``Where
the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of St. Pio of Pietrelcina
(Padre Pio)
Francesco
Forgione -- the man we know as Padre Pio -- was born on May
25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Benevento, Campania, Italy -- about 70 miles
northeast of Naples. He was one of eight children, three of whom died
as infants. His parents were very pious and very poor -- so poor that
his father had
to go to Long Island, New York, to make money to feed his brood and to
earn enough so the shy and religious Francesco could study to become a
monk
-- a natural calling for a child who was able to see Lord Christ, the
Blessed Virgin, St. Francis, and his Guardian Angel from a very young
age.
He did well in his studies, and then entered the Capuchin monastery in
Morcone, Benevento in 1902, taking the name Pio.1
After a year
there, he went to the monastery in Sant'Elia a Pianisi, Molise,
Campbasso. During all this time, he was frail and sickly with
tuberculosis, devoted fully to the religious life in spite of it -- but
also victim to demonic attacks. He'd return to his cell only to find it
thoroughly trashed. Hideous, monstrous-looking demons would jeer at
him. Or they would disguise themselves as monks and do all in their
power to dissuade him from continuing on with the religious life. But
they failed, and he was ordained a priest on August 10, 1910, becoming
"Padre Pio" ("Pio" is Italian for "Pius"). After his ordination, Pio
went to to the city of Foggia in Puglia, in Italy's "heel."
His health was such that he would periodically be sent home to
recuperate, staying in a tiny shed he built for himself on his father's
property. All of this was interrupted in 1915, when Italy entered World
War I. Padre Pio was called up to serve, and did -- but not for long:
his ill health precluded success in the military, so he was granted
furlough and told to wait further instructions. He was then sent by his
Order to the city of San Giovanni Rotondo, in the province of Foggia,
Puglia, and it is
here he spent the rest of his life. He hadn't been there long, though,
when the Italian army went looking for him, accusing him of having
deserted. They went about looking for "Francesco Forgione" and had no
luck finding him. When he was finally located, he produced his papers
showing he'd been furloughed and told to await further instructions.
The army recognized their error, and Pio went back into the army -- but
only for a month; his bad health caused him to be discharged, and he
was offered a pension, which he refused.
All that behind him, he settled into life at the convent attached to
the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo. Life
went along peacefully until September 20, 1918: Pio was alone in the
choir making thanksgiving after Mass. Other monks were in the nearby
chapel when they heard a loud cry. They ran to the choir and found Pio
unconscious on the floor, bleeding from the five
wounds that marked the Body of Christ. In other words, he'd
received the stigmata, and they remained, very painfully, until the end
of his life. When he revived, he begged the others to keep
his secret (he wore gloves for the rest of his life to keep the wounds
covered), but word got out. And when word got out, people came from
all over to meet the holy man, to hear him say Mass, and, especially,
to receive from him the sacrament of confession. They came even more
when news of his other spiritual gifts became known. He had the
ability, by the power of God, to see angels and demons, to read souls,
to know others' thoughts,
to heal the sick, speak to others from a faraway distance, to appear in
people's dreams -- even people who'd never heard of him -- and much
more. Stories about these gifts abound; here are a few of them as told
in the book "Padre Pio, the Stigmatist" by Charles Mortimer Carty,
published in 1955 and linked to below:
"A young woman
came from Benevento to ask a grace for her husband who had become
totally blind. Having heard that Padre Pio had cured many people, the
woman hoped for a cure. She asked Padre Pio who told her that her
husband's only hope for salvation was to stay blind since his blindness
was a punishment which Our Lord has sent upon him for beating his
father.
"The poor woman could hardly believe this. When she returned to
Benevento she told her husband what Padre Pio had revealed to her. At
first the husband denied it but later admitted that when he was sixteen
years of age he had severely beaten his father with an iron rod."
"A very
spectacular cure took place in 1947. Gemma Di Giorgi lived in Ribera in
Sicily. She was born without pupils to her eyes. The doctors declared
that there was absolutely nothing they could do to give her even a
limited vision. Her parents accepted this tragic verdic, but her
grandmother did not. She undertook the long and exhausting journey to
San Giovanni Rotondo with the little girl, full of faith in the powers
of Padre Pio. They were both lost in the crowd of the faithful
attending his mass, when at the end, while the silence was still
intense, everyone heard a voice calling: "Gemma, comma here!" The
Grandmother pushed her way up to the altar with the child and knelt
down before the holy man whom they had come so far to see. He smiled at
Gemma and told her that she must first make her first Communion. He
heard her confession, and then stroked her eyes with his hand. She
received Holy Communion by herself and when afterward her grandmother
asked her if she had begged for any favor from Padre Pio the little
girl answered: "No, Little Grandmother, I forgot!" Padre Pio saw them
later and said: "May the Madonna bless you, Gemma. Be a good girl!" At
this moment the child gave a frantic cry, she could see... The cure was
permanent and complete, although her eyes still have no pupils. She has
been examined by many doctors who have testified to the case and are
able to offer no scientific explanation."
"At the
beginning of the year 1925, Signora Preziosi Paolina developed first
bronchitis which then turned into pneumonia. She was the mother of five
children. The doctors gave her no hope, her coffin was prepared and
also her shroud.
"Padre Pio's intercession was requested. He predicted her cure would
take place during the ringing of the Easter bells. It was then Passion
week.
"During the night of Good Friday, she went into a state of coma.
Saturday morning Padre Pio said his Mass and went into ecstasy during
the Gloria. At the ringing of the bells, Signora Preziosi got up, her
fever completely gone."
Accounts of cures made during Pio's lifetime go on and on and
on. And cures continue after his death. One of the posthumous cures
needed for his canonization is that of Matteo Pio Colella. In January
of 2000, when he was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with fulminant
meningitis that had also affected his kidneys, respiratory system, and
his blood's ability to clot. He was admitted to the hospital Pio had
established in San Giovanni Rotondo -- La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza
(Home for the Relief of Suffering) -- fell into a coma. and was
expected to die within hours. His mother went to Pio's tomb to pray,
and her comatose son, meanwhile, had a dream-vision: "I saw Padre Pio
in a dream on my right and three angels on the left. One with golden
wings and a white tunic and the two others with white wings and a red
tunic. Padre Pio, on my right, told me not to worry because I would
soon be cured. In fact, my cure was like the resurrection of Lazarus." 2
Most wonderful and interesting to the imagination was St. Pio's ability
to bilocate -- that is, to be in two different places at the same time.
From the same book mentioned above comes an account of one of the most
marvelous of these incidents:
"He [Padre Pio]
assured the people of San Giovanni that their town would not be bombed.
During the war the Americans had an airbase at Bari, about 71 miles
from San Giovanni. There were still Germans in the neighborhood and the
American officer in charge at Bari heard they had a munitions dump in
or near San Giovanni Rotondo. So he called his officers, planned a
raid, and said he would lead the first plane. He was a Protestant. When
they neared San Giovanni Rotondo, he saw high in the air, ahead of his
plane, a monk with arms outstretched as if to ward off his coming. The
General was stupefied. He ordered the formation to return to base and
drop the bombs in an open field where they would do no harm to their
landing planes. When he returned to the base and was asked how things
had gone, he related what he had seen. An Italian officer told him
there was a monk at San Giovanni Rotondo, whom the people consider a
saint. Probably he was the one the officer saw in the heavens. The
officer determined to find out. He and another officer went to San
Giovanni and together they went to the sacristy with other laymen to
watch as the fathers came down for Mass. He immediately recognized
Padre Pio as the one he had seen high in the air in front of his plane."
Then there is the story of the Venerable József Mindszenty, Cardinal,
and Primate of Hungary back when Hungary was ruled by Communists. This
noble and brave cleric was so outspoken against Communism that he was
arrested in 1948 for treason, imprisoned, and viciously tortured.3
During his incarceration, he longed to offer Mass, but didn't have what
he needed to do so. Though Padre Pio was in San Giovanni Rotondo, he
would would
appear in Mindszenty's cell, bringing with him the bread and wine
necessary for Holy Mass.
The same book mentioned earlier gives an account of a conversation had
with Pio about the ability to bilocate:
One evening, Dr.
Wm. Sanguinetti (faithful friend and personal physician of Padre Pio)
tells us that he and and a few others were in Padre Pio's room, when
the doctor opened the following conversation:
Dr.: "Padre Pio, when God sends a saint, for instance like
St. Anthony to another place by bilocation, is that person aware of it?"
Padre Pio: "Yes. One moment he is here and the next moment he
is where God wants him."
Dr.: But is he really in two places at once?"
Padre Pio: "Yes."
Dr.: "How is this possible?"
Padre Pio: "By a prolongation of his personality."
This explanation, obvious to Padre Pio, may be a problem
which we leave to philosophers and theologians to explain.
He would
bilocate to make appearances to console, preach, warn, admonish, and
heal, and he still
appears to people to this day, both in dreams and in waking
life, and such appearances are often accompanied by miracles. Sometimes
instead of his making a visual or auditory appearance,
a room will
be filled with the fragrance of roses, lilies, violents, incense,
and/or
fresh tobacco, aromas that emanated from his stigmata during his
lifetime.
Like St. Anthony of Padua before him, he was seen by others on numerous
occasions bathed in a dazzling, golden light, holding the Baby Jesus.
His day to day life was out of the ordinary as well. He would wake at
3:30AM and offer Mass at 5:00AM. He would then drink a glass of water
for breakfast, and spend almost all of his time hearing confessions,
with a break at noon for his only meal, usually consisting of a tiny
amount of vegetables (rapini, or broccoli rabe, was a favorite), fish,
and cheese. While at his desk, he would sometimes drink coffee,
anisetta, beer, or water mixed with lemon juice and a little sugar. He
would sleep only three hours a night.
He manner was marked by simplicity, humor, and joy -- but he could, and
would, be severe when needed. He was famously strict about immodest
fashions, and would turn away women who tried to enter the confessional
in dresses that were too short or which had necklines that were too
low. He could also be very emotional; the gift of tears was his, and
when offering Mass or during meditations, so copious was his weeping
that he'd have to sometimes place a towel under himself to catch his
tears.
While, naturally, he stressed obedience, he was not at all happy with
the goings-on
surrounding Vatican II and the aggiornomento
(the "bringing up to date") that was happening in the Church during his
lifetime. Even before he saw the text of the Novus Ordo Mass, he
requested of the Pope to be allowed to offer only the traditional Latin
Mass, telling the Pope's messenger, Cardinal Baci, "For pity sake, end
the Council quickly." An exchange between Pio and the head of the
Capuchin Order about changes being made to the religious life also
revealed his attitude toward what was happening in the Church:
"What in the
world are you up to in Rome? What are you scheming? You even want to
change the Rule of St. Francis!"'
"Padre, changes are being proposed because the youth don’t
want to have anything to do with the tonsure, the habit, bare feet...."
"Chase them out! Chase them out! What can you be saying? Is
it they who are doing St. Francis a favor by taking the habit and
following his way of life, or rather, isn’t it St. Francis who is
offering them a great gift?" 4
Pio had been sickly all of his life; enteritis, typhoid fever,
asthmatic bronchitis, migraines, ulcers, attacks of gastritis,
tuberculosis, inguinal hernia (repaired surgically, without anesthesia
at Pio's insistence), epthelioma, pleurisy, arthritis -- the list of
his maladies is a long one. And there is a most fascinating aspect of
his health: medically impossible body temperatures that were so high
that they couldn't be measured by standard clinical thermometers, which
would literally crack from the internal pressure of the rising mercury.
His bouts of extreme hyperthermia puzzled doctors, and a study of them
was undertaken in 1920, when Dr. Giorgio Festa used a bath thermometer
to measure Pio's temperature twice a day. His temperature would range
from normal to an incredible 48.5 °C (119.3 F). This bizarre anomaly
was confirmed repeatedly by many doctors in many places, including the
military, throughout Pio's life.
In the 1960s, his health began to wane even more. He offered his last
Mass on September 22, 1968 and died the next day while lying in bed
praying the Rosary. His last words were "Gesł, Maria." His stigmata --
and any trace of them -- had disappeared a few days before his death,
and remained absent after death.
His body -- which is not incorrupt -- was interred at the church
associated with his convent, Santa
Maria delle Grazie. After it became a great pilgrimage site, a
larger shrine was built -- the unfortunately modern-looking Santuario di San Pio da Pietrelcina
-- and his relics were moved there, which is where most of them can be
venerated today. Holy Family Church (Sacra
Famiglia) at the Capuchin monastery in Pietrelcina has care of a
relic consisting of his hyoid bone.
St. Pio was beatified on May 2, 1999, and canonized on June 16, 2002,
both by Pope John Paul II. His
feast, therefore, won't be found on the 1962 calendar, but it is an
important day nonetheless, one most worthy of celebration.
Because he is a very modern Saint chronologically, we have audio and
video of him. Below you'll find video uploaded to Youtube by Petar
Zrinjski:
Customs
Some may prepare for this feast by praying the Novena to St. Pio of Pietrelcina starting
on September 14, and ending on September 22, the eve of his feast. For
the feast itself, there is this prayer to St. Pio, written by Pope John
Paul II at Pio's canonization:
Dear St. Pio,
teach us, we ask you, humility of heart so we may be counted among the
little ones of the Gospel, to whom the Father promised to reveal the
mysteries of his Kingdom.
Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what
we need even before we ask him.Obtain for us
the eyes of faith that will be able to recognize right away in the poor
and suffering the face of Jesus.
Sustain us in the hour of the combat and of the trial and, if
we fall, make us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.
Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus
and our Mother.
Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed
homeland, where we hope to arrive in order to contemplate forever the
glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Much is made of St. Pio's feast in Italy. Novenas begin on the Feast of
the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), and often culminate in
processions, concerts, and the usual sort of celebrations on Pio's
feast itself. People in Italy make pilgrimages
to the town of San Giovanni Rotondo in
Puglia, where they can visit the Capuchin monastery's church of Santa Maria delle Grazie where
Padre Pio offered Mass, and the associated Santuario di San Pio da Pietrelcina,
dedicated by Pope John Paul II in 2004.
In Pietrelcina, Benevento, Campania, pilgrims visit the house in
which Pio grew up, the church in which he was baptized (Santa Anna), and the church in
which he was ordained as a deacon (Santa
Maria degli Angeli).
In the United States, second class relics can be venerated at the Padre
Pio Shrine at 213 West 30th Street, New York City, and there is the
National Center for Padre Pio in Barton, Pennsylvania, which is set up
for pilgrimages and retreats.
One important
custom related to Padre Pio is the formation of prayer groups. During
WWII, Pope Pius XII urged Catholics to form such groups to pray for
peace, and Padre Pio complied with his request by organizing his
devotees to gather for prayer at his friary. Later, these groups came
to be organized through the hospital he built -- La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza
(Home for the Relief of Suffering) -- and are always formed with a
priest as a spiritual adviser, with permission of the local Bishop.
Today, hundreds of Padre Pio prayer groups exist, especially in Italy,
but with many, many others around the world. You may find one near you
(or start
your own group) by visiting the website of La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza: https://gruppidipreghiera.operapadrepio.it/en/home-en/
As to celebrating Pio's feast in the home, a meal that includes Pio's
favorite dish -- rapini (broccoli rabe) -- could be nice. A recipe for
you to try:
Rapini, Polenta, and Sausages
Rapini:
3 lbs rapini (broccoli rabe), stem ends trimmed, rinsed
clean, chopped into 2" pieces
big pot of boiling water
1/4 c. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
a big pinch of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
Sausages:
8 Italian sausages, hot or mild as you like
a few cups of cherry
tomatoes, halved if desired
a few cups mushrooms, wiped clean with damp towel, sliced
a few TBSP olive oil
salt and pepper
a few tsp dried sage
Polenta:
8 cups water, divided
2 tsp salt
2 cups cornmeal
2 TBSP butter
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese
a little extra butter and grated Parmigiano for the tops
Preheat
your oven to 400F. While it's heating, drop the rapini into the big pot
of boiling
water and blanche it for no more than a minute and a half. Remove,
drain, and set aside. Empty the water from the pot and put the pot back
onto the stove with 6 cups of water and 2 tsp salt over high heat for
the polenta.
When your
oven is 400F, cover a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Toss the
tomatoes and mushrooms with the
olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and sage. Put
the sausages, tomatoes, and mushrooms on the pan, and bake 20-25
minutes (you
need the internal temperature of the sausage to be 160F). While that's
in the oven, make
the polenta.
When the 6 cups of water are boiling in the pot, mix the
cornmeal with 2 cups of the remaining cold water and stir 'til smooth.
Pour slowly into the boiling water, stirring all the while. Reduce heat
to low and stir constantly -- or at least very often and consistently
-- for around 30 minutes (if you have to walk away from it, keep it
covered). Take off the heat, stir in the 2 TBSP butter and 1/2 c.
grated Parmigiano.
Back to the rapini: heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a big skillet
over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and
saute for a minute or so. Remove the garlic and throw in the rapini.
Saute for 3 to 5 minutes,until it's the texture you want. Salt and
pepper as desired.
Ladle the polenta into bowls and top each serving with a bit
of butter, the rapini, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and sausages.
Sprinkle with
more Parmigiano.
Note: If you want a crunchy-creamy polenta texture instead of
a creamy one, another option is to make the polenta the day before,
pack into 2 oiled or buttered loaf pans, and let cool to room
temperature. When cool, cover with saran and put in the fridge
overnight. When ready to eat, slice each loaf into about 10 slices
(1/2" thick). Then cut those slices in half so you end up with squares.
Fry the squares in olive oil in a skillet until deep golden brown with
crunchy edges. Top with the rapini, tomatoes, mushrooms, and sausages.
If you like the flavor of licorice, you can finish off your meal with a
tiny glass of anisetta as a digestif. Anisetta (or the French anisette)
is the Italian cure for "agita"
(indigestion or heartburn) and a help for those who have colds. It's
consumed neat
-- but can also be imbibed by adding cold water, which makes it cloudy,
or in a caffč corretto, by
adding a bit to a cup of espresso.
For your children: They might enjoy sugar cookies (recipe here) cut into hand shapes and
decorated to represent Pio's stigmata. Using your children's hands as
templates by having them lay their just-scrubbed and very clean hands
on top of the
dough and cutting around them with a butterknife would make it all the
more fun (the more closely together they keep their fingers, the more
easily the cookies can be handled and the less fragile they'll be).
When they're baked and cooled, ice the cookies with white icing and
place a bit of red icing or a circle made of red-dyed sugar at the
center of each palm. Your children
might also enjoy this coloring
page with Pio's famous motto, "Pray, hope, and don't worry."
As to music for the day, Rico Garofalo, a composer from Foggia and a
friend of Padre Pio, wrote the following in Pio's honor: La Canzone di San Pio. It is sung
here by Luciano Lamonarca:
Canonization of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Capuchin Priest
Homily of John
Paul II
Sunday, 16 June
2002
1. "For my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Mt 11,30).
Jesus' words to his disciples, which we just heard, help us to
understand the most important message of this solemn celebration.
Indeed, in a certain sense, we can consider them as a magnificent
summary of the whole life of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, today proclaimed
a saint.
The evangelical image of the "yoke" recalls the many trials that the
humble Capuchin of San Giovanni Rotondo had to face. Today we
contemplate in him how gentle the "yoke" of Christ is, and how truly
light is his burden when it is borne with faithful love. The life and
mission of Padre Pio prove that difficulties and sorrows, if accepted
out of love, are transformed into a privileged way of holiness, which
opens onto the horizons of a greater good, known only to the Lord.
2. "But may I never boast except in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ"
(Gal 6,14).
Is it not, precisely, the "glory of the Cross" that shines above all in
Padre Pio? How timely is the spirituality of the Cross lived by the
humble Capuchin of Pietrelcina. Our time needs to rediscover the value
of the Cross in order to open the heart to hope.
Throughout his life, he always sought greater conformity with the
Crucified, since he was very conscious of having been called to
collaborate in a special way in the work of redemption. His holiness
cannot be understood without this constant reference to the Cross.
In God's plan, the Cross constitutes the true instrument of salvation
for the whole of humanity and the way clearly offered by the Lord to
those who wish to follow him (cf. Mk 16,24). The Holy Franciscan of the
Gargano understood this well, when on the Feast of the Assumption in
1914, he wrote: "In order to succeed in reaching our ultimate end we
must follow the divine Head, who does not wish to lead the chosen soul
on any way other than the one he followed; by that, I say, of
abnegation and the Cross" (Epistolario II, p. 155).
3. "I am the Lord who acts with mercy" (Jer 9,23).
Padre Pio was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making himself
available to all by welcoming them, by spiritual direction and,
especially, by the administration of the sacrament of Penance. I also
had the privilege, during my young years, of benefitting from his
availability for penitents. The ministry of the confessional, which is
one of the distinctive traits of his apostolate, attracted great crowds
of the faithful to the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo. Even when
that unusual confessor treated pilgrims with apparent severity, the
latter, becoming conscious of the gravity of sins and sincerely
repentant, almost always came back for the peaceful embrace of
sacramental forgiveness. May his example encourage priests to carry out
with joy and zeal this ministry which is so important today, as I
wished to confirm this year in the Letter to Priests on the occasion of
Holy Thursday.
4. "You, Lord, are my only good".
This is what we sang in the responsorial psalm. Through these words,
the new Saint invites us to place God above everything, to consider him
our sole and highest good.
In fact, the ultimate reason for the apostolic effectiveness of Padre
Pio, the profound root of so much spiritual fruitfulness can be found
in that intimate and constant union with God, attested to by his long
hours spent in prayer and in the confessional. He loved to repeat, "I
am a poor Franciscan who prays" convinced that "prayer is the best
weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God".
This fundamental characteristic of his spirituality continues in the
"Prayer Groups" that he founded, which offer to the Church and to
society the wonderful contribution of incessant and confident prayer.
To prayer, Padre Pio joined an intense charitable activity, of which
the "Home for the Relief of Suffering" is an extraordinary expression.
Prayer and charity, this is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's
teaching, which today is offered to everyone.
5. "I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because ... these
things ... you have revealed to little ones" (Mt 11,25).
How appropriate are these words of Jesus, when we think of them as
applied to you, humble and beloved Padre Pio.
Teach us, we ask you, humility of heart so we may be counted among the
little ones of the Gospel, to whom the Father promised to reveal the
mysteries of his Kingdom.
Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need
even before we ask him.
Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will be able to recognize right
away in the poor and suffering the face of Jesus.
Sustain us in the hour of the combat and of the trial and, if we fall,
make us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.
Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our
Mother.
Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed homeland,
where we hope to arrive in order to contemplate forever the glory of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Footnotes
1 "Pio" is Italian for "Pius"
2 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/39950/young-man-healed-by-padre-pio-recounts-story-of-miraculous-cure
3 Pope Pius XII excommunicated all involved in the
persecution of Cardinal Mindszenty and spoke out loudly against it even
as a Jewish Western journalist, George Seldes, cruelly lambasted the
Cardinal as a Nazi and antisemite. Though he was sentenced to life in
prison, he was imprisoned for seven years, released when the Hungarian
Revolution took place. The revolution was squelched by the Soviet
Union, so Mindszenty retreated to the U.S. Embassy there, where he
spent the next fifteen years. Pope Paul VI then adopted a policy of
appeasement toward the Communists -- an appeasement known as
"Ostpolitik" -- which Mindszenty loathed. But this appeasement led to
Communist Hungary allowing him to leave the country, which he did,
settling in Vienna. He died in 1975 at the age of 83.
4 Source:
https://sspx.org/en/padre-pio-vatican-ii-new-mass-30366. Retrieved
September 9, 2025.
