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Theology of the Heart- the Saints |
Our Lady in Padre Pio's life
Brother Francis Mary F.I.
Every canonized Saint bears witness to an important fact: holiness
is intimately connected with devotion to Mary, the Spouse of the
Holy Ghost who is the Sanctifier. How could it be otherwise
considering all graces come to us through the Mother of God and the
Mother of the Church. According to St. Louis Mary De Montfort in his
classic Marian work, True Devotion to Mary, assaults by Satan will
be most fierce and intense in the latter times.
In speaking of the great saints and apostles of the latter times who
will eventually triumph over Satan and his followers he gives what
seems to be a pen sketch of Padre Pio, "They shall be true disciples
of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of His poverty, humility,
and contempt of the world. . . . They shall carry on their shoulders
the bloody standard of the cross, the crucifix in their right hand
and the rosary in their left and the sacred names of Jesus and Mary
in their hearts . . . " (these were the last words on the lips of
the dying Padre Pio).
Padre Pio’s Marian devotion was a profound part of him from infancy
to old age. He related later in life how as a boy he went to the
shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples, without
permission, knowing that his mother would not give him the
permission. He visited her shrine frequently when he was stationed
in Naples as a soldier. Nothing could stand in his way when inspired
to give Mary his love. The particular area of Italy where Padre Pio
was born, Pietrelcina, had as a special patroness, Our Lady of
Liberty. However, his devotion to her was expressed more in action
than in words.
Though he wrote a brief meditation on her Immaculate Conception, and
there are scattered references to her in his early letters (later on
he was forbidden to write letters by the Holy See and as a result
his written testimonies on Mary are few), yet, throughout his
priestly life the most beautiful and effective "sermon" in her
honor, was the Rosary which he prayed constantly. It was this chain
of hope that linked him with heaven and the supernatural, that world
which is unexplainable to the rationalist, and materialist.
Similar to another great Franciscan Marian Saint of our times, St.
Maximilian Kolbe, Our Lady appeared to Padre Pio as well. Upon being
asked twenty years later why he had kept this and other supernatural
visits a secret he replied in all sincerity that he thought everyone
saw our Lady. His spiritual director, Padre Agostino of San Marco,
relates: "One day he ingenuously asked me ‘Don’t you see our Lady?’
At my negative reply he answered, ‘You are just saying that out of
holy humility!’"
When Francesco chose to join the Franciscans he undoubtedly was
largely motivated by the long Marian tradition of the friars going
back to St. Francis. It was they who were the great champions of her
Immaculate Conception and her Assumption into heaven. Today, they
will be found among those championing her role as Mediatrix of All
Graces. His devotion to Mary was centered in identification with
Mary at the foot of the cross of her crucified Son — the Man of
Sorrows. From the Queen of Martyrs Padre Pio learned how to bear the
painful stigmata and so many other sufferings heroically. In
spiritual direction to others he said: "Lean on the Cross like the
Virgin Mary and you will not be without comfort. Mary was petrified
before the Crucified Christ, but you cannot say that she was
abandoned. She was loved better then, when she could not even cry.
The frequent use Padre Pio made of the Rosary, this simple prayer of
both the learned and illiterate, rich and poor, young and old, gives
us an indication of his awareness of Mary’s presence and protection
over her spiritual children through the Rosary. Towards the end of
his life it was ever in his hands. It was as if he were telling his
devotees: "Here is peace of heart, the victory over evil, the
strength to overcome every obstacle on the way to heaven." It was
through the Rosary that the whole array of gifts and miracles he
received for souls came. His power to draw sinners to an amendment
of life and to encourage his sons and daughters to seek personal
holiness were the fruit of his prayer life, in particular the
Rosary.
When he was asked one day what inheritance he wished to leave his
spiritual children, he answered at once, "The Rosary." He pointed
out to his followers that if the Holy Virgin has urged the
recitation of the Rosary wherever she appeared in recent times,
isn’t that an indication that we should pray it every day. How many
Rosaries did he recite each day? He responded as many as thirty-five
complete Rosaries. Amazed at this seemingly impossible number, he
was asked how could he say that many in one day. He responded, "How
can you not pray that much?" It is evident from his reply that he
was able to do several things at the same time.
Regardless of the number, his example contradicts those who have
discarded this devotion as not being Christ-centered enough. Here is
a holy person who bore the visible wounds of our Lord’s passion for
fifty years who continually prayed the Rosary, holding it up to all
men as a perfect means of reviewing the central acts in the great
drama of our redemption, through the meditating on the joyful,
sorrowful and glorious mysteries in the lives of Christ and his
Mother. He spoke of the Rosary as that prayer in which "she triumphs
over everything and everyone." Two days before he died he repeated:
"Love Our Lady and make her loved. Recite the Rosary and recite it
always and as much as you can."
Was this great devotion he had to the Rosary tied in with Our Lady’s
apparitions at Fatima in 1917, where she identified herself as our
"Lady of the Rosary" and requested its recitation daily? It doesn’t
seem likely. Yet when acquainted with Fatima, Padre Pio lived its
message and Mary’s formula for world peace, through prayer, penance
and consecration to her Immaculate Heart, throughout his whole life.
These words of Our Lady to the three seers in 1917 were perfectly
understood and lived by Padre Pio; "Many souls go to hell because
they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them, . . . I have
come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for
their sins. . . . They [sinners] must not continue to offend Our
Lord who is already deeply offended. . . . Say the Rosary every day,
to obtain peace for the world. . . . If people do what I tell you,
many souls will be saved and there will be peace. . . . .In the end
my Immaculate Heart will triumph, Russia will be converted, and
there will be peace."
Padre Pio understood the vitally important role and responsibility
of all men as coredemptors, "Filling up that which is wanting in the
sufferings of Christ." (St. Paul, Col.1: 24). He said once, "Souls
are not given as gifts; they are bought. You do not know what they
cost Jesus. Now they still have to be bought always with the same
coin." How many souls he purchased through his heroic patience in a
life of suffering, endured out of love of God and united to Christ’s
suffering, will be a surprise to all when revealed on the day of
judgement!
Pope Pius XII, the Fatima pope, in 1952, heeding her urgent request
for prayer, urged his spiritual children to form prayer groups. When
Padre Pio heard about this appeal he immediately encouraged his
spiritual children to heed the admonition of the Holy Father. These
prayer groups soon came to be known as Padre Pio Prayer Groups and
have spread throughout the world.
The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima sought his approval and help in
furthering the message of Fatima. The founder of the Blue Army, the
late Msgr. Harold Colgan, asked Padre Pio if he would be the
spiritual director of the Blue Army and accept its members as his
spiritual children. In accepting the charge, Padre Pio smiled and
added gently: "May they only behave well!" He is known to have said
on one occasion that Russia would be converted when there are as
many members of the Blue Army as there are Communists.
In 1959 the Fatima Pilgrim Virgin statue was touring the major
cities in Italy aboard a helicopter. We know from his confreres how
much he looked forward to her visit at San Giovanni Rotundo. The day
it arrived in Italy, May 5, Padre Pio was struck down with a bad
attack of pleurisy. An exceptional change in the schedule was made
so that the statue could visit Padre Pio and the large crowd that
had gathered there to celebrate the forty years he bore the
stigmata. Padre Pio spoke from his sick bed over the loudspeaker,
exhorting the people to prepare for its visit with Christian
renewal. On the day it arrived in San Giovanni Rotundo, August 5, he
announced with deep emotion, "In a few minutes Our Mother will be in
our house. . . .Open your hearts." He urged them to give thanks, to
commit themselves "enthusiastically. . . . permanently, just as Our
Mother’s eye is permanently on us."
During the morning of August 6 he was able to go down to the church
where they lowered the statue before his face so he could kiss her.
What follows is best described by the mayor of San Giovanni who was
a good friend of Padre Pio.
"It would seem that everyone . . . not only from San Giovanni but
from the whole region . . . was gathered here to receive her. And
poor Padre Pio, whose devotion to our Blessed Mother is one of his
most outstanding characteristics, longed in his sick bed to at least
pay homage to her in some way. And when the statue was lifted from
the helicopter in order to be taken into the Chapel of the hospital,
he insisted on getting up to render her homage. In vain all tried to
dissuade him. Since the superior did not forbid it and with two of
the friars supporting him by the armpits, he went to honor our Lady.
"Despite his great will power, three times he had to stop. But
finally, dissolved in tears, he knelt in prayer before the famous
image of Our Lady of Fatima . . . who had predicted the present
suffering of the world and had promised to convert Russia and bring
peace to mankind if her requests were heard. . . .Father Pio was
back in his sick bed when the helicopter soared above the great
crowds to bear the statue to other waiting throngs, in other parts
of the country. As he heard the roar of the motors and crowd, Father
Pio exclaimed aloud to our Lady: ‘On April 25th, the day you arrived
in Italy, I fell ill. Now you are going to leave me. . . .’ The
pilot of the helicopter later reported that for some reason he could
not explain, as he was heading away, he suddenly decided to turn
around and brought the aircraft back to the monastery, circled a few
times, and finally flew away.
"A few moments later Padre Pio said to those around him: ‘I felt
myself tremble violently, and now I feel as strong and healthy as
never before in my life.’ " Later Padre Pio made a formal
declaration of his instantaneous cure by Our Lady of Fatima and in
gratitude sent a crucifix to Fatima. A few months later a Blue Army
delegation presented him with a hand-carved statue of Our Lady of
Fatima which was placed above the vesting table of the sacristy,
where he prepared for Mass each morning.
When people asked him how it was that San Giovanni Rotondo was
chosen over the nearby city of Foggia, which was much larger, and
the most important city in that part of Italy, with childlike candor
he replied, "She wanted to come and cure Padre Pio." Like another
great Marian saint, St. Louis De Montfort, Padre Pio would cry out
to all men, "Of Mary there is never enough!" When pressed to speak
about her he showed the depths of his tender love for Mary by
shedding tears of joy and emotion. The saying above his door was
from the great Marian saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, "Mary is the
reason of all my hope." One of his confreres wrote down some of the
beautiful epithets spoken by Padre Pio on our Lady: "Abyss of grace
and purity; Incomparable Masterpiece of the Creator; Tabernacle of
the Most High; Receptacle of divine secrets; Woman bathed in light;
Exquisite Dove."
As a true son of St. Francis, and in the Franciscan tradition, he
was ever conscious of Mary’s first great prerogative and its
importance. "The Immaculate Conception," he said, "is the first step
on the path of salvation." He did not hesitate to affirm her
universal mediation. "All things revert to her, all grace passes
through her hands." In the last years of his life he said only the
Mass of the Immaculate Conception. And lest anyone would get the
impression that he stopped at Mary and did not have her Son as his
final goal he might consider these words he directed at the
Immaculata:
"Oh, gentle Mother, make me love him. Fill my heart with the love
that burned in thine. . . Purify my heart that I may know how to
love my God and thy God! Purify my spirit that I may adore him in
spirit and in truth! Purify my body that it may become for him a
living tabernacle!"
Even as Jesus frequently appeared in person to Padre Pio, so too did
Mary. On one occasion he describes her physical presence as she
accompanied him to the altar: "With what care she accompanied me to
the altar this morning! It seemed to me as though she had nothing to
think about other than me filling my heart completely with saintly
affections. I felt a mysterious fire from my heart which I couldn’t
understand. I felt the need to put ice on it to extinguish this fire
which was consuming me! I should like to have a voice strong enough
to invite the sinners of the whole world to love our Lady!"
It is said that at the moment of death one sees in an instant a
"flash back" of his whole life. At such a time the dominant
direction of one’s life stands out, whether it be toward evil or
good ends. As Padre Pio lay dying on the morning of September 23,
the dominant direction of his life was vocalized in two words, "Gesu
. . . Maria," "Gesu . . . Maria," "Jesus . . . Mary," "Jesus . . .
Mary." These were his last words.
The crucified Jesus who had shared his cross with his faithful
servant Padre Pio, and Mary who stood at the foot of her Son’s
cross, are the spiritual legacy this Franciscan stigmatic would
leave to all mankind. If we share in their sufferings, after the
example of Our Lady and her Son, and Padre Pio, we are sure to share
in their glory.
This page is the work of
the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary
