CONTENTS: Updated July 6, 2007 Introduction--------------Sources Used--------------External Links Internal Links from the Angels Directory--------------Timeline Overview: Quick Facts Map of the Campania Region: Pietrelcina Maps of Foggia Province and Gargano Locale Desktop Scenic with Quotation from the Saint The Life of Padre Pio------------Prayers and Devotions Gallery of Images Not Used in the Presentation Life of Padre Pio: The Early Years-------The Young Priest-------San Giovanni Rotondo The Stigmata -----------The Mystic-----------The Confessor The Severity of His Direction-------------His Spiritual Trials His Love for the Catholic Church His Spiritual Gifts-------------Sanctity of the Holy Mass His Devotion to the Holy Souls -------------His Love of Our Lady Devotion to the Poor and the Sick-------------Miracles The Gift of Prophecy: A Caution-------------Bilocation Conversions--------Perfume Odor Cures--------Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Maxims and Counsels-------------His Holy Death and Burial Sainthood Prayers and Devotions: Prayer to Saint Pio for Healing Prayer to Saint Pio The Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart He Said Every Day Download the MP3 of the Litany of Saint Padre Pio Stay With Me Lord Prayer by Padre Pio The Chaplet of Padre Pio Padre Pio and Guardian Angels Gallery of Images Not Used in the Presentation: The Young Priest: Photograph------Desktop 1------Desktop 2------Poster Image In Later Years at San Giovanni-------Holy Card Image With Our Lady of Fatima: A Composite-------Photograph of the Old Padre Pio Wooden Statue---------Desktop 3--------Sketch: Composite Post Card Image-------Leaflet Image-------Composite 3 Desktop 4-------View of the Stigmata Detail of the Stigmata--------The Elevation of the Chalice At the Consecration------Composite with Our Lady Statue 2 with Rosary Mike Bennett Montage: Generously donated to this gallery by the artist. When we reduced the size, his signature became distorted so we had to redo it----the text is only proximate to the original. This montage makes the perfect mural, capturing the humility of the Saint and his love of the dignity of the Holy Catholic Mass. Saint Pio is his favorite Saint. Thank you Mr. Bennett and may God continue to bless your efforts on His behalf. Our Lady of Purity Image That Hung in His Cell: We have no information on the artist or date. His own mother gave him this picture. He said that "The Blessed Mother is the Mother of all mothers," and he referred to her affectionately as "my dear little Mother." In one of his letters he wrote, "Poor dear mother, how she loves me! What great care she took to accompany me to the altar this morning. It seemed to me that she had nothing else to think about except myself, as she filled my whole heart with sentiments of holy love. I wish I had a voice strong enough to invite the sinners of the world to love Our Lady. But since this is not within my power, I have prayed and will pray to my dear Angel to perform this task for me." [From the Housetops, p. 14.] DOMENICO CORRELI Version of Our Lady of Purity: October 16 is the Feast of Our Lady of Purity (celebrated by the Theatine Fathers). Available from The Catholic Company in an ornate RECTANGULAR gold frame for $58.00. VIEW THE IMAGE WITHOUT THE FRAME Introduction I first heard mention of this world-venerated Saint shortly after he had died in the odor of sanctity. The "New Mass" had just made its advent in our parish much to our confusion and consternation. There were three things said about the man then known only as Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: That he could read men's souls in the confessional, he did not say the New Mass of Pope Paul VI, and that he was the only priest to have received the stigmata, others who had being Saints who were religious, such as St. Catherine of Siena and St. Francis of Assisi, among a very few. At the time new and daring fashions were being permitted in church and even the traditional head covering for girls and women had been discarded in the tidal wave known as the "spirit of Vatican II", not to be mistaken for the Holy Spirit Who protects all dogmatic councils of the Church. One of the devotees of this sainted Franciscan Capuchin told me that he would refuse to admit women into church and or the confessional if they were not modestly attired as in Marylike standards promulgated by the traditional popes in more modern times when these impure fashions became so universal. If this holy priest did not say the New Mass, which everyone in our locale was convinced was mandated [later we learned from the Vatican itself that this impression was incorrect but which had been left in place because it suited the agendas from faithless men and women in charge with the aim to destroy Tradition], I wanted to know why. No one could tell me. As the years passed and the Catholic people woke up one day, each of us in our own time frame, to find ourselves Protestant, a variant of Arianism, in our culture, mentality and in our practices at Mass, I no longer had to wonder, for I knew I no longer wanted to go to this profane "Mess". For the first time in my life attending Mass became a virtual duty, de facto, although it will always be de jure. It was a long struggle for me to root out every pernicious infectious aspect of Protestantism that had invaded the Church and my very being, body and soul; in fact, I am ever on the alert to detect another lethal cell that may have slipped past a previous search, so insidious is the pestilence. One of these "invaders" had persuaded me to remove my mantilla and hats. I had even dared to violate more of the teachings of Saint Paul and was lectoring as they say. Padre Pio had become my measuring rod, that is my yardstick for a spiritual gauge and a lighting rod to jolt my all too-deadened conscience at last and soon I was back to proper dress and comportment in church, and ceased the lector circuit-----more than one parish on occasion. A very pious man in the diocese was an advocate of our Saint and had accumulated much material which he generously passed on to me. He had even been to San Giovanni Rotondo. But over the next several years I was so taken up with defending Sacred Tradition, itself, that I did not pursue more knowledge of the Stigmatist priest of the friary at San Giovanni Rotondo: I was busy reading encyclicals, papal bulls, Michael Davies books, Church history and the like. When Padre Pio was canonized on June 16, 2002, I had planned to put online a directory, but every week I seemed to fall behind as the requests increased and the web site almost took on a life of its own, apart from any special plan. So last fall and winter I got out what information I had and began to build a file on my hard drive, planning to have it ready for 2007, in September, for his Feast Day. But because this Saint was an instrument of a "birth" within my soul, I decided that I would have it completed for Saint Pio's birthday, May 25, instead. So here it is. Except for quotations [and facts in the public domain] permitted under the fair use clauses of the copyright law, all of the text is in my own words, drawn from a variety of sources, which I have listed below. In addition I have placed the presentation within a context devised from what I was able to put together by sorting out known fact from sheer legend. A number of groups with specific goals have claimed the Saint as their "expert", not always accurately, so extraordinary were Padre Pio's gifts, that legendary does not begin to describe the man and the Saint. Sources Used Angels, Messengers of the Divine, Flora Macallan, PARRAGON BOOKS LTD., No Date. From the Housetops, Vol. XXXIX, No. 2, Serial No, 78, SLAVES OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, St. Benedict Center. Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary, [MCD] DIMENSION BOOKS, 1965, with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1964. Mysteries, Marvels, Miracles, Joan Carroll Cruz, Tan Books, 1997. Our Lady of Grace Prayer Book, OUR LADY OF GRACE CAPUCHIN FRIARY, S. Giovanni Rotondo. Padre Pio, Counsels, OUR LADY OF GRACE CAPUCHIN FRIARY, S. Giovanni Rotondo. Padre Pio: His Life and Mission, Mary E. Ingoldsby, VERITAS PUBLICATIONS, Dublin, Ireland. Padre Pio, the Stigmatist, Fr. Charles M. Carty, Tan Books, 1973. Pictorial Atlas of the World, OTTENHEIMER PUBLISHERS, INC., 1993. Send Me Your Guardian Angel, Padre Pio, EDITIONS CARLO TOZZA, 1982. Soul Magazine, July-August, 2002. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXIX, No 3, 1999. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXIX, No 4, 1999. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXIX, No 5, 1999. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXIX, No 6, 1999. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXIX, Beatification Issue, 1999. The Voice of Padre Pio, Vol. XXX, No 10, 2000. Various Holy Cards and Leaflets. Who is Padre Pio?, RADIO REPLIES PRESS, INC., Tan Books, 1974. The Vatican Web Site Various travel web sites, too numerous to list, from which a single fact or two were culled, on the terrain and agriculture along with maps, as well as a few other sites with pages dedicated to Padre Pio, links and references on particular pages of this directory where applicable. External Links: Verified April, 2012 BILOCATION PAGE RELATING INCIDENCES OF PADRE PIO LEAFLET MISSAL ONLINE: PADRE PIO BOOKS AND RELIGIOUS ITEMS: IN SEARCH BOX TYPE IN PADRE PIO POSTER IMAGE AT ALL POSTERS.COM PADRE PIO DEVOTIONS PADRE PIO FOUNDATION OF AMERICA PADRE PIO FOUNDATION BOOKSTORE PADRE PIO FOUNDATION GIFT STORE PADRE PIO KEY CHAIN WITH FREE PRAYER CARD PADRE PIO: PRIEST WITH THE STIGMATA PADRE PIO SHRINE: OIL AVAILABLE PADRE PIO LINKS PAGE: APOSTLES.COM PIETRELCINA IN THE PROVINCE OF BENEVENTO THE SECRET OF PADRE PIO TELERADIO PADRE PIO: CAN VIEW HIS CRYPT TWO HEARTS NETWORK PADRE PIO DIRECTORY VIEW ST. MARY OF THE ANGELS CHURCH IN PIETRELCINA: JUST SCROLL DOWN VOICE OF PADRE PIO REVIEW Internal Links from the Angels Directory BUSY ANGELS by St. Padre Pio ANGEL OF THE SICK by St. Padre Pio MARY THE AMERICAN by St. Padre Pio WAKEFUL ANGEL by St. Padre Pio E-MAIL HOME------------------------------------------------------------DIRECTORIES www.catholictradition.org/Padre-Pio/padre-pio.htm