In our story today, we are going to look at the famous actor Carlo Campanini.
He's, in fact, buried in San Giovanni Rotondo.
But he developed a long term acquaintance, friendship with Padre Pio.
How did this all begin?
This is the story of that beginning.
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Now, the actor, the famous actor, Carlo Campanini, as we said, was buried in the cemetery in
San Giovanni Rotondo, and he first met Padre Pio in 1939.
He tells us, it wasn't a religious meeting, but it was purely that Carlo was seeking some
material benefit by meeting Padre Pio.
Now, Carlo's situation as an actor, he was always on the road, away from his family.
Did not like being away from his family.
And he had heard that his cousin had a similar problem and that Padre Pio had sorted it out.
So he was seeking a similar favor from Padre Pio.
Anyway, they went there, they arrived at San Giovanni Rotondo.
It was Holy Week and they arrived late in the day.
But with a great deal of persistence and persuasion, they managed to gain access to the monastery.
Padre Pio was not exactly very happy about this.
He came up to them and said, "Even during Holy Week, you'll not give me peace.
What do you want?"
They told him, we'll, they'd like to have their confession heard.
He said, "Well, then go away and come back in the morning.
Make your preparations and then after Mass, I'll hear your confessions."
The next morning, Carlo did attend Mass and he said he was very moved by the Mass.
Padre Pio's Mass was something exceptional, something very, very special, and he was certainly
very moved by it.
And then afterwards, he went to confession with Padre Pio and he said he was very taken
aback in his confession.
Because before he even started mentioning his sins, Padre Pio began to cite what his
sins were, one by one.
He could not believe it.
And then before Padre Pio gave him absolution, he made Campanini promise that he was going
to change his life.
Padre Pio had read his soul like a book.
And then after this, Campanini, he still wanted to speak to Padre Pio about his reason for
visiting, all the problems to find work in Rome itself, so he could be near his family.
But at this point, his courage just failed him.
However, afterwards, interiorly, he made his requests.
In the depths of his heart, and with much insistence, he offered his prayers to God,
asking for this help.
Then he went back to Rome and he tells us that unexpectedly, he was called by Cinecitt
Studios and he was given an important role in a movie, Addio Giovinezza!.
I believe that's Goodbye Youth.
It was a movie.
This movie launched his career.
After that, he became rich and famous.
It led to a succession of other movies.
But Carlo did not keep his side of the deal, his side of the promise with Padre Pio.
And this started to catch up on him.
He started to feel deeply troubled inside.
He had promised he was going to change his life, and he hadn't done that.
Well, time moved on.
Some years later, his wife decided that their whole family must be consecrated now to the
Sacred Heart.
She spoke to her local priest and the pastor said, "This is a good occasion to go to confession
and also to receive holy communion."
She had decided, and Campanini, he could not go against his wife's wishes.
He had to go to confession now.
In Rome, he's just passing by some random church, and he went inside with the intention
of making confession.
After having made his entire confession, then Carlo Campanini realized that he had confessed
everything.
All the sins were now put behind him, and so the way was now clear to visit Padre Pio
again.
He would be unaware that he had not kept his promise.
This is what he was hoping for.
Let's see how it turns out.
Thereafter, of course, the family went through the whole consecration to the Sacred Heart.
Sometime later, Carlo was now in the area of San Giovanni Rotondo.
He had the opportunity and he went to Padre Pio to confession again with Padre Pio, not
troubled this time that he'd broken his promises.
Didn't have to confess that.
It'd already been done, and he'd only start from that point forward.
However, when he knelt down in front of Padre Pio, Padre Pio said, "No, begin from 1936,
way, way back."
Carlo couldn't believe his bad luck.
He'd been totally caught out and no amount of trying to wriggle out of the situation
helped.
It was in vain.
He couldn't convince Padre Pio.
Padre Pio insisted, "Begin from 1936."
He was inflexible.
Very embarrassing as it was for Campanini, he did as he was told.
But something very good came out of it.
Because from that point on, there was a strong spiritual bond between the two, between Padre
Pio and Campanini.
A deep lasting friendship developed, was forged with Padre Pio.
And as a result, he was buried in San Giovanni Rotondo.
That's the story of the actor Carlo Campanini.
Next time on this channel, we're going to have another story about Padre Pio.
Do join us for that story.
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