The chapel houses St Pio’s gloves bearing bloodstains from his stigmata. While you pray, you can place your hand against the glass panel encasing the glove (some have smelled scent of flowers, in my case, I felt some kind of energy emitted). You can also write petitions and drop them at the box in the altar.
In one wall of the chapel, you can read letters and testimonials of people whose prayers have been answered through his intercession. People who have been cured from cancer (including both Lucy Torres’ parents), paralytics who were able to move again, a couple who was able to retrieve their stolen taxi, childless couples who were able to conceive and all sorts of impossible cases. Amazing miracles.
If you’re planning to visit, please don’t forget to also visit the shop behind the chapel. There are more relics displayed there. And there's also a St. Francis' prayer room.
To get to the St Pio Center, just take C5 and make a right turn on the street right after Honda (if you're coming from the south). Once you make the right turn, you won’t miss the chapel.
Hopefully someday, I'll be able to visit San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy where his incorrupt body lies (pls see photo below). He looks like he's just asleep - to think it's been already 41 years since he passed away!
Anyway, for those who don’t know much about St. Pio, below is a past blog I wrote on Oct 3, 2006.
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Padre Pio (Francis Forgione) was born on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Benevento, Italy. He had so many supernatural gifts. As mentioned in the book "Padre Pio - Prophet of the People", there are several saints who were given one or two gifts (i.e. stigmata for St. Francis of Assisi, bilocation for St. Anthony of Padua, perfume for St Dominic), but it’s hard to find one saint who had multiple gifts like Padre Pio. Among his gifts were:
- The ability to read the minds of penitents. He knew one’s sins even before confession.
Bilocation. There were sightings of him outside the monastery and even outside of Italy (confirmed by people whom he performed miracles on) although he never left the monastery.
Prophecy. He foretold a lot of things – who would win in the war (up to vivid details like if a specific person’s house would be spared). He can also foretell if a person will overcome a disease, conceive a child, lose a loved one, etc. There was a time when he knew that the incumbent Pope was looking for an important document and he was able to identify its exact location even if he has never met the Pope or had been to the Vatican!
Miracles. He made the blind see, the deaf hear, the paralytics move and the sinners convert.
Perfume. Sometimes, he emits a sweet smell and sometimes, of carbolic acid. And even without his physical presence, people have smelled these scents when their prayer got answered or to warn them of danger.
Stigmata. He bore the 5 wounds of Jesus and not even one among the several doctors which the Vatican sent (to examine these wounds) were able to explain the cause. If you try to heal them with medicine, they never heal. Once a doctor even tried to infect them with unsterilized stuff (which should naturally infect any ordinary wound) - that didn’t aggravate the wounds either. He got these wounds at age 31 when he was praying before the crucifix. He bore them for 50 years (until he passed away on Sept 23, 1968).
Other than his incredible miracles and humility, I also love Padre Pio's wisdom! The following stories really blew me away (particularly because I easily get distracted when I pray and I have a hard time recalling and enumerating my sins when I confess! Haha...):
On praying:
Once a woman asked him, “Tell me how to pray. I am always distracted.” Padre Pio replied, “You must not be distracted voluntarily. But if you’ve distracted, continue to pray and you will have great merit for our Savior knows that you are not an angel praying to Him but a poor woman. Go on praying without ceasing. And when you find it difficult to concentrate, don’t waste more time stopping to consider why and the wherefore. It’s like a traveler who loses his way. As soon as he realizes he is on the wrong road, he immediately sets himself on the right road again. So you must continue to meditate without stopping to reflect on your lack of concentration.”
On meditation:
“When there is little time though, meditation is more fruitful and preferable to vocal prayer. Whoever does not meditate acts like one who never looks into a mirror and does not bother himself in order, since he can be dirty without knowing it. The person who meditates and turns his thoughts to God, the mirror of the soul, seeks to know his defects and tries to correct them. He controls his impulses and puts his conscience in order.”
On death:
Once a recently widowed woman (whose husband once left her and their 2 children to live with another woman for 3 years and who received the last Sacrament before passing away due to cancer) asked Padre Pio: “Where is his soul, padre? I haven’t slept worrying.” He answered, “Your husband’s soul is condemned forever. When receiving the last Sacraments, he concealed many sins. He had neither repentance nor a good resolution. He was also a sinner against God’s mercy because he said he always wanted to have a share of good things in life and then have time to be converted to God.”
On confessing our sins:
Padre Pio’s mom, Giuseppa, one day asked his son: “How can we know that in God’s sight we are not great sinners?” We try to confess all our sins. We confess all we remember but how can we be sure that God does not see many sins which we have forgotten, or which we have not recognized as sin?” Padre Pio explained, “If we have good will and try to confess all our own sins, confessing those which we remember, God’s mercy is so great that it will wipe out every fault and sin, even those which we have forgotten.”
