After recounting the many extraordinary experiences he and others had when in the presence of Jesus two thousand years ago, St. John concludes his Gospel with the following sentence: "There are many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25)
Reflecting in the present time, one begins to comprehend what is carried in St. John's remarkable statement by looking more deeply into the life and activities of Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, truly an alter Christus - another Christ who has lived among us in recent memory.
If, against the tenor of the present times, one has come to accept the truth and reality held in transcendental experience as a result of direct participation or through faith, then indeed an entire other world becomes available to our knowledge, a world that does not conform to the conventional limits of phenomenality, a world wherein materiality and causality are secondary rather than primary realities.
Padre Pio lived out most of his life in the Capuchin monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo. Yet without ever leaving that small community, he has come to be universally known as the Saint of the new millennium, a carrier of the wounds of Christ, one whose life was enveloped in physical suffering but whose mission was to alleviate the suffering of many beyond counting.
Dr Giuseppe Caccioppoli is one who has had the great privilege of experiencing regular contact with Padre Pio between 1950 and 1968, the year of Padre Pio's death. Apart from participating in Padre Pio's living presence throughout that time, Giuseppe Caccioppoli has in the intervening years assiduously searched out a vast number of documents, reflections, examinations and interpretations relating to the life and mission of Padre Pio.
Among the many consequences of that search is the production of an extraordinary testament, Padre Pio. Heavenly Facts and Words of Wisdom compiled from the writings of nearly one hundred authors. This work does not offer a systematic telling of the sequence of events in Padre Pio's life, but rather, as a finely wrought mosaic, gathers together fragments and recollections from many people's lives and experiences to present a uniquely integrated and encompassing account of the charisms and the wisdom embodied in the person of Padre Pio da Pietrelcina.
This great labour of love provides deep nourishment to all who would look beyond the frail and fragile certainties of a world that has disregarded the teachings, the wisdom and the truth gifted to humanity by Jesus of Nazareth, and serves to keep bright the flame of love within which we live and move and have our being.
The entire text of Padre Pio. Heavenly Facts and Words of Wisdom can be downloaded in PDF here:
https://archive.org/details/padrepio.heavenlyfactsandwordsofwisdom
With many thanks to Dr Giuseppe Caccioppoli for permission to make this document available through La Via Luminosa.
