Padre Pio (1887-1968): A Modern Miracle Worker

1. Padre Pio (1887-1968): A Modern Miracle Worker • Padre Pio was an Italian • priest (Father Pio) • of the Catholic Church • He is perhaps the best • documented miracle worker • In Christian history • There were thousands of • witnesses of his extraordinary • abilities over a 50 year long • Ministry • He has since been canonized • (made a saint) and during • that process his life has been extensively researched, • adding to the reliability of his biography

2. Photos of Padre Pio

3. The miraculous abilities and manifestations of Padre Pio • The stigmata • Bilocation • Prophecy • Reading hearts • Healing • Levitation

4. Stigmata (stigmata) (in Christian tradition): marks corresponding to those left on Jesus’ body by the Crucifixion, said to have been impressed by divine favor on the bodies of St. Francis of Assisi and others. • P. Pio writing to P. Benedetto little more than a month afterwards: "It all happened in a flash. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious Person, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. • The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. 'I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn't intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. • The Person disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood" (Ep., V. 1, no. 5 10, p. 1094)

5. Bilocation • The Testimony of Padre Carmelo Durante • ‘For the good of souls, Our Lord gave the Venerable Padre Pioof’ Pietrelcina many gifts, amongst these the gift of bilocation, which enables a person to be present in two places at the same time.’

6. Bilocation • “My mother came from Foggia and was one of the Father Pio’s first spiritual daughters. She had asked Father Pio“to convert and protect my father”. In April 1945 my father was condemned to be executed by firing squad. He was in front of the platoon when he suddenly saw father Pio appear in front of him to protect him. • The commander of the platoon gave the order to fire but no shots were fired from the rifles that were pointed at him. The seven members of the platoon and their commander, astonished, checked their rifles but they didn‘t find any problem. So the platoon again pointed their rifles at my father and the commander ordered his soldiers to shoot again, but for a second time the rifles did not work. This mysterious and inexplicable occurrence stopped his execution.

7. Bilocation • Afterward my father was pardoned due to having been awarded a medal during the war; moreover he was disabled in action during the war. After my father returned home, he converted to Catholicism, receiving the sacraments at San Giovanni Rotondo, where he had gone to thank Father Pio. In this way my mother obtained the miracles she had always asked from Father Pio: “her husband’s conversion!”

8. Bilocation • An Italian General of the Army, called Cadorna, felt in such condition of depression after the defeat of Caporetto, that he was contemplating suicide. One evening he went to his room and he commanded his orderly not to allow anybody to come in. He took his gun from a drawer and pointed the gun at his head, but suddenly he heard a voice: “Oh General, why do you want to do such stupid thing?” The sudden voice and the appearance of a mysterious Friar (who then vanished) shocked the general change his mind. • He wondered how it was possible that a Friar had entered his room.  He asked for explanations from his orderly but he answered he had seen nobody going into his room. Some years later, the General read in a newspaper of a Friar that worked miracles in the Gargano area. He secretly went there but he was astonished when father Pio said to him: “Hello General, you ran a great risk that evening, didn’t you?

9. Prophecy • Padre Pio’s prophetic spirit as told by Padre Carmelo, who was Superior of the Convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo, is contained in this testimony:  “During the last World War, we spoke of the war every day and of the uproarious military victories of Germany on all the fronts of battle. I remember one morning I was in the little parlor of the convent, and I read in a newspaper the news that the German troops were moving by now in the direction of Moscow. • For me, it was important news; in fact, I saw in that news that the war would end with the final victory of Germany. Going out in the corridor, I met Padre Pio, and gladly I told him shouting: “Father, the war is ended! Germany has won!” -

10. Prophecy • “Who has told you it?” asked  Padre Pio. - “Father, the newspaper,” I answered. - And Padre Pio said: “Germany has won the war?  Keep in your mind that Germany, this time, will lose the war, worse than the last time! Remember it! “.   • I told him: “Father, the Germans are already near Moscow.”  He added: “Remember what I have told you!”  - I said: “But, if Germany loses the war, Italy will lose the war as well!“  - And, he emphatically answered me: “We will see if together they will end the war.”– • I didn’t understand those words, taking into account the alliance of Italy and Germany, but the words became clear the following year after the armistice with the English and Americans of September 8, 1943, and the Italian declaration of war against Germany. 

11. Healing • A lady said: “In 1954, my father, who was a railway-man, fell ill with a strange disease which immobilized his legs. He was forty-seven years old at the time. He was treated by a lot of doctors without any success and after approximately two years of treatment my father was going to have to retire from his work. • Since the situation got worse, my uncle suggested my father to go to San Giovanni Rotondo where a friar had been living to whom God had given a lot of gifts.

12. Healing • So my father arrived to San Giovanni Rotondo with my uncle’s help, facing a lot of problems. In the Church he met Padre Pio who said: “Let that railway-man  pass!” Yet, Padre Pio had never met my father before then so he could not know my father was a railway-man. Anyway, Padre Pio and my father met and spoke to each other for some minutes. • Later, Padre Pio put his hand on my father’s shoulder, he consoled my father and he encouraged him with a smile. As soon as my father left Padre Pio, he realized he had been healed. While my father took in his hand the tools he needed to walk he was not using them anymore, my uncle followed him astonished.

13. Miracles and the possibilities of man • Padre Pio’s case = indication that there is in fact a good chance that the miracles of Jesus and his prophets are more than just old wives’tales • Therefore = if the evidence of these miracles come from very reliable sources, what does this imply about the true ability of man? • What can explain this phenomenon? The gift of GOD, or magic? • What are the links between magic and religion? • What are the differences between them?