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Stormy
Administrator
USA
736 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 03 2008 : 5:07:06 PM
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By Philip Pullella
ROME, March 3 (Reuters Life!) - The body of the mystic monk Padre Pio, one of the Roman Catholic world's most revered saints who died 40 years ago, has been exhumed to be prepared for display to his many devotees.
The body of the Capuchin friar, who was said to have had the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ's crucifixion -- on his hands and feet -- is to be conserved and put in a part-glass coffin for at least several months from April 24.
A Church statement said the body was in "fair condition", particularly the hands, which Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, who witnessed the exhumation in the southern Italian town where Pio died, said "looked like they had just undergone a manicure".
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL03190158.html
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Going to Communion every day for so many years! Anybody else would be a saint by now, you told me, and I ... I'm always the same! Son, I replied, keep up your daily Communion, and think: what would I be if I had not gone?
-- St. Josemaria Escriva: The Way
Come Holy Spirit ...Come by the means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved Spouse.
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Antonio A
Maryhead
825 Posts |
Posted - Mar 06 2008 : 10:45:38 PM
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Stormy,
When St. Catherine Laboure died her hands that had once touched the Blessed Virgin Mary, reverted to the youth she had when Mary appeared to her, so, I was not surprised when I read all about that miraculous event.
Now, I hear the hands of Padre Pio are intact since his death in 1968 and again, it isn't surprising to me, given the fact that those hands suffered the stigmata, particularly when Padre Pio celebrated Mass.
Antonio A. Obregón |
Edited by - Antonio A on Mar 06 2008 10:46:07 PM |
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GScheid
Mary's Servant
USA
406 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2008 : 12:25:59 PM
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Thousands flock to exhumed body of saint Padre Pio
By Philip PullellaThu Apr 24, 9:26 AM ET
The exhumed body of Padre Pio, a saint considered a miracle worker by his devotees, attracted thousands of pilgrims on Thursday when it went on display 40 years after his death.
Padre Pio is one of the Catholic Church's most popular saints and during his lifetime the Italian monk was said to have had the stigmata, the bleeding wounds of Jesus' crucifixion on his hands and feet.
The economy of this southern town revolves around the cult of Padre Pio and heaving crowds waited to see his body, displayed in a crystal, marble and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery where he spent most of his life.
His face was reconstructed with a lifelike silicone mask of the type used in wax museums because it was apparently too decomposed to show when the body was exhumed.
"He seems like he is sleeping. Even if they had to re-do the face, its better remembering him this way than looking at a slab of cold marble," said Domenico Masone, deputy mayor of Pietralcina, the town where Padre Pio was born.
Some 15,000 devotees attended a Mass said by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican department that oversees the Catholic Church's saint-making process, before the body went on display in the afternoon.
"He knows what I want from him," said Antonio Zimbaldi, 19, who attended Mass with his face, except for his lips, covered with white gauze.
"I have been devoted to him for as long as I can remember." Zimbaldi's entire body was burned in a fire caused by a gas explosion two years ago.
The body of the bearded Capuchin monk was exhumed from a crypt on March 3 and found to be in "fair condition" after 40 years. Since then a team of medical examiners and biochemists has worked to preserve and reconstruct the corpse.
In the sepulcher, he was dressed in a brown Capuchin habit and wore fingerless gloves he used to absorb blood from wounds on his hands. The mask was made by a London company which makes lifelike sculpted figures for museums.
ASKING FOR A MIRACLE
A poll in 2006 by Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than to any other figure, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus. His picture is stuck to the dashboards of many taxis and cars throughout Italy.
Eighty-year-old Assunta Antico attended the Mass sitting in a wheelchair and was covered with a shawl in the same deep brown that Padre Pio wore. "I had a stroke two years ago. I'm paralyzed and I want to walk again."
This town is home to a large hospital founded by the monk and many hotels and restaurants cater to the pilgrim trade.
As of Friday, the first of 750,000 people who have made reservations to see the body between now and December will file past the glass coffin at a rate of about 7,200 a day.
There are about 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" in the world, with a membership of 3 million. Pope John Paul made him a saint in 2002 before one of the biggest Vatican crowds.
Among the stories that surround the monk, who died at the age of 81, is one that he wrestled with the devil one night in his monastery cell and emerged bloodied and bruised.
However, he was dogged by accusations of fraud. A book last year suggested he was a self-harming man who might have used carbolic acid to cause his wounds. Church officials have denied he was a fake.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/lf_nm_life/italy_saint_dc&printer=1;_ylt=Anh1SVUWuSrS6OwIA8krQ0KGWo14
“Everyone needs thirty minutes of personal prayer time each day, unless they are too busy to pray—in which case, they need an hour!”
Saint Francis de Sales |
Edited by - GScheid on Apr 24 2008 12:26:24 PM |
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n/a
deleted
959 Posts |
Posted - Apr 24 2008 : 11:47:48 PM
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Padre Pio: Fanaticism even in Death
by Frank M. Rega
Author of Padre Pio and America, TAN Books and Publishers
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A disturbing rumor regarding Padre Pio has
recently resurfaced - a rumor which, according to
an article on the Internet, originally appeared
in a Catholic periodical in October 2002. It
alleges that a secret exhumation of Padre Pio was
ordered by the Vatican in preparation for his May
2, 1999 Beatification ceremony,
<www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/771264/posts." target="_blank">http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/771264/posts>www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/771264/posts.
According to this article, the top-secret
exhumation revealed that the body of the saint
was no longer in its coffin! Only his robe,
cincture, and sandals were present. An
elaboration of the original account claims that,
since the tomb was empty in 1999, the body of
Padre Pio being exposed for veneration in San
Giovanni Rotondo in 2008 is actually a double, the body of another man!
There are innumerable problems with the empty
tomb tale, not the least of which is the
implication that Padre Pio was given celestial
honors equal to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was
assumed into heaven. "Assuming" that God would
perform this miracle, why keep such a wonder a
big secret? In fact, what would be the reason for
performing the 1999 exhumation clandestinely in
the first place? The article in question offers no explanation.
As will be seen below in the description of the
exhumation performed on March 2, 2008, it would
have been virtually impossible to conduct such a
complex operation covertly in 1999. The crypt
area must be closed to pilgrims for a number of
days and special equipment brought in, something
that would immediately be noticed by the people
of San Giovanni Rotondo. The empty tomb story
asserts that there was a three-ton block of
"Italian marble" over the tomb that had to be
moved. However, an item in the official magazine
published by Padre Pio's Friary, "The Voice of
Padre Pio" (March/April 2008), states that there
was in fact a monolithic block of Labrador granite covering the burial space.
The rumor relies on the testimony of three
people, interviewed by the writer of the article.
Two of them are members of a family in
Connecticut. These two people heard the story
from a French priest. This priest was a friend of
the late Silvio Cardinal Oddi, who supposedly saw
the empty tomb. Although allegedly sworn to
secrecy, the Cardinal told the story to the
priest. In other words, the testimony of the
people from Connecticut is two levels removed
from the eyewitness to the purported 1999
exhumation. An aside: the priest's name is given
as Chamoine de Porta, a name found nowhere else
on a Google search except in that story.
The other testimony upon which the writer based
the story was from the late Capuchin priest, Fr.
Carl Pulvermacher: he ". . . has corroborated
this story." What does that mean? Did he hear it
from the people in Connecticut? Was he a first
hand witness? No clarification is given.
In a 2003 article, Michael Brown of Spirit Daily
said this about the empty tomb legend: "That has
been the wildest rumor, and as far as we can
tell, there's no truth to that. We checked
through a foundation in Connecticut [The Padre
Pio Foundation,
<www.padrepio.com" target="_blank">http://www.padrepio.com>www.padrepio.com]
devoted to the new saint, and they in turn were
in consultation with the Franciscans who
administer his shrine in Italy. From what we
understand, the tomb has not even been opened."
<http://www.spiritdaily.org/Prophecy-seers/Pioupdate.htm>http://www.spiritdaily.org/Prophecy-seers/Pioupdate.htm
The writer of the story also spoke to the late
John McCaffery, an author and close friend of
Padre Pio. In a conversation with the saint,
McCaffery mentioned the millions of pilgrims who
would come to visit his tomb after he died. Padre
Pio's response, as reported in the article:
"John," he said slowly, emphasizing every word,
"Let them come! I will not be here!" This is
truly an unusual and cryptic remark. But did the
Scotch-Irish Mr. McCaffery clearly understand
what Padre Pio, who frequently spoke in southern
Italian dialect, intended to say in this
exchange? The McCaffery anecdote is in contrast
to a published account that Padre Pio wanted
people to come and visit with him at his tomb after his death:
". . . there were many of his spiritual children
who asked of the Padre, especially when he was
approaching the time of his death: "Now that you
may leave us, what are we going to do without
you?" He replied, gruffly but at the same time
playfully, "Silly person, I will be here in your
midst, more than before. Come visit my tomb.
Before, in order to speak to me, you had to wait.
Then, it is I who will be waiting there. Come to
my tomb and you will receive more than you did
before!"
<http://members.aol.com/fmrega4/Promise.htm>http://members.aol.com/fmrega4/Promise.htm
All three of the testimonies cited in the empty
tomb account agree that at the time of the
exhumation, "Nothing was said, except they closed
the coffin and told everyone nothing." In that
case, when was a so-called substitute body placed
in the coffin? In the item featured in the
aforementioned Spring 2008 edition of "The Voice
of Padre Pio," there is a photograph of row upon
row of the one hundred Capuchins present as
witnesses at the real exhumation on March 2, 2008.
Archbishop Mgr. Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio, the
Delegate to the Holy See for the shine and
Apostolic Works of Padre Pio, supervised the
operation. Also present were a host of civil and
ecclesiastical authorities, doctors, relations of
the saint, and others among the faithful.
Included was the Minister General of the Order of
the Capuchin Friars Minor, Fr. Mauro Johri. The
block of Labrador granite had been removed
previously, but there were still four reinforced
concrete slabs in place over the coffin on March 2.
On Feb. 28, when the granite block was removed,
the members of the ecclesiastical tribunal who
were present took an "oath of faith' over the
Bible, concerning the procedures that they would
witness. Then five people present at the original
1968 burial of the saint took a formal oath that
the tomb was in the same condition as they had left it.
Subsequently on March 2, the four concrete slabs
protecting the coffin were removed in the
presence of scores of onlookers, with the process
documented by TV and photographic equipment. A
steel plate covering the coffin was also removed.
Strong ropes and pulleys had to be employed to
raise the coffin to floor level. The Friary's
magazine reports that: " . . . the Archbishop
who, assisted by the Promoter of Justice and by
the Registered Notary, after checking that they
were intact, broke the seals that had been made
the evening of 26 September 1968." Solderers then
were summoned in order to cut the edges of the zinc case.
Following this, the Archbishop and a commission
of five medical experts inspected the body,
including the medical Director of Padre Pio's
hospital "The Home for the Relief of Suffering,"
Dr. Luigi Pacilli, and Dr. Michele Bisceglia, representing the Holy See.
In the light of this well-documented and highly
visible process, how could anyone reasonably
assert that somehow another body was
surreptitiously placed in "the empty coffin?" Yet
there are some who still insist (in private
emails that are circulating) that the original
empty tomb story is true, and thus they are
forced to propose a Padre Pio "double." Are they
then implying that some or all of the many high
Church officials and respected medical
professionals involved in the 2008 exhumation
process are perpetrators of a gigantic hoax? The
apocryphal tale of the empty tomb of Padre Pio
only reinforces a regrettable image of fanaticism
surrounding the life, and even the death, of one
of the greatest saints in history.
Grace Mizzi
www.mmponline.org
Send Oh Lord Holy Apostles into your church“Christ has no body but yours, no hands butyours, no feet but yours.Yours are the eyes through which Christ’scompassion must look upon the world.Yours are the feet with which He is to go about
doing good.Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.”St. Theresa of Avila |
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shellcake
Mary's Servant
United Kingdom
131 Posts |
Posted - Apr 27 2008 : 11:10:18 AM
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It doesn't seem the exhumation was handled particularly well-but he looks good in his new abode.
Forty years do not seem to have altared him much at all.
May he pray for us.
Succisa virescit
"Die Cafeteria ist geschlossen."- But the Wedding Banquet is OPEN - come and eat your greens there are full of B-16. (a shellism) |
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Antonio A
Maryhead
825 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2008 : 11:42:22 PM
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Hi Shellcake,
"It doesn't seem the exhumation was handled particularly well-but he looks good in his new abode.
Forty years do not seem to have altared him much at all.
May he pray for us."
How about showing us a picture of the body?
Antonio A. Obregón |
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n/a
deleted
959 Posts |
Posted - May 10 2008 : 07:46:53 AM
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this may brighten your day, he is so beautiful
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/25/catholicism.italy
Grace Mizzi
www.mmponline.org
Send Oh Lord Holy Apostles into your church“Christ has no body but yours, no hands butyours, no feet but yours.Yours are the eyes through which Christ’scompassion must look upon the world.Yours are the feet with which He is to go about
doing good.Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.”St. Theresa of Avila |
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