Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. Healer for a Broken Time

 

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, the Capuchin priest who carried the wounds of the crucified Christ, embodied truths that have been stridently denied by many who would tell us how to think and what to disbelieve during these times of overwhelming power and overwhelming impotence. This remarkable man bore witness to the essential truth carried in the Christian understanding of the Incarnation, of the human embodiment of the living Christ. As one who bore the stigmata, the five wounds of the crucified Jesus, Padre Pio projected historical truth. He shares this witness with others such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Therese Neumann and more recently, Filipino visionary and mystic  Emma de Guzman, each of whose lives has challenged the illusory certainty of what has been deemed the limits of the possible.

We pride ourselves on the cogency of the scientific knowledge and understanding that have enabled us to crack apart both atoms and atolls, leave flags and footprints on the moon, and map the structure of cellular DNA and viral RNA. This same pride has decreed that only through such methods as those sanctioned by science can we arrive at Truth. But despite our declared certainties, there is much within human experience that continues to defy scientific interpretation.

Sixty years ago, historian of science Thomas Kuhn described how our ways of thinking can become so constrained that we summarily dismiss or disallow all facts that do not conform to the paradigm through which we interpret the world and our view of how the world should be. Kuhn describes how the progressive accumulation of "anomalies" that do not fit in to our preconceived theories can force a complete re-evaluation of the paradigm or model through which phenomena are understood and interpreted. According to Kuhn, this process underlies the periodic revolutions that transform scientific understanding.

There is no shortage of "anomalous" manifestations in the world. There is much that occurs in the experiences of many that simply cannot be accommodated by a materialistic and rationalistic view of reality.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina first received the stigmata, or the marks of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet, and chest when he was in his twenties. As a novice and young monk, he had engaged in a number of ascetic disciplines. His self-mortifications were, even according to his teachers and companions, considered to be extreme. Within the history of Christian asceticism, there have been many who, after the death of Jesus, exerted themselves in ways other than by prayer and fasting. The spiritual traditions of every culture acknowledge the transformative power of intense ascetic discipline. Yet there are some who would consider them to be severe aberrations of spirituality. Russian Religious Philosopher Nicolas Berdyaev was highly critical of much within the Christian ascetic traditions. [1]

He was particularly scathing in his attitude to the phenomenon of stigmatisation, which was first made manifest in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Berdyaev writes:

"Eastern Christian mysticism is not interested in the life on this earth of Jesus Christ or in the idea of imitating his passions. The idea of stigmata is likewise foreign to it. . . Such phenomena as stigmata are unacceptable to Eastern thought. Nor do disease and suffering play such an important part as they do in Catholic mysticism." [2]

Berdyaev's curt dismissal of what is, in truth, a providential gift and in the case of many stigmatists, a willing participation in the sufferings of Jesus as a conscious act of co-redemption, is questionable. As self-nominated spokesman for the Eastern churches, Berdyaev may have deemed stigmata as "unacceptable" but this does not alter the fact that they are a part of spiritual reality. In the case of Padre Pio, the stigmata are a re-presentation of the truths lived and the miracles performed by Jesus during his time on the earth re-manifested in human form for the benefit of many. The influence of Padre Pio has transformed the lives of numerous individuals both during and beyond the confines of his earthly life. His presence and his action showed him to be a man of immense spiritual power and attainment. Padre Pio has clearly walked a path reserved for but few souls on the earth. [3]

The early letters of Padre Pio to his two spiritual directors explicitly reveal the extent to which his spiritual practices brought him into contact with demonic forces that literally made his life hell. [4] For Padre Pio, the inhabitants of hell worlds were not the imaginative projections of an inflamed consciousness, but actual presences with whom he actively contended. Padre Pio perseveringly and unflinchingly pursued a path that he had unexpectedly entered as a young man, a path that reached an extraordinary culmination that he could never have fully anticipated. Throughout his life, Padre Pio lived within the graces and powers associated with the stigmata, while paradoxically experiencing indescribable physical pain and torment.

Padre Pio's life completely overturned the modernist denial of the miraculous and the numinous. He lived the impossible. The way in which he acquired the stigmata of Christ Jesus resonates strongly with the experiences of Saint Francis of Assisi, and would test the imagination of even the most adventurous writer of fantasy. He possessed in great measure many of the siddhi, or perfections described in the yogic literature of India. Within his own tradition, these were understood as Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Such capabilities included bilocation (the ability to be in two places at one time), visions, ecstasies, the ability to read the minds of others, the mediation of healing, radiant luminosity, and the emanation of sublime fragrances. Yet he never claimed these powers as his own. He was truly a great priest of Jesus who lived a life of dedicated service and humility.

His mission was also marked by extraordinary works. The creation of the Casa Solievo Della Sofferenza, a large hospital constructed in San Giovanni Rotondo during the 1950s was driven largely by Padre Pio from within the confines of his monastery. Despite his accomplishments in both the spiritual and material worlds, Padre Pio claimed no exalted status, but even to the end,  expressed a surprising uncertainty about his own relationship with the Divine. His biographer C. Bernard Ruffin comments:

Incredibly, Padre Pio at times seemed to doubt that he was in a state of grace. "You have respect for me," he told a friend, "because you do not know me. I am the greatest sinner on this earth." Complaining that every good intention was marred by vanity and pride, he insisted, "I am not good. I do not know why this habit of Saint Francis, which I wear so unworthily, does not jump off me. . . .  Pray for me that I might become good." [5]

This extraordinary comment was made towards the close of his life. Yet even as a young man, a year after he had received the stigmata in 1918, he confided to his spiritual advisor: "I doubt at times whether I myself even possess the grace of God." [6] Such reflections cast the reality of relativity into sharp relief. Padre Pio clearly held many deep insights that elude most of us. He may have been so conscious of the nature of perfection that the minor weaknesses with which every one of us contend in the course of our daily lives became, for him, a source of anxiety and self-recrimination. Perhaps the self-expectation of those who have truly transcended human limitation and who fully inhabit spiritual reality is beyond anything we can comprehend. His own reflections in such matters may serve to awaken us to the folly of complacency and the danger of self-satisfaction in considering one's own relationship to the Divine.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina represents yet another remarkable enigma born of Italian Catholic spirituality. His life has served to reaffirm the deeper values of love, healing and transformation carried by deep Christianity during this broken time of materialism, nihilism and abuse that subvert and deny the essential truths taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth.

Notes

1. Nicolas Berdyaev (1939): Spirit and Reality (trans. George Reavey), Geoffrey Bles, The Centenary Press, London. See especially Chapter IV: "The Aim of Asceticism" pp. 69-93
2. Ibid., pp. 141-142
3. The meaning of the life of Padre Pio cannot be encompassed simply by knowing his story or the range of his spiritual gifts. It is only in the context on his day-to-day influence on the lives who knew him and loved him that one can begin to form a coherent understanding of the man and his mission. the reminiscences of those who were close to him will provide far more light than any formal examination of the many available histories and commentaries. For one such account, see: https://lavianuminosa.blogspot.com/2018/02/in-presence-of-transcendent-giuseppe.html
4. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. Letters, Volume I. Correspondence with his Spiritual Directors (1910-1922), Edizioni Padre Pio di Pietrelcina, San Giovanni Rotondo, 2012. Accounts of Padre Pio's early encounters begin very early in the exchange of letters with his directors, the first intimations being recorded in his letter to Padre Benedetto on 6th July 1910. (p. 211) Numerous highly graphic accounts of his experiences follow throughout the 12-year period of correspondence.5. C. Bernard Ruffin (1991): Padre Pio. The True Story, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, Huntington, Indiana, p. 373
6. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Letters, Vol. I, (op. cit.), p. 1284

Vincent Di Stefano D.O., M.H.Sc.
March 2014
Revised September 2021

A Prayer for Healers

by Padre Pio da Pietrelcina

O divine healer of bodies and of souls, Lord Jesus, Redeemer, who during your life on the earth cared for those who were afflicted and healed them with a touch of your all-powerful hand, we who are called to the difficult mission of healing adore you and recognise in you our sublime model and source of strength.

May you ever guide our minds, our hearts and our hands so that we may deserve the praise and honour bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon our vocation.

May there awaken within us a growing awareness of our role as your collaborators in the protection and the development of humanity, and of our role as instruments of your divine mercy.

Illuminate our intelligence in the pursuit of an understanding of the pain and difficulties caused by the numerous afflictions that can assail our bodies until, by skillfully availing ourselves of the findings of science, the causes of sickness no longer remain hidden to us. By your grace, may we be neither deceived nor mistaken regarding the nature of our patients' symptoms, but with sure judgement, select the best remedies or treatments that have been made available through your Divine Providence.

Fill our hearts with your love and help us to recognise your own self within our patients, particularly those who are most wounded and helpless. May we respond to the trust that they have placed in us with the utmost care and energy.

Imitating the example you have set for us, may we be parental in our concern, sincere in our advice, diligent in our ministrations, strangers to deception, and wise in our discernment of the mystery of suffering and of death. Above all, may we be constant in our defense of your sacred law of respect for all life against the assaults of our self-serving and perverse instincts.

As healers who give glory to your name, we vow that our activities will be continually guided by moral righteousness and that our lives will honour the laws of morality.

Finally, grant that we ourselves, through the Christian conduct of our lives and the just practice of our profession, may one day be worthy to hear from your lips the blessed words that you have promised to those who have ministered to you in the form of those who are in need: "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matt. 26, 34)

May it be so !

Original Italian Version

O Medico divino delle anime e dei corpi, Redentore Gesù, che durante la tua vita mortale prediligesti gli infermi, risanandoli col tocco della tua mano onnipotente, noi, chiamati all’ardua missione di medici, ti adoriamo e riconosciamo in te il nostro eccelso modello e sostegno.

Mente, cuore e mano siano sempre da te guidati in modo da meritare la lode e l’onore che lo Spirito Santo ascrive al nostro ufficio.

Accresci in noi la consapevolezza di essere in qualche modo collaboratori tuoi nella difesa e nello sviluppo delle umane creature, e strumenti della tua misericordia.

Illumina le nostre intelligenze nell’aspro cimento contro le innumerevoli infermità dei corpi, affinchè, avvalendoci rettamente della scienza e dei suoi progressi, non ci siano occulte le cause dei mali, né ci traggano in inganno i loro sintomi, ma con sicuro giudizio possiamo indicare i rimedi dalla tua Provvidenza disposti.

Dilata i nostri cuori col tuo amore, sicché, ravvisando te stesso negli infermi, particolarmente nei più derelitti, rispondiamo con indefessa sollecitudine alla fiducia che essi ripongono in noi.

Fa che, imitando il tuo esempio, siamo paterni nel compatire, sinceri nel consigliare, solerti nel curare, alieni dall’illudere, soavi nel preannunciare il mistero del dolore e della morte; soprattutto che siamo fermi nel difendere la tua santa legge del rispetto alla vita, contro gli assalti dell’egoismo e dei perversi istinti.

Come medici che ci gloriamo del tuo nome, promettiamo che la nostra attività si muoverà costantemente nell’osservanza dell’ordine morale e sotto l’impero delle sue leggi.

Concedici, infine, che noi stessi, per la condotta cristiana della vita ed il retto esercizion della professione, meritiamo un giorno di ascoltare dalle tue labbra la beatificante sentenza, promessa a coloro che ti visitarono infermo nei fratelli: “Venite, o benedetti del Padre mio, prendete possesso del regno per voi preparato” (Matt. 25,34).

Cosi sia!

"Pray, Hope and Don't Worry"

A documentary examining the life of Padre Pio



RELATED POSTS

1. In the Presence of the Transcendent. Giuseppe Caccioppoli and Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

The meaning of the life of Padre Pio cannot be fully encompassed by knowing his story or the range of his spiritual gifts. It is only in the context of his day-to-day influence on the lives of those who knew him and loved him that one can begin to form a coherent understanding of the man and of his mission. The reminiscences and stories of those who were close to him will provide far more light than any formal examination of the many available histories and commentaries that attempt to describe his life and detail his attributes. One such story is offered by Giuseppe Caccioppoli, a spiritual son of Padre Pio.