Spiritual Gifts

“Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him...
Do not fear. Jesus is more powerful than all Hell..." ~ Padre Pio

“As a child Francesco Forgione saw his guardian angel so frequently that he referred to the angel fondly as “the playmate of my childhood.” The guardian angel would play such a prominent role in Padre Pio’s adult life that one of his Capuchin confreres would fill an entire book with incidents where Padre Pio interacted with his own angel and the guardian angels of others.

When he moved into adolescence, He did not long for power, riches, sexual conquests, or wild living. Instead, it was the true riches the world offers that drew Franci: to remain with his family, so strong in their love for one another, and to seize the joys he had learned among them. Chief among these was family life itself, with its innocent pleasures of laughter, food, a glass of wine, sharing a good story, praying together, and, above all, knowing they were there for each other in good times and bad. To give up all this and leave the ones he so deeply loved to enter the Franciscans and study for the priesthood seemed beyond the fifteen-year-old’s strength.

Meditating on his calling by God to become a priest, he suddenly had an unforgettable experience. Padre Pio wrote under obedience to his spiritual directors, speaking of himself, as always, in the third person: ‘He saw by his side a majestic man of rare beauty, splendid as the sun. This man took him by the hand and he heard him say:

“Come with me, because you will have to fight as a valiant warrior.” Then he was led to an area of very spacious countryside. Here there was a great multitude of men divided into two groups. On one side he saw men of most beautiful countenance … in snow-white garments. On the other … men of hideous aspect, dressed in black like so many dark shadows. As he stood between the two groups, a giant man appeared with his forehead seeming to touch the heavens and a face that was horrible. This strange personage approached nearer and nearer and the guide who was beside the soul informed him that he would have to fight with that creature.

At these words the poor little soul turned pale, trembled all over and was about to fall to the ground in a faint, so great was his terror. The guide supported him with one arm until he recovered somewhat from his fright. The soul then turned to his guide and begged him to spare him from the fury of that eerie personage, because he said the man was so strong that the strength of all men combined would not be sufficient to fell him. [The guide answered:]

“Your every resistance is vain. You must fight with this man. Take heart. Enter the combat with confidence. Go forth courageously. I shall be with you. In reward for your victory over him I will give you a shining crown…” The poor little soul took heart. He entered into combat with the formidable and mysterious being. The attack [of the giant being] was ferocious but with the help of his guide, who never left his side, [the soul] overcame his adversary, threw him to the ground, and forced him to flee.

As promised, a crown was placed on the soul for a moment but almost immediately it was removed and the guide said: “I will reserve for you a crown even more beautiful if you fight the good fight with the being whom you have just fought. He will continually renew the assault to regain his lost honor. Fight valiantly and do not doubt my aid. Keep your eyes wide open, for that mysterious personage will try to take you by surprise. Do not fear his … formidable might, but remember what I have promised you: that I will always be close at hand and I will always help you, so that you will always succeed in conquering him.” And so the vision ended.

A day or so later a second spiritual experience confirmed that Francesco’s whole life as a priest would require combat with his mysterious adversary from hell. Demons would be present at his battles to jeer, but he must never fear, for the angels would also be there to applaud his victories over the evil one. He understood furthermore that the heavenly guide was Jesus Christ himself, who would sustain him in the battle so long as he trusted in the Savior and fought valiantly.

In 1903, fifteen-year-old Francesco Forgione left Pietrelcina with two other boys from his area. His mother, blessing him through her tears, said he belonged now no longer to her but to St. Francis. An hour’s train ride brought him to the town of Morcone, where the boys found their way to the friary of Saints Philip and James. The door was opened by Franci’s hero, Fra Camillo of S. Elia a Pianisi, who welcomed them warmly. This young friar had usually been the Capuchin sent out to beg in places like Pietrelcina, picking up not only eggs, grain, wine, and other foodstuffs, but the admiration of little boys as well. Francesco, for instance, spurned the other religious orders he might have entered because he insisted he wanted to have a beard, like Fra Camillo did.

One of the Scriptures in Pio’s cell was “You are dead and your lives are hidden with Christ in God.” Given a new name symbolizing his new “birth” as one given utterly to God, Francesco Forgione would be known for the rest of his life as Pio. After an introductory period of just over two weeks, he began a year of novitiate under a novice master who was severe but also a man “with a heart of gold,” full of charity and understanding for the young men he guided. Padre Leone of San Giovanni Rotondo was the supervisor of studies at one of the friaries where Pio did part of his studies for the priesthood. Padre Leone says

“I … would often go to visit him in his cell and I almost always found him praying on his knees with his eyes red from crying. I could say that he was a student who prayed continually, and these prayers were made up of tears as it was enough to look at his eyes to understand that tears were habitual visitors.” While the supervisor of studies confesses that he found Pio praying instead of studying, he witnesses, “However, in school he always knew the lesson in spite of the fact that we were of the opinion that he studied very little.” Was this because Pio was an intellectual genius? Padre Leone does not think so, characterizing Pio as “of average intelligence.” It is Pio’s spiritual rather than intellectual genius that seems to account for his ability to master subjects more through prayer than study.

If Pio’s spiritual genius was first hinted at by his exemplary behavior (he himself admitted he was never scolded even once as a novice), it was further confirmed in his gift of tears. Not only Padre Leone saw that Pio wept a great deal when praying. Padre Damaso of S. Elia a Pianisi recalls, “One evening (this would be around 1904), we were praying silently in the choir…. Spurred on by devotion mixed with curiosity, I stealthily placed my finger on a large white handkerchief that Frater Pio had at his side, and I thought of the gift of tears (it was said that he had an eye problem as a result of the many tears he shed). I withdrew my finger, which was now completely soaked, as the handkerchief was drenched with tears. From that moment, something particular was conceived in my soul for Frater Pio’s goodness.”

Finally, Padre Antonio of San Giovanni Rotondo recalls Pio shed “enough tears to form a dent in the floor, during prayer time, and especially after Holy Communion. When asked the reason for those tears, the little Frater would always withdraw into himself and become silent. As his spiritual director, I finally obliged him to speak: ‘I cry,’ he said, ‘for my sins and those of mankind.’”

Sometime during those years of studies, Pio made an interesting prophecy to a fellow student, Romolo of San Marco in Lamis, who was just a year and a few days older than Pio. Handed a piece of paper, Romolo saw that Pio had written in Latin “Romolo, statutum est te mori post me et mori senem,” which in English means, “Romolo, it is established that you will die after I do and you will be very old.” Many years later, Padre Romolo died on February 1, 1981, at the age of ninety-five. Although a year older than Pio, he had outlived him by thirteen years.

Frater Pio spent time over a period of several years at various Capuchin houses as he progressed through his studies toward priestly ordination. Everywhere he went, he was esteemed and loved, but no one thought of him as a saint—or even a saint in the making. For instance, in 1907, Padre Agostino of San Marco in Lamis, who some years later would become Frater Pio’s spiritual director, noted that Pio—who was then studying philosophy—was “good, obedient, studious, even if [as was already often the case] he was ailing.” Still Padre Agostino did not see “anything extraordinary or supernatural in him.” Pleasant and good-humored to others, during this time from age eighteen to twenty-one, Pio suffered horribly from scruples, worrying constantly that he was not pleasing to God.

Yet, even while suffering greatly both from poor health and scruples, hidden supernatural phenomena continued to be part of Pio’s life. The best-known incident, revealed under obedience to Padre Agostino years later, was already two years past at the time Agostino took Pio for just a good little friar. It had taken place on the night of January 18, 1905. As was his custom, at about eleven at night, rather than hitting the philosophy books, Pio was praying in the choir. He later wrote under obedience:

I suddenly found myself far away in an elegant house, where the father was dying while his child was being born. Then Most Holy Mary appeared to me and said: “I confide this creature to your care; it is a precious stone in the unpolished state. Work on it; polish it; make it as shiny as possible, because one day I want to adorn myself with it…” “How will this be possible when I am still a poor student and don’t even know whether I will have the joy of becoming a priest? And even if I do become a priest, how will I be able to think of this baby girl, being so far away from here?” The Madonna replied: “Do not doubt. It will be she who will come to you, but beforehand you will meet her in Saint Peter’s….”

~ Patricia Treece, Meet Padre Pio: Beloved Mystic, Miracle Worker, and Spiritual Guide

~ Padre Pio, also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (1887 – 1968), was a friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, now venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. Born Francesco Forgione, he was given the name of Pius (Italian: Pio) when he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

Padre Pio was said to have had the gift of reading souls, the ability to bilocate (according to eyewitness accounts), among other supernatural phenomena. He was said to communicate with angels and worked favors and healings before they were requested of him. The reports of supernatural phenomena surrounding Padre Pio attracted fame and legend. The Vatican was initially skeptical. He was both beatified (1999) and canonized (2002) by Pope Saint John Paul II.

Padre Pio became a spiritual director. He had five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.