Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, priest and Stigmatist
by VP
Posted on Tuesday September 23, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
Mgr. Giuseppe Petralia, Bishop of Agrigento in Sicily said:
"I believe that the moments in which this priest was truly Christ's
Cyrenean were those in which he celebrated Mass. Artists have attempted
to interpret the meaning of Padre Pio's Mass and I feel sure that
theologians will also have a lot to explore in that extraordinary Mass. I
believe that Padre Pio received the grace and the burden not merely of
renewing in a mystical manner the sacrifice of the cross but of living
over again in his heart and in his body the tragedy of the Passion. He
was made to suffer in those moments the agony of Gethsemane, the
scourging in the praetorium, the crowning with thorns, the mockery of
the crowd, of the Sanhedrin and the Roman soldiers, the humiliation of
the unjust sentence, the carrying of the cross, and the crucifixion with
all its torments and humiliations. This was Padre Pio's Mass: a genuine
participation, a mission of reparation." ------Padre Pio: His Life and Mission, pp. 99-100.
