Biography

Pio (Francesco Forgione) was born to Mamma Peppa and Grazio Forgione in the little town called Pietrelcina, in Southern Italy, during the month of flowers, May 25th 1887. He was fifth of eight children. His Mamma Peppa confided he was different from other boys: “he was never impolite or misbehaved”. He had celestial visions and diabolical oppressions from the age of five years and he saw and spoke with Jesus and Our Lady and with his Guardian Angel, but unfortunately this heavenly life was interwoven with hell and with the devil.

In 1903, Discipline and ill health had been woven together to crown the youth of Pio. Doctors diagnosed him as consumptive and were sure he would die. Strong in spirit Pio received the Capuchin Franciscan garb initialling religious life and therefore; Noviciate with its intense study, prayer, austerity, penance and finally vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.

In 1909, we find him at Pietrelcina because of his illness, at his mother’s side. Now another intense chapter of extraordinary life opens with mystical afflictions an invisible stigmata and terrible battles with devils that wanted to destroy him began. Yet, “It all happened here”, he said, his whole future was prepared here. On August 10, 1910, he was ordained a Priest in the Cathedral of Benevento.

In 1916, we find him in the church of San Giovanni Rotondo, soon to become his Jerusalem, with the mystical and historical calvary of Gargano, where he was soon recognised as the “saintly friar” by the locals. Here he became a “victim of love”, by the reparation for sin, propitiator and regenerator of the many crowds who flocked to him, to venerate his bleeding wounds of his hands and feet. This very important event occurred in Father Pio’s life on September 20, 1918, while he was praying in front of a Crucifix located in the choir in the little old church, when a strange personage like an angel, gave him the stigmata. Those stigmata have been remained opened and bleeding for fifty years. This was one of the reasons for which doctors, scientists, journalists and common people have gone to San Giovanni Rotondo for years, in order to meet the “Saintly friar “.

In a letter dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio told his experience of crucifixion: “… What I can tell you about my crucifixion? My God! What a confusion and what humiliation I feel when I try to show somebody else what you have done in me your scanty creature! It was the morning of the 20th. (September) and I was in choir, after the celebration of the Holy Mass, when a rest, similar to a sweet sleep surprised me. All the inside and external senses, as well as the same faculties of the soul were in an indescribable quiet. There was a depth silence around me and inside me; a peace overcame me and then it all happened in a flash I felt abandonment with the complete deprivation of everything. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious appearance, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn’t intervened and strengthened my heart, which was about to burst out of my chest!     The appearance disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood”. You can imagine the torment that I experienced then and that I am almost experiencing every day. The wound of the heart assiduously bleeds, particularly from the evening of Thursday until Saturday. My God, I die of pain, torment and confusion that I feel in the intimate of the soul. I am afraid I’ll bleed to death!     I hope that God listens to my moans and withdrawals this operation from me… “

He usually woke up in the early morning (we could say at night) in order to get himself ready for the Holy Mass. In fact, every morning, at 4 a.m. there were always hundreds and sometimes even a thousand people waiting for the door of the church to open. After the Mass he used to spend most time of his day in prayer and confessions. After fifty years of stigmata he died September 23, 1968, thus he closed his mission of the Heart’s desire, with the real cross and the real crucifixion of his body.

Then, for years, from every part of the world, the believers went to this stigmatised priest, to get his powerful intercession from God. Fifty years lived in the prayer, in the humility, in the suffering and in the sacrifice, whether to effect his love, Padre Pio had two initiatives in two directions: the vertical one toward God, with the constitution of the “Groups of prayer”, the horizontal one toward his suffering community, with the construction of a modern hospital: “House Relief of the Suffering.”

In September 1968, thousands of devotees and Padre Pio’s spiritual children were assembled in conference at St. Giovanni Rotondo to commemorate together the 50 anniversary of the stigmata and to celebrate the fourth international conference of the Prayer Groups. Nobody would have imagined that at 2:30 a.m., September 23, 1968 we the earthly life of Father Pio of Pietrelcina would end.

St. Padre Pio and Luisa

an excerpt from the book

LUISA PICCARRETA  collection of memories of the Servant of God

BERNARDINO GIUSEPPE BUCCI, O.F.M.

Blessed Padre Pio, Luisa Piccarreta and Rosaria Bucci

Luisa Piccarreta and Blessed Padre Pio of Pietrelcina knew one another for some time without ever having met, for Luisa was always confined to the bed where she sat, while Padre Pio was enclosed in the friary of the Capuchin Fathers of San Giovanni Rotondo.⁵

One question naturally arises, how did they come to know one another?

This is difficult to discover, yet one thing is certain, that the two did know and esteem one another.

My aunt recounts how Luisa would speak with respect and veneration of the blessed father, describing him as a “true man of God“, who still had great suffering to face for the good of souls.

In about 1930, a well-known figure arrived at Luisa’s house, sent personally by Padre Pio. He was Federico Abresch, a convert of Padre Pio. Federico spoke at length with Luisa. What they said we are not given to know; but one thing is certain. Federico Abresch became an apostle of the Divine Will and regularly visited Luisa, with whom he always had long conversations.

When his little son received his first communion from Padre Pio’s hands, he was also immediately taken to see Luisa who, according to the story, foretold that he would become a priest.

The small boy of that time is now a priest and works at the Congregation for Bishops in Rome; he is known by the name of Mgr. Pio Abresch.

When Luisa was condemned by the Holy Office and her works put on the Index, Padre Pio sent her this message though Federico Abresch: “Dear Luisa, saints serve for the good of souls, but their suffering knows no bounds“. At that time Padre Pio was also in very great difficulties.

Blessed Padre Pio sent many people to Luisa Piccarreta and would say to the people of Corato who went to San Giovanni Rotondo: “What have you come here for? You have Luisa, go to her“.

Padre Pio recommended to certain of his faithful (including Federico Abresch) that they open a spirituality center at San Giovanni Rotondo, inspired by the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.

Miss Adriana Pallotti (a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio) is currently an heir to Padre Pio’s wishes. She has opened a House of the Divine Will at San Giovanni Rotondo, keeping alive the torch lit by Padre Pio with Federico Abresch. Miss Adriana Pallotti says that it was Blessed Padre Pio who encouraged her to spread Luisa Piccarreta’s spirituality in San Giovanni Rotondo and to help disseminate the Divine Will throughout the world, as Padre Pio desired.

Aunt Rosaria went regularly to San Giovanni Rotondo, especially after Luisa’s death. Padre Pio knew her very well, and when Luisa was still alive he would ask Aunt Rosaria when he saw her: “Rosa’, how is Luisa?“.

Aunt Rosaria would answer him: “She is well!“.

After Luisa’s death, Aunt Rosaria increased her visits to San Giovanni Rotondo, in order to receive enlightenment and advice from Padre Pio.

Aunt Rosaria was the one lamp that stayed alight to resolve Luisa Piccarreta’s case regarding the sentence of the Holy Office, visiting various ecclesiastical figures and, in addition, confronting the Congregation of the Holy Office. Once she managed – it is not known how – to enter the office of the Cardinal Prefect, Ottaviani, who heard her kindly and promised to take up the case.

Indeed, a few days later, Aunt Rosaria was summoned by Archbishop Addazi of Trani, who said to her: “Miss Rosaria, I do not know whether to reprimand you or to admire you for your courage. You have faced the guard dog of the Church, the great defender of the faith, without being bitten“.

The conclusion was that permission was obtained to move Luisa’s body from the cemetery to the Church of Santa Maria Greca.

Luisa said to my aunt: “You will be my witness” and one day Padre Pio told her point-blank in his Benevento dialect: “Rosa’, va nanz, va nanz ca Luisa iè gran e u munn sarà chin di Luisa” (Rosaria, go ahead, go ahead for Luisa is great and the world will be full of Luisa). My aunt often recounted this episode, but things were not going well: everything indicated that Luisa would soon be forgotten.

After the venerated Padre Pio’s death, my aunt said one day: “Padre Pio prophesied that Luisa would be known throughout the world“. And she repeated the phrase Padre Pio had said in his dialect.

I answered that there would be no easy solution to the case of Luisa Piccarreta Indeed nothing further was said of it in Corato either, and Padre Pio’s words could have been considered merely a comforting remark. But Aunt Rosaria retorted: “No! During my confession Padre Pio told me that Luisa is not a human factor, she is a work of God and he himself will make her emerge. The world will be astounded at her greatness; not many years will pass before this happens. The new millennium will see Luisa’s light“.

I was silent at this assertion and my aunt asked me: “But do you believe in Luisa?“.

I answered her that I did.

Then she said to me: “Come to my house in a few days’ time, because I have something very important to tell you“.

It was during the 70s and Padre Pio had been dead for a several years.

Novena to St. Michael the Archangel

The Apparitions at
La Salette

Saint Annibale Di Francia and Melanie Calvat

***

From:   “THE KINGDOM OF THE DIVINE WILL
An Introduction to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will”

1897 – 1898

Saint Annibale and Melanie Calvat with Daughters of Divine Zeal

In the beginning, Saint Annibale entrusted the girls’ orphanage to a distinguished widow who had been converted to a life of piety through one of his sermons: Laura Jensen Bucca was a genuine help to him for several years, but then she resigned. The priest turned to various religious communities, only in vain. So he decided to found his own congregation of nuns whom he called Daughters of Divine Zeal, patterned after the inspiration of the Rogate – the expression of the zeal burning in the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls.

The budding community was not without its headaches: tribulation goes hand in hand with all the works of God. Not only that, it is the bright badge of divine favor. In the light of a schism which occurred, the Institute was suppressed by Church authority. Thanks to the offices of a venerable Friar Minor, Fr. Bernard of Portosalvo, a one-year stay on the decree was given to the Fr. Annibale. The Institute was put on trial. During that year, he had as a cooperator for his work none other than Melanie Calvat, the famous young shepherdess to whom the Mother of God appeared on the mountain of La-Salette. Melanie remained at the Institute for one year, from September 1897 to September 1898 – a year which, in the words of Saint Annibale, was a year of blessing. The trial period was weathered successfully, having a healthy and vigorous effect on the community, and the women’s congregation was put on a safe footing.

Melanie died at the age of 72, alone and unattended, on December 14, 1904, at Altamura, near Bari, Italy. She is buried beneath a marble column with a bas-relief depiction of Our Lady welcoming her into heaven. In spite of her unapproved writings, Melanie was always faithful to her original account of the apparition and message of La Salette. She demonstrated this at the Shrine of La Salette during her last visit there September 8-19,1902.

Jesus Gave Luisa Six Angels With Jesus At The Head Of Them

 Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta,

The Little Daughter of the Divine Will

VOLUME 29

April 16, 1931
Courage is of resolute souls. Six Angels with Jesus at the head of them.  How the acts done in the Divine Will are pledges of infinite value, eternal bonds, chains not subject to breaking.

 My life continues under the empire of the Eternal Fiat, that envelopes me, inside and outside of me, and makes me feel Its infinite weight; and I, like an atom, remain enveloped by this infinity that has no limits, and as much as I love It and long for It, I feel vividly the pain of my human will, crushed and almost dying under the empire of a Divine Will, immense and eternal. My Jesus, help me, and give me strength in the painful state I find myself in.  My poor heart bleeds and seeks a refuge in so many pains—You alone, my Jesus, can help me.  O please! help me, do not abandon me….  And while my poor soul was pouring itself out in sorrow, my sweet Jesus made Himself seen in my interior—crucified, with six Angels, three on the right and three on the left of His adorable Person. Each of these Angels held a crown in his hands, studded with most refulgent gems, in act of offering them to Our Lord.  

I remained surprised in seeing this, and my beloved Jesus told me: “Courage, My daughter (Luisa)—courage is of souls resolute to do good.  They are imperturbable under any storm; and while they hear the roaring of the thunders and lightnings to the point of trembling, and remain under the pouring rain that pours over them, they use the water to be washed and come out more beautiful; and heedless of the storm, they are more than ever resolute and courageous in not moving from the good they have started.  Discouragement is of irresolute souls, who never arrive at accomplishing a good.  Courage sets the way; courage puts to flight any storm; courage is the bread of the strong; courage is the warlike one that knows how to win any battle. Therefore, good daughter (Luisa), courage; do not fear.  And besides, what do you fear?  I gave you (Luisa) six Angels for your custody; each of them has the task to guide you (Luisa) through the interminable ways of My Eternal Volition, so that you (Luisa) may requite with your acts, with your love, what the Divine Will did by pronouncing six Fiats in Creation.  So, each Angel is entrusted one Fiat and what came out of this Fiat, to call you (Luisa) to requite each of these Fiats, even with the sacrifice of your life.  These Angels gather your acts and form with them a crown, and, prostrate, they offer it to the Divinity as requital for what Our Divine Will did, so that It may be known and form Its Kingdom upon earth.  But this is not all; I Myself am at the head of these Angels, guiding you (Luisa) and watching over you(Luisa) in everything, and forming in you (Luisa) the very acts and that love that is needed so that you (luisa) may have sufficient love to be able to requite so many great works of Our Supreme Volition.  Therefore, do not stop, you (Luisa) have much to do—you (Luisa) have to follow I who never stop; you(Luisa) have to follow the Angels, because they want to fulfill their task entrusted to them; you (Luisa) have to fulfill your mission of daughter of the Divine Will.”

After this, I was feeling concerned, and, fearing, I thought to myself: “The circumstances of my life are most painful, so much so, that often times I feel myself succumbing under so long a storm, that gives no sign of ending.  On the contrary, it often seems to rage more, and if Our Lord does not give me help and superabundant grace, my weakness is so great, that I feel as if I wanted to go out of the Divine Will; and if, may it never be, this happens—poor me, everything will be lost.” 

But while I was thinking this, my adorable Jesus, extending His arms toward me in act of sustaining me, told me: “My daughter (Luisa), you (Luisa) must know that the acts done in My Divine Will are everlasting and inseparable from God, and they leave the continuous memory that the soul had the good of operating together with a Divine Will, and that God had the creature with Himself to let her operate with His own Divine Will.  This happy, operative and holy memory makes us always keep our eyes over each other—God and the soul; in such a way that we remain unforgettable—one to the other; so much so, that if the creature had the misfortune of going out of Our Will, she will go wandering, she will wander far, but will feel the eye of her God over her, calling her sweetly, and her own eye toward He who is watching her continuously.  And even if she goes wandering, she feels the irresistible need, the strong chains that pull her into the arms of her Creator. 

“This happened to Adam, because the beginning of his life was lived in My Divine Will. Even though he sinned, was cast out of Eden, went wandering for all his life—yet, was he perhaps lost?  Ah no! because he felt over himself the power of Our Will in which he had operated; he felt Our eye watching him and drawing his eye to watch Us, as well as the dear memory that the first fruits of his acts had had life in Our Will.  You (Luisa) cannot comprehend all the good and what it means to operate in Our Will. By operating in It, the soul acquires as many pledges of infinite value for as many acts as she does in Our Fiat; and these pledges remain in God Himself, because the creature does not have the capacity or the place in which to keep them, so great is the value they contain.  And can you (Luisa) ever think that while We have these pledges of infinite value of the creature, We would permit that she to whom these pledges so precious belong, be lost?  Ah no! no!…  Therefore, do not fear, the acts done in Our Will are eternal bonds, chains not subject to breaking.  And suppose you (Luisa) went out of Our Divine Will—which will not be:  you (Luisa) can go out, but your acts remain, nor can they go out, because they were done in Our house, and the creature has her rights for as long as she remains in Our house—that is, in Our Will.  As soon as she goes out of It, she loses her rights; however, these acts will have such power as to call back she who was their possessor.  Therefore, do not want to trouble the peace of your heart; abandon yourself in Me, and do not fear.”

‘The Kingdom of The Divine Will in the midst of creatures.  Book of Heaven.

The call of the creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose for which he was created by God’

PASSAGES ON THOUSANDS OF ANGELS ARE THE GUARDIANS AND CUSTODIANS OF THE ACTS DONE IN THE DIVINE WILL FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN\

 Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, The Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

VOLUME 14

 April 25, 1922

Thousands of Angels are the guardians and custodians of the acts done in the Divine Will.

Continuing in my usual state, I felt all immersed in the Divine Volition, and my sweet Jesus told me: “My daughter (Luisa), just as the Sun does not leave the plant, but caresses it with its light, fecundates it with its heat until it produces fruits and flowers; and then, jealous, it makes them mature, it keeps them with its light, and only then does it leave the fruit when the farmer picks it to make of it his food, the same for the acts done in my Will: my Love, my jealousy toward them is such that Grace caresses them, my Love conceives them, fecundates them and matures them. I place thousands of Angels as custodians of one single act done in my Will. In fact, since these acts done in my Will are seeds so that my Will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven, everyone is jealous of these acts. Their dew is my breath; their shadow is my Light. The Angels remain enraptured by them and, reverent, they adore them, because in these acts they see the Eternal Volition, which deserves all their adoration. Only then do they leave these acts, when I find souls who, picking them as divine fruits, make of them food for their own souls. Oh, fecundity and multiplicity of these acts! The creature herself who does them cannot count them.”

Then I was thinking to myself: ‘How is it possible that these acts be so great? And why do even Angels remain enraptured?’ And Jesus, squeezing me more tightly in His arms, added: “My daughter (Luisa), these acts are so great that, as the soul keeps doing them, there is nothing, both in Heaven and on earth, in which she does not take part. She remains in communication with all created things. All the good, the effects, the value of the heavens, of the Sun, of the stars, of water, of fire, etc., are not only in continuous relations with her, but they are her own things. She harmonizes with the whole Creation, and the whole of Creation harmonizes within her.

Why, then? Because those who live in my Will are the depositories, the preservers, the supporters, the defenders of my Will. They foresee what I want, and without Me commanding, they execute what I want; and comprehending the greatness, the Sanctity of my Will, they keep It and defend It jealously. How could everyone not remain enraptured in seeing these souls who form the support of their God, by virtue of the prodigy of my Will? Who can ever defend my rights if not one who lives in my Will? Who can ever really love Me, with love of disinterest similar to my Love, if not one who lives in my Will? I feel stronger in these souls, but strong of my own Strength. I am like a king surrounded by faithful ministers, who feels stronger, more glorious, more sustained, in the midst of his faithful ones than by himself alone. If he remains alone, he regrets not having his ministers, because he has no one with whom to pour himself out, and to whom to entrust the lot of his kingdom. So I am – and who could ever be more faithful to Me than one who lives in my Will? I feel my Will being duplicated, therefore I feel more glorious, I pour Myself out with them, and I trust them.”