| ------¤¤¤¤¤¤¤------- Angel of the Sick -------¤¤¤¤¤¤¤------- Excerpts taken From SEND ME YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL, St. Padre Pio: Written by Fr. Alessio Parente O.F.M. CAP.  "And He healed them all . . ." (Mt. 12:15) Millions of people had made their way to visit Padre Pio during his life time, and he welcomed each one in turn with open arms, but in a particular way, he welcomed our sick brothers and sisters and treated them with great compassion. In each one of them, he saw the suffering Jesus, and accordingly, his charity towards them knew no bounds. I would like to relate to you some incidents concerning our beloved Padre and the sick, and of course, the Angels come into the picture once again: A soul very close to Padre Pio had a sister who was very ill with pneumonia, and this was in the days when the condition was not so curable as it is today. The lady concerned went to the Friary, but, when she reached it she found it closed and consequently, fell into a state of desperation. However, thinking of her Guardian Angel, she said: "Padre Pio, help me! My Guardian Angel, go and tell Padre Pio that I have come for his help, otherwise my sister will die." At that moment, from the window of the church, she heard Padre Pio's voice, and he said: "Who is calling me at this hour? What's wrong?" This poor soul told of the pitiful state of her sister and Padre Pio, whose heart was always bursting with love for his fellow men, went in bilocation to the invalid, and she recovered! There is also a story concerning a young lady who, having been told by the doctors that her husband could die from one minute to the next, following a heart attack, sent her Guardian Angel to Padre Pio, so that he might pray for her husband. One night, shortly after, she dreamt of the beautifully radiant stigmatized priest. She immediately asked him to bless her husband, and Padre Pio replied that he would, so he placed his hands on the man's head, and then disappeared. The following morning, the man had recovered and was feeling very well. The doctors were amazed and, of course, his family was overjoyed. The following testimony, which could also be the work of the Guardian Angel, was given by His Excellency, Alfredo Viola, Bishop of Salto, Uruguay: "In the year 1937, Mgr. Ferdinando Damiani, on the discovery that he had a heart condition, came to San Giovanni Rotondo with the idea of dying near Padre Pio, and of being assisted by him. "In fact, when he was in the Friary, he suffered a very bad heart attack which, for two hours, held his life in danger. Padre Pio was sent for, and, as at that time he was in the confessional, he did not come until the danger had passed. When later the Mgr. complained that he did not come sooner, Padre Pio smilingly said: 'I knew that you would not die; that's why I continued to confess the people.' "When Mgr. Damiani later improved, Padre Pio told him to go back to Uruguay, and to continue his work (at that time, he was Vicar General to Mgr. Camacho, Bishop of Salto whose assistant I was), because when he would reach the point of death, Padre Pio himself would come to assist him. So, he continued with his Office, and his ailment gradually worsened. "In September 1941, Bishop Camacho had already died, and as I was the Bishop of the Diocese, I held a vocational congress on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. It was also the 50th anniversary of my predecessor, who had died in May, 1940. During this meeting, the first stone of the Minor Seminary was laid. "The congress began with great solemnity and the Papal Nuncio, Mgr. Alberto Levame, was present, along with the Archbishop of Montevideo, Mgr. Antonio Maria Barbieri, and the Bishop of Florida, Mgr. Michele Paternain; all were guests in the Archbishop's house. After the first day, precisely during the night of the 11th and 12th of September, Mgr. Damiani suffered an attack of "angina pectoris"; it was after midnight. "Mgr. Barbieri, who was in Mgr. Damiani's house up until 11 o'clock that night, and even after, had gone fast asleep, when suddenly, he was awakened by a banging on the door of his room. He opened the door and heard a voice saying: 'Go and assist Mgr. Damiani as he's dying.' Mgr. Barbieri said, that in the shadow, he thought he saw the outline of a Capuchin friar. "The knocking on the door had been heard by a priest, Rev. Fr. Francesco Navarro, who had been praying in the oratory of the Bishop's house. "Mgr. Barbieri ran to Mgr. Damiani's room, finding all the doors without keys, but closed. Mgr. Damiani was in bed, with a little table, generally used by the sick, over it, and he was dying. Spread out on the table (we saw later), were the pills called "trinitrina", which evidently he had tried to take, but couldn't reach them, and a rough copy of a telegram, written by a shaky hand, which said: 'Padre Pio, San Giovanni Rotondo. The heart spasms are continuing; they are killing me -----Damiani.' " This telegram had never been sent. The poor soul, all alone in the face of death, tried to reach his tablets so that he could revive himself and ask somebody to send it to Padre Pio. Thus, his beloved friend would know just how ill he was. But God has many ways of assisting his faithful servants. Divine Providence always sends help to those in need. Did the good Lord enlighten Padre Pio as to his friend's condition? Did He send Padre Pio in bilocation or did Mgr. Damiani send his Guardian Angel to our beloved Padre? Let us continue with Mgr. Alfredo Viola's testimony: "Fully aware, the Mgr. asked Mgr. Barbieri to give him extreme unction. The Archbishop woke me up immediately; I woke up the Nuncio and Mgr. Paternain, and the other priests who were sleeping in the house. Mgr. Damiani confessed to Father Navarro; he received extreme unction from the parish priest of the cathedral and was visited by his doctor, who said that nothing could be done for him. He died half-an-hour later, assisted by four Bishops and six priests. "That was the manner in which he died; well attended, in the early hours of 12 September 1941. I must say, that given the circumstances of the congress, his funeral was most solemn and was attended by four Bishops and more than fifty priests. This was, for us, an extraordinarily large number, and the whole occasion was more like a triumphant procession than a funeral cortege; the number of mourners was immense. "In faith, I sign and seal this declaration, at San Giovanni Rotondo on the 26 November, 1958." Seal Alfridi Episcopi Saltenis -Uruguay +Alfredo Viola Bishop of Salto Let us now take a closer look at the facts: Padre Pio had promised the Mgr. that he would be with him at his hour of death; Mgr. Barbieri saw a shadowy outline of a Capuchin friar in the corridor; the telegram was never sent to Padre Pio, and yet nobody could have been better assisted at the hour of death. Evidently, Padre Pio had a hand in this, but how did he know about the situation? Was our little friend, the Angel, at work once again? We don't know, but, aware as we are of the extraordinary activities of these celestial creatures, one could be excused for suspecting that the Guardian Angel was on duty once again. Quite a number of years have passed since Padre Pio departed from this earth. His absence was a shock to the world, but much more to the town of San Giovanni Rotondo. When the thousands of people present at his funeral made their way home, in every corner of every street, the only words to be heard were: "All is finished. Who will come again to this far isolated mountain?" The fear of the townspeople was reinforced by the departure of the residential people who had settled down near Our Lady of Grace Friary. All was a false alarm. Padre Pio's spirituality, which embraced 52 years of prayer and suffering, had taken root in the hard unyielding rock of the Gargano mountain. The seed of spirituality which he had sown in the hearts of all his spiritual children could not be without fruit. Padre Pio had worked devotedly for our sick brothers and sisters during his life time and this work would continue on even after his death. After their first sense of bewilderment because of the absence of their spiritual father, the friars embarked on the projects for the sick, which Padre Pio had spoken about many years before. His first and dearest project, the hospital, was already far advanced. The work however, was continued to the point of making it the most modern and well equipped hospital in southern Italy; more than fit to welcome the sick in that area. Then the friars' thoughts turned towards the handicapped and the elderly, all of whom were very dear to our beloved Padre's heart. After Padre Pio's advice, many handicapped children, abandoned by their parents, are now given love and attention in provisory buildings, waiting for the day when the new Centre for the handicapped will be completed. In order to avoid the difficult problem of bringing all those children to San Giovanni, the friars have opened up eight different Centres for the handicapped in the towns nearby. The friars soon realized that, because of their physical difficulties, many of the sick were not able to visit Padre Pio's tomb. They decided, therefore, to follow in the footsteps of their spiritual father in his love for the sick, by building lifts, which would transport our incapacitated brothers and sisters to their much-desired goal, the tomb. Here, they could ask Padre Pio's prayers and intercession for their martyrized bodies. These are the projects presently under construction, for the sick, on Padre Pio's mountain. Without a doubt, his love for these suffering souls was immense and, in this, he followed the example of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who, being "moved with pity" (Mk 1:41) never failed to cure those who came to Him, while He was on this earth. Of course, Padre Pio was often helped in his work for the sick by the Angels, but under the circumstances, it would not be unreasonable to give him the title of "Angel of the Sick". HOME--------------------------------------GALLERIES |
