1、TestimonialI was diagnosed with cancer and the night before myscheduled surgery I dreamed of being with Our Lady.She told me there is a great healer named Padre Pio butthat he had already passed on. She said he had a hospi-tal and showed me a huge building but then my dreamended without entering it.
2、 Having no knowledge ofwho Padre Pio was, except for a short note written onmy prayer book, I forgot about my dream. Before mychemotherapy started, my mother and I joined a pil-grimage and in the bus they were showing videos. Tomy amazement, one was about Padre Pio. Whattouched me most was when it m
3、entioned his hospitalthat he had built. It was what I had seen in my dream. Ihave finished my chemotherapy and I am fine. Marita LeonorThe Saints Love Our Blessed Mother“Every time I enter a place consecrated to the Queen ofheaven, I feel that I am in my Mothers home.” St. Francis de Sales“We know v
4、ery well that the Blessed Virgin is Queen ofheaven and earth, but she is more Mother thanQueen.” St. Thrse of Lisieux“The Virgin was so beautiful that one would be willingto die to see her again.” St. Bernadette Soubirous“The Blessed Virgins eyes were turned toward heaven;she stood erect upon a larg
5、e white sphere.She held alittle golden ball surmounted by a cross, and this shewas offering to God.” St. Catherine Labour“Some people are so foolish that they think they can gothrough life without the help of the Blessed Mother.” St. Pio of PietrelcinaO Mary, conceived without sin,pray for us who ha
6、ve recourse to thee.Page 4From our Spiritual DirectorI like very much the truestory regarding Mr. JoachimBouflet and his encounterwith Padre Pio that took placein August 1968. Joachim was a student at the University ofParis and for a long time hadbeen considering becoming aCarmelite priest.A friend
7、of Joachims,Janine, who was handicapped, wanted to visitPadre Pio but was not able to. She was hoping thatsomeone would go in her name and ask Padre Pioto pray for her. Joachim decided to go to SanGiovanni Rotondo with her request.When he arrived at the monastery, Joachimbecame disillusioned. Padre
8、Pio was elderly and invery poor health and was not easily accessible tothe many who wanted to speak to him. There wasalso a long waiting list for the small number ofconfessions that he still heard.One afternoon when Joachim was in themonastery church, a Capuchin priest approachedhim and asked him to
9、 help him carry a statue intothe new church. They carried it through a side doorinto the cloister. There Joachim saw Padre Pio sitting a short distance away, in an easy chair.They carried the statue into the new churchand to its proper place. Joachim asked how to getback to the little chapel of Our
10、Lady of Grace. Thepriest indicated the door they had just comethrough and Joachim returned to the cloister. Hewalked to where Padre Pio was sitting and knelt athis feet. He was very excited to be so close to thissaintly priest whom he had traveled so far to see.Padre Pio put his hand on Joachims hea
11、d. AsJoachim made his confession, Padre Pios gift ofreading hearts was evident. Joachim felt both aprofound peace and a great anguish. He did notknow how long the exchange lasted. Padre Piothen said to him, “Pray to the Madonna.Consecrate yourself to the Virgin of Carmel.” AsJoachim was getting up t
12、o leave, Padre Pio said tohim, “And tell Janine that its all right and that I ampraying for her.” Joachim had completely forgot-ten about Janine and the fact that her request wasthe reason he had come to this remote monastery.Joachim then received his blessing. Padre Piolooked at him with a very ser
13、ious expression andthen closed his eyes.Once back in the chapel, Joachim began to cry.He was overcome with a great joy. One month laterPadre Pio passed into eternal life. Fr. Louis Solcia, CRSPPADRE PIO DEVOTIONSPadre Pio Devotions are every 1st Monday of the month atOur Lady of the Rosary Catholic
14、Church at the corner ofDate St. and State St. in San Diego. Rosary begins at 6:35pm and Mass begins at 7 oclock. Benediction and prayersfollow. For more information call (619) 697-5958.If you would like to receive more information about St.Padre Pio and a copy of the prayers he said daily send 3stam
15、ps and your address to:D. Allen P.O. Box 191545 San Diego, CA 92159 Visit our Padre Pio website at www.saintpio.org“Padre Pio imitated Jesus as the Crucified One out oflove of what Our Divine Savior underwent for the sinsof men. But Padre Pio also loved the mother of Jesus.He loved her as a son and
16、honored her by alwaysholding the Rosary and using it. For him the Rosarywas an encounter with God through Mary.” Fr. Augustine McGregor OCSOSt. Padre Pios Lovefor the Blessed MotherOne of the outstanding characteristics of Padre Pios(Francesco Forgiones) spirituality was his deep devotionto Mary. Hi
17、s love for the Blessed Mother was one whichwas present from his earliest years and which lastedthrough his whole life. In the small town of Pietrelcinawhere he was born, devotion to the Madonna has beena characteristic of the peoples spirituality for many cen-turies. Our Lady Liberatrix (Our Lady of
18、 Liberty) was thespecial patroness of the area and was venerated in themain church. Every year there was a festival in herhonor with a procession through the streets.The Forgiones were an extremely devout family.When the church bells rang every morning the familygathered for morning prayers. They we
19、nt to churchevery day and prayed the Rosary together as a familyevery evening. Prayer came before all other activities inthe household. Maria Giuseppa, Padre Pios mother, alsohad a great devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.Padre Pio was 14 years old when he visited the shrinein Pompeii dedicated to
20、 Our Lady. Our Lady of Pompeiiwas especially dear to his heart and often when heneeded a special grace for himself or for someone else,he would ask his friends to pray to Our Lady of Pompeiifor his intentions. He wrote, “I should like to ask you, ifit is not inconvenient, to do me the kindness of ma
21、kingthree consecutive novenas to the Virgin of Pompeii fora grace to be obtained for me from her Son, a gracewhich will mean a great deal for a certain soul.” Onanother occasion he wrote, “I thank you for the novenasyou made for me to Our Lady of Pompeii and I wouldask you if it is not inconvenient,
22、 to continue because Iam in great need.”In his letters to his spiritual directors, Padre Pio calledthe Blessed Mother, “beautiful Virgin Mary,” “most tendermother of priests,” “Mediatrix of all graces.” In OurLady, he saw the advocate of sinners, the most beloved,the consoler. He frequently referred
23、 to Mary simply as“Mother.” Reciting the Angelus he rarely managed torestrain his emotions and when he spoke about her itwas not unusual for him to shed tears.The Sorrowful Virgin was another attribute of Marythat was close to his heart. He loved to contemplate herat the foot of the cross. To his sp
24、iritual children hewould say, “Go and keep company with Jesus in HisPassion, and with His Sorrowful Mother.”From the day on which he became a priest he alwayspreferred to say Mass at Our Ladys altar. The Mass hecelebrated most frequently was the Mass of theImmaculate Conception. “The Immaculate Conc
25、eption,”he said, “is the first step on the path of salvation.”Pray, Hope, and Dont WorrySt. Padre Pio Newsletter Issue 21 www.saintpio.org Editors: Ron He does not ask the same of you,” he said. Oncesomeone asked him how he was able to pray so manyrosaries. “You can do one thing at a time,” he repli
26、ed,but I can do three or four.” When his eyesight became weak, his Superiorsallowed him to replace the recitation of the DivineOffice with that of the Rosary. He always said the Rosarybefore retiring at night andhe made sure his Rosary wasin its proper place, under hispillow within reach andready fo
27、r use.Padre Pio said to one ofthe friars, “My son, if we dowhat we have always done,what our fathers did beforeus, we cannot go wrong.Satan wants to destroy thisprayer, but in this he willnever succeed. The Rosary isthe prayer of those who tri-umph over everything andeveryone. It was Our Ladywho tau
28、ght us this prayer,just as it was Jesus whotaught us the Our Father.” Padre Pio defined the Rosaryas “The synthesis of our faith, the expression of ourcharity, and the foundation of our hope.”Daniel Hickey, from St. Albans, New York, was anAmerican G.I. stationed in Italy during World War IIwhen he
29、met Padre Pio. When he returned to the U.S.,Danny entered the seminary and became a Capuchinpriest. Recalling his visits with Padre Pio he wrote,“Padre Pio was usually seen standing with his righthand in the front fold pocket of his Capuchin habit. Afew times when he withdrew his hand, he was seen t
30、obe fingering a small chaplet of beads. It seems it wasPadre Pios habit not to waste a second but to fill eachone with a prayer. Any lull in the conversation, no matterhow short, his lips would be seen to move slightly as heprayed. But there was nothing ostentatious in all this; itwas a long time be
31、fore I was aware of what he wasdoing, though I had noticed his hand constantly in thebreast pocket of his habit.” Father Alessio Parente said, “I was at his side for sixyears, and in all that time I never saw him without theRosary in his hands night and day. Our Lady neverrefused him anything throug
32、h the Rosary. The Rosarywas his constant link with Our Lady.Not only did Padre Pio have a profound devotion tothe Mother of God, but he also seemed to know the dispositions of her heart. An image of the Madonnawas found to be weeping in one of the parish churchesin Italy. The bishop of the diocese a
33、sked for an investi-gation into the matter, and after much study the bishopdeclared it to be authentic. When Padre Pio was toldabout this he said, “When Our Lady is weeping, thingsare not going well.”Bill Martin (who later became Father Joseph PiusMartin) from Brooklyn, New York, first met Padre Pio
34、 in1959. It was during his second visit in 1964 that hefound it very hard to leave. As he was waiting for thebus to take him to Foggia, to his great relief a friarcame running to tell him that Padre Pio had sent him tosay that he wanted Bill to stay. He entered the friary asa 3rd order Franciscan an
35、d was known to everyone asBrother Bill. He became Padre Pios personal assistant.One afternoon as he was sitting next to Padre Pio on thebalcony near Padre Pios cell, he was thinking to himselfhow very fortunate he was that he had been able to beso close to Padre Pio through the years. He wondered to
36、himself who had obtained this marvelous grace for him.No words passed between the two but at the momentthat Brother Bill was thinking those thoughts Padre Pioturned to him and said, “It was Our Lady.”The Virgin Mary, ever close to Padre Pio, assisted himin a special way regarding the state of his he
37、alth.Although Padre Pio suffered from poor health his entirelife he did not become discouraged. He offered all of hissufferings to the Lord for the conversion of sinners andfor the souls in purgatory. He said that God had “putthe problem of my health and a victorious outcome intothe hands of our hea
38、venly Mother.” Once when he wasill, he confided to his Superior, “What made me sufferPage 2Padre Pios Rosary whichhe was never without. Hecalled the Rosary, “Crownof graces.”more than anything was not being able to say even oneAve Maria.” Not only was the Virgin present to Padre Pio in timesof physi
39、cal infirmity but in times of interior trials andspiritual suffering as well. On August 15, 1929 on theFeast of the Assumption, Padre Pio described an experi-ence of Our Lady while he was celebrating Mass. “Thismorning I went up to the holy altar I know not how.Physical pain and interior grief compe
40、ted as to whichcould most afflict all my poor beingA mortal sadnesspervaded me through and through and I thought thatall was finished for meAt the moment of consumingthe Sacred Species of the Host, a sudden light floodedthrough me and I clearly saw the Heavenly Mother withthe Christ Child in her arm
41、s who together said to me,“Stop worrying! We are with you, you belong to Us andWe are yours.”Pio testifies to the Virgin Marys help in a number ofletters to his spiritual directors. On May 26, 1910 hewrote to Father Benedetto, “My only regret, dear Father,is that I have no adequate means with which
42、to thankthe Blessed Virgin Mary, through whose intercession Ihave undoubtedly received so much strength from theLord, to bear with sincere resignation the many humili-ations to which I am subjected day after dayand I donot believe this strength comes to me from the world.”There were always crowds of
43、 people around PadrePio, especially the sick, trying to get close to him and totouch him. To the sick and the suffering who imploredhis help, the Padre would say, “Entrust yourself to OurLady.” He would often say, “Let us pray to Our Lady thatshe snatch this grace for you from the Heart ofJesus.”And
44、 for those who came to him with especiallydifficult personal problems, family problems, etc. hewould often say, “Here we need the Madonna.”Cleonice Morcaldi, one of Padre Pios spiritualdaughters, spoke to Padre Pio on September 20th, justthree days before he died. “Father, give me at least oneword,”
45、 she said to him. “Love the Madonna and makeher loved. Always recite her Rosary. That is an armoragainst the evils of the world today.” Cleonice askedhim, “Is the Madonna close to you?” “A Mother” hereplied. “All of paradise isnear her.” Padre Pio died onSeptember 23, 1968.Padre Pelegrino Funicelli,
46、his brother in religion,assisted him in his lastmoments on earth. Hesaid that a short timebefore Padre Pios deathand with great tenderness,Padre Pio gazed at a pic-ture of Our Lady Liberatrixthat was hanging in hiscell. He passed into eternallife peacefully, gently. Hedied with his Rosary. Hislast w
47、ords were Gsu,Maria, Jesus, Mary which he repeated over and overuntil he breathed his last. Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.Gate of Heaven, pray for us.Padre Pios Words of Faith“Reflect upon and keep before your mental gaze thegreat humility of the Mother of God, our Mother.”“In my greate
48、st sufferings it seems to me that I no longer have a mother on this earth, but a verycompassionate one in Heaven.”“Recommend me to the Lord and to the Virgin Motherbecause I am in extreme need of their help.”“I feel myself held fast and bound to the Son bymeans of this Mother.”“The greatest sign of
49、love you can show me will beprecisely this, that you too thank our Blessed Lady.” Memories of Padre PioOne day Padre Pio and Padre Pellegrino Funicelliwere sitting in the monastery garden. Not far awaywas Brother Costantino who was enjoying the fresh airand praying his Rosary. Padre Pio said, “Do you seeBrother Costantino? Old and sick as he is, he seemsnow to be worth nothing; and yet, as an obedient sonof Holy Mother Church, who knows how to hold aRosary in his hand and knows how to pray to theMadonna, he is worth more than you or me. Do yo
