Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Padre Pio Wrestled with Devil, Predicted Future
Reuters via Yahoo ^ | 6/16/02 | Philip Pullella

Posted on 06/16/2002 10:31:54 AM PDT by BunnySlippers

Padre Pio Wrestled with Devil, Predicted Future

Sun Jun 16, 8:40 AM ET

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Padre Pio, the 20th century Italian mystic monk and miracle worker who for 50 years is said to have had the stigmata -- the bleeding wounds of Christ -- had for many people always been a saint.

Pope John Paul ( news - web sites) formally declared his sainthood on Sunday at a solemn ceremony attended by hundreds of thousands in a sweltering St. Peter's Square and watched on screen by millions in Italy and around the world.

For many, this was simply the Church rubber-stamping a status they had always believed in.

Padre Pio's fame centers on the stigmata, which he had for 50 years from 1918 until his death in 1968 at the age of 81.

Padre Pio had wounds in the hands, feet and side that corresponded with the wounds Christ suffered in the crucifixion. He used brown fingerless gloves to absorb the blood and cover the wounds except when he said mass.

Doctors were at a loss to explain the wounds, which never produced gangrene or infection.

When they examined him they were able to feel their fingers pressing in from either side. When he held up the host at mass, the faithful were able to see light coming through the wounds.

When he was first investigated by a Vatican ( news - web sites) inquisitor in 1927, a report suspected that he inflicted the wounds on himself with nitric acid. But devotees said it was ridiculous to think he could have done this for 50 years.

Friars who lived with him like to tell the story of a man who told Padre Pio of a doctor who believed that the monk had willed the wounds on himself by always contemplating a crucifix.

Padre Pio told the man: "Tell your doctor friend to go stare at a cow and see if horns grow on his head."

According to confreres, Pio lost a cup of blood a day from the stigmata, ate one Spartan meal a day and slept three hours each night. Yet he was not anemic and did not lose weight.

The stigmata started fading toward the end of his life and disappeared when he died.

WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL

Padre Pio is said to have had a stern look in his eyes that could scare even the devil and, some say, it sometimes did.

Padre Pio had no sympathy for the devil and the devil certainly had none for him. His biographers say he wrestled with the devil, literally, and one of the many books written about him is called "The Devil in the Life of Padre Pio."

According to monks who lived with him, the last big demonic tussle was in July, 1964, when, at 10 o'clock at night the friars heard him calling out from his cell.

They found him on the floor, his forehead slit open. He told a priest later "the devil tried to scratch out my eyes."

The next day, the devil is said to have spoken through a possessed person, saying "I went to visit somebody. I took revenge."

Many people said Padre Pio was able to predict events in their lives or knew what they were about to confess.

He was also said to be seen in two places at the same time -- a mystic ability the Church calls "bi-location"

The Vatican investigated and rehabilitated him twice and cleared him of charges of sexual misconduct and fraud. In the 1930s he was ordered not to say mass in public or hear confessions.

The ban was lifted after three years. A new investigation began in 1960 but he was cleared and rehabilitated in 1965.

PILGRIM BOOM TOWN

The bearded, brown-robed Padre Pio spent nearly all his life in a simple monastery in the hilltop town of San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy's rugged southern Puglia region.

When he arrived in 1918, it was a dusty dot of a village of peasants connected to the outside world by a mule path.

Today, it is the Lourdes of southern Italy, a pilgrim boom town of some 27,000 residents and 7.5 million visitors a year. Its economy revolves around souvenir shops, hotels and the huge hospital which Padre Pio built.

He is credited with performing two miracles after his death for people who prayed to him.

Before his beatification -- the penultimate step before sainthood -- he was credited with the medically inexplicable healing of an Italian woman who had a lung disease.

The second miracle was the curing of an 11-year-old Italian boy who had meningitis and whose mother prayed to Padre Pio while her son was in a coma.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: padrepio
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last
To: Cicero
I'd recommend "Padre Pio: The True Story" by Bernard C. Ruffin

Thanks for the recommendation. Since you say it is good, I went to my library website (lapl.org) and ordered it. I should have it in a couple of days. :)

21 posted on 06/16/2002 12:13:18 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Orbiter
I've read the "scientific" theories you may be thinking of, which say that the nails must have been through the wrists not the palms to support Christ's weight on the cross, but that is really speculative. How many times have scientists said, "It must have been this way, or that way" -- and then they were proved wrong? We don't really know for sure how crucifixions were performed generally, let alone in that particular instance.
22 posted on 06/16/2002 12:13:20 PM PDT by Cicero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
Orbiter's right, Bun. If Padre Pio had the wounds of Christ, he had them in the wrong place!
23 posted on 06/16/2002 12:14:16 PM PDT by mdwakeup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: mdwakeup
Orbiter's right, Bun. If Padre Pio had the wounds of Christ, he had them in the wrong place!

Stigmatas appear on the hands, the feet and the side where Christ was pierced. Take it up with the Pope.

24 posted on 06/16/2002 12:16:46 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
The Shroud of Turin has the wounds in the wrists.
25 posted on 06/16/2002 12:27:38 PM PDT by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
Thanks BunnySlippers for the story and the beautiful pictures.It does a soul good.
26 posted on 06/16/2002 12:45:29 PM PDT by fatima
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers; Siobhan; salvation; maryz; cicero
Thanks for the pix! I was listening to Cadena Cope, a radio station in Spain (owned by the local bishops' council, I believe) where they had a great discussion of this. It was a round-table and I tuned in after they had introduced the participants, unfortunately, so I don't know their names. But in any case,one of them was discussing the role of touch and physical existence in the Church, and he said that "saints are a way of touching God." A great way of expressing it!.

Another participant said that renewal is going to come to the Church, groaning under all of its problems right now, through this "choice for God" that the saints make.

27 posted on 06/16/2002 1:20:33 PM PDT by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
Also, I have read accounts that the nails went through both the hands and the wrists. In other words, there was a specific technique used to anchor the upper limbs as simply putting a nail through just one place might not provide enough support.

The bottom line here is that no one knows the specific method used during crucifixions. Certain individuals on this thread are attempting to insinuate an evil connotation to stigmata where none exists. That stinks.

For the record:

A week later, the disciples were once more in the room, and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors, Jesus came and stood before them. "Peace be with you," he said; then, to Thomas: "Take your finger and examine my hands. Put your hand into my side. Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!" (John 20:26-27)

28 posted on 06/16/2002 1:34:48 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Orbiter;mdwakeup;Codie
Please see post #28.
29 posted on 06/16/2002 1:38:28 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
I actually saw a story on some show (on TLC or Discovery channel, I think) an experiment that was carried out on this matter. They showed that presuming there was a block for His feet, the nails could very well have been through Jesus' hands; the amount of support at those points needed would be relatively minimal.
30 posted on 06/16/2002 1:45:35 PM PDT by B Knotts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers

SAINT PADRE PIO


31 posted on 06/16/2002 1:51:27 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldenstategirl
Certain individuals on this thread are attempting to insinuate an evil connotation to stigmata where none exists. That stinks.

Are you refering to me?

32 posted on 06/16/2002 1:52:06 PM PDT by Codie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: parsifal
In 1964, Hillary was a Goldwater Republican. Her demonic possession did not come until later, after she met Darth Bubba.
33 posted on 06/16/2002 1:52:28 PM PDT by 537 Votes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers; All
"he was credited with the medically inexplicable healing of an Italian woman who had a lung disease.

The second miracle was the curing of an 11-year-old Italian boy who had meningitis and whose mother prayed to Padre Pio while her son was in a coma."

The Good Padre.........now Saint Pio...........would be the first to correct this. He didn't heal anybody, GOD healed these people. Not in any way attempting to diminish the man (sounds like a wonderful guy......to put it mildly), but such things are so commonplace as not to be believed. You NEVER hear of them in the media and probably never will.

I've been in Evangelical Christian churches for years and years, and I can personally attest to dozens upon dozens of healings in this "league" and beyond. All manners of very advanced-stage cancers.........crippling injuries..........life-long maladies.........you name it, all completely cured. I've seen this first hand countless times. I'm not only talking about curing, but total and complete restoration.

Such is the power of fervent prayer.........and such is the generosity, compassion, and power of God.

34 posted on 06/16/2002 1:53:48 PM PDT by RightOnline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers

SAINT PADRE PIO


35 posted on 06/16/2002 1:54:48 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: patent; ELS; Askel5
FYI
36 posted on 06/16/2002 1:55:32 PM PDT by Fred Mertz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
I watched a small part of the canonization ceremony and was wondering how many saints would be invoked to pray for us. The requests were presented by, I guess, a countertenor, a relatively high pitched saintly voice. It was wonderful to return to Middle Ages courtesy of the ETWN, for a few brief moments. Certainly better than to watch Muslims getting ready for Jihad (jihad, according to Harvard, is just a personal fullfilment). Nostalgia over centuries. Our roots? Perhaps. Relevance? Missing, I am afraid.
37 posted on 06/16/2002 1:57:28 PM PDT by nemecll
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mdwakeup
Dang, all that self-mutilation to no avail.
38 posted on 06/16/2002 2:00:53 PM PDT by humblegunner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
Related Thread
39 posted on 06/16/2002 2:02:43 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jwfiv
bilocating :-?

didn't they fry witches for that ? Lets give Hitlary the dunk test... just to be shur
40 posted on 06/16/2002 2:02:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson