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212 pages

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First titled, The Holy Man on the Mountain, this book tells the fascinating life story of Padre Pio, with emphasis on his life as a seminarian, young priest and his early decades at San Giovanni Rotondo. Incredible is the number of times the Capuchins sent him home sick unto death while a seminarian and young priest and how he was finally sent to remote San Giovanni Rotondo "For a couple of weeks of mountain air." He never left. But from this small, remote mountain friary, he became world famous and exercised unbelievable influence on the entire world-though early on, he was forbidden by his superiors to preach, to write or to correspond. A few clerics developed enmity toward Padre Pio, resulting several times in orders from his superiors that he be moved. It is simply hilarious to learn why ne never was-though being under obedience, he was entirely willing to do so. The author also weaves in the Saint's early work with L'Americana, Mary Pyle, his "foreign ambassadress," and then with the American GI's who came to visit him during WWII, with San Giovanni Rotondo was liberated from the Germans. Padre Pio developed a special love for Americans and America-to the point that he wished that all Americans would become his spiritual children. This book demonstrate Padre Pio's great love for his parents, his amazing sense of humor, his abstemious eating, his uncanny knowledge of people (even before they visited), and his profound supernatural awareness. In sum, Padre Pio and America is an inspiring book that will instill a profound awe in readers because it shows the impact a truly saintly priest can have on all who come into contact with him-and in Padre Pio's case, even on the whole world! "Your book is excellent! I found it hard to put down. . . . It is easy to commend your work. . . . The Lord reward you forever." -Fr. Angelus M. Shaughnessy, O.F.M. Cap.

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Catholic Church

Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	TAN Books
Date de parution	01 décembre 2005
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618901576
Langue	English

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Padre Pio and America

“He shall feed his flock like a shephered: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.”
—Isaias 40:11
Padre Pio distributing medals to American GIs.

Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Frank M. Rega
First edition published in 2004 by Aventine Press, Chula Vista, CA, under the title The Holy Man on the Mountain.
ISBN 978-0-89555-820-6
Cover photo of Padre Pio and many other photos courtesy of Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
All rights reserved. Brief selections of text from this book may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, and brief selections may be quoted by a reviewer in a review without permission. Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
TAN Books
An Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC
Charlotte, North Carolina
2012
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the American GIs who met Padre Pio during World War II, and to their families and friends, whose co-operation, sharing and enthusiasm have made this book possible.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
1. Pietrelcina
2. “Emigrate or steal…”
3. Road to the Priesthood
4. The “Invisible” Stigmata
5. Foggia
6. Mary McAlpin Pyle
7. From Spiritual Director to Soldier
8. “My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?”
9. The Imprint of God.
10. The Doctors are Summoned
11. “l’Americana” Arrives
12. Opposition and the First Suppression
13. “l’Americana” as Collaborator
14. The “Imprisonment”
15. More than a Mystic
16. Mary Pyle “Interned” at Pietrelcina
17. The Holy Man on the Mountain
18. “Struck” by Padre Pio
19. Padre Pio “Remembrances”
20. Three American Spiritual Children
21. Mission of the Medals
22. “Ray of God’s Light”
23. More Visitors from the 345th
24. “The Only Piece of Heaven that I Have Ever Known”
25. William Carrigan and Joe Peterson
26. The Flying Monk
27. Postwar, and the “Work of Padre Pio”
28. Padre Pio Prayer Groups
29. The Last Decade
30. Final Weekend Joy Turned to Mourning
31. “Brother Bill”
32. Two Unique Apostolates.
33. Two Major Ministries
34. Recent Developments
Epilogue
Afterword
Appendix: How to Become a Spiritual Child of Padre Pio
Chapter Notes
Sources
Acknowledgments
Although many people have co-operated and helped with this book, it would never have gotten off the ground were it not for two Padre Pio devotees, Jeanette and Joan Salerno of Brooklyn. It was the Salerno sisters, along with Buck Fleming from Colorado (CEO of Admin Force), who first suggested that I pursue my interest in writing, after my early retirement from the computer field. When I emailed Jeanette and Joan, asking them what they thought of a book about Padre Pio and America, Joan replied, “As soon as I read your idea, it was, WHAM!”
Thanks go to Alice Coble for allowing me to include her husband Bob’s manuscript in the book, and to the Salernos for introducing me to Alice. Special thanks to the late Charles Mandina for providing the contact information for a critically important core group of American GIs who had met Padre Pio during World War II. In addition, Julie Fitts-Ritter, of the Padre Pio Foundation of America, provided the names of a number of persons who were interviewed for this book, including Mrs. Rita Peluso. Julie also arranged to have the chapter on Padre Pio’s father, Grazio Forgione, published in the Foundation’s newsletter. The efforts of Ray Waychunas, who gives talks about Padre Pio in the Pennsylvania area, are especially appreciated. Ray read and commented on every chapter during the course of the writing of the book. Also, I want to recognize the kind assistance of Maria Calandra of the National Centre for Padre Pio. I am grateful to Mario Avignone for granting permission to reproduce parts of his unpublished manuscript, which describes his encounters with Padre Pio during the war years. Also, thanks to C. Bernard Ruffin for sharing documents he received from the late Fr. John Schug, related to the “Flying Monk” episodes.
There are so many World War II veterans and their spouses who eagerly shared their stories and photos, that I don’t want to single out any in particular, since it would be unfair to the others. Their names appear together in the “oral history” section of the references, as well as in the text itself. I would like to thank them for giving me a sense of the great affection they felt for Padre Pio, and of how important it was for them to be able to share their memories of him. They made me realize that it was both a privilege and a responsibility to be able to gather their testimonies for this book.
At the Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, I would like to thank Charles Abercrombie, Antonio Siena and Julie Cifaldi for their help in resolving many issues. I am also grateful to the Capuchins of Our Lady of Grace Friary for permission to quote extensively from their many books and periodicals, as well as to use a number of their photos. Scripture citations that are not imbedded in quoted material are taken from the New American Bible. This version is available at the web site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
Preface
I came to know of Padre Pio only gradually, discovering him just a few years after his death in 1968. Perhaps a friend had told me about him, or I might have heard of him through my interest in St. Francis of Assisi. As a Capuchin friar, Padre Pio was himself a Franciscan. I cannot recall any particular book or article I read about him; instead, it seems that this friar from Southern Italy, well, just crept up on me.
As I learned more about him, and saw the photos of his friary, of Our Lady of Grace Church and of the adjacent hospital he built, called the House for the Relief of Suffering, an attraction for this distant realm began to grow. Soon the very words themselves, such as “Gargano” mountain and the nearby shrine to St. Michael, “Monte Sant’Angelo,” and the Italian name for his hospital, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza , began to take on a fairy-tale quality. Even the names of the towns associated with him, “San Giovanni Rotondo” and “Pietrelcina,” conjured up some magical sunshiny world. Included in this world was “Foggia,” the provincial capital which played an important part in Padre Pio’s life and turns up in so many stories about the American soldiers who visited him during the War. Foggia was the closest rail terminal to the Friary, where the trains from Rome and Naples dropped off their pilgrims and visitors, and to me it seemed to be the imaginary gateway to this mystical land.
But most of all, it was the sense of the spiritual and of the peaceful awareness of God that one associates with Padre Pio and the places where he lived that continued to attract me. Finally, in the early 1990’s, with the approach of the 25th anniversary of his death, I began to read about a spate of “Padre Pio Pilgrimages” leaving from the United States for San Giovanni Rotondo, Rome, Assisi and other Italian shrines. The lure could no longer be resisted. Although I had never been out of the U.S.A. and was about 50 years old, I obtained my passport, signed up for an anniversary trip and began to learn the Italian language during Monday evening adult education classes. Even though my heritage is from the “Old Country” via my grandparents, I had never learned the language. My parents, who were born in America, only spoke Italian when they didn’t want us children to know what they were talking about!
On the 1993 pilgrimage that I had ultimately chosen, our group’s anticipation grew as the bus made its way into Southern Italy. As we climbed the slopes of the Gargano, my eyes were taking in everything, hoping to catch that first glimpse of a building or landscape that I could recognize from the pictures I had seen. We reached the outskirts of San Giovanni Rotondo while it was still daylight, and then suddenly I spotted it, jutting out from the side of the mountain, extending along the hillside, solid looking, like a golden granite monument. It was Padre Pio’s great legacy, his majestic hospital, the House for the Relief of Suffering. I had seen so many photos of it in books, and now it seemed that one of these photographs had just come to life, moving in three dimensions as the bus slowly rolled along. Soon the Friary and its churches, the original and the newer one, came into view. I had entered another world, not just geographically, but spiritually and with my whole being.
Here was a world where the only regret is that one has to leave it behind—but always with the hope of returning soon. Hence, it was not long before I began planning my second trip, and a year later I joined Jeanette and Joan Salerno’s “Pilgrimage to Padre Pio—1994.” We were fortunate to have as our spiritual director the late Fr. John Schug, author of two of my favorite books about Padre Pio. It was on this pilgrimage that I heard the story of the “Flying Monk.” During the Second World War, not a bomb fell on San Giovanni Rotondo, although nearby cities such as Foggia lay in ruins. Reportedly, Allied pilots did not drop their deadly cargo over Padre Pio’s town because the apparition of a bearded monk in the skies waved them away. Coincidentally, at the very time of our visit, one of the leading Italian weekly magazines ran a feature story on the “Flying Monk,” which had most of us on the trip buzzing, especially Fr. Schug. Tales such as this only enhanced my interest in learning more about this saintly “miracle man.”
There were two more visits to San Giovanni Rotondo during the nineties. During this ti