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SeaStar
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| Posted: Sept 22 2010 at 6:50am | IP Logged
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His feast day is tomorrow....
I know many people have great devotion to this wonderful saint.
My kids love to hear stories about him. Do you have a favorite?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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guitarnan
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My son's favorite story is about American bomber pilots who saw him (in the sky) during their WWII bombing runs over southern Italy...and then discovered that their bomb bay doors would not open.
We went to San Giovanni Rotondo and saw where St. Pio lived and ministered...it was amazing. They had this huge bookcase set up, just filled with envelopes (sitting on their long edges, filed neatly, not stacked up). The entire bookcase was filled with these letters...all the letters St. Pio received in just one year!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Teachin'Mine2
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We love Padre Pio!!!
The devotion is two way - he watches out for all his spiritual children.  I love that he has chosen to wait until all his spiritual children are safely Home before he will enter the Pearly Gates. I love that he is on call, and has many a Guardian Angel sent to him with a special request.
Happy Feast Day Padre Pio!!! 
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stefoodie
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Last year we visited San Giovanni Rotondo with my parents and uncle and aunt.
Long story. It was my mom's fervent wish for all of us to be able to go there together. As they were preparing to visit us in Italy, we had to overcome a number of obstacles -- we had almost no Internet access, so she'd send me a link and sometimes I won't get the e-mail, or the link wouldn't load for me. Or we'd find information but only in Italian and none of us could figure out exactly what it said. She tried to arrange things through their travel agent, but the only options given to her were to look for transportation when they got to Italy. And no one could tell her for sure WHERE we should go to "visit Padre Pio"... Pietrelcina, San Giovanni Rotondo, or some other city??? (It was incredibly frustrating to not have quick access to the forum and Google!) People we talked to either told us it's 4 or 6 hours away, or even 8 hours away!
By the time they got to Italy we still didn't have a firm plan. A visit to the train station didn't help either -- language barrier, etc. Finally one evening I was able to get online and found enough information to guess that it was indeed SGV that we needed to go to. Imagine my surprise when I looked on the GPS and found that we were only 2 1/2 hours away.
Next came the challenge of transportation. We found a service that would take us but it would have cost 400 Euro. The train would take too long, and they needed to be back in time for their trip to Austria. We decided to pack all 10 of us (6 of us, my mom and dad and my uncle and aunt) + the baby into the "microvan". No seatbelts, except for the baby!
There were also warnings of a storm coming. Imagine our surprise and delight when the sun shone the minute we got to SGV. It didn't rain again until 5 minutes before we left the place, several hours later. It was an incredible, unforgettable experience being there, seeing his body, seeing the other people on pilgrimage, seeing his room, his things, the letters that Nancy mentions...
But wait, I'm not done. 
That night after we got home, we were tired and went to sleep almost immediately. My dad went to the bathroom around midnight and got locked in. It was one of those old houses with weird-looking keys and we just couldn't get the door to open. We finally called the maintenance guy who wasn't answering his phone, then the landlord who didn't know who he could call at that time of the night. They said they'd try to figure something out and call us back, but they never did. Several of us had started praying while my hubby continued to try and fiddle with the lock. The only way to get that door open, in his estimation, was to break the door down, and it wasn't going to be that easy with 100-year-old hinges! He had given up, when suddenly the door opened with just a touch to the doorknob. Talk about goosebumps! Padre Pio came through for us. It was amazing. To this day my hubby says he had tried everything and nothing worked. We have no idea what happened, so it must have been the prayers and Padre Pio's intercession.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Sept 22 2010 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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These are really neat stories. I will be relating them to my dc tomorrow- they will love them!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Donna Marie
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This past summer I wasn't going to let him intimidate me! Cuz the stories of him did!
I borrowed 2 books from a friend that got them from Blue Army Shrine (in Washington NJ...they have a devotion to him there) and I read them twice. I ended up naming my dd after him. (as her middle name Francesca) He got such a kick out of telling people to name their kids after himself...lol I think that while I was pregnant, he was more patient with me and helped me more than I could imagine...he and St. Anne.
There is a shrine in Barto, PA. I went there 2 years ago after having Peter James. It was AMAZING to see his blood stained shirt just 6 inches from my own nose. They had many relics of him and reproductions of his homes and chapel. We really loved it there. The kids especially loved it as there is a creamery just a little before it and they have a zillion flavors that taste oh so good!...but I digress...
Wow, Stef! great story!
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guitarnan
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We have a relic of St. Pio. (Tertiary) It was given to me by a saintly Orthodox priest who said Saturday Mass at our Italian military base. He met Padre Pio once and told me, as he gave me the relic/holy card, that he knew as soon as he met Padre Pio that he was in the presence of a saint. "You wait," he said, "he will be a saint some day." This was in the late 1980s...and we all know that Father Donato's words did come true!
These stories really are wonderful!
P.S. Stef - I feel so bad that I couldn't help you plan that trip...wish I'd known, because I read enough Italian to have been able to decipher train schedules for you...
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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stefoodie
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Oh Nancy, you don't know how much I wished that I had access to people here! I would have called you if I had a phone number! And my mom doesn't know how to navigate the 'net well, or I would have told her to get online to the forum, look for you, etc.
Don't feel bad! We're sure now that was how it was meant to happen!
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MaryMary
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We just love, love love Padre Pio here. I have a story that still gives me goosebumps when I think of it...
All of my extended family (Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins)live in the south of Italy. My parents immigrated to Canada in the late sixties, leaving all of their family behind. Needless to say, we have gone back to Italy to visit relatives on a number of occasions. On one of those trips in 1995 my aunt gave me a handful (and by handful I mean no more than 10) of third class relics of Padre Pio. They were small oval laminated images of Padre Pio with a relic on the back. I was over-the-moon delighted to have them to bring them back home as gifts for friends. I placed those relics (along with a few relics of other saints and some blessed objects) in a beautiful little box that I had been given by another aunt. When I came home I gave out relics aplenty to at least 7 or 8 friends. Anytime anyone I know mentions an affection for Padre Pio, I try to find a relic to give them. Every single time I have gone in that box, there are always one or two more relics there. I should have run out years ago. When I was teaching second grade, I desperately wanted to give each student a relic as a first Communion gift. I was POSITIVE there were only one or two left. But when I went in the box I counted out 7...the exact amount I needed with one more to spare. I have given out more since then. I haven't checked that box in a while, but I bet if the Lord shows me that someone needs one, I'll still be able to find one to give away!
(O.K. My curiosity was killing me...I just came back from checking the box...and as usual, I have two left. I'd be willing to send one to somebody who would like it! Just p.m. me!)
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kristacecilia
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Mary! What a story! Now I have goosebumps.
I am ashamed to say that I know almost nothing about Padre Pio. I bought the little St. Joseph's picture book on him this year and we're going to read it today. I think I will have to do more reading on him later for myself!
Happy feast day, Padre Pio!
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SeaStar
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My dc really enjoyed all these stories, especially about the box of endless holy cards and the bathroom escape.
Thank you all so much for sharing- they really made Padre Pio come alive here today!
PS. Nancy- my ds drew a picture of Padre Pio stopping the bombers after hearing your story 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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guitarnan
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Melinda, that's what my son did when he first learned the story! 
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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amyable
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I love these stories! 
My devotion to Padre Pio is in it's baby stages. Excited to know there is a shrine only a few hours from here!
My only story of St. Pio is that my dh's uncle met him. His uncle was a Franciscan priest so he met him in some priestly capacity. I know none of the details (maybe I'll ask my MIL again). But I love knowing that we are one degree of separation from St. Pio! (or is that two?)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Why do you love Padre Pio?
