₦airaland Forum

Carlosein:
oby how now?
have been busy since yesterday and only found time out for this post.

ebos story get as e be o, i don't know what to say.

we shall keep praying for him and his family especially the rosary in this month of the rosary.

Bad story dey alwaz get as e be, e no dey ever sweet.
I alwaz tell ebos, prayer is the only weapon we Christain have and if you relax the enemy will have way to penetrate.
Yes, please let this month which is dedicated to our Mother also be dedicated to Ebos and the family.

So work now? hope not too stressful.

~Lady~:
Wow ebos, I will keep you in my prayers.
I am glad you are doing well. Please let us know how you're coping.

Hello Lady, how far have you gone or still going about your job.

ebos:
I am done with pursing material things.  It’s a pity to say this, I was like that foolish man in the bible who thought after getting everything, he would relax and enjoy it, but that very night his soul was demanded from him.  I longed to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty now to first accomplish what will give my soul joy after life on earth.  Death can come anytime.  Starting very small, ask yourself: in a world where devil operate and you are not strong in Jesus, what dream might you begin with?  You might have been thinking that “Ebos” just stayed away from this site, but the truth is that if not by the special grace of God you would not have heard from Ebos again.  Ebos funeral service would have since been concluded and forgotten.

He was healthy on that faithful day, no sickness of any kind, no symptoms, but out of a sudden something invisible hit him on the rib, he started shouting.  It was exactly the pain of a knife being stabbed constantly in his rib but the only different was that no blood was coming out but the pain was that of a knife.  He kept on shouting and could not walk again.  The good friends around quickly carried him and rushed him to the hospital.  While on his way, he kept on getting the sharp pain of a dagger, all his body system changed and he started vomiting.  At the hospital, 12 injections and drip given immediately and the doctor diagnoised him but nothing was discovered. Pastors, societies and groups came to the hospital praying while a mobile phone was placed on my ears to join other Pastors and other groups praying from far away upon getting the news because they could not come.  For 3 days I did not walk.
I was later taken to my church and a Priest prayed and held a confession for me and everybody around was crying and waiting for Ebos to have his last breathe.

The truth must be said.  It was a neighbour (one Alhaji – Alfa) who came in to see me(remember he is my neighbor) and he immediately asked me my full names and that of my mother.  They told him, he went to his house, came back and said it was an attack.  The Pastors that prayed said the same thing.  It was the Alhaji that gave me medicine and after two hours, I was able to stand up for the first time in 3 days.  I’m still taking medicine but my second home now is church.  I have been participating in this October Devotion. It’s only God that can fight this battle for me.  First, it was my father who was killed just 2 days after he took permission from his company and left Lagos for Port Harcourt to see us, but my mother travelled to my home town.  Then my father proceeded to my town to see my mother.  Before we could know it, the grave was wide open to receive my father’s body. That was how he ended his life.  Second, it was my mother.  Any person that knows my mother shed tears on seeing her condition. She is a bit better right now.  Third, I now become their target.  We have done nothing. We are not dragging anything, nothing. I said nothing of any kind.  My brother had accident just 4 days he bought his car and on his way to see my mother in the hospital - and that was the end of that car.  We thank God for saving his life.

I’m getting better right now.  I never thought this kind of thing would happen to me.  Probably, I allowed myself to be carried away by material things.  I prayed less and that might be the reason why I was hit quite bad. At a point, I was praying for death because of the pain I was passing through. That is how Ebos would have ended his life but I give God the Glory.

My God!!! I don't know what to say, but thank God for everything.
You have been through hell, but thank God who is our protector in this changing world.
I wish i have your phone number, but you wouldn't give it out.

At times some certain things happen to remind us that God is still God and to call us back to our senses.

You will always be in my prayer especially this month of our Mother and my prayer is that all the friends of darkness in your family be exposed and be disgraced in the name of Jesus, because no weapon fashioned against your family shall prosper and may all the heavenly powers, arch-angels, angels of battle be around your family to protect you from henceforth in Jesus name and may the great intercessor Virgin most powerful intercede for you.  Amen.

May the soul of your dad and the souls of all faithful departed rest in perfect peace. Amen.

Please if you can give me your phone number.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)

Margaret Mary was chosen by Christ to arouse the Church to a realization of the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus.
Her early years were marked by sickness and a painful home situation. "The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering." After considering marriage for some time, Margaret entered the Order of Visitation nuns at the age of 24.

A Visitation nun was "not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary," but the young nun was not to enjoy this anonymity. A fellow novice (shrewdest of critics) termed Margaret humble, simple and frank, but above all kind and patient under sharp criticism and correction. She could not meditate in the formal way expected, though she tried her best to give up her "prayer of simplicity." Slow, quiet and clumsy, she was assigned to help an infirmarian who was a bundle of energy.

On December 21, 1674, three years a nun, she received the first of her revelations. She felt "invested" with the presence of God, though always afraid of deceiving herself in such matters. The request of Christ was that his love for humankind be made evident through her. During the next 13 months he appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. By her own love she was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world—by frequent and loving Holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and by an hour's vigil of prayer every Thursday night in memory of his agony and isolation in Gethsemane. He also asked that a feast of reparation be instituted.

Like all saints, Margaret had to pay for her gift of holiness. Some of her own sisters were hostile. Theologians who were called in declared her visions delusions and suggested that she eat more heartily. Later, parents of children she taught called her an impostor, an unorthodox innovator. A new confessor, Blessed Claude de la Colombiere, a Jesuit, recognized her genuineness and supported her. Against her great resistance, Christ called her to be a sacrificial victim for the shortcomings of her own sisters, and to make this known.

After serving as novice mistress and assistant superior, she died at the age of 43 while being anointed. "I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus."

~Lady~:
Hello all.

Did you hear the news of the newly canonized saint, the very first female indian.
Thanks be to God.

keeping you all in my prayers.

Hello Lady, i don't think i have heard about it.

Lindiwe:
hey peeps,
am still around, won't be leaving till Saturday!
and yes, i'll get you guys nice stuff k! i'll pray for ya all!
I'm going to see the Pope and i'll ask him to bless each one of ya! lol!!!

ok guys,
got to run off now!have fun,
and remain blessed!!!

My dear enjoy yourself and if you are opportuned to see the Pope tell him to visit Nigeria soonest o

St. Francis Borgia (1510-1572)


Today's saint grew up in an important family in 16th-century Spain, serving in the imperial court and quickly advancing in his career. But a series of events—including the death of his beloved wife—made Francis Borgia rethink his priorities. He gave up public life, gave away his possessions and joined the new and little-known Society of Jesus.

Religious life proved to be the right choice. He felt drawn to spend time in seclusion and prayer, but his administrative talents also made him a natural for other tasks. He helped in the establishment of what is now the Gregorian University in Rome. Not long after his ordination he served as political and spiritual adviser to the emperor. In Spain, he founded a dozen colleges.

At 55, Francis was elected head of the Jesuits. He focused on the growth of the Society of Jesus, the spiritual preparation of its new members and spreading the faith in many parts of Europe. He was responsible for the founding of Jesuit missions in Florida, Mexico and Peru.

Francis Borgia is often regarded as the second founder of the Jesuits. He died in 1572 and was canonized 100 years later.

Today's Saint
St. Denis and Companions (d. 258?)


This martyr and patron of France is traditionally held to have been the first bishop of Paris. His popularity is due to a series of legends, especially those connecting him with the great abbey church of St. Denis in Paris. He was for a time confused with the writer now called Pseudo-Dionysius.

The best hypothesis contends that Denis was sent to Gaul from Rome in the third century and beheaded in the persecution under Valerius in 258.

According to one of the legends, after he was martyred on Montmartre (literally, "mountain of martyrs" in Paris, he carried his head to a village northeast of the city. St. Genevieve built a basilica over his tomb at the beginning of the sixth century.

Quote

"Martyrdom is part of the Church's nature since it manifests Christian death in its pure form, as the death of unrestrained faith, which is otherwise hidden in the ambivalence of all human events. Through martyrdom the Church's holiness, instead of remaining purely subjective, achieves by God's grace the visible expression it needs. As early as the second century one who accepted death for the sake of Christian faith or Christian morals was looked on and revered as a 'martus' (witness). The term is scriptural in that Jesus Christ is the 'faithful witness' absolutely (Revelations 1:5; 3:14)" (Karl Rahner, Theological Dictionary).

ok, is working now, i switched it off before.

Carlos please correct the 1st reading chapter, it says girl 2: 1-2, 7-14. There is nothing like girl in the bible.

Today's Saint
St. John Leonardi (1541?-1609)

"I am only one person! Why should I do anything? What good would it do?" Today, as in any age, people seem plagued with the dilemma of getting involved. In his own way John Leonardi answered these questions. He chose to become a priest.

After his ordination, he became very active in the works of the ministry, especially in hospitals and prisons. The example and dedication of his work attracted several young laymen who began to assist him. They later became priests themselves.

John lived in a time of reform after the Reformation and the Council of Trent. He and his followers projected a new congregation of diocesan priests. For some reason the plan, which was ultimately approved, provoked great political opposition and he was an exile from his home town of Lucca, Italy, for almost the entire remainder of his life. He received encouragement and help from St. Philip Neri [whose feast is May 26], who gave him his quarters—along with the care of his cat!

In 1579 he formed the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, and published a compendium of Christian doctrine that remained in use until the 19th century.

Father Leonardi and his priests became a great power for good in Italy, and their congregation was confirmed by Pope Clement in 1595. He died at the age of 68 from a disease caught when tending those stricken by the plague.

By the deliberate policy of the founder, the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God have never had more than 15 churches and today form only a very small congregation.

Quote
"Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy" (Luke 12:32-33).

Hello everyone.

Hey! viee how yu dey now? u do well pop in to say hi, i catch d greetings. Just like lady rightly said one day by the Grace of God go b one day.

Did i hear you very well Lindiwe, wowwwwww!!! abeg carry full story come back o

Lady dear i'm just cool over here, doing great!

Carl i hail you o

Lady i wish you luck in your job hunting and i pray that it will be quicker than you expected.
Lindiwe have a wonderful vacation.
Carl how are you doing?

Today's Saint
Our Lady of the Rosary


Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

The development of the rosary has a long history. First, a practice developed of praying 150 Our Fathers in imitation of the 150 Psalms. Then there was a parallel practice of praying 150 Hail Marys. Soon a mystery of Jesus' life was attached to each Hail Mary. Though Mary's giving the rosary to St. Dominic is recognized as unhistorical, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic. One of them, Alan de la Roche, was known as "the apostle of the rosary." He founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in the 15th century. In the 16th century the rosary was developed to its present form—with the 15 mysteries (joyful, sorrowful and glorious). In 2002, Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light to this devotion.

Quote

“[The rosary] sets forth the mystery of Christ in the very way in which it is seen by St. Paul in the celebrated ‘hymn’ of the Epistle to the Philippians—kenosis [self-emptying], death and exaltation (2:6-11), By its nature the recitation of the rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s life as grasped by the heart of her who was closer to the Lord than all others” (Paul VI, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 45, 47).

Carlosein:
oby how you dey?
quite a while.

I dey kool bros and how your end

Lindiwe:
hey all ma peeps!
it's been a hectic day after a wonderful break  
so much catching-ups to do in the office here in Lag, phew!!!

hope y'all had a restful time! you know it's key for people like me

well, quite some posts we've got there!

@tribalist,
WORD! that's what it is!!! welcome on board bro

carl,
we haven't gotten our today's readings oo!
abi you don forget!!! lol

[b]oby, viee, lady, ebos and my fellow catholics, hope y'all are tight!!![/b]alright then,
enjoy!!!

Yes o!!!  

Today's Saint
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (1819-1867)


Zeal as a preacher and a confessor led Father Seelos to works of compassion as well.

Born in southern Bavaria, he studied philosophy and theology in Munich. On hearing about the work of the Redemptorists among German-speaking Catholics in the United States, he came to this country in 1843. Ordained at the end of 1844, he was assigned for six years to St. Philomena’s Parish in Pittsburgh as an assistant to St. John Neumann [whose feast is observed on January 5]. The next three years Father Seelos was superior in the same community and began his service as novice master.

Several years in parish ministry in Maryland followed, along with responsibility for training Redemptorist students. During the Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and appealed to President Lincoln that those students not be drafted for military service.

For several years he preached in English and in German throughout the Midwest and in the Middle Atlantic states. Assigned to St. Mary of the Assumption Church community in New Orleans, he served his Redemptorist confreres and parishioners with great zeal. In 1867 he died of yellow fever, having contracted that disease while visiting the sick. He was beatified in 2000.

Quote

“To the abandoned and the lost he preached the message of Jesus Christ, ‘the source of eternal salvation’ (Hebrews 5:9), and in the hours spent in the confessional he convinced many to return to God. Today, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos invites the members of the Church to deepen their union with Christ in the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist” (John Paul II, beatification homily).

Happy belated birthday pam many more fruitful years!!!

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooo everyone!!! carl, pam, lindi, lady, lawyer, Ebos wetin dey happen

hey peeps!

Lady, I'm sooo touched!
quite remarkable the way you take this. . .
glad for your disposition!
may God bless you.

I pray for the repose of your Step Mom,
Eternal peace grant her O Lord.
and let your perpetual light shine upon her
may she rest in peace, Amen.

i pray for Godz love and peace which your family have found
to remain and mutiply in Jesus name Amen

Carl, how body
i don miss you all die!!!!

Oby, Lindiwe, Ebos et all, tanx for making this trend an EXAMPLE on this site!

May God bless us all.

I catch your hailing o!  how u dey? we don miss u no b small.

tribalist:
P:s: don't mind my name tribalist. Its my favourite t.v show 'Survivor" that i got the name. they place competitors in camps that they name as tribes and a tribalists of a camp tries to out do the other competitors till his tribe wins. Just a fond series of mine. don't assume the other meaning abeg o!

Peace

@Tribalist

Glory to Jesus Honour to Mary

I am glad to introduce myself in this thread as a proud catholic. Many of you might not know that i googled this exact heading and this forum came up. I went through most of the threads and the posts on this forum and i found out how devoted and honourable you guys are to the catholic church.

Hello Tribalist, you are most welcome.

My only point of concern was reading through all these posts and seeing some very scathering remarks about the church from anti-catholics. Naturally, it wouldnt bother me because of the freedom of expression inherent in this world but i took particular interest in these people pilgrim, cgift and debosky.

And this same remarks is not new to the Church, it has always been there for ages.

They were everywhere raining all sorts of accusations and counter accusations against the church and having a field day. I later read when you guys decided to ignore them and peace reigned. What marveled me is despite this peace, they still came back through the back door to attack catholicism without knowing anything about these people.

The enemy never goes tired, he will only give you time and then pounces back, thats why the scripture says be watchful and vigilant cause he seeks whom to devour.

Unfortunately for them, i stumbled upon a thread that had to do with that pilgrim fellow and i couldnt believe what i read. Despite all the scathering remarks against catholics and making her self look extremely academic in theological issues, she had a flaw in her system.

God can never lie when he said no one is perfect or righteous. They will even condemn you when God has not done so.

She posted a thread about how she converted from being a muslim to a christian and i couldnt hold back the laughter.

She is not the first to be converted from muslim to christain and she can never be the last.  I have a friend who is formerly a muslim, but now a Christain not only a Christain but a devoted Catholic, leginary and a charismatic and there are so many of them.

Here is a person that goes about denouncing catholics as worshippers of idols and praying to mary and she tells us how she converted because of her love for european christian boys and goes as far as telling the whole world that because the boyfriend was ill one night she now decided to pray with him after he told her to do so and miraculously after the prayer, the boy jumped up from his chair and hugged her and he was finally well and that sole event was the miracle that made her change from a muslim to a christian and to an anti-catholic.

God have mercy, for your mercy endureth forever.

i immediately joined nairaland and posted an immediate rebuttal to that claim. I gave her a partial dose of her own medicine and challenged her to prove the veracity of such a silly claim that made her change faith so suddenly because of a boy. I realised that the original post was locked as no one could reply because she was recieving the heat from some people maybe catholics i duuno but the moderator did her a favour to protect her which was very strange to me compared to all the horrible things she has said on this thread.

immediately i posted my rebuttal to her miraculous 8th wonder of the world, immediately after her reply, the thread was locked again. I got puzzled and wondered why is this pilgrim being protected like this. I looked at all the other threads especially the muslim threads and saw how she had wrecked her havoc on them too.

I wondered why she was allowed to run riot on the catholic threads and muslim thread but when someone criticizes her, immediately order from above protects her.

It made me think to confront her one one one if she was still around and immediately all her fellow body guards came out to protect their own giving all sorts of terrible excuses and insulting moslems.

I don't know whether she is the "God" here but the God i serve will never elevate anybody above him especially after attacking the word of God so terribly on these thread and other catholic threads.

I think Seun is capable of answering this.

The moral of this story is that as communicants and confirmed defender of the catholic church, it is our duty to ward off such people. Such people could infilterate our church with so many devilish attacks that could even make us leave the catholic church and follow their pastors with all their miracles.

We shouldnt sit down anymore and allow them slur the church anymore. Just like this pilgrim person she had just exposed herself as a sham and everytime she replies to make fun of the catholic church, she should be reminded that we didnt become catholics because of boyfriends or girlfriends jumping up and down the couch as a miraculous faith changing feat.

If you don't have root, i don't see how it will be possible to grow, talkless of someone misleading you. Lot wife in the Bible is a very good example to us.

God bless you.


[quote][/quote]

Today's Saint

Feast of the Guardian Angels


Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and to present their souls to God at death.

The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus' words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

Devotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition. St. Benedict gave it impetus and Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 12th-century reformer, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day.

A feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar.

Quote

"May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs come to welcome you
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem." (Rite for Christian Burial)

Lindiwe:
may kelly,
now you're talking!


they fit??

Abi oh! no bi today e start and we are still moving on as ever.

Quote

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Fornication is the in thing now in the society, if you are a grown girl and you don't have a boyfriend to commit immorality with then you don't belong and this is one of the strategy the evil one is using now to lead so many people astray.  May God deliver us all from  evil and to always be conscious that our body is teh dwelling place of God.  Amen

Today's Saint
Sts. Cosmas and Damian (d. 303?)  

Nothing is known of their lives except that they suffered martyrdom in Syria during the persecution of Diocletian.

A church erected on the site of their burial place was enlarged by the emperor Justinian. Devotion to the two saints spread rapidly in both East and West. A famous basilica was erected in their honor in Constantinople. Their names were placed in the canon of the Mass, probably in the sixth century.

Legend says that they were twin brothers born in Arabia, who became skilled doctors. They were among those who are venerated in the East as the "moneyless ones" because they did not charge a fee for their services. It was impossible that such prominent persons would escape unnoticed in time of persecution: They were arrested and beheaded.

Quote

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

~Lady~:
Lol, ok. But it's not all good, I am sad at a part, something bad happened for something good to come.

Well my parents got divorced when I was 10 months old, daddy was a rolling stone and step mum consulted diabolical powers to keep my dad.
Dad kicked myself and mum out with nothing, not even our clothes.

Years later I got reuinted with dad and family, but step mum did not want me there. So she treated me horribly, I would never wish it on a child or an adult, no one.

Well I finally ran away back to my mum, and the next year we left for the US. years later, my little bro from dad's sad got in touch with me, and I didn't really want to have anything to do with him because I was angry at his mother for what she did to me, so I lashed out at him and told him I am not in his family.

He kept my number though.

Well I also didn't realise that my step mum had forced my dad to drive away my older step sister, also from another woman, daddy was really a rolling stone. lol.

She refused to let my dad educate her or take care of her, she had to beg for all she got, finally some famiy members decide to help her get through school.

Step mum cut dad off from all family members, ran dad's business into the ground. Dad almost died and she did nothing.

Well this month I got a call from my older sister and she informed me that step mum is dead. She pleaded on behalf of all family members for me to forgive.
I spoke to my dad for the first time in 12 years. I spoke to my baby sister for the first time in 12 years. I spoke to my uncles, aunts, and cousins for the first time.
It was weird because they were all apologising and trying to get in touch with my mum to apologise to her, and whenever I asked about what happened to my step mum, they would change the subject. They didn't want to discuss her death with me. They just ask me to forgive.

So I have been praying for her soul, and asking God to have mercy on her because I have forgiven her, and I pray that he does.

So I inform my mum and gave her my uncles' number. So she calls them adn they apologise to her for the way they treated her (I was sick with measles and they refused to let her take me to the hospital because they needed the money for food).
My aunt broke the silence saying that my step mum has been evil and that she's better off dead (God have mercy on my aunt), she was telling us of all the evil things my step mum did.
She finally told my mum of how she died. She was ill for 3 years from whatever it is she did 23 years ago to get my dad. My mum refuses to tell me the horrid details. But it was really really horrible.

Well it is unfortunate that she died, and I was hoping the family would reuinte with her still a part of it, I was loking forward to reuniting with them in Nigeria, but we're finally united now.

I have the other half of my family now, and I think my sis will be coming for my graduation this december YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please pray for the repose of my step mum.

I HAVE MY FAMILY BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Quite touching.
God always give us long time to examine our ways and change. I think God gave your step mum all those long years for her to retrace her step, but she did not use it well. I thank God for breaking that yoke in your family and may he grant her pardon of all her sin because he his a merciful God and his ways is not the way of Man, he his merciful even to death.

davidylan:
On top of what? Are these people christians at all? Do they read the bible at all? Do they realise that the first shall be last and the last first? Did they ever note that Christ washed the feet of the disciples? Are these people aware that Christ says that we shld serve one another and let not anyone think too highly of himself?

Really . . . on top?

Thank you wey b Christain, it shows all over you, carry go!!!

Carlosein:
and there lies the problem: show me this, show me that!!! I DON'T HAVE TO SHOW YOU NOTHING, DAVID.

oby how now? where have you been since? welcome sha. thanks for reminding me of "ignorance"

just in case you're really interested david, go back to the very beginning of this thread and read carefully, who knows you just mind SEE what you want me to show you

I just dey, work, work and work but i thank God who is always faithful.

Catch you all tomorrow

are they back? Folks be careful, I'm sure they are not happy we are on top    Remember ignore them.  They have all been silent until their Mother Pilgrim1 re-surfaced. They hate peace.

Today's Saint
St. Pacifico of San Severino (1653-1721)

Pacifico was born into a distinguished family in San Severino in the Marche of Ancona in central Italy. After joining the Friars Minor, he was ordained. He taught philosophy for two years and then began a successful preaching career.

Pacifico was an ascetic man. He fasted perpetually, eating no more than bread, soup or water. His "hair shirt" was made of iron. Poverty and obedience were two virtues for which his confreres especially remembered him.

At the age of 35, Pacifico contracted an illness that eventually left him deaf, blind and crippled. He offered his sufferings for the conversion of sinners, and he cured many of the sick who came to him. Pacifico also served as the superior of the friary in San Severino. He was canonized in 1839.

Quote

"Moreover, I advise and admonish the friars that in their preaching, their words should be examined and chaste. They should aim only at the advantage and spiritual good of their listeners, telling them briefly about vice and virtue, punishment and glory, because our Lord himself kept his words short on earth" (St. Francis, Rule of 1223, Ch. 9).

Today's Saint

St. Padre Pio da Pietrelcina (1887-1968)


In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul's pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter's Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. "This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio's witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love, the Holy Father stressed, such suffering can lead to "a privileged path of sanctity."

Many people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962, when he was still an archbishop in Poland, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks, she had been cured of her life-threatening disease.

Born Francesco Forgione, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice (1898-1903 and 1910-17) his father worked in Jamaica, New York, to provide the family income.

At the age of 15, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After he was discovered to have tuberculosis, he was discharged. In 1917 he was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, 75 miles from the city of Bari on the Adriatic.

On September 20, 1918, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended, he had the stigmata in his hands, feet and side.

Life became more complicated after that. Medical doctors, Church authorities and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio. In 1924 and again in 1931, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned; Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions. He did not complain of these decisions, which were soon reversed. However, he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing, a pamphlet on the agony of Jesus, was done before 1924.

Padre Pio rarely left the friary after he received the stigmata, but busloads of people soon began coming to see him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church, he heard confessions until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned.

Padre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. At his urging, a fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building supplies. This "House for the Alleviation of Suffering" has 350 beds.

A number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like St. Francis, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters.

One of Padre Pio’s sufferings was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities to decide. He died on September 23, 1968, and was beatified in 1999.

Quote

"The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain" (saying of Padre Pio).