By Joe Pisani
Is it any wonder this Capuchin friar is one of the most beloved saints of our time?
In September, five major relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina will travel to nine parishes across the Diocese of Bridgeport for nine consecutive nights as part of a novena in the saint’s honor, which will begin on his feast day, September 23.
At each church, the evening will start with the celebration of Mass at 7 p.m., followed by the Litany of St. Pio and veneration of his relics. There is no fee, registration is not required and everyone is welcome.
Bishop Frank J. Caggiano says, “Padre Pio reminds us that holiness is not a distant ideal but a living reality, offered to each of us. I warmly encourage the faithful of our diocese to come, to pray and to ask the intercession of this beloved saint, who points us always to the mercy of Christ.”
The relics for veneration are a crust from Saint Pio’s wounds, a piece of his mantle, his brown fingerless glove, a handkerchief he used at Mass to wipe his tears, and a lock of his hair.
Bishop Caggiano and Deacon Patrick Toole, Chancellor & Secretary of the Curia, conceived the idea for the novena after the Saint Pio of Pietrelcina Foundation gave the Diocese of Bridgeport custody of the relics.
Bishop Caggiano plans to install one of the relics in the chapel of Padre Pio at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport and another at a garden chapel in Greenwich, which will be constructed. The novena will become an annual tradition, and another is being planned for next spring.
Deacon Toole has seen evidence of a deep devotion to Padre Pio in the diocese, including the chapel at St. Charles Borromeo, a prayer group at St. Jude in Monroe and several fraternities of Third Order Franciscans.
“Padre Pio is probably the closest thing in our time to someone you would look at and say, ‘This person is walking directly in the footsteps of Christ,’” Deacon Toole said. “He embodied many of the charisms of our Lord. He was given so many graces … and he has given people so much hope.”
Just as Padre Pio dedicated his life to helping souls, the goal of the novena is to honor his memory and continue his mission by bringing people closer to Christ.
Deacon Toole believes many people are attracted to the saint because he lived in the modern era, and there are many enduring accounts of his life.
There are also countless cases of physical and spiritual healings through his intercession. He had the ability to read hearts and knew people’s sins even before they confessed them. He is said to have heard confessions 10 to 15 hours a day.
Padre Pio is the only priest who had the five wounds of Christ, in addition to the gift of bilocation — the ability to be in two places at the same time — even though he never left the Capuchin Friary of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy, where he stayed from 1916 until his death in 1968. Today some 7 million pilgrims go there each year.
“It’s quite a remarkable place,” said Deacon Toole, who made a pilgrimage in 2013. “At the friary, there is a room that contains the testimonial letters people sent supporting his cause for sainthood, and I couldn’t even count how many there were from people who claim some miraculous event or healing through his intercession. He’s one of those saints where the stories you hear just go on and on.”
Deacon Toole has witnessed Padre Pio’s intercession in his own life several times, including his vocation to the diaconate. One story he heard while teaching an OCIA class was from a young woman, who with her boyfriend had borrowed her mother’s car.
“Her mother had a devotion to Padre Pio and there was a statue of him on the dashboard,” Deacon Toole recalled. “The girl wasn’t wearing her seat belt, and they got into a serious accident. Suddenly, she felt an arm pin her against the seat. When the car stopped, she said to her boyfriend, ‘Thank you for saving me.’ But his hands were frozen to the steering wheel. ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked. In that moment, she saw the right hand of Padre Pio was broken off and lying on the floor. She believed it was the saint’s intercession that saved her.”
Bonnie Thibodeau, who started the Padre Pio Prayer Group of Fairfield County last year, said she is excited the relics are coming to St. Jude in Monroe.
“Padre Pio is still working and always pointing us toward our savior Jesus Christ, and he seems to have found our parish,” she said. “I didn’t really have a close relationship with him, but through a friend’s personal encounter with this awesome saint, I decided to pursue a relationship with him.”
In recent months, the prayer group has featured several speakers who had encounters Padre Pio, and their stories have had a profound effect on the members, who come from surrounding parishes and the Archdiocese of Hartford.
Books and other materials will be available for purchase at the diocesan novena. The Saint Pio of Pietrelcina Foundation helped organize the event and make the veneration of his relics possible. For more information about the foundation, visit: www.saintpioofpietrelcina.org. To view a documentary about Padre Pio’s life, visit: www.saintpioofpietrelcina.org/docudrama Visit the diocesan novena website: https://www.bridgeportdiocese.org/st-pio-novena/#novena
The dates and churches are as follows:
9/23: The Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, Stamford
9/24: Church of the Holy Spirit, Stamford
9/25: St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Fairfield
9/26: St. Augustine Cathedral, Bridgeport
9/27: St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Trumbull
9/28: St. Jude Parish, Monroe
9/29: St. Patrick Parish, Redding
9/30: St. Philip Church, Norwalk
10/1: Church of St. Cecilia, Stamford
Deacon Toole is hopeful the novena will honor the saint’s memory and also introduce him to many others. “I pray that people will participate in the novena and get to know this special saint more deeply,” he said.
