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Popular Italian Catholic saint exhumed 40 years on (Padre Pio's body in fair condition)
Reuters ^ | March 3, 2008 | Phillip Pullella

Posted on 03/03/2008 5:33:15 AM PST by NYer

ROME, March 3 (Reuters Life!) - The body of the mystic monk Padre Pio, one of the Roman Catholic world's most revered saints who died 40 years ago, has been exhumed to be prepared for display to his many devotees.

The body of the Capuchin friar, who was said to have had the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ's crucifixion -- on his hands and feet -- is to be conserved and put in a part-glass coffin for at least several months from April 24.

A Church statement said the body was in "fair condition", particularly the hands, which Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, who witnessed the exhumation in the southern Italian town where Pio died, said "looked like they had just undergone a manicure".

A spokesman for the monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo said he believed morticians would be able to conserve the face of the bearded monk well enough for it to be recognisable.

The body, which had been buried under marble in a crypt, was exhumed during a three-hour service that ended after midnight.

A Catholic magazine once found that far more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than to any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

Some 7 million people visit his tomb every year. There are some 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" around the world, with a membership of around 3 million.

The friar, born Francesco Forgione, died in 1968 aged 81.

Among the stories that surround him is one that he wrestled with the devil in his monastery cell.

Padre Pio is also said to have predicted future events, to have been seen in two places at once, and to have been able to tell people their sins before they confessed them to him.

Pope John Paul II made him a saint in 2002 at a ceremony that drew one of the biggest crowds ever to the Vatican after the Church said it had found evidence that the miraculous cure of a sick woman was due to the dead monk's intercession.

But Padre Pio was dogged during his life and even after his death by accusations that he was a fraud.

A new book last year suggested he was a self-harming man who may have used carbolic acid to create wounds in his hands mimicking those of Christ when he was nailed to the cross.

Church officials have repeatedly denied that he was a fake. (Editing by Kevin Liffey)


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; History
KEYWORDS: padrepio; saint
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1 posted on 03/03/2008 5:33:17 AM PST by NYer
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To: Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...

St. Pio, pray for us!

2 posted on 03/03/2008 5:34:53 AM PST by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer

I’m sorry to hear this. I was hoping he’d be left decently in his grave.


3 posted on 03/03/2008 5:36:07 AM PST by Tax-chick (I am snide and not intellectual today. How are you doing?)
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To: All

4 posted on 03/03/2008 5:37:30 AM PST by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: All
Official Site - St. Padre Pio di Pietrelcina
5 posted on 03/03/2008 5:43:01 AM PST by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer
;
Blessed Padre Pio. Pray for us

6 posted on 03/03/2008 6:04:33 AM PST by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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To: NYer

Thanks for the ping NYer.I work with a priest who concelebrated Mass with him.He loves stories of Saint Padre Pio.


7 posted on 03/03/2008 6:05:35 AM PST by fatima
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To: fatima

They look like burns to me.


8 posted on 03/03/2008 6:07:34 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: AppyPappy

That one close up does.Father could see the wounds on Padre Pio hands and he said they were real.


9 posted on 03/03/2008 6:12:56 AM PST by fatima
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To: AppyPappy
Bleesed Saint Pio was humbled that Christ would give him these wounds. He asked Christ that he may suffer with Him

;

10 posted on 03/03/2008 6:19:51 AM PST by stfassisi ("Above all gifts that Christ gives his beloved is that of overcoming self"St Francis Assisi)
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To: AppyPappy
They look like burns to me.

Funny you should say that - Italy's Padre Pio 'faked his stigmata with acid'

11 posted on 03/03/2008 6:32:41 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" -- Galatians 4:16)
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To: Alex Murphy
The stigmata were examined nine ways until Sunday, during Padre Pio's lifetime, by a variety of scientists and clinicians.

None could provide a cogent scientific explanation based on the known laws of science. Furthermore, the stigmata were just one of a variety of mystical phenomena associated with the Padre, all of which eluded rational explanations.

There have been fake stigmatists over the years but the fraud usually comes to light very quickly and it never stands the test of time. That's because there have been a considerable number of genuine stigmatists down through the centuries, including St. Francis of Assisi and the Church has become fairly adept at spotting the fakers.

12 posted on 03/03/2008 7:21:55 AM PST by marshmallow
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To: fatima
I work with a priest who concelebrated Mass with him. He loves stories of Saint Padre Pio.

I'll be he has plenty of stories to share as well. Such an awesome saint. Have you ever seen the documentary on his life?

13 posted on 03/03/2008 9:29:16 AM PST by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: stfassisi

I believe he is a saint now!


14 posted on 03/03/2008 9:36:44 AM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: NYer

A great book to read (biography of Saint Pio) by Ruffin!

Lots of facts and proof of his stigmata.


15 posted on 03/03/2008 9:38:23 AM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: NYer
Popular Italian Catholic saint exhumed 40 years on (Padre Pio's body in fair condition)

Letter 33 - Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 16 November 1914.

Padre Pio and the Mother Co-redemptrix(CATHOLIC CAUCUS)

Saint Padre Pio letters #29Correspondence with Raffaelina Cerase

Message, St. Padre Pio During Mass

Padre Pio and the Guardian Angel

Spiritual Counsels from Saint Padre Pio

What Does It Means To Be Canonized.(Padre Pio example)

Feast of St. Pio this FRIDAY! (Padre Pio - Pray for Texas!)

Padre Pio's Love for the Blessed Mother

St. Padre Pio

Padre Pio's Shrine, as the Architect Sees It - Renzo Piano Talks about Church, San Giovanni Rotondo

Padre Pio Aid Says Saint Accepted New Mass

Padre Pio: on Spirituality, Vatican II and the Novus Ordo Missae

Remarkable Transformation: Padre Pio

Cardinal Schotte (Head of the Synod of Bishops) and his view on Dallas; Rose petals for Padre Pio

Saint Padre Pio's Body Not Found in His Tomb?

Padre Pio Now A Saint - Wrestled With Devil, Predicted Future

Padre Pio Wrestled with Devil, Predicted Future

Pope Bestows Sainthood on Padre Pio

PADRE PIO DA PIETRELCINA

Padre Pio to be Canonized This June

His Friends Remember Padre Pio

16 posted on 03/03/2008 9:38:52 AM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: NYer
I have not seen any new things but did a lot of research many years ago.I used to have a signed letter from one of the priest’s there on the stigmata and also a book written by Mary Pyle-she signed that also.I gave it all away to priest friends.I also met a child that was cured by him.Her mother helped build a local shine to him here in PA.
Father likes to tell his story.They say Father Frank is pious and maybe that is why early one morning as everyone waited outside the gate Padre Pio came out and picked him to say Mass with him.Father tells the story much better than I can.
17 posted on 03/03/2008 9:43:38 AM PST by fatima
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To: Tax-chick
I’m sorry to hear this. I was hoping he’d be left decently in his grave.

*******************

I feel the same.

Sorry.

18 posted on 03/03/2008 10:33:45 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Tax-chick

I don’t know if the exhuming is a good or bad thing but I wish I had a chance to meet this great man while still alive; now, alas, prayers will have to do.


19 posted on 03/03/2008 10:38:40 AM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture™)
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To: NYer
A Catholic magazine once found that far more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than to any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

I love St. Padre Pio, and as a Catholic will pray to Saints, but that statement is one of the more bizarre I have encountered.

20 posted on 03/03/2008 10:44:59 AM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture™)
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