And the title of the talk today is the meaning of Padre Pio's stigmata, and how they were
so intimately connected to our Lord.
Hello, friends, and welcome to this channel, Following Padre Pio and here through a series
of short stories, we take a look at the life of our great, Saint Padre Pio, who was a Capuchin
friar, mystic, a tremendous miracle worker.
Do stay tuned to find out more about Padre Pio, and also to see what his intercession
could do for you.
Just a quick note that we do have a mass celebrated every Friday in which we bring your intentions
to Padre Pio.
All you have to do is enroll your intentions, and you can see the video on the end screen,
how to do that.
And we do encourage everyone to be part of our Padre Pio apostolate.
It would be tremendous if you would help by liking our video and sharing the video with
your friends and with your colleagues.
And today's story begins after Padre Pio's death.
When Friar Modestino, who we've heard about in a previous recent video, he is assigned
the task of documenting Padre Pio's inventory and Brother Modestino, there he discovers
on many of Padre Pio's items blood, on both his clothing items and on his handkerchiefs.
And this blood of course was from Padre Pio's stigmata.
So these stigmata, they were wounds which Padre Pio carried on his hands and his feet
and in his side, very similar to the wounds of our Lords.
Padre Pio carried these his whole life.
They were part of his cross he had to bear, but to Friar Modestino, there was one item
which stood out in particular and that was Padre Pio's woolen undershirt which Padre
Pio had in fact worn on Good Friday way back in 1921.
So where did the stigmata, which was our blessing in a sense, but also Padre Pio's saga, where
did it all begin?
Let's take a look at this.
So going back to Good Friday, as we said, 1920, three years before this, and it was
a couple of days after the Feast of the Stigmatization of Saint Francis and the following event took
place.
So this was the 20th of September, 1918, and then Padre Pio was praying in the choir loft
in the church and he was making his Thanksgiving after mass.
And he knelt before this beautiful wooden crucifix.
It was made of cypress and it was carved in the 17th century by an unknown artist.
It was a beautiful crucifix.
And here at this time, Padre Pio received the stigmata, but he hid this fact very well
so only the very astute observation of one of Padre Pio's spiritual daughters, her name
was Nina Campanile, brought this whole thing to light, this receiving the stigma matter.
And she had noticed these marks on Padre Pio's hands.
And this idea started to develop and then word started to spread around.
And then later on, a Father Paulino, he heard via the grapevine of these marks on Padre
Pio's hands.
And so now he wanted to confirm himself and he went to Padre Pio's cell and there he was
able to observe personally and very discreetly he saw that these marks on Padre Pio's hands,
they were as Nina had described.
And immediately after this Father Paulino, he notified the provincial Superior.
His name was Father Benedetto, asking him, "Please, it's urgent.
Come here quickly to our monastery to have a look at this."
But father Benedetto instructed him not to speak to anyone about this.
And so, because of this, it remained silent for a time.
Even the closest people in the monastery, his associates, knew nothing about it.
There was this absolute silence
Though Father Benedetto did do one thing.
He wrote a letter to Padre Pio instructing Padre Pio that he was to give a full account
of what had taken place on September, the 20th.
And so Padre Pio is now obliged under obedience, compelled to reveal the details.
And so we take this story, this account, from the Benedetto's book or Padre Pio's diary
and these are Padre Pio's own words, his own writing.
And he tells us, "I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep and all the internal
and the external senses, and even the very faculties of the soul, they were immersed
in this indescribable stillness."
He says, "An absolute silence surrounded and invaded me.
I was suddenly filled," Padre Pio tells us, "with a great peace and abandonment, which
just effaced everything else."
And all of this happened in a flesh, in an instant.
Then Padre Pio goes on to say in the letter that he suddenly saw this mysterious exalted
being before him.
He said whose appearance was very similar to the personage that had his pierced side
just a month earlier with a lance.
He said, "The difference was this time, that on September the 20th, the hands and the feet
in the side of this exalted being, they were dripping with blood."
And so looking at the mysterious person, that's filled Padre Pio with some sort of a terror
and he believed he was going to die.
And he felt sure that he would've died if the Lord had not come to his aid and strengthened
him.
And after this, the vision just vanished and Padre Pio discovered on his own hands and
feet and side, they were now dripping with blood.
So imagine that.
What an incredible mystical experience!
He's just received our Lord in the Eucharist and this great stillness and peace pervades.
And this is contrasted very strongly with Padre Pio seeing our Lord with the crucifixion
wounds in his hands and the intense agony that our Lord was feeling, Padre Pio experienced
in the scene.
And after this, the vision recedes and then Padre Pio himself is carrying these wounds.
So something entirely mystical had become a physical reality.
Now there was another slightly different account given 50 years later.
This is towards the end of Padre Pio's life and it's slightly different, but that is a
story for another occasion.
And then soon to follow on this channel, we will be having a look at a miracle that took
place in the United States and it involves a family and the bread winner of this family
had a heart attack and the desperate times that are about to set in and Padre Pio intervenes.
Please do join us for that talk.
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