Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry: True Stories of Padre Pio Book II

O my Lord, where can I better serve you, than in the cloister, beneath the banner of the poor man of Assisi?

– St. Pio of Pietrelcina

 

CHAPTER 1

Padre Pio - A True Son of St. Francis

Francesco Forgione (Padre Pio) was born in Pietrelcina, Italy on May 25, 1887 and was baptized the following day. His birth was registered in the town hall in Pietrelcina and signed by two witnesses - the shoemaker and a local farmer. Francesco Forgione’s father, Grazio Maria Forgione was present, but could not be an official witness because he was illiterate and was unable to sign his name.

When Francesco was just five years old, he dedicated his life to God. As a child, Francesco was serious, meditative, and above all extremely sensitive to spiritual things. As a youth, he assisted the parish priest in Pietrelcina as an altar server. He was diligent and conscientious in his service to the church.

Francesco’s parents, Grazio and Giuseppa Forgione, were both deeply religious and they made a great effort to instill spiritual values in their five children. Later in life, Giuseppa reminisced about Francesco and said, “As Francesco grew older, he never did anything wrong. He was never any trouble and he always obeyed me.”

Francesco felt the call to religious life at an early age. As a boy, he heard a sermon on St. Michael the Archangel preached by Father Giuseppe (Peppino) Orlando. He was deeply inspired by Father Orlando’s words. Later in life, Padre Pio was to say that the sermon was one of the compelling factors that led to his decision to become a priest.

Francesco decided to apply for admission to the Capuchin Order, a branch of the Franciscan Order that strictly adheres to the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi. There was a Capuchin monastery in the town of Morcone. It was only twenty-five miles away from Francesco’s home in Pietrelcina but it was considered to be a long distance at the time.

Padre Pio’s uncle spoke to the parish priest of Pietrelcina, Father Salvatore Pannullo about the matter. Father Pannullo wrote a letter to the provincial of the Capuchin monastery in Foggia and learned that the Capuchin novitiate of St. Philip and St. James in Morcone was full. Francesco’s uncle then advised Francesco to apply to the Benedictine Order in Montevergine. He also suggested to him that he could apply to the Redemptorist Order in Sant’Angelo a Cupola. But Francesco had his heart set on becoming a Capuchin. He decided to wait until there was an opening in Morcone.

On the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1903, fifteen-year-old Francesco Forgione entered the Capuchin novitiate at Morcone to begin his formal training in religious life. He was assigned to cell number 28 and above the door of his cell were the words from Scripture: You are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). The words symbolized Francesco’s new life. He had chosen to die to the world and all worldly concerns. In the cloister at Morcone, he would remain hidden with Christ. He knew the value of a hidden life. It was what he had been longing for. He was handing over his life to God now. It no longer belonged to him. His ties with the world were being severed forever.

On January 22, he was vested in the religious habit of the Capuchin novice. He exchanged his secular clothing for the brown Franciscan habit with hood and scapular. He would wear the Capuchin habit for the next 65 years. At the time of his investiture, his baptismal name was changed. Francesco Forgione became Brother Pio of Pietrelcina.

The year-long novitiate at Morcone was a testing period and a time when the superiors of the Capuchin community scrutinized the novices to see if they had a vocation to religious life. It was also a time of discernment for the novices as they prayed and meditated about their own calling.

The novices in Morcone studied the Rule of St. Francis, Sacred Scripture, and the Constitutions of the Capuchin Order. In the middle of the night they arose for community prayers in the choir. The Divine Office was recited seven times a day. In the evening after night prayers, the students gathered for meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. Brother Pio always chose the Passion of Christ as the source of his meditation.

Life in the Capuchin novitiate at Morcone was austere and uncompromising. The community followed a literal approach to the Franciscan way of life. Anything that lent itself to poverty of spirit, penance, and self-denial was encouraged. The rigid program was difficult and demanding and it served to separate the weak from the strong. Many of the novices found the rigors of the life too difficult and left on their own accord.

The monastery at Morcone was unheated, and in the winter months the students suffered from the cold. It was not unusual to wake up in the morning to see the water frozen solid in the wash basins. The novices were allowed only one woolen undershirt under their habit and one blanket for their bed. Later in life, Padre Pio would reminisce and say that for him, the cold was the hardest part of the novitiate to endure.

At Morcone, the manual labor and daily chores were performed in strict silence. Although there were several periods set aside during the day when the novices could converse with each other, silence was observed the greater part of the time. A quiet environment was considered to be of great importance in order to preserve the interior spirit of prayer and communion with God. A large sign inscribed with the word Silence hung over the doorway in the corridor of the monastery. It was to be a constant reminder to the novices. Brother Pio had always felt an attraction to interior solitude and he thrived in the silence of the monastic enclosure.

In regard to the prayerful silence of contemplative life, one is reminded of the beautiful words of St. Paul of the Cross:

 

Remember that your soul is a temple of the living God. The Kingdom of God is within you. Night and day let your aim be to remain in simplicity and gentleness, calmness and serenity, and in freedom from created things, so that you will find your joy in the Lord Jesus. Love silence and solitude, even when in the midst of a crowd or when caught up in your work. Physical solitude is a good thing, provided that it is backed up by prayer and a holy life, but far better than this is solitude of the heart, which is the interior desert in which your spirit can become totally immersed in God, and can hear and savor the words of eternal life.

 

Father Tommaso of Mount St. Angelo was the Novice Master at Morcone. He considered Brother Pio as a role model for all the other novices. Brother Pio was mature, pious, responsible, and dedicated. Even as a student in the novitiate, he seemed to be advanced beyond his years in the religious life. Father Tommaso said of Brother Pio:

 

He was an exemplary novice. He was punctual in his observance and exact in all things so as never to give the least motive for reproof. He was quite different from the other students.

 

Father Tommaso worried about Brother Pio’s health. He was sickly and very thin. Father Tommaso was also concerned about Brother Pio’s poor appetite and insisted that he eat more. In general, the meals at the monastery were quite frugal. Nevertheless, Brother Pio had a hard time eating and going to the monastery dining room for meals proved to be a real trial for him. It was almost impossible for him to finish the food that was set before him. No one was quite sure why. He often tried to give part of his meals to the other novices and he attempted to do so without letting the superior see.

At Morcone, Brother Pio was assigned to help one of the younger students in the novitiate, Brother Angelico. Every day for three months, Brother Pio visited the novice in his cell and instructed him in the Rule of St. Francis and the Constitutions. He tried to the best of his ability to help Brother Angelico because he realized that he was wavering in his vocation. The young novice, who was fifteen years old, found it difficult to adapt to the monastic way of life. Brother Angelico wrote:

 

I waited with eagerness for the hour set by the Master of Novices for Brother Pio to encourage me with the words of a good confrere … I still keep in my heart the memory of the kindness and affability of Brother Pio, who since that time has presented himself to me suffused with a deep and unmistakable piety that is able to win the hearts of others … He impressed all of us novices by his faultless behavior and by the attraction that he exerted on all who came into contact with him.

Through the help of Brother Pio, the young novice persevered in his studies. He was eventually ordained to the priesthood and was given the name Father Angelico da Sarno.

Brother Pio also encouraged another novice to persevere, Giovanni Di Carlo. Giovanni had decided that life in the novitiate was too hard, too austere, and was making preparations to leave. Brother Pio spoke to him and encouraged him to stay. He reminded Giovanni that many people had made sacrifices so that he could enter the novitiate at Morcone. He told him to think about his family and the desire they had for him to succeed. “With the help of the Virgin Mary and St. Francis, I know that you will get used to this life,” Brother Pio said. Giovanni reconsidered and decided not to leave. After his ordination to the priesthood, he would remember Brother Pio’s words of encouragement and feel...