Tis_Bearself
Patron
I was fortunate to get to see the relics of St. Padre Pio in Arlington on Sunday. I wanted to go Sunday afternoon to also attend the special Mass in his honor. Due to heavy traffic I got there about 45 minutes before Mass started and they were cutting off the line for the veneration of the relics, which were in a separate chapel. I ended up being the second last person in line to get in before they closed the door. A bunch of people were shut out from seeing the relics up close or touching them, though they could still attend the Mass.
The homilist at the Mass was a priest from another parish who had a lifelong devotion to St. Pio and had written him letters starting when the homilist was 12 years old. Apparently the priest’s aunt had had a friend who had terminal lymphatic cancer and, figuring he had nothing to lose, had traveled to Italy to see Padre Pio, in the days when it was not easy to get there. Upon arrival he could not get an appointment with Padre Pio but was told to stand in the street with a crowd of people who had gathered to watch Padre Pio pass by and he would give them a blessing. As Padre Pio was passing by, he saw this man in the crowd and went over and told him “Go back to America, you have nothing to worry about,” and the man went home cured of the cancer. He told several other interesting stories that I had not heard before.
I hope to go back and see them again in September in NYC although I will go earlier next time.
The homilist at the Mass was a priest from another parish who had a lifelong devotion to St. Pio and had written him letters starting when the homilist was 12 years old. Apparently the priest’s aunt had had a friend who had terminal lymphatic cancer and, figuring he had nothing to lose, had traveled to Italy to see Padre Pio, in the days when it was not easy to get there. Upon arrival he could not get an appointment with Padre Pio but was told to stand in the street with a crowd of people who had gathered to watch Padre Pio pass by and he would give them a blessing. As Padre Pio was passing by, he saw this man in the crowd and went over and told him “Go back to America, you have nothing to worry about,” and the man went home cured of the cancer. He told several other interesting stories that I had not heard before.
I hope to go back and see them again in September in NYC although I will go earlier next time.