The title of the story today is Padre Pio in Brazil.
But how can that even be?
Because Padre Pio practically never left his monastery.
Hello friends, on this channel, we bring to you a series of short stories on the life
of our great Saint, Padre Pio, who was Capuchin friar, and he was a mystic, and he was a tremendous
miracle worker.
So do stay tuned to see what Padre Pio's intercession can do for you, and to find out more about
Padre Pio.
And we encourage everyone also to enroll your mass prayer intentions, we have a mess every
Friday celebrated, there we bring your intentions to Padre Pio in this mass.
You can watch the video on the end screen, how to enroll.
And also help us with the apostolate, please, by liking the video, and share the video with
your friends and colleagues.
There's no official records of Padre Pio ever having travelled to Brazil.
So how is it possible that we can even be thinking that Padre Pio was in Brazil?
Now, we know, of course, that Padre Pio was the apostle of the confessional, like the
Cur d'Ars, and he spent so many hours each day in the confessional, eight, ten, twelve
hours and more in the confessional.
There were long queues where people would have to book weeks in advance sometimes, in
order to have their confession heard.
You'd receive a little coupon when you booked, and you'd come back in a week's time, and
you would be able to go to confession.
He was so popular mainly because he could read people's hearts.
That made him brilliant in confession, he could give incredibly precise and good advice
to those who were confessing.
But all of this, his apostleship in the confessional also meant that he had no time to travel.
But he was in Brazil, so this is a complete mystery.
Let's look at the story.
This fellow called Carlo Campanini.
He was a famous Italian actor, he was a comic actor.
And on a tour one day he was visiting San Paulo in Brazil.
Carlo was the spiritual son of Padre Pio, and he attended mass regularly, and he also
recited the rosary daily.
He was quite an avid follower of Padre Pio, we could say.
Now Carlo was wishing to go to confession when he was in San Paulo, so that he would
be permitted to receive communion.
And so, of course, if one has a serious sin, what we call a mortal sin, on one's conscience,
then one does need to confess because a mortal sin kills the life of God in one's soul.
And of course, even if it's a lesser sin, what is called a venial sin, then it is also
a very good idea to go to confession in order to give one's soul a really good scrub.
Padre Pio said, "It's like taking a good bath because we gather dust throughout the week."
So Carlo wanted to go to confession now, and so he went to the local cathedral in San Paulo.
But when he entered the cathedral, he was somewhat dismayed because there was a very
long queue in front of him.
And he was also a little bit worried because now he only spoke Italian, and the priest
would only be speaking Portuguese in Brazil, so he wanted to know how is he going to be
able to communicate and to speak to the confessor?
So, because of this, he said he began to pray to Padre Pio, asking Padre Pio for his help.
He said nothing much seemed to happen.
But then while he was waiting in the queue, suddenly another confessional box opened up
right next to him.
The door opened and the priest called out, in Italian, "Veni," which means come, and
continued in Italian, "You want to confess, please go ahead."
So this was all in Italian and he only spoke Italian.
What going on here?
So after his confession, Carlo Campanini, as was his custom, he now went into the church
and he started praying and making his penance, doing the penance that is required.
But he just could not get it out of his mind, what had happened while he was standing in
that queue, and he was still wondering who this confessor could possibly have been.
And how had he known?
How had the confessor known that he was Italian?
So the penitent that is Carlo, then began, while he was thinking of this, he suddenly
perceived, and he started to notice, to smell the perfume that he was so characteristic
of our great Saint Padre Pio.
And with that, he became even more, really convinced, of what had happened in the confessional.
So that is where story ends, that we've got to say, "Was it, or wasn't it, Padre Pio himself
in the confessional?"
Now, obviously Padre Pio, because of humility, would not want to be taking glories for the
sort of miracle himself, so he wouldn't boast about it, or let it on that it was him.
Sometimes people were lucky and they're able to trick an answer out of him, because he
couldn't lie if they put a question in a certain way.
But we had these facts, he spoke Italian and he knew that the penitent Carlo spoke Italian,
and there was the fragrance of Padre Pio as well.
Plus, Carlo was the spiritual son of Padre Pio.
So from this, perhaps we can draw the conclusion, what sort of chance?
There was a pretty good chance that Padre Pio had by bi-located to San Paulo in Brazil.
And then coming up in a future video, we'll be looking at certain petitions to Padre Pio,
petitions of Padre Pio.
So what are some of the urgent needs in the world and in the church today?
So we can all bring these petitions to Padre Pio.
And please do enroll your mass prayer petitions, and just watch the video on the end screen
how to do that, and do support us in Padre Pio apostate as well.