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.”
Frank Rega
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While two patron saints are generally invoked for the protection of the unborn, St. Joseph and St. Gerard Majella, neither is specifically designated by the Church for that cause. St. Gerard is in fact the patron of expectant mothers, and by accommodation becomes a patron for the unborn. St. Joseph has often been proposed as a patron saint of the unborn, because of his role as protector of the Holy Family and patron of the Universal Church. (St. Raymond Nonnatus, who was born by Caesarean section in the year 1204, is the patron saint of childbirth.)
However, St. Padre Pio has a specific claim to the honor of patron saint of
the unborn, since it is a prerogative that was confirmed by the Blessed
Virgin Mary herself. 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:
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.”
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.
Abortion: “That’s Killing!”
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 “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 baby boy 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 Incidentally, Padre Pio believed that eight children was an ideal family size!
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
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This and similar articles are in the above book, available in print or Kindle format.
Frank Rega is the author of: Padre
Pio and America,
St.
Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims,
The
Greatest Catholic President: Garcia Moreno of Ecuador
Life of the Mystic Luisa Piccarreta
- Journeys in the Divine Will vols. 1 and 2
Life of the Mystic Luisa
Piccarreta - volume 3 in preparation
The
Truth about Padre Pio's Stigmata and Other Wonders of the Saint
Vatican II, Evolution, and Medjugorje: Hubris, Heresy, and Mystery
www.frankrega.com www.sanpadrepio.com www.thepoverello.com www.lifeofluisa.com
This page was last updated on 06/26/14