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CANONIZATION OF PADRE PIO On June 16, 2002, when the Pope canonized Padre Pio, the famous Italian priest, it was the most momentous canonization since Therese the Little Flower. Not since St. Francis of Assisi has there been such a miracle-worker, and elevation of this great mystic to sainthood is bound to unleash a torrent of heavenly power. This is a man who healed literally thousands while he was still alive, who could read souls, knowing in case after case exactly what a person in Confession had done, who was seen in dozens of cases in bilocation (appearing far from where he actually was). This is a man who suffered legitimate stigmata, deep wounds that bled until they miraculously healed upon his death. This is a priest who could predict the future and could see into heaven and led many to the faith. To understand the potency of Padre Pio, one has only to know that during World War Two, pilots seeking to bomb the vicinity of San Giovanni Rotundo, where he lived, time and again recounted how they had been unable to bomb the area after spotting the apparition of a monk,at times a towering apparition, in the clouds. As documented in a solidly researched book, Padre Pio: The True Story (by an initially skeptical Protestant minister), there were accounts that defy the belief of even the most ardent believer: a sighting of him at the Vatican even though he never left the San Giovanni monastery; the transfiguration of his face into that of Jesus' during consecration; a worker named Giovanni Savino who lost an eye that later materialized under the bandages after Pio visited him in bilocation. If in the 1990's a million a year were already visiting his tomb, we can only imagine what the figures are today, and what they will be following canonization. His canonization may break records for attendance. His beatification did attracting 300,000. Virtually every charism reported with Francis of Assisi was also recorded with Pio -- around whom a large pilgrim center has been built, similar to the development of Assisi. Hundreds of thousands flocked to see him when he was alive and hundreds of thousands poured into St. Peter's Square on June 16.
His life: Padre Pio was born of simple, hardworking farming people on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, southern Italy. He was tutored privately until his entry to the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at the age of 15. Of feeble health but strong will, with the help of grace he completed the required studies and was ordained a priest in 1910.. On September 20, 1918 the five wounds of our Lord's passion appeared on his body, making him the first stigmatized priest on the history of the Catholic Church. Countless persons were attracted to his confessional and many more received his saintly counsel and spiritual guidance through correspondence. His whole life was marked by long hours of prayer and continual austerity. His letters to his spiritual directors reveal the ineffable suffering, physical and spiritual, which accompanied him all through his life. They also reveal his deep union with God, his burning love for the Blessed Eucharist and Our Blessed Lady. Worn out by over half a century of intense suffering and constant apostolic activity in San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio was called to his heavenly reward on September 23, 1968. After a public funeral, which attracted over 100,000 mourners, his body was entombed in the crypt of Our Lady of Grace Church. Increasing numbers flock to his tomb from all parts of the world and many testify to spiritual and temporal graces received. On the 16th of February 1973, the Archbishop of Manfredonia, Msgr. Valentino Vailati, consigned the documentation to the Sacred Congregation of the Causes of Saints so as to obtain the "nihil obstat" for the beginning of the process of his Beatification On December 18, 1997, by the reading of the decree on the herocity
of virtues, the Holy Father John Paul II declared Padre Pio "Venerable." The above excerpts taken from Spiritdaily.com and other reference material
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