My experience with Padre Pio - for your discernment: Summer, 1993 My husband wanted to go to a Padre Pio conference at St. Ignatius Church (not our Parish), but as I was cleaning my house and not dressed to go into a church, I told him to go ahead and that I would stay home. I knew nothing about Padre Pio at the time as I had just come into the Church in mid-January. He left the house only to return minutes later to talk me into going. At his urging, I went dressed as I was. While listening to the speaker talking about how many people used to smell perfume when they were with Padre Pio, I smelled a very strong odor of perfume (It certainly wasn't coming from me dressed as I was, nor do I use perfume). I noticed at the same time I smelled this, a women sitting two rows directly ahead of us turned to a nun seated on her left asking her if she smelled perfume, and the nun shook her head yes. At that time, I did not say anything to Ed because I thought someone was playing tricks on us and poured perfume on the floor or sprayed it into the air. When we left the conference and got into the car we smelled this beautiful odor which I had smelled in the conference. It seemed coming from my hands and my clothing, which I would smell even for days later. LB A PRAYER OF ST. PIO (PADRE PIO) Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. Stay with me Lord, because I am weak, and I need Your strength, so that I may not fall so often. Stay with me Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor. Stay with me Lord, for You are my light, and without you, I am in darkness. Stay with me Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. Stay with me Lord, for I desire to love you very much, and always be in Your Company. Stay with me Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. Stay with me Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love. Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late, and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgment, eternity approach. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile. Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. Stay with me Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to you, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. Stay with me Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your presence, oh yes, I ask this of You. Stay with me Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.
Hi Lynn fiat Just a word of warning that the website that is selling padre pio statue is not approved by catholic church It has been denounced by catholic diocese of trenton Mary
I loved Padre Pio since I was a child, long before he was a saint and before he even died back in '68. In those days he was still a figure of huge controversary with many high Prelates in the Vatican and elsewhere still gunning for the poor guy. He reminds me of the old Legend of the Dragons teeth. Padre Pio by his holiness seemed to sow dragons teeth everywhere and they sprung out of hell from the Highest perches in the Church to tear him apart. A lesson for today and what's going on. My happiest memory is having sat down at home in my early teens watching TV with my father and mother when a documentary came on about the saint on the BBC. I was able to introduce him to my parents and expain all about him having read several books on him. I think though it is only as the years roll on I realsie what a huge, huge saint he is and was. One thing really opened my eyes and that he said and this was this. He had many , many spiritual daughters throughout the world whom he led to huge holiness; they became siants themselves. But one time in talking of one of them he actually said she was much , mcuh closer to God than himself. Just imagine. I must see of I can look her up for a link. This aldy could bilocate and used to visit by bi location prisoners in Communist countries and report back to the Popes. She actually took Holy Communion to some..as did Padre PIo.
ahhh this is the lady here: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/01/maria-teresa-carloni-modern-day-mystic.html Maria Teresa Carloni, A modern day mystic and stigmatic Maria Teresa Carloni, A modern day mystic Maria Teresa Carloni, (1919-1983) A modern day stigmatic with exceptional mystical gifts -The mystic who came back to the Catholic faith at age 32 The webmaster would like to gratefully thank Mrs. Angelica Avcikurt for translating from the original Italian the inspiring and informative passages below. May God reward her for her efforts. Introduction Maria Teresa Carloni, a twentieth century mystic, is better known in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria than in her native Italy. Known as the “Voice of the Silenced Church”, she dedicated her whole life to the persecuted Church under the Communist Regime during the Cold War. Early Years Maria Teresa was born in Udine, Italy on October 9, 1919 into a rich and aristocratic family. At the age of four, she became an orphan, and together with her brother Adolph, went to live with her grandmother. As a child and adolescent, she suffered from terrible scruples. This together with the fact that she met some priests and religious that were not leading edifying lives, kept her away from the Church. However, she desperately wanted to find God. At the age of 17 she tried once more to go to confession, but was misunderstood by the priest. She walked out of that church thinking she would never return but she turned to the Crucifix and said to Jesus, “We will meet again.” From 1939-1943, she studied to become a nurse. Although she felt she was far from God, she offered many sacrifices for the conversion of her patients and was even fired from a hospital unit for opposing abortion. When the Second World War started, she worked as a nurse for the Sovereign Order of Malta in Rome. Because of her outstanding service, she was given the Silver Medal of Valor by the military. While she was living in Rome, she fell in love with a young doctor. This young doctor, however, was tragically killed on the St. Angelo Bridge when they were together on a medical visit at night. Maria Teresa Carloni and Pope Paul VI Her First Meeting with Pope Pius XII After the bombings of the San Lorenzo neighborhood in Rome during WWII, everyone went there to assist the wounded, including Pope Pius XII. Maria Teresa was there aiding the wounded when she saw a “priest dressed in white.” She did not recognize the Pope and told him, “Hurry, Reverend Father.” And he did as he was told. Sometime later, she accompanied the soldiers from the hospital to an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. He recognized her and said to her, “How come you have not come here in such a long time?” [meaning to Church]. Not knowing what to answer, she said, “I haven’t been well.” To this, he replied, “So, you lie to the Pope?” Later, remembering this moment, she said she wanted the ground to swallow her. Her Conversion at age 32 After finishing a degree in Pedagogy in 1946, she returned to her native Urbania. On April 16, 1951, at the age of 32, she had a conversion. She made an appointment with the Parish Priest of St. Francis Church, Father Cristoforo Campana, because her grandmother was dying. She also wanted to speak with him, and told him all about her bad experiences with the Church and that this was her final attempt to come back. Fr. Campana accepted to be her spiritual director and she returned to the Church. On June 16, 1951, after asking her spiritual director, Maria Teresa makes a vow of perpetual virginity. From then on, her prayer and penitential life became more intense. The Beginning of her Mystical Experiences: Inner Locutions While working as nurse at the Bonomelli Foundation of Milano, a charitable institution, she was sent to the small town of Spotorno, to do educate children about TB prevention. Soon after her arrival there, an epidemic broke out and she was quarantined with the children. This is when her first mystical experiences started and she then began writing letters about it to her spiritual director, Fr. Campana. She felt that another person was talking inside her head and when it stopped, she would answer. At the beginning these dialogues lasted just a few minutes, but as they became longer, she used to leave whatever she was doing and hide somewhere so that people would not become alarmed. Her spiritual father, of course, was cautious, and told her not to pay attention to this Voice, that it was probably her imagination. However, no matter how much she tried to ignore this, it continued and her fighting it took a toll on her health. Once she was back in Urbania at the end of March, 1952, Father Campana wanted to look into what was happening to her. This is what he wrote: “While she was speaking to me, I noticed that she would half close her eyes, become distant, and start talking to “someone” invisible. It would last from between fifteen minutes to half and hour. Then everything would return to normal. She would become embarrassed when she realized I was there and would say:- 'It is not my fault. You are still here?” Fr. Campana, consulted many books about mystical phenomenon, and since her conversations were highly spiritual and he found no doctrinal error in them, he decided to allow this to continue. This took place regularly every Friday. Maria Teresa receives the Stigmata One Friday when Fr. Campana was present, he heard the “Voice” say to him, through Maria Teresa, “I want to repeat my Passion in this creature. You, being her spiritual father, can accept or reject this from happening, because you are the authority that represents Me, but know that this is My will.” Even though Fr. Camapna understood who was talking to him, he asked, “But who are you?” “I am Jesus. This soul has offered herself to me and I have accepted her offer. She will be a victim for the salvation of many, according to what she has told you.” “What should I do?” “Next Good Friday, her hands feet and heart will be pierced. The wounds will not appear externally, because everything must remain hidden, as you said, but later, whenever you want, you can make them appear and they will be seen visibly.” In this dialogue, we can see the greatness of the priesthood in Jesus’ words. Jesus leaves the decision of whether the stigmata will be internal or external up to Maria Teresa’s spiritual director, Fr. Cristoforo Campana, who later became a Monsignor. When Maria Teresa regained consciousness, she did not remember anything of what was said in this dialogue between Jesus and her spiritual director. Fr. Campana then asked her, “If Jesus wanted a closer union with you, to unite you to His sufferings, what would you say?”
“If He wanted this, then I am willing.” “He wants it.” Fr. Campana replied. On Good Friday, April 11, 1952, [which incidentally is also the feast day of another stigmatic, St Gemma Galgani] Fr. Campana went to see her at 2:45pm and found her suffering in bed. He asked her if she was suffering much, and with her teeth clenched almost unable to open her mouth, she said, “So much.” At 3:00pm Fr. Campana witnessed her terrible suffering as she appeared to be nailed to the Cross and then it appeared she had given her last breath and expired. She remained like that for a few minutes, and then opening her eyes, she smiled and said, “It is done.” However, she was not able to get out of bed until midnight. Mystical Espousal On December 20, 1952, Maria Teresa received the grace of the spiritual marriage. The “Voice” had asked Fr. Campana to bring her to Church. At 9:30 she knelt before the Altar and almost immediately a dialogue between her and Jesus began. Fr. Campana heard the following: “Jesus accepts to be your husband but he wants his wife to be like him, persecuted, trampled on, slandered, and suffering always in body and spirit.” Fr. Campana then heard Jesus tell him, “Go up to the altar, lift the tablecloth, take the gold ring and put it on my wife as a tangible sign of my espousal to her.” The priest found the ring and placed it on Maria Teresa’s finger telling her, “It is not from me. “Someone” is giving it to you as a sign of His union with you.” That ring had been left at the Altar by a wife who was disappointed with her marriage. Her Special Mission, Victim soul and Bi-location On January 4, 1953, Fr. Campana finds out that Ivana Puskin had died. Ivana was the great granddaughter of Alexander Sergeevic Puskin, considered to be the father of contemporary Russian literary language. Ivana was Catholic and was active in the underground Church movement. She had offered herself as a victim for the salvation of Russia, but had purposely excluded Stalin’s salvation because of the horrendous crimes he had committed. One Friday, when Maria Teresa was suffering the Passion of Jesus in her body, Jesus informed Fr. Campana of the death of Ivana Puskin and asked him to tell Maria Teresa if she wanted to take the place of this victim for the salvation of Russia and the other countries ruled by the doctrine of atheistic materialism. Maria Teresa answered, “If the Lord wants it and gives me the necessary strength, I accept.” With this acceptance her spiritual and physical sufferings increased and so did the demonic attacks. At the beginning of March, 1953, Stalin was dying. The following Friday the “mysterious voice” told Fr. Campana, “Now, I will ask you something, if you allow it and this creature agrees. Before Stalin dies, I want to give him the possibility of being saved, like I do with all redeemed souls, despite his crimes. If you two accept, I ask you to offer these three hours for the soul of Stalin. But don’t be alarmed by the sufferings that this creature will undergo.” Maria Teresa accepted this and suffered terribly for three hours. Fr. Campana who was with her, could not stop crying and saying, “Enough.” After the three hours she came back to normal. It seems, however, that Stalin did not benefit from the grace that Jesus offered him at the moment of his death. Blessed Elena Aiello, another Italian mystic, was granted a vision of hell in which she saw the soul of Stalin and a place for his followers. After Stalin’s death, the persecution of the Church in the Communist countries continued. In the meantime, Maria Teresa’s sufferings increased and according to Fr. Camapana new mystical phenomena started. One Sunday afternoon, Fr. Campana heard the “Voice” tell him that Cardinal Stepinac, from the place he was confined, had managed to organize in the mountains surrounding Krasic, groups of faithful which he visited with other clandestine priests, Croatians, and refugees from nearby countries. He used to go see them once in a while to encourage their faith. That Sunday, the Cardinal’s legs were hurting him more than usual because of bad circulation, but he wanted to attend at all cost that meeting in the mountains. The “Voice” asked Fr. Campana to tell Maria Teresa if she would take the Cardinal’s pain upon herself to free him from it so that he could go to this meeting. She accepted and immediately went to bed because of the pain in her legs. In the meanwhile, Cardinal Stepinac was able to fulfill his mission.
Thank you for letting me know. It was sent to me by a good friend who was once an exorcist, so I assumed it was OK.
I heard a great story about Padre Pio, years ago now on the radio. There was also a YouTube video about it, but I can't find it now. It was about an elderly Anglican lady living in the north of England who had lost the ability to walk following an operation and it was unclear whether she would walk again. She became very depressed and, one day, her vicar (who had a devotion to Padre Pio) came to see her and to attempt to cheer her up. He came, had his chat and left. To the vicar's great surprise, a few days later, the woman turned up on his doorstep walking without difficulty and he invited her in. He asked what had happened and she said, 'The monk that you brought with you, stayed after you left and he was very cross with me and told me to have a little faith., then he prayed and told me to get out of the wheelchair and walk and I did and I have felt happy and fit ever since'. The vicar said, 'But I didn't bring anyone along, we were alone' and looking at a picture of Padre Pio on the wall, she said, 'That's the monk there'. She had never heard of Padre Pio until this meeting. What a guy!
