Spiritual Father of Mary's
Eucharistic Intercessors

A merciful God gave His Mother at the foot of the Cross to Padre Pio and to all priests as a fortress in the battle against satan. "The woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet," gave Padre Pio her weapon, the Rosary, which he prayed continuously as he assisted her in plucking souls from the edge of the abyss.

"Love the Madonna and pray
the Rosary, for her Rosary is
the weapon against the evil of
the world today." Padre Pio

A merciful God gave us a priest who would be a sign of contradiction in the "Culture of Death." By living out the Passion of Christ in his body. His hands, feet, and side were pierced for fifty years in a continuous shedding of his blood as a living holocaust. By his life and witness this saintly priest brings renewal to the Church and healing and restoration to his brother priests, who, like him, are ministers of divine mercy.
Through his living martyrdom, he cut through the darkness that sought to destroy the Eucharist, Priesthood, and confession.
Through his living martyrdom, he gave life to souls through the Eucharist and confession.
Through his witness, he taught his brother priests to stand against "principalities and powers" of this dark age in the power of their priesthood, instituted on Holy Thursday night by Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim.

Minister of Divine Mercy

Padre Pio's life spanned more than half the twentieth century. He died in San Giovanni Rotondo on September 23, 1968 at the age of eighty-one. There is no doubt that the stigmata and his amazing charisms, which included spiritual and physical healing, brought instant fame to the humble Capuchin. And like Jesus, they also brought the cross and persecution. God's purpose in raising up the mystic and stigmatist of the Gargano transcends our ability to comprehend. We do know, however, that in Padre Pio we see the mystery of the priesthood, which cannot be fathomed.

What is easier to understand is that Padre Pio inspires in priests and laity, a renewal of heart and mind with respect to the ministerial priesthood. I believe one of the key reasons he has been given to the Church in these times is to define the priesthood for those whose image has been shattered by the world, the enemies of God and the Church. For this reason, Blessed Padre Pio's priesthood is a gift to the Church for the renewal of priests and the renewal of families.

In living out the Passion of Christ, the humble friar drew the attention of the world to the events that occurred on the first Holy Thursday and Good Friday, when mankind received the gift of Divine Mercy flowing from the pierced Heart of Jesus on the Cross. At his beatification in 1999, Pope Paul II called Padre Pio's stigmata "a sign of divine mercy."

The Stigmata - A Sign of Divine Mercy

In the choir loft of the Church of Our Lady of Grace, the dramatic manifestation of the Wounds of Christ occurred on September 29, 1918, making Padre Pio the first priest in the history of the Church known to have the stigmata. Although the first signs of the stigmata had appeared in 1910 at Piana Romana, in the countryside of Pietrelcina, the Lord answered Padre Pio's plea that the wounds remain invisible. It was only for a brief time, however. Heaven's plan advanced. It included the healing of a world deeply wounded by sin; a world in need of a new and dramatic lesson in the meaning of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

The crisis in the priesthood, which was evident while Padre Pio was alive, is a crisis spawned and sustained by the forces of evil. Only a merciful God could choose to address this crisis by calling a priest to be a "living crucifix" for fifty years. Blessed Padre Pio's ongoing martyrdom through the daily shedding of his own blood, echoed the supreme gift given to us on Holy Thursday night and completed on Good Friday on the Cross by the One Priest and Victim, Jesus Christ.

Excerpted from Mother of God, Mother of Priests by Kathleen Keefe, ©2001 by the author, Peace through Mercy Publishing, PO Box 458, New York, NY 10470. All world rights reserved.

A Complete Priest

Father Joseph Pius Martin, O.F.M. Cap.

"The central point in Padre Pio's life was the altar. That is where the great warrior of God principally carried on his battle for souls"

Padre Pio did one thing his entire life long and that was to be a priest. He prepared for this by attending the little night school run by a local teacher for the farm lads when they finished their chores. At sixteen he entered the Capuchin novitiate and later continued his studies for the priesthood. St. Paul's words that God chooses the weak to confound the strong, fittingly explain Padre Pio in his youth. He was so ill and frail that he was to spend seven years in a small stone room in his native village. Immersed in prayer, study and suffering, he lived as a hermit. This began shortly before his diaconate.

For fear that he might not arrive in sharing in Christ's priesthood, he was granted a dispensation and ordained at the age of twenty-three. About a month after sharing in Christ's Priesthood, he was to share in His victimhood in a most extraordinary way for the rest of his life.

Participation in The Passion

Padre Pio's victimhood was a living participation in the Passion of Christ. The suffering occurred every Tuesday and Friday, until he asked Our Lord to augment his suffering; it then became daily. "If you knew the value of suffering," he said, "you would ask for nothing else." It was in this weak and ill physical condition, suffering the Passion of Christ, that he was called to military service in World War I. After several failed attempts to build up his health, he was given a medical discharge. The doctors counseled him to go home because they believed he had only about two weeks to live.

His superiors thought the mountain air in San Giovanni Rotondo would be good for him. He stayed fifty-two years. While there, a direct intervention of Our Lord opened the five wounds of the stigmata in his body. They were to remain open and bleeding for half a century.

Battle For Souls

The central point in Padre Pio's life was the altar. That is where the great warrior of God principally carried on his battle for souls. After only a few hours rest during the night, he would be extremely anxious to get to the altar and had to be calmed down so as to await the exact time. His Mass would last three to four hours, although his superiors asked him to shorten the time, feeling that the people could not take it.

When he was at the altar, he went into an entirely different reality. Comments by his confreres about the noise in the church on a particular morning or the dress of a first communicant who might resemble a little soldier, were completely lost to him because he had penetrated into the Sacrifice in an entirely profound and mystical way.

There were times before he approached the altar that he could be seen shaking. When asked if it was because of what he was about to suffer, he answered that it was not, explaining, "It's what I have to offer." Other than this aspect of the priest intercessor, which began in the middle of the night, concentrated on the altar and ended with five hours of adoration every day, his priesthood localized at the confessional.
Before he grew ill and tired toward the end of his life, he would spend many hours a day distributing Christ's sacred Blood. It is estimated that he confessed a million persons during his lifetime of eighty-one years. He even confessed the very day he died, although it was very limited by his illness.
Padre Pio was the complete priest and victim whose priestly service lasted for fifty-eight years in this exalted state of victimhood.

Father Joseph Pius, a Capuchin priest in San Giovanni Rotondo, lived with Padre Pio for several years before the saintly friar's death in 1968. He co-founded the Divine Mercy Priests' Retreat Ministry with Kathleen Keefe in 1994. This article was written and published in the apostolate's magazine, "Flames of Mercy," in 1999. Father Joseph died unexpectedly on May 3, 2000 following complications from surgery.

Padre Pio with Father Joseph Pius