Nicholas, from Atlanta, and I had the fantastic opportunity to make a pilgrimage with, it seemed, all of Italy to San Giovanni Rotondo for the vigil and feast day (September 23) of St. Padre Pio. He is a modern day saint, having a personal impact on thousands of people most especially through the sacrament of Reconciliation (hearing confessions) and his celebration of the Mass, which took hours. He is still very much remembered by Italians. On Friday night they actually had 15,000 chairs setup outside and every single chair was occupied with hundreds of people standing in the back.
We showed up around six in the afternoon finding that the vigil had already started with live music. We made our way to the front just to see what it looked like and before we knew it a reporter approached us (because we were wearing “clerics” - black clothes with a white collar) and he wanted to do a live interview. We told him that we speak Italian horribly and that we didn’t want him to lose his job; but he insisted.
We said a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit and were able to speak perfectly on camera with nearly no grammatical errors. Nicholas really did a great job. He asked me afterwards of what he had said because he didn’t even know what he was saying at the time.
Later another reporter had pulled us out of the crowd again but we didn’t know at the time that she was a reporter and she wouldn’t tell us what she wanted until she led us into the friary where the tv crews had setup a ‘backstage’ place for interviews.
We thought she wanted us to help her with bringing the elderly and sick down to the front of the crowd but it turned out that she didn’t know we had already given an interview. Anyhow, we didn’t give another interview but had made it into the friary by chance and were able to see the garden where St. Pio walked and the place where he sat for meals. It was a terrific and unexpected experience.
The vigil went until midnight, ending with the Mass, but Nicholas and I were only able to stay till 9:15 because of the windy and cold weather. We arrived unprepared for such coldness, coming from warm Rome, while everyone around us had winter jackets on. The vigil included an official welcome, evening prayer (vespers), adoration of the Eucharist for vocations, the Holy Rosary, a penance service and the Mass. We had to leave after adoration or risk catching a cold. We watched the rest of the vigil in a warm hotel room. I was really astonished and touched by the devotion of the pilgrims who stayed they for probably more than six hours.
Saturday morning we spent by going to Mass, his tomb and visiting his cell (bed room) along with the crucifix before which he had seen a vision of Jesus and afterwards received the stigmata on his hands, feet and side – the pierced wounds of Jesus Christ. St. Pio had the wounds for over 50 years and before dying they disappeared with no scars. He spent his life in union with Christ, through suffering the way Christ did but only as humanly possible.
I really recommend visiting Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s blog to read more about the feast day and to see many pictures I was unable to take (click on Sept. 23 when visiting his site).
During the afternoon Nicholas and I went to Monte Sant’Angelo, a town built around a basilica consecrated by the Archangel Michael (whose feast day is – Sept. 29). The basilica is actually a cave that is linked to three different apparitions and miracles. It has been a place of pilgrimage for 1500 years! Many pilgrimages of ages past left ‘graffiti’, leaving their marks and prayer intentions.
The basilica was one of the most interesting I have ever seen and the town was gorgeous, white houses built on a mountain overlooking the Adriatic Sea. It reminded me of Greece. We also visited a castle situated above the city that had a nice display of artifacts.
Later that night there was a huge procession throughout the city with a very large statue of St. Pio. We, Catholics, don’t worship saints or statues but we venerate them. Worship is due only to God. Veneration is to give honor, like calling a judge ‘your honor’, we give honor to those who lived a holy life – something more honorable than anything this world can offer - and we call to mind, we remember them, through statues and other articles much like someone would do with a photo album with their family. The pictures of an album are used in order to think of the person and the event captured, right?
I was very impressed by the humbleness, holiness and prayerfulness of St. Padre Pio. I didn’t know a whole lot about him before going but I am extremely glad that I was able to celebrate his feast day (which is normally the day of a any given saint’s death – because through death they, and all of us can, enter eternity with God).
Nicholas has had a devotion to St. Pio for awhile and he shared this story with me: Once he was hearing a woman’s confession and she tried to cut a piece of his habit (the ‘robe’ worn by monks) in order to have a ‘piece’ of a saint (like Mother Teresa he was considered a living saint). Padre Pio pulled his habit away from her and said something to the effect: ‘This is my habit, if you want a piece of a saint, go and become one yourself’.
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