The Saint of our times

The beatification of Padre Pio is being held at St. Peter's Square in Rome today

The spiritual children of Padre Pio all over the world rejoice at his beatification as he was the only priest in the Catholic church who had been blessed with the gift of stigmata of the five wounds of Jesus Christ.

Padre Pio was born on May 25, 1887 in the village of Pietrelcina in south Italy. His parents, Orazio and Giuseppa Forgione were poor. Of their eight children, three died in infancy and two became religious. At baptism, Padre Pio was given the name of Francis. He had a quiet retiring nature, being more interested in prayer and meditation than in playing with his friends.

His mother says that he was never a troublesome child. He went to the local Church every morning and evening to pray. When only five, he spoke of his desire to be a priest.

He practised mortification unknown to his parents, to atone for the sins of others and his mother had been surprised to find him sleeping on the floor with a stone for a pillow when he was just nine.

It was from his parents that he learned devotion to Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament. His father Orazio was determined to help his son become a priest and worked as a labourer in Jamaica for about seven years, to earn money for his son's studies.

Francis entered the seminary, Capuchin Order at 16. He began his novitiate, received the habit and assumed the religious name of Pio. The novitiate life of penance, prayer and fasting was very strenuous and his health suffered. With perseverance he was able to pronounce his religious vows the following year. As he found his studies to be difficult because of his failing health, his Superior sent him home to recuperate. During this time his local pastor tutored him privately.

On August 10, 1910 , at 23, he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Benevento. He was officially stationed in the friary of Foggia, but sent home for long periods of rest on the advice of doctors who diagnosed his condition as tuberculosis and anaemia.

On one visit home, he received the invisible stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus Christ on his hands, feet and side. On September 25, 1918, the wounds occurred again and the pain became permanent, but he bore it with love and resignation.

During World War I, Padre Pio was forced to serve in the Italian army but due to poor health, he was honourably discharged after a short time.

On September 20, 1918 , Padre Pio was offering his Thanksgiving after mass before a large crucifix in the friary chapel when he received the five wounds of the crucified Christ. Hearing a piercing crys, when a couple of his confreres entered the chapel, they found him lying unconscious on the floor, bleeding profusely from his wounds on his hand, feet and side. They removed him to a room and the Superior summoned the doctor and later informed the Vatican.

Month after month, the Vatican kept sending Catholic as well as non-Catholic doctors and atheists to investigate the wounds but they could not find a natural cause for them.

The wounds never healed. To conceal them he wore fingerless gloves except during holy mass. When asked if the stigmata were painful, he had replied with a smile: "Do you think that the Lord gave them for a decoration?" The wounds bled until his death in September, 1968.

During mass Padre Pio was transformed in ecstasy which lasted nearly an hour and a half. Often, during the elevation, he was a picture of agony. His eyes closed, his wounds bleeding, the pain he was undergoing was visible on his face. He relived the passion of Christ while he lent against the altar and wept for several minutes.

He spent about eleven hours each day hearing confessions, advising and comforting afflicted souls and bringing many hardened sinners back to God.

He also worked a number of miracles. In Sicily, there was a girl by the name of Gemina de Grogi, born blind. When specialists declared that she would never see, her grandmother took her to Padre Pio. After hearing her confession and giving first communion, he blessed her eyes. On returning home, she could see.

Padre Pio had a great devotion to Our Lady as he felt the success of his priestly life was due to her powerful protection. He said rosary after rosary each day and loved the Angelus. His life was centred around Jesus and Mary.

The pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrived in San Giovanni, Rotunda in August 1959, when Padre Pio had been seriously ill for over six months.

Hearing the helicopter, he insisted on venerating the statue and was carried to church. Afterwards, back in bed, he heard the helicopter carrying the statue away. Still praying, he trembled violently and was cured miraculously.

Padre Pio had two visions - prayer groups for lay people to spread the teachings of Christ and a hospital for the needy.

He established over 100 prayer groups throughout the world before his death and opened a hospital on May 5 ,1956.

–Stanley Anthony

Still young at heart? YAH

By Carlton Samarajiwa

The ageing of Sri Lanka is receiving a bright new dimension at Mt Lavinia. There is a debunking of the myth of helpless old people being a hated burden to society. The catalyst in this phenomenon is the YAH (Young At Heart) Group of the Mt Lavinia Methodist Church.

We saw them in action the other day, when they produced a heart warming and exhilarating variety entertainment in the Methodist Church Hall down Hotel Road.

At Mt. Lavinia Methodist Church there is no Margaret, "Grieving over golden grove unleaving," for there was 82 year old Maggie Seneviratne, who played John in the perennial favourite "No, John, No John, No John, No" duet with Carmen, a grandmother, who played the "Maiden on yonder hill."

Later in the programme, Carmen was also joined by her daughters and grand daughters in a delightful calypso.Master of Ceremonies Amy de Silva played her role a la Oprah Winfrey, holding the eager audience in thrall during the three hours of the show, which had never a dull moment. Amy created suspense in her inimitable way. She teaches English to undergraduates at Kelaniya University.

During the intermission, members of the YAH Club served delicious home-made short eats that surpassed every conceivable short eat sold in town. The credit for the spread, which the audience snapped up, goes to Allanah Seneviratne (79) of "Chariot" fame. Earlier she also played her guitar "Under the Lilac" with Sammy Vasagam (the only man in the cast) as her deceitful suitor.

Manel de Silva and Antoinette performed "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza", with absolute aplomb and abandon; between them, they proved that age has not withered nor custom stalled either the appeal of this old favourite or their own distinct personalities.

The YAH Collection was the grand finale of it all, when the "old ladies" - their ages ranging from the "sexy sixties" to the "naughty eighties", as the compere put it, but all of them young at heart - appeared on the cat walk, modelling a variety of fashions.They ranged from one-day international cricket-wear worn by Aravinda de Silva; the belly button-exposing costume of a Hula dancer: the majestic Kandyan attire of the Uda Rata Menike; the uniform of "Singapore Girl", who according to Amy, asks her passengers at an elevation of 32000 feet, "Coffee, Tea or Me, Sir?" a lady from Jaffna; a bride from Pakistan; and there was one model who wore nappy pins as ear rings, a chain and padlock for a necklace, and dangled a bucket as her handbag. It was "the best morning in my life," said an ageing spectator at the end of it all.

Look out for a notice of the next performance by these golden oldies. This last show was the second in the series, repeated in response to popular request. Financial contributions, entirely voluntary, will be used to help old people in need.Helping helpless old people in need is what the Circuit Minister of the Mt Lavinia Methodist Church Revd. Rohitha de Silva had in mind when he set up a Social Responsibility Committee among his congregation. The elders of the Church themselves, through the YAH group, are responding magnificently to the call to help other elders. They meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings in the Church Hall, and would welcome new members from the Mt. Lavinia - Dehiwela area. Religion and sex are no barriers. Being "young at heart" is all that is required YAH, YAH.

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