A Man of His Word
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Join the private Sibling Facebook Group and talk to peers in a caring environment.
Order a Welcome Art Kit for a sibling of a survivor
Join the private Sibling Facebook Group and talk to peers in a caring environment.
Francesco Forgione, better know as St. Pio of Pietrelcina, was cantonized a saint on June 16, 2002, just six months before our twin girls were born. We recognize his feast day of September 23rd as that is the day he went to his heavenly home in 1968.
St. Pio is a dear friend of mine. Of course I was born after he passed away, but in a spiritual sense. He has brought our family many blessings and miracles. Over 7 million people make an annual pilgrimage to Italy to pray at St. Padre Pio’s tomb.
Research suggests that for many of us who experience trauma, spirituality may be a resource of resiliency and recovery. You may feel a heightened sense of purpose, peace, and hope - all things that are invisible. You may even encounter miracles.
St. Pio was the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church, he bore the painful, bleeding wounds in his hands, feet, side, and shoulder for fifty years. The shoulder wound was his most painful, and he is said to have only discussed it with one person, Karol Wojtyla, or John Paul II. Pio also prophetically told him that he would be the future Pope. As word traveled, so did many people from near and far when they heard about the numerous extraordinary gifts and charisms God granted him. These included the gifts of “healing, bilocation, prophecy, miracles, discernment of spirits, the ability to abstain beyond man’s natural powers from both sleep and nourishment, the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues (the ability to speak and understand languages that he had never studied), the gift of conversions, the grace to see angelic beings in form, and the fragrance which emanated from his wounds and which frequently announced his invisible presence” (padrepiodevotions.org).Saint Pio was credited with thousands of miraculous cures during his lifetime. But he often said “My real mission will begin after my death.” I believe he knew what he was talking about.
My daughter is a traumatic brain injury survivor. We were introduced to St. Pio by a way of a miracle that took place 30 years prior, and the story was shared with us. We believe - correction - we know St. Pio became involved in our daughter’s recovery when we needed his intercession.
If you haven’t heard of St. Padre Pio, I invite you to explore who he was and why he is still so important in the lives of so many who are searching - in a spiritual sense - for a purpose.
A Short Biography - Padre Pio DevotionsPadre Pio Devotions