Continuing pilgrimage: St. Padre Pio, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica

After we left Lanciano, we hopped back into the van to drive an hour to San Giovanni Rotundo, where the Capuchins in their brown habits and sandaled feet still bring to mind the simple man long ago who renounced everything, even the clothes he was wearing on his back, to life entirely for Christ. Many modern distortions think of St. Francis mainly as a tree-hugger, when in fact, while he did love God’s creation, he was a saint so conformed to Christ that he was the first ever to receive the stigmata, that is, the wounds of Christ. We were excited to meet a more recent Saint who bore those same wounds, in the same brown tunic: St. Padre Pio.

Facing a detour to get to San Giovanni, we drove instead winding overtop a mountain, we tried very hard not to feel sick, as Father kept getting distracted by the beautiful scenery below. It was beautiful, but I was reminded again that I am not quite a “fan” of heights. Plus I was not exactly sure of how well these guardrails would hold up, as we just saw a car absolutely dominate a guardrail about a half an hour ago, and we could only praise God that it didn’t skid overtop directly at us. Again, quite handy to have a priest with you, incase there was a sudden need to administer Last Rights. Even the town at the top of the hill was absolutely covered in fog, where we could hardly see a few feet in front of us.

By the grace of God we made it over (okay, it wasn’t really that bad…but it reminded me a bit of Needles Highway out west, which reminded my stomach why I did not “stomach” that trip very well). Father had found a wonderful place for us to stay. It was basically the pilgrimage hotel, very very new and quite “posh” I must say, and I was reminded as I walked into the main entrance and was greeted by a huge statue of our Blessed Mother Mary, that this is indeed a Catholic country! And also, how much these people love their Saints, because Padre Pio was even on our light switch! It is quite amusing going from town to town in Italy. Every city has their own Saint or Miracle. There is no shame to have the Blessed Mother billowing above the main streets while you walk to class, or St. Peter directing you with his keys to the true Kingdom, while you’re distracted at finding best sales at shops. (Ah, the joy of true freedom­).

We got settled in our rooms and were able to even greet Jesus who was staying down the hall—yes a little chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in a tabernacle! (Again…I love Italy). Father led us to the church where St. Padre Pio is now exhumed after the 40^th anniversary of his death and entrance into Eternal Life.

So why is this old Italian Capuchin so important, anyway? Well, a) he is a saint. But I guess why is he a saint.

St. Padre Pio only died in 1968. I think my mom said that made her about 8. That first of all is super exciting, because he is a saint of our century! He entered the Capuchins early on. He liked them because of their beards. (I guess sometimes God can easily use outwards things to draw us in as well!) He was only about 30 when he was praying before a crucifix, was drawn totally into the Passion of Christ, felt a sort of suffering but also deep consolation, and realized that he indeed was suffering the pains of Christ. He had received the stigmata—the wounds of Christ. He bled from his hands, feet, and side with no real reason except that he had totally conformed his life to be molded and modeled after Christ.

He also had a great gift of hearing confessions. In fact, people would come from all over the world to have them hear their confession…and wait in line for hours. I think he heard confessions almost all day sometimes. Just think about that! Now days, at some churches, thanks be to God, the lines are growing, but most of us cannot fathom a time in our lives when we’ve really had to wait a substantial amount of time to be in line for confession.

What came along with his ability to draw souls in for healing in confession, was that he had the ability to read souls. One account was given of two Protestants who did not believe the stories they heard about how he would be able to tell people what their sins were. So they made up all these sins, and went to confession with him. After they were done confessing all their made up sins, Padre Pio actually told them what their true sins were. Just imagine the embarrassment and the shock this must have given them.

Needless to say they converted shortly after…

He also had the gift of bi-location. Especially during the war, soldiers in Germany would see this man in a brown tunic and hood summoning them over by him. They would go over by him, and right afterwards, a grenade would go off right where they had previously been standing. Then they would look back and Padre Pio was gone…when in fact he had never left his monastery in San Giovanni, yet he could recall all these instances, and later some of the soldiers when out to seek who this man was.

There are many many other stories. I would definitely suggest reading anything there is about him. He is SO interesting and so real. He was known for his bad temper, something he was so embarrassed about and struggled with a lot. He was a Saint, but you would never have known such a honest fiery priest.

We were able to pray before his body, which was exposed. One of the girls reflected afterwards on how peaceful he looked and how looking at his face, it brought so much encouragement because she knew he was looking at God!

They had a little museum so to speak, where you could wander through the monastery, and see his cell, his gloves that he wore to hide the stigmata (he was quite embarrassed by it because it caused so much commotion among the people), and a bookcase the size of a wall in my room packed full of letters from people all over the world…letters from just one year of his life.

That night we had a very nice relaxing dinner, where we heard many stories from Father Cozzens of his time of his studies in Rome. He just finished up his Doctorate last year, and had been living in Rome for about 4 years. He was here when Pope John Paul II died, and was able to be in the procession when they carried JPII’s body and also was in the piazza at St. Peter’s when Pope Benedict the 16^th was elected.

Sunday morning Father Cozzens was able to celebrate mass for us at the very same altar where Padre Pio always celebrated mass. It was very exciting and such a blessing for all of us, but I know especially him. Saturday he had requested celebrating mass in a small side chapel they have right outside of Padre Pio’s tomb. The man said that it was not available, but wouldn’t he like to celebrate mass at the same altar where St. Padre Pio always celebrated mass? Well I think Fr. Almost BURST with excitement, and every time we’d look at a picture of Padre Pio celebrating mass at that chapel, he couldn’t help but excitingly exclaiming “WE’RE GOING TO HAVE MASS THERE TOMORROW!” Haha. It was wonderful.

Our time there was closing with rain, while Deacon Al led Katherine Kalynn and I in the stations of the cross. Right when we got to the last one, the resurrection, the sun came through and the rain stopped. Praise the Lord! (I get crabby easily when it gets cold and rainy…crummy weather does not suit my mood well!)

We hopped back into the van and decided we’d take a different way back so we could side trip to Monte Cassino. The joys of having a van and not having to use public transportation—we could decide where we wanted to go as we went! We were getting close to Cassino, when we saw a cute town built into the hill. So…we decided we’d check it out! Well it was the most charming tiny town: Pesche. Half of it was absolutely falling apart and some of it was barely standing, and part had actually been rebuilt. One building would have a roof missing and a tree growing out of it, while the one next to it someone would still be living in! Ah, the historic Italy I love.

Well it turned out to be so tiny there wasn’t any place to stop for lunch, so we drove down into the town below to try to find something, but everything was closed. We were growing steadily crabby because we couldn’t even find a gas station or supermarket open. This is when we realize: we’re not in America anymore! Father just laughed as he happily pointed out “Well, at least these people take the Sabbath seriously!”

We managed to find the one restaurant open in the town, which turned out to be that everything was home made and absolutely delicious. We were absolutely stuffed, and were starting to get late on our way to Monte Cassino.

Monte Cassino is literally just the mountain of the town of Cassino. It is about two ish hours south of Rome. The importance is that St. Benedict, when he founded his Benedictine monastery, chose this for his location. It is the most immense monastery, and the most beautiful place I think I have seen. It is perched right on top of this mountain, because St. Benedict didn’t want just anyone coming up there…but only those who were serious enough to climb the mountain.

As we climbed to the top (in the van, thanks be to God---although the heights factor was not helping again), you could see for miles around—even over to the town of Aquin where, who else but St. Thomas Aquinas (pray for us!-patron of my Univeristy) was from and is buried.

We were able to listen to the end of the monks’ vespers and go down into the crypt where St. Benedict and St. Scholastica (twin saints. He founded the Benedictine monks, she founded the nuns) are buried.

As we went outside we were greeted by the most beautiful sunset. I was so inspired by this place, where since about the year 500 monks have been praying for us! Father Cozzens exclaimed excitedly “THIS is the beginning of Western monasticism!” Goodness, the history is just so rich! This is our FAITH! This is the CHURCH!

We made it back to Rome by 8 that night, back to a reality of paper writing. But it was such an inspiring weekend. It is one of my favorite things about this experience is getting to know the saints personally.

St. Padre Pio, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica-pray for us!