The footsteps of Padre Pio ( an excursion in S. Giovanni Rotondo)

THE FOOTSTEPS OF PADRE PIO
(In  excursion to San Giovanni Rotondo)

(First part)

About Padre Pio so much  it has been written and much has been said, so my story would not be  an enrichment on a person who died when I was only two years, and I never had the honor of knowing personally.

 I leave this incription talking...it says so much about him...

Epigraph in the old crypt of the Church of St. Maria delle Grazie
 




Translation of the epigraph
It will happen for you the miracle that has happened to Padre Pio.
Look what fame he had!
  What a worldwide following gathered around him.
 But why, maybe because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise?
Because he had resources available?

  Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from morning to evening,
 and he was, difficult to say it,  printed the Stigmata of Our Lord.

He was a man of prayer and suffering.
                     
     Paul VI                                                              Rome, February 27, 1971

As you notice is the voice of Paul VI, after the death of the Saint of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), to describe, with a few key words, the greatness that lies in humility and service, prayer and self-sacrifice that permeated the whole life of this exceptional character of the twentieth century. 

I'm just an observer of fruit and works that have arisen around his figure,  of the processed places and of souls who come here to pray and seek relief.

My excursion today starts from  the Via Crucis, where different groups of prayer at every station kneel and, with the cross on their shoulders, climb up to the Crucifixion of Messina. Here my eye catches a beautiful scene ... I can only admire the faith of the old lady who leaves his stick and took for a moment  the cross during a prayer ...

After  quickly going through the "old" Church , that of Santa Maria delle Grazie, I go down to the crypt, empty now, where the faithful still stop  to seek him (the simple one that I love most and at which I have come to honor the saint in past tense).

You can see the room of Padre Pio  through a glass window;  its small bed and the decor is pure simplicity.

A little farther  The  Crucified of the Stigmata touches our soul  through his suffering and his love.

 

 

And now...I have to go...towards the new Sanctuary of S. Pio. But here he was, and here my heart remain. 

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The details will be posted separately and will consist of the items outlined here ... see you next!