the death of Pius XII that Cardinal Roncalli would succeed him as pope and that he would take the name John. But he did not have the gift of tongues. If you could not speak Italian or Latin, he would send you to another priest for confession.
     Some of the accounts of his preternatural clairvoyance are stunning, such as the time he suddenly interrupted his conversation with some visitors and said: “Let us pray for the King of England who has just died.” Some hours before this the saint had asked one of the friars to pray with him for King George VI because he was about to appear before the judgment seat of God. This would seem to indicate that Padre Pio’s prayer was efficacious and that the king died a repentant Catholic. News of the monarch’s death did not reach Italy until the following morning.
     Then, there was the case of an agnostic doctor who went to see Padre Pio just to satisfy a friend’s request that he do so. His friend had given him a sealed letter for Padre Pio in which he asked the stigmatist to convert the doctor. The agnostic left without ever speaking to the saint. Padre Pio knew that the man had left, and he knew that he would come back, and so he did. This time Padre Pio accosted him immediately saying: “You carry your own condemnation in your pocket; you are a delinquent, read the letter in your pocket.” The doctor read the letter, grew pale, and kneeling down begged forgiveness, and was thusly converted.
     Some accounts are of matters so trivial that they would argue that Padre Pio must have constantly been getting revelations, every minute. Two pious sisters wanted very much to see the saint. Their father gave them permission, but made them promise NOT to kiss the stigmatist’s gloved hand because there would be too many germs on the cloth. In the excitement with all the pilgrims pressing to meet the saint, the girls forgot their promise. When Padre Pio greeted them, the elder sister made to take his hand, but the saint pulled it away: “Remember the promise you made to your father,” he said with a winsome smile.
     Another gift that was Padre Pio’s way of assuring someone that he had heard their prayer favorably was a heavenly fragrance, a scent of flowers, or aromatic incense. Again, this was so commonly done by him that many thousands of people have testified to it with a variety of descriptions concerning what kind of fragrance they smelled. One of them was my mother, whom Padre Pio protected during a grave illness. My mother did not smell the fragrance but the nurses in the hospital where she was to be operated on did. They insisted on knowing what kind of perfume my mother was wearing. She was wearing none, being near death’s door. Nor were there any flowers at all in the room.
     The obedience of our saint was without hesitation or compromise. Although it is difficult to understand why, Padre Pio was forbidden to preach after receiving the stigmata. This must have been a heavy cross. Then, again, he was a living sermon, everything he said and did, especially his holy Mass.
LOVE OF OUR LADY
     Padre Pio lived in this world physically, but he also lived in heaven, or shall we say heaven came to him. No, he did not have the beatific vision, but he enjoyed the company of the angels and saints, and his “dear little Mother,” as he called the Blessed Virgin Mary. When a priest asked him if Our Lady had ever appeared to him, he gave this astonishing answer: “Why not ask me instead if she ever leaves my room.” Mary gave him such consolation that he was made to feel that he was her sole concern. “Poor dear mother,” he wrote in a letter, “how much she loves me! What great care she took to accompany me to the altar this morning. It seemed to me that she had nothing else to think about except myself, as she filled my whole heart with sentiments of holy love. I wish I had a voice strong enough to invite the sinners of the world to love Our Lady.” He conversed with his guardian angel, the “little man,” as a friend to a friend, employing him to perform many tasks, deliver messages, protect his spiritual children, and move a sinner to repentance.
HIS CHARITY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY
     Souls in Purgatory were the saint’s special concern. Often, they would appear to him begging for his prayers and to be included in his Memento for the dead at Mass. Sometimes souls who were released would make a stop in his cell on their way to heaven. On one occasion the friars heard loud shouts of “Viva Padre Pio” echoing through the monastery corridors. They are soldiers, the saint told his confreres; they had come to thank him for the early end of their purgation.
THE FURY OF THE DEVIL
     Padre Pio’s invisible visitors were not always friends but many times they were fiends. Demons would let loose their rage on him during the night, beating him and scourging him. One time the stigmatist was left soaked in blood and half dead on the floor, his face a bulbous mess, and gashes so deep as to require sutures. The attack left him so weak that he was unable to say Mass for three days. His brothers would hear these assaults at times, that is to say they would hear the cries to Mary coming from the victim. “Dear Blessed Mother, help me,” he would cry out. At other times the devil would appear as a saint or a deceased spiritual director counseling him to abandon his penances as they were no longer pleasing to God. It was to no avail. Padre Pio would simply ask the arch-deceiver to say “Viva Gesu!” (Long live Jesus!) Unable to do so, the devil would disappear.
HOUSE FOR THE RELIEF OF SUFFERING
     In the Gospels we read that Our Lord Jesus Christ healed all those who came to Him for a cure, both the good and the bad. Like his divine Exemplar, Padre Pio would have done the same if God had given him this power. Yet, although not everyone was healed who came to our saint seeking a cure, hundreds, perhaps thousands, were. For fifty years people made their way to San Giovanni Rotundo hoping to be healed spiritually or physically, or both. It would seem with our saint that only those who would benefit spiritually from a physical cure obtained one. On the other hand, charity is a virtue that reaches out to do good to all one’s neighbors.
     To fulfill this burning desire of his heart, Padre Pio determined that he would do all in his power to see that a House for the Relief of Suffering be built in San Giovanni Rotundo. This “House” would open itself to tend to every kind of misery and give relief to all the needy who came for assistance. Believing, as did all the saints, that Jesus was “doubly” present in the poor and needy, Padre Pio announced his plan to a few close friends to whom he hoped to entrust the project: “We must build a hospital,” he told them as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin. He would be the first donor.
     There were many sound arguments offered against building a hospital in such a remote location, but all of them surrendered to the determined will of the stigmatist who placed all his trust in God. Once news of the proposed hospital was publicized, donations began pouring in from all parts of the world. Construction of the fifteen-hundred bed hospital took nine years. Before the cutting of the ribbon ceremony (for which our saint did the honors), on May 5, 1956, Padre Pio offered Mass on the steps leading to the front entranceway. There were fifteen thousand people behind him. How fitting that May 5 just happened to be the feast day of St. Pius V, Padre Pio’s patron saint.
     One of the honored guests and speakers at the event was Doctor Paul Dudley White, world-renowned heart specialist. He had worked with Padre Pio’s spiritual children in America to get donations for the hospital. At the time Doctor White was not a Catholic. He was later converted with the help, of course, of the prayers of Padre Pio.
HIS LAST DAYS
     As Padre Pio entered into his seventies, his gait slowed down to a shuffle and his body grew much weaker. The crowds, however, grew larger as the years went by, thanks to the expanding conveniences of modern travel. After Mass, when the stigmatist walked through the crowd of visitors, there always had to be a friar escort beside him. It was not unusual to find women with scissors hidden in their pocket and ready to snip a piece of cloth from his cloak.
     He could be quite gruff with such as these, and with others who just came to see him out of curiosity. He once scolded one young mother very severely for waiting three months to have her baby baptized, just so she could have Padre Pio perform the rite. “What? You allow your child to be a child of hell for three months? And now you come to me?” He sent her to another priest.
     Eventually Padre Pio could drag his feet no more. He had to be confined to a wheelchair. But he continued to say Mass publicly from this sitting position and to hear confessions. During the last days of his life he spoke often to his brothers about his desire to die, while repeatedly asking them to forgive him for “all the trouble” he had given them. His final Mass was offered on September 22, two days after the fiftieth anniversary of his receiving the stigmata. That Mass, much to his dismay, was filmed. When he saw the camera rolling, he was heard to say “Even here, even here.”
     Just after midnight, the next day, he summoned the friars to his cell by ringing his bell. It was time. The saint passed away at about two-thirty after receiving the last rites and making his final confession. Before dying, as he held his Rosary in his still bleeding hands, he exclaimed that he could see two mothers: his earthly and his heavenly. His mamma, Giuseppa, and his “dear little mother” Mary had come to take him home. ‘Gesu, Maria,’ he sighed aloud with his last breaths, ‘Gesu, Maria, Gesu, Maria’.
THE THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA AND FATHER AMORTH
    Recently, Steve Skojec published in the English language words from Rome’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth (died 2016), about Padre Pio and his knowledge of the Third Secret of Fatima. They come from a newly published book written by José María Zavala, entitled ‘The Best Kept Secret of Fatima’ (El Sécreto Mejor Guardado de Fátima).
     Many may not have realized the importance of this interview with Father Amorth, which was only to be published after the priest’s death. In the following excerpts, there is Father Amorth’s own conviction that the specific Consecration of Russia has not yet taken place, and then enters into the larger discussion about Fatima:
     It [a piece of the Fatima puzzle] came in the form of an interview with the very famous (and now deceased) Roman exorcist, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, also conducted by José María Zavala. Fr. Amorth personally knew Saint (Padre) Pio for 26 years, and it is from this towering figure of 20th century Catholic sanctity that he claims to have learned the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima.
     Fr. Amorth was interviewed by Zavala in 2011, who kept the interview secret until after the exorcist’s death, publishing it for the first time in his book about Fatima. In the interview, Fr. Amorth relates — as he has done elsewhere — that he does not believe the consecration of the world by Pope John Paul II in 1984 was sufficient to satisfy the requirements set forth by Our Lady.
“There was no such consecration then,” he [Father Amorth] says. “I witnessed the act. I was in St. Peter’s Square that Sunday afternoon, very close to the Pope; so close, I could almost touch him.”
     Pressed by Zavala as to why he so forcefully believes that the consecration was not done, Fr. Amorth replied: “Very simple: John Paul II wanted to mention Russia expressly, but in the end he did not.”
     Zavala pressed the issue with Fr. Amorth, saying that Sister Lucia herself (as mentioned above) had said that Heaven had accepted the consecration. He describes an incredulous reaction from Fr. Amorth. “Lucia said that…?” He asked. Zavala continues:
     “Well, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said it, in the year 2000, hiding behind a letter [escudándose en una carta] from Lucia dated November 1989, in which she stated that Heaven had admitted consecration in spite of one of the most important conditions.
“Have you seen that letter?” He asks, as if conducting a police interrogation in search of evidence.
“Never,” I say flatly.
“I do not think you’ll ever see it, because I’m convinced that Lucia did not write it.”
“How are you so sure of that?”
     “Why didn’t Bertone show it when he should have, when he announced the Third Secret of Fatima? A simple photocopy of the manuscript, included in the official dossier of the Vatican, would have been sufficient to dispel any doubt. If the Vatican has always been scrupulous in providing the documentary proof that authenticated the information by Lucia on minor matters, what reason would they have to skimp on the only documentary evidence that, according to Bertone, validated a fact that without doubt was of as much importance as the consecration performed by John Paul II?
“Yes, it is weird,” I admit.
     “You really think Lucia took five years to write that the consecration had been truly accepted? And that Bertone waited no less than sixteen years to announce the validity of something so crucial as the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?” Father Amorth’s voice sounds like dry leaves.
“It is all very strange, in truth.” I [Zavala] nod again.
     “Moreover,” he adds, “if the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary made by Pius XII in 1942 was only partially accepted [because he did not specifically mention Russia], for Jesus said that in view of it the war would only be shortened rather than finished immediately, why would He now change his mind with John Paul II, if Russia was not mentioned on this occasion?”
“It would be an incongruity, yes.”
“Rather.”
“So…?”
     “I have no doubt that the consecration did not occur on the terms required by the Virgin. But we must not lose sight of what she herself wanted to tell us through Lucia: ‘In the end My Heart Immaculate will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and it will become [come to be], [thereby] granting itself to the world a time of peace’…”
     The interview digresses here from the topic of Fatima, but Zavala returns to it again later:
“Forgive me for insisting on the Third Secret of Fatima: Did Padre Pio relate it, then, to the loss of faith within the Church?”
     Fr. Gabriele furrows his brow and sticks out his chin. He seems very affected.
“Indeed,” he states, “One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time will come to rule a false Church.’”
“Oh my God! Some kind of Antichrist! When did he prophesy this to you?” I [Zavala] ask.
“It must have been about 1960, since I was already a priest then.”
“Was that why John XXIII had such a panic about publishing the Third Secret of Fatima, so that the people wouldn’t think that he was the anti-pope or whatever it was …?”
     A slight but knowing smile curls the lips of Father Amorth.
     “Did Padre Pio say anything else to you about future catastrophes: earthquakes, floods, wars, epidemics, hunger …? Did he allude to the same plagues prophesied in the Holy Scriptures?” [asks Mr. Zavala]
     “Nothing of the sort mattered to him, however terrifying they proved to be, except for the great apostasy within the Church. This was the issue that really tormented him and for which he prayed and offered a great part of his suffering, crucified out of love.” [says Fr. Amorth]
“The Third Secret of Fatima?”
“Exactly.”
“Is there any way to avoid something so terrible, Fr. Gabriele?”
     “There is hope, but it is useless if it is not accompanied by works. Let us begin by consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us recite the Holy Rosary, let us all do prayer and penance …” [emphasis added]
     Thus ends Steve Skojec’s own presentation of certain passages of the new Zavala book on Fatima.
     Father Amorth is a witness here to what Padre Pio – whom he first met when he himself was a seventeen-year-old young man – told him directly and personally. Father Amorth states in that same interview that Padre Pio even let him sometimes read his own spiritual diary.
OUR LADY IN PADRE PIO’S LIFE
     Padre Pio’s Marian devotion, as explained by Brother Francis Mary, F.I., was a profound part of him from infancy to old age. He related later in life how as a boy he went to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples, without permission, knowing that his mother would not give him the permission. He visited her shrine frequently when he was stationed in Naples as a soldier. Nothing could stand in his way when inspired to give Mary his love. The particular area of Italy where Padre Pio was born, Pietrelcina, had as a special patroness, Our Lady of Liberty. However, his devotion to her was expressed more in action than in words.
     Though he wrote a brief meditation on her Immaculate Conception, and there are scattered references to her in his early letters (later on he was forbidden to write letters by the Holy See and as a result his written testimonies on Mary are few), yet, throughout his priestly life the most beautiful and effective “sermon” in her honor, was the Rosary which he prayed constantly. It was this chain of hope that linked him with heaven and the supernatural, that world which is unexplainable to the rationalist, and materialist.
     Our Lady appeared to Padre Pio on a number of occasions. Upon being asked twenty years later why he had kept this and other supernatural visits a secret he replied in all sincerity that he thought everyone saw our Lady. His spiritual director, Padre Agostino of San Marco, relates: “One day he ingenuously asked me ‘Do you not see our Lady?’ At my negative reply he answered, ‘You are just saying that out of holy humility!’”
     When Francesco chose to join the Franciscans he undoubtedly was largely motivated by the long Marian tradition of the friars going back to St. Francis. It was they who were the great champions of her Immaculate Conception and her Assumption into heaven. Today, they will be found among those championing her role as Mediatrix of All Graces. His devotion to Mary was centered in identification with Mary at the foot of the Cross of her crucified Son — the Man of Sorrows. From the Queen of Martyrs Padre Pio learned how to bear the painful stigmata and so many other sufferings heroically. In spiritual direction to others he said: “Lean on the Cross like the Virgin Mary and you will not be without comfort. Mary was petrified before the Crucified Christ, but you cannot say that she was abandoned. She was loved better then, when she could not even cry.
     The frequent use Padre Pio made of the Rosary, this simple prayer of both the learned and illiterate, rich and poor, young and old, gives us an indication of his awareness of Mary’s presence and protection over her spiritual children through the Rosary. Towards the end of his life it was ever in his hands. It was as if he were telling his devotees: “Here is peace of heart, the victory over evil, the strength to overcome every obstacle on the way to heaven.” It was through the Rosary that the whole array of gifts and miracles he received for souls came. His power to draw sinners to an amendment of life and to encourage his sons and daughters to seek personal holiness were the fruit of his prayer life, in particular the Rosary.
     When he was asked one day what inheritance he wished to leave his spiritual children, he answered at once, “The Rosary.” He pointed out to his followers that if the Holy Virgin has urged the recitation of the Rosary wherever she appeared in recent times, isn’t that an indication that we should pray it every day. How many Rosaries did he recite each day? He responded as many as thirty-five complete Rosaries. Amazed at this seemingly impossible number, he was asked how could he say that many in one day. He responded, “How can you not pray that much?” It is evident from his reply that he was able to do several things at the same time.
     Regardless of the number, his example contradicts those who have discarded this devotion as not being Christ-centered enough. Here is a holy person who bore the visible wounds of our Lord’s Passion for fifty years who continually prayed the Rosary, holding it up to all men as a perfect means of reviewing the central acts in the great drama of our redemption, through the meditating on the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries in the lives of Christ and his Mother. He spoke of the Rosary as that prayer in which “she triumphs over everything and everyone.” Two days before he died he repeated: “Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it always and as much as you can.”
     Was this great devotion he had to the Rosary tied in with Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima in 1917, where she identified herself as our “Lady of the Rosary” and requested its recitation daily? It does not seem likely. Yet when acquainted with Fatima, Padre Pio lived its message and Mary’s formula for world peace, through prayer, penance and consecration to her Immaculate Heart, throughout his whole life. These words of Our Lady to the three seers in 1917 were perfectly understood and lived by Padre Pio;
      “Many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them, . . . I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. . . . They [sinners] must not continue to offend Our Lord who is already deeply offended. . . . Say the Rosary every day, to obtain peace for the world. . . . If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. . . . .In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace.”
     Padre Pio understood the vitally important role and responsibility of all men as co-redemptors, “Filling up that which is wanting in the sufferings of Christ.” (St. Paul, Col.1: 24). He said once, “Souls are not given as gifts; they are bought. You do not know what they cost Jesus. Now they still have to be bought always with the same coin.” How many souls he purchased through his heroic patience in a life of suffering, endured out of love of God and united to Christ’s suffering, will be a surprise to all when revealed on the day of judgement!
     Pope Pius XII, the Fatima pope, in 1952, heeding her urgent request for prayer, urged his spiritual children to form prayer groups. When Padre Pio heard about this appeal he immediately encouraged his spiritual children to heed the admonition of the Holy Father. These prayer groups soon came to be known as Padre Pio Prayer Groups and have spread throughout the world.
     The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima sought his approval and help in furthering the message of Fatima. The founder of the Blue Army, the late Msgr. Harold Colgan, asked Padre Pio if he would be the spiritual director of the Blue Army and accept its members as his spiritual children. In accepting the charge, Padre Pio smiled and added gently: “May they only behave well!” He is known to have said on one occasion that Russia would be converted when there are as many members of the Blue Army as there are Communists.
THE PILGRIM STATUE
     In 1959 the Fatima Pilgrim Virgin statue was touring the major cities in Italy aboard a helicopter. We know from his confreres how much he looked forward to her visit at San Giovanni Rotundo. The day it arrived in Italy, May 5, Padre Pio was struck down with a bad attack of pleurisy. An exceptional change in the schedule was made so that the statue could visit Padre Pio and the large crowd that had gathered there to celebrate the forty years he bore the stigmata. Padre Pio spoke from his sick bed over the loudspeaker, exhorting the people to prepare for its visit with Christian renewal. On the day it arrived in San Giovanni Rotundo, August 5, he announced with deep emotion, “In a few minutes Our Mother will be in our house. . . .Open your hearts.” He urged them to give thanks, to commit themselves “enthusiastically. . . . permanently, just as Our Mother’s eye is permanently on us.”
     During the morning of August 6, he was able to go down to the church where they lowered the statue before his face so he could kiss her. What follows is best described by the mayor of San Giovanni who was a good friend of Padre Pio.
     “It would seem that everyone . . . not only from San Giovanni but from the whole region . . . was gathered here to receive her. And poor Padre Pio, whose devotion to our Blessed Mother is one of his most outstanding characteristics, longed in his sick bed to at least pay homage to her in some way. And when the statue was lifted from the helicopter in order to be taken into the Chapel of the hospital, he insisted on getting up to render her homage. In vain all tried to dissuade him. Since the superior did not forbid it and with two of the friars supporting him by the armpits, he went to honor our Lady.
     “Despite his great will power, three times he had to stop. But finally, dissolved in tears, he knelt in prayer before the famous image of Our Lady of Fatima . . . who had predicted the present suffering of the world and had promised to convert Russia and bring peace to mankind if her requests were heard. . . .Father Pio was back in his sick bed when the helicopter soared above the great crowds to bear the statue to other waiting throngs, in other parts of the country. As he heard the roar of the motors and crowd, Father Pio exclaimed aloud to our Lady: ‘On April 25th, the day you arrived in Italy, I fell ill. Now you are going to leave me. . . .’ The pilot of the helicopter later reported that for some reason he could not explain, as he was heading away, he suddenly decided to turn around and brought the aircraft back to the monastery, circled a few times, and finally flew away.
     “A few moments later Padre Pio said to those around him: ‘I felt myself tremble violently, and now I feel as strong and healthy as never before in my life.’ ” Later Padre Pio made a formal declaration of his instantaneous cure by Our Lady of Fatima and in gratitude sent a crucifix to Fatima. A few months later a Blue Army delegation presented him with a hand-carved statue of Our Lady of Fatima which was placed above the vesting table of the sacristy, where he prepared for Mass each morning.
     When people asked him how it was that San Giovanni Rotondo was chosen over the nearby city of Foggia, which was much larger, and the most important city in that part of Italy, with childlike candor he replied, “She wanted to come and cure Padre Pio.”
TEACHINGS ON OUR LADY
     Like another great Marian saint, St. Louis De Montfort, Padre Pio would cry out to all men, “Of Mary there is never enough!” When pressed to speak about her he showed the depths of his tender love for Mary by shedding tears of joy and emotion. The saying above his door was from the great Marian saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “Mary is the reason of all my hope.” One of his confreres wrote down some of the beautiful epithets spoken by Padre Pio on our Lady: “Abyss of grace and purity; Incomparable Masterpiece of the Creator; Tabernacle of the Most High; Receptacle of divine secrets; Woman bathed in light; Exquisite Dove.”
     As a true son of St. Francis, and in the Franciscan tradition, he was ever conscious of Mary’s first great prerogative and its importance. “The Immaculate Conception,” he said, “is the first step on the path of salvation.” He did not hesitate to affirm her universal mediation. “All things revert to her, all grace passes through her hands.” In the last years of his life, he said only the Mass of the Immaculate Conception. And lest anyone would get the impression that he stopped at Mary and did not have her Son as his final goal he might consider these words he directed at the Immaculata:
     “Oh, gentle Mother, make me love him. Fill my heart with the love that burned in thine. . . Purify my heart that I may know how to love my God and thy God! Purify my spirit that I may adore him in spirit and in truth! Purify my body, that it may become for him a living tabernacle!”
SPIRITUAL COUNSELS
     Padre Pio will long be remembered for the countless spiritual insights, succinct spiritual direction, and constant encouragement he gave through his concise sayings and teaching. Here are some of them as compiled by Joseph Pronechen:

Today’s society does not pray. That is why it is falling apart.
Prayer is the best weapon we possess, the key that opens the Heart of God.
Pray, hope and do not worry. Worry is useless. Our Merciful Lord will listen to your prayer.
Endeavor to unite the simplicity of children with the prudence of adults.
Do not be so given to the activity of Martha as to forget the silence of Mary. May the Virgin who so well reconciled the one with the other be your sweet model and inspiration.
It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass.
A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
How can the Mother of Jesus, present at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, who offered her Son as Victim for the salvation of souls, be absent at the mystical Calvary of the altar?
In the spiritual life he who does not advance goes backward. It happens as with a boat which always must go ahead. If it stands still the wind will blow it back.
You must speak to Jesus also with the heart, besides the lips; indeed, in certain cases you must speak to him only with the heart.
We must always have courage, and if some spiritual languor comes upon us, let us run to the feet of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and let us place ourselves in the midst of the heavenly perfumes, and we will undoubtedly regain our strength.
Have you not for some time loved the Lord? Do you not love him now? Do you not long to love him forever? Therefore, do not fear! Even conceded that you had committed all the sins of this world, Jesus repeats to you, ‘Many sins are forgiven thee because thou hast loved much!’
God loves man with an infinite love and when he punishes he does so with reverence, almost fearing to hurt.
God “absolutely cannot reject the sincere desire to love him.”
My past, O Lord, to Thy Mercy; my present, to Thy Love; my future, to Thy Providence!
The heart of our Divine Master has no more amiable law than that of sweetness, humility, charity. Often place your confidence in Divine Providence and be assured that sooner heaven and earth shall pass away than that the Lord neglect to protect you.
Kneel down and render the tribute of your presence and devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Confide all your needs to Him, along with those of others. Speak to Him with filial abandonment, give free rein to your heart, and give Him complete freedom to work in you as He thinks best.
Do not worry over things that generate preoccupation, derangement and anxiety. One thing only is necessary: to lift up your spirit and love God.
Thank and sweetly kiss the hand of God that strikes you, because it is always the hand of a Father who strikes you because He loves you.
To fail in charity is like wounding God in the pupil of his eye. What is more delicate than the pupil of the eye? To fail in charity is like failing against nature.
The final purpose of meditation is the love of God and one’s neighbor. Love the first with all your soul and without reservation, love the second as another self, and you will have arrived at the final purpose of meditation.
Temptations, discouragement and unrest are the wares offered by the enemy. Remember this: if the devil makes noise, it is a sign that he is still outside and not yet within. That which must terrify us is his peace and concord with the human soul.
The demon has only one door by which to enter into our soul: the will; there are no secret doors. No sin is a sin if not committed with the will. When there is no action of the will, there is no sin, but only human weakness.
That which comes from Satan begins with calmness and ends in storm, indifference and apathy.
The field of battle between God and Satan is the human soul. It is in the soul that the battle rages every moment of life. The soul must give free access to the Lord so that it be fortified by him in every respect and with all kinds of weapons; that his light may enlighten it to combat the darkness of error; that it be clothed with Jesus Christ, with his justice, truth, the shield of faith, the word of God, in order to conquer such powerful enemies. To be clothed with Jesus Christ it is necessary to die to oneself.
Do not fear. Jesus is more powerful than all hell. At the invocation of his name every knee in heaven, on earth and in hell must bend before Jesus; this is a consolation for the good and terror for evil.
When you are exposed to any trial, be it physical or moral, bodily or spiritual, the best remedy is the thought of him who is our life, and not think of the one without joining to it the thought of the other.
Remember that it is not feeling of guilt that constitutes sin but the consent to sin. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue.
The best means of guarding yourself against temptation are the following: watch your senses to save them from dangerous temptation, avoid vanity, do not let your heart become exalted, convince yourself of the evil of complacency, flee away from hate, pray whenever possible. If the soul would know the merit which one acquires in temptations suffered in patience and conquered, it would be tempted to say: Lord, send me temptations.
It is necessary to guard all your senses particularly your eyes: they are the means by which all the fascination and charm of beauty and voluptuousness enter the heart. When fashion, as in our time, is towards provocation and exposes what formerly was even wrong to think about, caution and self-restraint must be exercised. Whenever necessary you must look without seeing and see without thinking about it.
Always live under the eyes of the Good Shepherd and you will walk unharmed through evil pastures.
You must remember that you have in Heaven, not only a Father but also a Mother… Let us then have recourse to Mary. She is all sweetness, mercy, goodness and love for us because she is our Mother.
Walk in the way of the Lord with simplicity and do not torment your spirit. You must hate your defects but with a quiet hate, not troublesome and restless.
You should rather humble yourself before God than be distressed if he reserves for you the sufferings of his Son, and makes you experience your weakness. You should offer up to him the prayer of resignation and hope, even when you fall through frailty, and thank him for all the benefits with which he continually enriches you.
The sublime degree of humility is not only to recognize one’s own abjection but to love it. I have chosen says the prophet to be abject in the house of God rather than to dwell in the houses of sinners.
A good heart is always strong, it suffers, but with tears it is consoled by sacrificing itself for its neighbor and for God.
God enriches the soul which empties itself of everything.
The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.
He who attaches himself to the earth remains attached to it. It is by violence that we must leave it. It is better to detach oneself a little at a time, rather than all at once. Let us always think of Heaven.
Let us bind ourselves tightly to the Sorrowful Heart of our heavenly Mother and reflect on its boundless grief of how precious is our soul.
If we are calm and persevering, we shall find not only ourselves, but our souls, and with that, God Himself.
Pray that God will console you when you feel the burden of the Cross, for in doing so you are in no way acting against the will of God, but you are placing yourself beside the Son of God who asked His Father during the Agony in the Garden to send Him some relief. But if He is not willing to give it be ready to pronounce the same ‘Fiat,’ ‘So be it,’ that Jesus did.
Let the world turn topsy turvy, everything be in darkness and Mount Sinai all aflame, covered with lightning, thunder — God is with you. But if God lives in the darkness and Mount Sinai is all aflame, covered with lightning, thunder, and noise, will we not be safe near him?
Time spent in honor of God and for the salvation of souls is never badly spent.
You must have boundless faith in the Divine Goodness, for the victory is absolutely certain.
UNDERSTANDING PADRE PIO BETTER
     Concerning his spiritual life and direction, his demand for reverence in the church, and his reaction to Vatican II, Fr. Jean, OFM., Cap. gives us a deeper insight.
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
     Padre Pio overcame MANY terrible trials by following what had been taught him in the novitiate: perseverance in prayer, mortification of the senses, unshakable fidelity to the demands of one’s duty of state, and finally, perfect obedience to the priest in charge of his soul. His painfully acquired experience allowed him to draw to himself souls desirous of perfection, and to be demanding. To the souls he directed, he gave a five-point rule: weekly confession, daily communion and spiritual reading, examination of conscience each evening and mental prayer twice a day. As for the recitation of the Rosary, it is so necessary it goes without saying.
     “Confession is the soul’s bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a week and you will see that it needs dusting again!”
     To those who declare themselves unworthy to receive Holy Communion, he answers: “It is quite true, we are not worthy of such a gift. However, to approach the Blessed Sacrament in a state of mortal sin is one thing, and to be unworthy is quite another. All of us are unworthy, but it is He who invites us. It is He who desires it. Let us humble ourselves and receive Him with a heart contrite and full of love.”
     To another, who told him that the daily examination of conscience seemed useless, since his conscience showed him clearly at each action whether it was good or bad, he replied: “That is true enough. But every experienced merchant in this world not only keeps track throughout the day of whether he has lost or gained on each sale. In the evening, he does the bookkeeping for the day to determine what he should do on the morrow. It follows that it is indispensable to make a rigorous examination of conscience, brief but lucid, every night.
     “The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection.”
     When Padre Pio was condemned to not exercise any ministry, he spent his free time, not in reading newspaper – “the Devil’s gospel” – but in reading books of doctrine, history and spirituality. Despite this, he would still say: “One looks for God in books, but finds Him in prayer.”
     His counsels for mental prayer are simple: “If you do not succeed in meditating well, do not give up doing your duty. If the distractions are numerous, do not be discouraged; do the meditation of patience, and you will still profit. Decide upon the length of your meditation, and do not leave your place before finishing, even if you have to be crucified. Why do you worry so much because you do not know how to meditate as you would like? Meditation is a means to attaining God, but it is not a goal in itself. Meditation aims at the love of God and neighbor. Love God with all your soul without reserve, and love your neighbor as yourself, and you will have accomplished half of your meditation.”
     The same holds for assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: it is more concerned with making acts (of contrition, Faith, love …) than with intellectual reflections or considerations.     To someone asking whether it is necessary to follow the Mass in a missal, Padre Pio answered that only the priest needs a missal. According to him, the best way to attend the Holy Sacrifice is by uniting oneself to the Virgin of Sorrows at the foot of the cross, in compassion and love. It is only in Paradise, he assures his interlocutor, that we will learn of all the benefits that we received by assisting at Holy Mass.
HIS HOLY SEVERENESS
     Padre Pio, who was so affable and pleasant in his relations with people, could become severe and inflexible when the honor of God was at stake, especially in Church.
     “The whispering of the faithful would be authoritatively cut off by the Father, who would openly glare at anyone who failed to maintain a prayerful posture … If someone remained standing, even it if was because there were no places left in the pews, he would peremptorily invite him to kneel in order to participate worthily in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.” Not even an inattentive choirboy would be spared: “My child, if you want to go to hell, you don’t need my signature.”
     The post-war fashions fell under the same censure: Padre Pio, seated in his open confessional, all year round would ascertain that the women and girls who confessed to him were wearing skirts not too short. He would even cause tears to be shed when someone who had been waiting in line for hours would be turned away because of an offending hemline . . . Then some kind souls would step forward and offer help. In a corner, they would unsew the hem, or else lend the penitent a coat. Finally, sometimes the Father would allow the humiliated penitent to go to confession.”
     One day his spiritual director reproached him for his harsh conduct. He replied: “I could obey you, but each time it is Jesus who tells me how I am to deal with people.” His severe manner, then, was inspired from above, uniquely for the honor of God and the salvation of souls.
     “Women who satisfy their vanity in their dress can never put on the life of Jesus Christ; moreover, they even lose the ornaments of their soul as soon as this idol enters into their heart.”
     And let no one reproach him for lack of charity: “I beg you not to criticize me by invoking charity, because the greatest charity is to deliver souls held fast by Satan in order to win them over to Christ.”
PADRE PIO AND HIS REACTION TO VATICAN II
     Padre Pio NEVER celebrated the Novus Ordo Missae.
     He was a model of respect and submission towards his religious and ecclesiastical superiors, especially during the time when he was persecuted. Nonetheless, he could not remain silent over a deviation that was baneful to the Church.
     Even before the end of the Council, in February 1965, someone announced to him that soon he would have to celebrate the Mass according to a new rite, ‘ad experimentum’, in the vernacular, which had been devised by a conciliar liturgical commission in order to respond to the “aspirations” of modern man. Immediately, even before seeing the text, he wrote to Paul VI to ask him to be dispensed from the liturgical experiment, and to be able to continue to celebrate the Mass of St. Pius V. When Cardinal Bacci came to see him in order to bring the authorization, Padre Pio let a complaint escape in the presence of the Pope’s messenger: “For pity sake, END the Council QUICKLY.”
     The same year, during the conciliar euphoria that was promising a new springtime to the Church, he confided to one of his spiritual sons: “In this time of darkness, let us pray. Let us do penance for the elect”; and especially for the one who has to be their shepherd here below: All his life, he immolated himself for the reigning Pope, whose photograph was among the rare images that decorated his cell.
RENEWAL OF RELIGIOUS LIFE?
     There are other scenes from his life that are full of meaning, for example, his reactions to the ‘aggiornamento’ (update or modernize), the religious orders concocted in the wake of Vatican II. (The citations here are taken from a book bearing an imprimatur):
     “In 1966, the Father General (of the Franciscans) came to Rome prior to the special Chapter on the Constitutions in order to ask Padre Pio for his prayers and benedictions. He met Padre Pio in the cloister. ‘Padre, I came to recommend to your prayers the special chapter for the new Constitutions . . .’ He had scarcely gotten the words ‘special Chapter’ . . . ‘new Constitutions’ out of his mouth when Padre Pio made a violent gesture and cried out: ‘That is all nothing but destructive nonsense.’ ‘But Padre, after all, there is the younger generation to take into account . . . the youth evolve after their own fashion . . . there are new demands . . .’ ‘The only thing missing is mind and heart, that’s all, understanding and love.’ Then he proceeded to his cell, did a half-turn, and pointed his finger, saying: ‘We must not denature ourselves, we must not denature ourselves! At the Lord’s judgment, St. Francis will not recognize us as his sons!'”
     A year later, the same scene was repeated for the ‘aggiornamento’ of the Capuchins: “One day, some confreres were discussing with the Father Definiteur General (The counselors or advisers to the general or provincial of a religious order) the problems in the Order, when Padre Pio, taking a shocked attitude, cried out, with a distant look in his eye: ‘What in the world are you up to in Rome? What are you scheming? You even want to change the Rule of St. Francis!’ The Definiteur replied: ‘Padre, changes are being proposed because the youth do not want to have anything to do with the tonsure, the habit, bare feet’ . . .”
     Padre Pio replied: “Chase them OUT! Chase them OUT! What can you be saying? Is it they who are doing St. Francis a favor by taking the habit and following his way of life, or rather, isn’t it St. Francis who is offering them a great gift?”
     If we consider that Padre Pio was a veritable ‘alter Christus’, that his entire person, body and soul, was as perfectly conformed as possible to that of Jesus Christ, his stark REFUSAL to accept the ‘Novus Ordo’ and the ‘aggiornamento’ should be for us a lesson to learn. It is also noteworthy that the good Lord desired to recall His faithful servant just before they were implacably imposed on the Church and the Capuchin Order. Noteworthy, too, is the fact that Katarina Tangari, one of Padre Pio’s most privileged spiritual daughters, so admirably supported the priests of Ecône (of the Society of Saint Pius X) until her death, one year after the episcopal consecrations of 1988.
FINAL LESSON: FATIMA
     Padre Pio was even less obliging towards the prevailing social and political order, or rather, disorder (in 1966): “the confusion of ideas and the reign of thieves”. He prophesied that the Communists would come to power, “by surprise, without firing a shot . . . It will happen overnight.” This should not surprise us, since the requests of Our Lady of Fatima have not been listened to. He even told Msgr. Piccinelli that the red flag will fly over the Vatican, “but that will pass”. Here again, his conclusion rejoins that of the Queen of Prophets: “But in the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.” The means by which this prophecy will come to pass, we know: by the divine power; but it must be prompted by the two great powers in man’s hands: prayer and penance.
    This is the lesson which Our Lady wanted to remind us of at the beginning of this century: God wants to save the world by devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and there is no problem, material or spiritual, national or international, that cannot be solved by the holy Rosary and our sacrifices.
     This is also the last lesson that Padre Pio wanted to leave us by his example, and especially by his “prayer groups,” which he established throughout the world. “He was never without a Rosary, there was even one under his pillow. During the day he recited several dozens of Rosaries.” A few hours before he died, as those around him urged him to speak a few more words, all he could say was: “Love the Blessed Virgin and make Her loved. Always say the Rosary!”

BECOME A SPIRITUAL CHILD OF PADRE PIO
     Padre Pio promised:
“Once I take a soul on, I also take on their entire family as my spiritual children.”
“I shall stand at the gates of Paradise until all my spiritual children have entered.”
     What is a spiritual child of Padre Pio?   There are five conditions for becoming Padre Pio’s spiritual child:
(1) To live intensely a life of divine grace.
(2) To prove your faith with words and actions, living a true Christian life.
(3) To desire to remain under the protection of St. Padre Pio and to want to enjoy the fruits of his prayers and sufferings.
(4) To imitate Padre Pio’s virtue, particularly his love for Jesus Crucified, for the Most Blessed Sacrament, for the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the Pope, and for the entire Church.
(5) To be animated by a sincere spirit of charity towards all.
     If you have not already done so you can ask St. Padre Pio in your heart to be his spiritual child, or you can be formally enrolled. One way to do this is by requesting either the Padre Pio Foundation of America, or the National Centre for Padre Pio to enroll you.

AVE MARIA!
Father Joseph Poisson

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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged 2024, Father Joseph Poisson, June Newsletter