Christian

Post N° 57

Padre Pio: A Patron Saint
for the Unborn 

The Blessed Mother said to him: “I
am entrusting this unborn child to your care and protection.”

by Frank M. Rega, S.F.O.

     The story begins in 1905, well before he became famous for his
stigmata and other spiritual gifts. At that time he was still a seminarian, known as
Brother Pio, and was assigned to the humble friary of St. Elia a’ Pianisi, in
southern Italy. After his involvement in an
unusual and striking spiritual encounter, Brother Pio immediately wrote everything down
and handed it to his spiritual director, Padre Agostino. The note eventually became part of the documentation presented to the Vatican
during the process of his canonization over seventy-five years later. Here is what occurred, in Brother Pio’s own
words: 

 Several days ago I had an
extraordinary experience.  About 11:00 in the evening [of January 18, 1905] Brother Anastasio and I were in the
choir. Suddenly I found myself at the same
time in the palace of an extremely wealthy family. The
master of the house was dying just as his daughter was about to be born.

Then the Blessed Mother appeared and,
turning to me, said, “I am entrusting this unborn child to your care and protection. Although she will become a precious jewel, right
now she has no form. Shape and polish her. Make her as brilliant as you can, because one day
I would like to adorn myself with her.”

 I replied, “How can this
be possible? I am only a poor seminarian and
don’t even know whether I will have the joy and good fortune to become a priest. Even if I do, how will I ever be able to take care
of this girl since I will be so far way from here?”

 The Blessed Mother admonished
me, “Don’t doubt me. She will come
to you, but first you will find her in the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome.”

 After that I found myself back
in the choir.

     Until now, this note has been considered important primarily
because it is the first documented instance of St. Pio’s supernatural gift of
bilocation. However, in the light of
today’s battle against the abortion holocaust, another aspect of the note takes on
added significance. That is, the words of
the Blessed Virgin to Brother Pio: “I am entrusting this unborn child to your care
and protection.”  

     What greater recommendation could there possibly be for Padre Pio
to be the patron saint of the unborn, than that given by the Blessed Mother herself? She specifically entrusted the care of an infant
still in her mother’s womb, and whose father lay dying, to a young seminarian
destined to become one of the greatest saints in the history of the Church. Furthermore, she called this girl about to be born
a child; she was not a lump of flesh or a blob of tissue, whose life could
be legally snuffed out in today’s world by a heinous partial birth abortion
procedure. 

     The name of the child was Giovanna Rizzani. Events happened as
Our Lady had predicted, and Padre Pio did meet Giovanna, now a young girl, in St.
Peter’s Basilica in 1922. It was another
case of bilocation, where he heard her confession and resolved her doubts about the faith. The next year, she did come to see him, again as
Our Lady had prophesized, and she realized he was the friar who had heard her confession
in Rome. At this latest encounter, Padre Pio
explained to her the vision and supernatural events of 1905 when he witnessed her
father’s death. He explained that the
Virgin Mary had entrusted her to him in order to direct and perfect her soul.

     For the next forty-five years, until
Padre’s passing in 1968, Giovanna visited him often for spiritual direction, and
confessed almost exclusively to him. On one
occasion she asked him, “Padre, do you really care for me? He replied: “How could I not care for you. You are the first born of my heart. Love Jesus. Love
Our Lady, who thought of you before you were born!” ^1,2,3
    

Abortion: “That’s
Killing!”

     Padre Pio’s horror of abortion is
made clear in an incident told to one of his biographers, Rev. Bernard Ruffin, and
recounted in the book Padre Pio: The True Story. ⁴  Ruffin had interviewed a gentleman named
Albert Cardone, who stated that he had learned of Padre Pio from a woman who had gone to
the saint for confession. After the woman had
enumerated all the sins she could recall, Padre Pio asked her, “Try to remember the
other sin.” She said that she could not
think of anything more, and Padre Pio told her to visit the cross that is at the top of
the mountain, and to recite fifteen Ave Maria’s and Our Fathers as a penance. She then returned to Padre Pio’s confessional
a second time, and he asked her if she remembered all of her sins. She insisted that she remembered all of them, but
the Padre replied, “No, you still don’t remember all.” He sent her once again to the cross on the
mountain. The scenario was repeated a third
time, and she still did not recall any other sins. Finally,
in a loud voice, Padre Pio said, “Don’t you know he could have been a good
priest, a bishop, even a cardinal?”  

     The poor woman began to cry, exclaiming that she did not know
abortion was a sin. The saint countered with,
“What do you mean, you didn’t know that this was a sin? That’s killing!”
The woman said that no one had been told of the abortion except for her mother, and asked
how he could say that the child would have been a priest or a cardinal. Padre Pio answered by repeating, “But
it’s a sin, a great sin.” In other words, it did not matter what his position in
life would have been.  

     The Padre Pio literature is replete with stories of infertile
couples asking Padre’s intercession for the grace of childbirth. The following story is typical. 

During confession, among other
things, I manifested to him my great desire to become a father. I had been married for three years, but my wife
had not succeeded in having a child. I had
her visit the most famous specialists and all of them said that we had to resign ourselves
to the situation. There was no other
alternative but to ask for a miracle from Padre Pio, and I did so. He replied to me: ‘Do not worry about this, for within a year you will become a
father.’ Although I realized that to
believe in these words meant denying the medical evidence, my heart was filled with joy. As the Padre had predicted, in 1944 I became the
father of a lovely little girl. ⁵  

 (It is
important to note here that Padre Pio never attributed miraculous cures and occurrences to
himself, but always to the grace of God and his Virgin Mother.)

Often he
would even successfully predict whether the child would be a boy or a girl.  One day an officer in the Carabinieri
(State Police) and his expectant wife visited Padre Pio. He asked the saint what name they should give to the soon-to-be-born baby. 

“Name him Pio.”

“And what if it is a girl?”

“I said, call him Pio!”

When the time arrived, the newborn
boy was given the name of Pio.

Two years later, the same officer
went to San Giovanni Rotondo to ask Padre Pio what they should name their second child,
who was expected shortly.

“Call him Francesco.”

“But Padre, I grant that you
were right last time, but what if it is a girl?”

“Man of little faith!”

A beautiful child was born, and given
the name Francesco. ⁶

     Padre Pio is currently known as the patron saint of civil defense
volunteers, after a group of 160 of them petitioned the Italian Bishops’ conference. The Bishops forwarded the request to the Vatican,
which gave its approval to the designation. ⁷ He is also “less officially” known as
the patron Saint of stress relief and the “January blues,” after the Catholic
Enquiry Office in London proclaimed him as such. They designated the most depressing day of the year, January 22, as Don’t
Worry Be Happy day, in honor of Padre Pio’s famous advice: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” ⁸

     Perhaps the latter patronage is a
little tongue-in-cheek, but that of the civil defense volunteers quite legitimate. It is significant to note that it only took 160
signatures for the Vatican to give its official approval to that designation. Incidentally, Padre Pio believed 8 children was an
ideal family size. 

 References

1. D’Apolito, Padre Alberto, Padre
Pio of Pietrelcina, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Our Lady of Grace Friary, 1986, pp.
275-296.  

2. D,Apolito, Padre Alberto,
“Protected by P. Pio all of her life,” The Voice of Padre Pio,”
Volume III, no. 1, 1973, pp. 7-9.  

3. Schug, Fr. John A., A Padre Pio Profile, Petersham MA., St.
Bede’s Publications, 1987, pp. 14-30. 

4. Ruffin, Rev. C. Bernard, Padre Pio:
The True Story, Huntington, IN., Our Sunday Visitor, 1991, pp. 296-297. 

5. Allegri, Renzo, Padre Pio, Il santo
dei miracoli, Milano, Mondadori, 2002, p, 311, present writer’s translation.  

6. Del Fante, Alberto, Per La Storia,
Bologna, Anonima Arti Grafiche, 1949, p. 474, present writer’s translation.  

7. “Italy makes St. Padre Pio patron
of civil defense volunteers,” http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2004/03/30/WORLD-1/ 

8. “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/saints/pio.shtml

This article is public domain.