We have all seen drawings or paintings of fallen angels. Even children know that the Devil is the
one with the horns. But in what form did the Satan appear to Padre Pio? Keep watching to find out!
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Today's topic on how the Devil presented himself to Padre Pio is inspired by Father Gabrielle
Amorth, the famous Vatican exorcist and friend of Padre Pio. But before we get into the words
of this famous exorcist let's first explore how the Bible portrays the Devil or Satan.
Satan appears quite early in the Bible in the form
of a serpent who tempted Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
God tells the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle,
and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:14)
So, at the very beginning, we see the Devil as a snake-like figure.
But during the Medieval period, Satan is often painted with a dragon-like appearance. Why?
Because the Book of Revelation calls him a dragon. It says: And the great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan. (Revelation 12:9)
But the Devil is most commonly imagined as someone with horns. Jesus says: When the Son of man comes
in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will
be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goat. (Matthew 25:31-32) The goats being, of course, those condemned to Hell.
So, this parable called, The Judgment of the Nations, is most likely the reason why
artists have depicted the Devil with horns and other animalistic traits.
Even Padre Pio referred to the Devil as, 'an ugly revolting animal.'
So, in what form did Satan appear to Padre Pio?
Father Amorth tells us: The devil would appear to him as an ugly black cat, or in the shape of a
truly vile animal. The obvious intent was to fill him with terror. Other times demons came as young
girls, naked and provocative, performing obscene dances, to test the young priest's chastity.
But Padre Pio sensed his greatest danger when the Devil tried to deceive him by taking on the form
of one of his superiors; his provincial superior or his spiritual director. Or in a sacred form;
as Jesus, Our Lady, or even St. Francis. So, the Devil came to tempt Padre Pio. He
even tried to trick him into believing that Jesus and the saints were in front of him.
This certainly caused much confusion. He tried to get Padre Pio to deny the truths of the Catholic
faith. It seems to me that the devil used all his tricks on Padre Pio, but to no avail.
When I first read about this I thought how did Padre Pio distinguish between the real saints
appearing and the Devil in disguise? Later I found out that by their fruits he told them apart.
The Devil in a sacred form first inspired an immediate feeling of joy and attraction,
but that feeling was shortly replaced by remorse and sadness.
Many of Padre Pio's most difficult struggles with demons came about as he tried to rescue souls from
diabolical possession, whether in the confessional or when praying for his spiritual children.
Padre Pio described many of his encounters with the devils. In one of his letters to Father
Agostino, dated January 18, 1912, he stated: The Devil does not want to lose this battle.
He takes on many forms. For several days now, he has appeared with his brothers who are armed with
batons and pieces of iron. One of the difficulties is that they appear in many different disguises.
So, if the Devil can appear in all these different disguises, does he have a definite form?
What does the Devil actually look like? Father Amorth sheds light on this, he says:
He is a pure spirit; he does not have a corporeal substance; therefore, he is
not represented to us in a fully comprehensible form. It is the same for him as for the angels:
if they wish to appear to men, they must assume characteristics accessible to us.
So, we could say that the closest the Bible comes to describing what Satan and the demons look like
is in 2 Corinthians, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Satan is a fallen angel, and like all angels he is non-physical, so it is impossible to
assign him any physical features. Even the angel of light description in 2 Corinthians
is not meant as a portrait of his image; rather, it means to emphasize Satan's deceitful nature.
So, when the Devil decides to manifest himself to us visibly
he does so in a deceptive manner with the intent to draw us away from God.
Father Amorth tells us: The Devil is always pure spirit, but in order to reveal himself he takes
on aspects which can be most provocative and harmful: fear, seduction, deception.
Returning to the appearance of the Devil, Father Amorth says: One can say that, in his essence, he
is much uglier than we can even vaguely imagine. His horrific appearance is a direct consequence
of his distancing himself from God and of his explicit and irrevocable choice of rebellion.
This we can infer from logical reasoning: if God is infinitely beautiful,
whoever decides to distance himself from God must be the exact opposite.
So, although the Devil can take on ugly forms in order to provoke fear in us, he can also appear
as a benevolent being, such as a saint, or even, as in Padre Pio's case, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Devil presents himself as beautiful, hiding his
ugly rebellious nature. He offers us sin and makes it seem like something good and beautiful.
So, let s not be seduced by the Devil's attempt to lead us astray with his flashy tricks,
but rather let s do what Padre Pio advises: pray continuously.
Because when we pray, we keep the devil at bay.
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