A reader of my blog asked me to make post on this, and I was more than happy to do so.
St. Padre Pio (1887 - 1968) lived in our modern world but was everything other than ordinary. On September 20, 1918, St. Padre Pio received the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. He is the only priest in history to receive the Stigmata. Roughly 300 others in Church history have also received it including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Frances of Rome, and others. While the Church has yet to issue an official statement on this phenomena, it is surely an act in accordance with the Divine Will.
Doctors examined St. Padre Pio and could find no natural cause of the wounds. These wounds remained his entire life until his death when, as he predicted, they were healed. However, there was no scarring of the flesh. The blood that flowed from the stigmata was reported by others to have a smell of roses and flowers. St. Padre Pio was a living example of how holy an individual can become by faith.
He had the gift of Bilocation:
"Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was the Padre's appearance in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way Padre Pio kept his promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found to his surprise the little friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni." (Source: EWTN)
There are numerous other bilocation miracles that have been confirmed by numerous eyewitnesses.
Read about them here.
"In order to attract us, the Lord grants us many graces that we believe can easily obtain Heaven for us. We do not know, however, that in order to grow, we need hard bread: the cross, humiliation, trials and denials." Padre Pio
He had the Gift of Levitation:
In his life, St. Padre Pio was a miracle worker. He also could levitate. On one occasion, St. Padre Pio levitated through the air in order to reach the Confessional without being seen and stopped. He immediately began to receive penitents. A man in the church was amazed how the priest had gotten to the confessional because so many people were outside of his door waiting to talk with him. St. Padre Pio said to him that God made him invisible and he walked on their heads to the confessional.
He healed others:
In 1919, St. Padre Pio received a penitent using two canes. The doctors could not help the 62-year-old man, but after Confession St. Padre Pio said, "Stand up and go away! You have to throw away these canes." The man could walk perfectly again. There have been numerous other healings too.
He had the Gift of Perfume:
Sometimes God allows saints to emit a beautiful perfume in order to draw more people to Himself and holiness. This perfume is smelt only by a privileged few, not all. St. Padre Pio had this gift and the smell of roses, incense, ammonia, and others was emitted from him. He said to some inquiring about them: "They are only a sign of my presence."
Father Agostino of San Marco in Lamis had a malfunctioned olfactory gland and could only smell strong odors. He said, "I smelt a number of times the perfume that many people smell. Even when I was distant from San Giovanni Rotondo I smelt it." The Gift of Perfume continued after St. Padre Pio's death. Not just places connected with him but also places in American and distant places of the world smelt the distinct perfume.
The Gift of Light:
On October 5, 125, Dr. Giorgio Festa operated on St. Padre Pio for a hernia. Before he had to stitch the would, the doctor noticed St. Pio had lost consciousness. He took advantage of this and look at his left side - the place of Jesus' wound from his stigmata. And, he was the wound was "fresh and of a vermilion red and in the shape of a cross...From the edges of the wound emitted small but unmistakable rays of light." Dr. Giorgio put on the bandage and St. Padre Pio regained his senses.
He also had the Gift of Visions, the spirit of Prophesy, Clairvoyance, the power to read hearts in Confession, and Xenoglossy (The ability to write, speak, or understand an unknown language).
Reading:
Tonight I spent time reading "The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI: Let God's Light Shine Forth" by Robert Moynihan. The book included many statements and works by Our Holy Father. I wanted to share some segments of the book that I've read so far that I have found intriguing..jpg)
