Sept. 23 is the Feast Day of St. Padre Pio. Thus, I wanted to share a little bit about him.

When we read about Saints and their lives, there are often miraculous stories associated with them. But many of them lived hundreds of years ago, that we wonder if some of the miraculous stories are just pious legends (as some of them could be).

However, St. Padre Pio, a Franciscan priest of Italy, was born in 1887 and died in 1968 at age 81, which means he is in living memory of our modern time. And many of the miraculous things of “pious legends” really happened to him.

First of all, in 1918 Padre Pio received the “stigmata.” That is the wounds of Christ physically appeared in his body miraculously. Yet, while he shared in the pain of Christ and there were visible physical wounds (which he covered with gloves), the wounds were never infected and gave off of sweet fragrance as of perfume or flowers. St. Francis of Assisi is the other famous stigmatist and he lived in the 1200s.

Padre Pio also had many mystical gifts such as reading souls, prophecy, the ability to bilocate and the ability to work favors and healings before they were requested of him. His supernatural experiences also included celestial visions, communication with angels and physical fights with Satan and demons. The reports of supernatural phenomena surrounding Pio attracted fame and amazement.

Yet, Pio himself was very humble about these and often resisted those seeking him merely because they were interested in the supernatural phenomena. He was not interested in his own glory or fame, but that of Christ. The miraculous and mystical phenomena of his life was a gift he used to draw people to Christ. He gave spiritual guidance and council to many people, at times with stern and firm words, but always with compassion and love. His gifts helped him speak more directly to that which passed in people’s hearts, or to give guidance to people who were physically far away from him.

Thus if you want to learn about supernatural miracles in our modern day, there are many that can be found simply in studying the life of St. Padre Pio, a saint of our modern century whom Christ used to convert many in incredible and miraculous ways.

Peace,

– Fr. Kevin

PS: Please pray for these upcoming events. Consider coming yourself and inviting others to come:

• Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Rustic Brew in Hampton − “Ask Me Anything” event.
• Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 6:30 p.m. − Faith Formation in Hampton for all ages, kids through adults.
• Thursday, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. − A special prayer and blessing of the new Peace Plaza in Hampton.
• Saturday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. − Our first Spanish Mass in ACKLEY.