Padre Pio's Birthday is May 25

Padre Pio was the famous twentieth-century Italian monk who for fifty years bore on his hands, feet and side the wounds of the crucified Christ, called the stigmata.

This gentle, humble priest was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887, in one of the poorest and most backward areas of southern Italy.

At the age of fifteen, he entered a Franciscan Capuchin monastery, and he was ordained into the priesthood in 1910. Padre Pio served in World War I in the medical corps, but was too sickly to continue. In 1918 he was transferred to the small sixteenth-century friary of Our Lady of Grace, about two hundred miles east of Rome. From then on, he never left this isolated mountain area.

Yet, by the time of his death in 1968, he was receiving five thousand letters a month and thousands of visitors. He had become renowned for his piety and his miracles.

Sigmata and Spiritual Gifts

Padre Pio is thought to be the first Catholic priest to bear the wounds of Christ. (Saint Francis was the first person known to have received the stigmata.)

He also had the gifts of spiritual clairvoyance, conversion, discernment of spirits, visions, bilocation, healing and prophecy.

It is said that once when a newly ordained Polish priest came to see him, Padre Pio remarked: “Someday you will be pope.” As prophesied, that priest became Pope John Paul II.

Spiritual Visions

Padre Pio spoke frequently in visions with Jesus, Mother Mary and his own guardian angel.

On other occasions he spent the night in intense struggles with the Devil.  Other monks often heard the noise of these encounters, although only Padre Pio saw the demons.

As well as these invisible assaults, Padre Pio also suffered the persecution of people within the hierarchy of his beloved Church. For ten years he was not permitted to serve Mass publicly or hear confessions.

Confession – The Gift of Reading Hearts

One of the things Padre Pio was most famous for was his ability as a confessor. Kenneth Woodward writes:  “Padre Pio is credited with the gift of ‘reading hearts'—that is, the ability to see into the souls of others and know their sins without hearing a word from the penitent. As his reputation grew, so did the lines outside his confessional—to the point that for a time his fellow Capuchins issued tickets for the privilege of confessing to Padre Pio.”

Sometimes, when a sinner could not come to him, Padre Pio went to the sinner, it is said, though not in the usual manner. “Without leaving his room, the friar would appear as far away as Rome to hear a confession or comfort the sick. He was endowed, in other words, with the power of ‘bilocation,' or the ability to be present in two places at once.”

Out of the Body Intercession

Author Stuart Holroyd relates just a few of the many stories of Padre Pio's miraculous intercession:

“During World War I, an Italian general, after a series of defeats, was on the point of committing suicide when a monk entered his tent and said: ‘Such an action is foolish,’ and promptly left. The general didn’t hear of the existence of Padre Pio until some time later, but when he visited the monastery, he identified him as the monk who had appeared at a crucial moment and saved his life.

“During World War II an Italian pilot baled out of a blazing plane. His parachute failed to open but he miraculously fell to the ground without injury, and he returned to his base with a strange story to tell. When he had been falling to the ground, a friar had caught him in his arms and carried him gently down to earth. His Commanding Officer said he was obviously suffering from shock, and sent him home on leave.

“When he told his mother the tale of his escape, she said: ‘That was Padre Pio. I prayed to him so hard for you.’ Then she showed him a picture of the Padre.

‘That is the man!’ said the young pilot. He later went to thank the padre for his intervention.

‘That is not the only time I have saved you,’ said Padre Pio. ‘At Monastir, when your plane was hit, I made it glide safely to earth.’

The pilot was astounded because the event the Padre referred to had happened some time before, and there was no normal way he could have known about it.”

Ascended Master Padre Pio

In 1975, some seven years after his death, the ascended lady master Clara Louise told us that Padre Pio is an ascended master.

Padre Pio is instrumental in assisting the Church the masters have founded in the Aquarian age. He is also renowned for his ability to answer prayers for healing.

Padre Pio was officially recognized as a saint of the Catholic Church on June 16, 2002.

This article is taken from the book and eBook The Masters and Their Retreats by Mark Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet.

“In the case of Padre Pio, he was seen here and he was seen there, not always physical but very physical to the eye. He may have been seen kneeling in prayer from across the room. It may therefore be the etheric body that is seen, and by and by it is stronger and stronger until you, too, can say with Lanello before your ascension, “Lo, I AM everywhere in the consciousness of God!”

From the Pearls of Wisdom^® vol 26 no 51, by the Ascended Lady Master Nada at the Summit Lighthouse conference, Discover the New Age with Saint Germain.