St. PIO of PIETRELCINA
(Padre Pio) -Born May 25th, 18=
87 as
Francesco Forgione in =
Pietrelcina
-On August 10, 1910, at the age of twenty-three, P=
adre Pio was ordained to the priesthood. -Friday, September 20, 1918, while he was praying =
before
a crucifix and making his thanksgiving after Mass, he was thirty-one ye=
ars
old, and became the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Chur=
ch.
With resignation and serenity, he bore the painful wounds for fifty yea=
rs. -September 23, 1968 at the age of eighty-one. He d=
ied as
he had lived, with his Rosary in his hands. -Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio
on June 16, 2002. God used Padre Pio
– especially the news of his stigmata – to give people hope=
as they
began to rebuild their life after the war. Padre P=
io
and his spiritual gifts of the stigmata, perfume, prophecy and bilocation was a sign of God in their midst and l=
ed
people back to their Faith. As his spiritual influence incr=
eased,
so did the voices of his detractors. Accusations against Padre Pio poured in to the Holy Office (today the
Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith). By June 1922, restrictions were
placed on the public’s access to Padre Pio.
His daily Mass time varied each day, without announcement to diminish t=
he
crowds, and he was ordered not to answer correspondence from people
seeking spiritual direction.in Faith. In =
1939
when Pope Pius XII was elected pope, he began to encourage people to vi=
sit
Padre Pio. More and more people began to ma=
ke
pilgrimages. www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php http://www.ewtn.com/padrepio/man/biography2.htm www.padrepiodevotions.org/ www.padrepio.com/ “I have often raised my hand in the silence =
of the
night and in my solitary cell, blessing you all and presenting you to J=
esus
and to our father, St. Francis of
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