People love to believe in miracles. And many shamelessly use it. Therefore, sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish real miracle workers from charlatans. Sometimes only time is able to dot the i's. This is exactly what happened in the case of the famous Italian priest, Father Pio. The Vatican officially recognized him as the only bearer of stigmata for 700 years after St. Francis of Assisi, the most famous stigmatist.
ITALIAN MAUSOLEUM
Today Padre Pio is one of the most celebrated Catholic saints. About seven million people visit Father Pio's grave every year. In 2008, the holy fathers decided to exhume the body of the famous Capuchin. The miracle was not long in coming - even 40 years after his death, the saint's body was in excellent condition, no traces of decomposition were found. Then they decided to embalm the padre and put him in a new basilica. Since March 2013, the body of Pio's father has been permanently exhibited in San Giovanno Rotondo, the city where he spent most of his life. Here the padre performed all his famous miracles. But it was not always so. Before receiving the recognition of the Church, Padre Pio had to endure a lot. And it's all the fault of the very stigmata that formed on the body of a young man when he turned 31. The Holy See at first reacted to his wounds with great distrust. The monk was actually isolated from the outside world: for almost ten years, from 1923 to 1933, he was almost always in his cell, he was under constant and close observation.
IN THE VILLAGE, IN THE WAY, IN THE APULIA
The future priest was born on May 25, 1887 in Apulia - one of the poorest and most backward regions of southern Italy. The baby, who was named Francesco, was the fourth child of eight in the poor Forgione family. In order to feed a large crowd, my father had to emigrate to the United States in 1898. When Francesco went to study, financial support from overseas became invaluable, without her the boy could not even dream of education. At the age of 16, Francesco no longer doubted his vocation - he chose the spiritual path. The boy became a novice in the order of the Franciscan-Capuchins, and a year later he took temporary vows, taking the monastic name Pio in honor of the holy father of Pope Pius V. In 1907, Brother Pio took an eternal monastic vow, and in 1910 he was ordained.
The First World War began. Father Pio was periodically called up to serve in the army, but each time he was allowed to go home for treatment due to poor health. Until 1916, he lived in Pietrelcino, and then settled permanently in San Giovanni Rotondo - a small monastery lost on the picturesque slopes of Monte Gargano in the province of Foggia. Perhaps Father Pio would have served here all his life if it had not been for wounds of unknown origin on his hands and body.
Promotional video:
“It was the morning of the twentieth of September. I was praying in the choir after Holy Mass, when suddenly an unexpected state, like a sweet dream, overcame me. All my insides, feelings, as well as the strength of my soul, were covered with indescribable peace. Around me and inside me there was a deep silence; then it all happened in an instant. I saw in front of me a mysterious figure like which I saw on August 5th. The difference was that blood dripped from her arms and legs. The vision frightened me, it is impossible to describe what I felt at that moment. It felt like I was dying. And he would have died if God had not intervened and supported my sinking heart, which was about to escape from my chest. The vision disappeared, and I realized that my hands, feet and side were pierced and bleeding …”. This is how Father Pio told about the appearance of stigmata on his body.
At first, the priest was frightened, suspecting an unknown illness. Pio began to pray fervently for deliverance from his wounds, they became invisible, but every Friday, as well as during Holy Week, they began to bleed again. Pio's father began to wear long-sleeved clothes and put special bandages on his wounds. People were already glancing at him, many turned away. But that was not so bad.
TEST OF ENDURANCE
The fellow priests did not believe in the divine origin of Father Pio's stigmata. And they began to send one doctor after another to the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo. The verdicts of the Aesculapians completely contradicted each other. The first doctor Luigi Romanelli di Barlette carefully recorded his observations: “… the wounds on the hands are covered with a thin film of reddish-brown color, they do not bleed, they do not burst, the tissues are not inflamed … blood of arterial origin … the wounds are deep, non-superficial … the tissue around the wounds … even sensitive to light touches. But the doctor did not advance beyond observations and did not make a diagnosis.
The first doctor was replaced by the second - professor of medicine Bignami from the University of Rome, a leading specialist in the field of pathology. The professor was known for his agnostic views, and church hierarchs pinned great hopes on him. Most of all, they longed to hear that the priest had inflicted his own wounds. Then everything would be very simple: Pio would be declared neurotic and excommunicated. But the medical luminary could not sin against the truth and declared: the wounds are not through, "arose due to necrosis of the epidermis of a neurotic nature." The professor could not prove that Pio caused himself "damage".
Then the third doctor went to Apulia - Doctor Festa from Rome. He came to the conclusion that the previous specialist made many inaccuracies and invited the first one, Dr. Romanelli, to study. The two doctors carefully examined the wounds and suggested: "… they were probably inflicted by a sharp weapon." For Pio's father, this verdict sounded like a verdict: he was recognized as a psychopath who, during seizures, injures himself. It was possible to give up on a career. Pio was literally imprisoned in a monastery, where he began to live as a recluse. He was forbidden to celebrate Mass and accept confessions. Prayer became the only salvation and outlet.
IN THE ZENITH OF GLORY
All the best years of his life, Padre Pio suffered severely - wounds tormented and did not give rest. It was especially hard at night. They say that monks often heard noise from his cell, but sometimes there was such a roar that at least take out all the saints. After such stormy nights, the metal bars on his windows were broken and torn out. The brothers whispered: Father Pio was fighting with the demons that were overpowering him, and they tried to bypass the cell. And the monk himself in the morning was a pitiful sight - bloody, with bruises and abrasions. He was often exhausted, sometimes lost consciousness, and once he was found with broken bones. But there were insights, and sometimes at night the padre ascended to heaven. At such moments, according to him, Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the guardian angel visited him. The priest talked with them, and these conversations gave him strength and instilled hope for healing.
Every year the wounds on the body became less, and by the end of life they disappeared completely. As if as a reward for his suffering, Padre Pio received priceless gifts - foresight, healing of diseases and even the ability to instantly transfer from one place to another. They say that to those who could not walk, the padre appeared himself - through levitation. The fame of the unusual priest spread far beyond the borders of Apulia. Along with the popularity, the line to the door of his confessional grew. It got to the point that the Capuchin brothers had to introduce cards for those wishing to confess to Padre Pio. Sometimes the queue stretched for weeks and months. According to the recollections of contemporaries, the padre had a special talent - to accept confessions and lead the service. Reading prayers and making the signs of the cross, he reached such ecstasy that tears flowed down his cheeks, and his voice rumbled like a Jericho trumpet. All,those who were in the church were transformed. The attention of all those present was riveted to his every gesture, movement and glance. One day a Polish priest visited him. Seeing him, the padre said: "The day will come and you will become a Pope." The prediction came true - the Pole became Pope John Paul II and in 2002 canonized Padre Pio.
Lyubov SHAROVA