Saints and Miracles

 

Saint Padre Pio and some of his Miracles of the Cross

Saint Padre and his Miracles

There are literally thousands of stories of Padre Pio, with regard to the many spiritual gifts he received.  

Many of these have been documented, while others are legend, having been woven out of a sincere love people have had for him and a desire to make him bigger than life.  But as Fr. Joseph Pio once said to us as we were writing the biography of Padre Pio,[1] "The truth is actually more fascinating than fiction." 

And so the Miracles we will share with you in this chapter have been documented by the Capuchins in San Giovanni Rotondo.

The Miracle of the Crucified Christ

One of the Miracles of the Cross dealing with Padre Pio has to do with the experience the Lord gave him almost daily as he prepared for and experienced the Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Mass.[2] 

Eyewitnesses, such as Fr. Alessio Parente and Fr. Joseph Pio[3] have shared with us that when Padre Pio would begin preparations for the Sacrifice of the Mass, and this could have been more than an hour before he actually began the Mass, they could see his knees begin to buckle and his body become bent under a tremendous invisible weight as he got closer and closer to entering the church and the altar. 

He told them he was carrying the weight of the Cross on his shoulders, and as we know, the Cross held the weight of all the sins Jesus was dying for. 

To those closest to Padre Pio, and actually many of those who waited for hours in the bitter cold outside the Church in the middle of the night to take part in the 5:30 a.m. Mass with him, they could actually see him being transformed into the Crucified Christ before their eyes during those times.

The Miracle of the Cross in the body of Padre Pio

Shortly after he was ordained, Padre Pio began to notice what he termed "red patches, about the size of a cent, accompanied by acute pain." 

This is from a letter he sent Padre Benedetto on the Birthday of Mary, September 8, 1911. 

He went on to say, "The pain was much more acute in the left hand and it still persists.  I also feel some pain in the soles of my feet." 

He told his superior that this had been happening, on and off, for almost a year.  So from the time of his ordination, at twenty three years old, he began to feel in his body, the wounds of the Passion of Christ. 

He prayed that the wounds would not show.  The Lord answered his prayers for nine years, and so while the physical signs disappeared, the pain continued.

The Transverberation of the Heart

As if in anticipation of the great miracle he was to be given very shortly, the Lord granted Padre Pio a very special gift, one that would give him joy mixed with pain all his life, agony and ecstasy. 

On August 5, 1918, he received the gift of Transverberation of the Heart.  Padre Pio wrote of this experience,

    "While I was hearing the confessions of our boys on the evening of the 5th (August), I was suddenly filled with extreme terror at the sight of a celestial being whom I saw with my mind's eye.  He held a kind of weapon in his hand, similar to a steel sword with a sharp, flaming point.  At the very instant I saw all this, I saw the person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might.  It was all done in a split second.  I was hardly able to cry out and felt as if I were dying.  I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish.  Even my insides were torn and ruptured by that weapon, everything lashed by fire and steel.  From that day on, I was wounded to death.  In the depths of my soul, I feel an open wound which causes me to suffer continual agony."
....

Taken from: http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/padre-pio.html

The Star of the Magi

Matthew 2


New International Version (NIV)


The Magi Visit the Messiah

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:



6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”



7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”



9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.



The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]



16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:



18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”[d]



The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.



Footnotes:

a.Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men

b.Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4

c.Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1

d.Matthew 2:18 Jer. 31:15


Taken from: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2&version=NIV

Saints that are Incorruptible

THE INCORRUPTIBILITY OF SAINTS
By Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

When a body is described as being incorrupt it means that it does not decay after death. The same cannot be said of a body that is well preserved or mummified, or has undergone an embalming process. Most such corpses become stiff, but incorruptible saints remain completely flexible, as if they are only sleeping.

This is particularly true of Saint Bernadette [pictured above] whose body is displayed in a glass case at the Convent of Nevers in France. In spite of having died more than 130 years ago, she looks for all the world as if she is about to wake up. It is true that when she was exhumed a second time, the nuns gave her face a light wax mask, but this was done mainly to cover damage caused earlier by washing. A doctor who removed one of her ribs to provide a relic found her body had remained pliable. Pope John XXIII’s body remains intact, but it was embalmed for his lying in state and the Church does not claim that it is incorruptible due to supernatural reasons.

There is a whole list of saints, however, whose bodies have been found to be incorrupt. Not all of them were Roman Catholics. The Russian Orthodox Church is well represented by such as St. Alexander of Svir, who was a monk, and by the martyrs of Vilnius, St. Anthony, St. John and St. Eustathios.

The exhumation of saints’ bodies may appear a macabre business, but the first examples of incorruptibility were discovered by accident. It usually happened when a body was being transferred from one place to another. Now, of course, the Church is more alive to the possibility. Not that it expects the body of every saint to be incorruptible. Indeed, it is unusual, and no one knows why a few saints’ bodies are preserved and most are not. Some believe that the piety of a particular saint is so remarkable that it permeates the whole body, while others believe that decomposition has been prevented directly by God, irrespective of the degree of piety.

The argument for a physical cause, usually applied to persons not known for their religious background, relates to the physical environment in which decomposition has been retarded by the cool, dry conditions of the place of burial. With regard to Catholic saints, the Church maintains that the environments in which saints’ bodies have been preserved are normal, or even, in some instances, particularly damp. Sometimes two bodies will be buried side by side, as was the case with Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco, the young seers of Fatima, yet only one was preserved.

Cases of incorruptibility go back a long way. The first saint whose body was found to be incorrupt was St. Cecilia, who was martyred in AD 177. Her remains were moved to a new site in 822, and in 1599 an exhumation revealed her body to be incorrupt. Over the centuries more than 100 cases of saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible have come to light, sometimes, as with St. Cecilia, many years after their death.

St. Agnes of Montepulciano died in 1317. Not only did her body remain incorrupt, but a perfumed liquid flowed from her hands and feet. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Another Italian, St. Catherine of Bologna, died at the age of 49 in the year 1463 and was canonized in 1712. She was buried unembalmed and without a casket; 18 days later, after various reports of graveside miracles, her body was exhumed and found to be flexible and uncorrupted. It was moved to the chapel of the Poor Clares in Bologna where it is displayed to this day, dressed and seated upright in a glass case.

St. Catherine Labouré (1806 – 1876) [pictured to the left] was born in Burgundy, France. She is famous for having passed on a request from Our Lady for the creation of the Miraculous Medal, worn now by thousands of the faithful. When her body was exhumed in 1933 it was found to be incorrupt. It rests now on display in the chapel of Our Lady of the Sun in the Rue du Bac, Paris.

In October, 1977, the canonization took place of an ordained Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk named Charbel Makhlouf. He had lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death at the age of seventy in 1898. With a reputation for holiness, he followed a strict fast and was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. After his death, mysterious, dazzling lights were seen over his grave and pilgrims began to visit. His corpse which had been exuding sweat and blood was transferred to a special coffin, and hordes of pilgrims swarmed to the place seeking his intercession. They still do.

As recently as January, 1993, a partially paralysed fifty-six-year old woman named Nohed El Shami saw two Maronite monks standing next to her bed. They performed surgery on her neck and when she woke up she found two wounds on her neck. She was completely healed and able to walk again. One of the monks she identified as Charbel. His canonization took place on 9th October, 1977, in the Vatican.

[Pictured to the left is the popular Saint John Vianney, affectionately known as the Cure d'Ars] Mention has been made of the exudation of sweat and blood from St. Charbel’s body. The same symptoms have been observed with other saints, often many years after their death. The odour of sanctity is frequently mentioned, not only at the time of death or burial, but many years later. It is frequently described as a sweet-smelling perfume. In the case of the Venerable Mother Maria of Jesus (a contemporary of St. Theresa of Avila), who died in 1640, the odour detected on the occasion of her exhumation in 1929 was described as a ‘sweet perfume of roses and jasmines’ which clung not only to her body, but to articles she was known to have used during her lifetime. This was 289 years after her death!

The Church is reluctant to accept the incorruption of the body of a candidate for sainthood as a miracle proving sanctity. The cause of beatification is usually well under way before graves are opened for the recognition of relics. You could say that incorruption is seen as a bonus. By the same token, dissolution of a body provides no hindrance to a saint’s cause. Many of our most illustrious saints went the way of all flesh, including Saint Therese of Lisieux who foretold, correctly, that her body would not be protected.

We should gratefully accept that our ability to see the miraculously preserved bodies of individual saints is a privilege, a comfort and a source of encouragement in our daily struggle to achieve some degree of holiness.

-Click here for an excellent article on the incorrupt bodies of the Saints.

... 
Taken from: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/04/saints-that-are-incorruptable.html

Pope hails potential of adult stem cell research



CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday spoke out in favour of adult stem cell research and called for any ensuing treatments to benefit all who need the care regardless of their financial means.

"Illness is no respecter of persons, and justice demands that every effort be made to place the fruits of scientific research at the disposal of all who stand to benefit from them, irrespective of their means," Benedict told some 250 delegates who attended a Vatican conference on the research this week.

The Vatican, which is opposed to embryonic stem cell therapy because it requires the destruction of a human embryo, hosted experts in adult stem cells, seen by the Roman Catholic Church as an alternative since no embryo is involved.

In May 2010, the Holy See signed a deal with US biopharmaceutical company NeoStem that specialises in adult stem cells and the Vatican has already invested one million dollars (730,000 euros) in the company's work.

"The potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable," the pope told the experts Saturday, while also speaking of the ethical concerns.

The fact that human embryonic stem cells (ESC) can potentially become any type of cell in the body has long held out the tantalising promise of diseased organs or tissue being repaired or replaced with healthy, lab-grown cells.

"When the end in view is one so eminently desirable as the discovery of a cure for degenerative illnesses, it is tempting for scientists and policymakers to brush aside ethical objections...," Benedict said of embryonic stem cell research.

But the discovery in 2007 that it is possible to coax certain adult cells back into their immature, pre-specialised state has fuelled renewed efforts to generate brand new muscle, heart or even brain cells, this time from raw material provided by the patient.

And for the Church adult stem cells pose no ethical dilemma.

"No such ethical problems arise when stem cells are taken from the tissues of an adult organism, from the blood of the umbilical cord at the moment of birth, or from fetuses who have died of natural causes," the pope said.

The Vatican hailed its conference on adult stem cells as dispelling the widespread notion that the Catholic Church is at "loggerheads with science", said Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

....

Taken from:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1VaV9JxfM1dq6igCeLR1C0UmibA?docId=CNG.cbc3ed79698bb9cab8ad6a92169ceb0c.31

'Science cannot explain human existence': Pope Benedict XVI



'Science cannot explain human existence'Benedict tells religious leaders that science provides invaluable understanding but has its limitations



Riazat Butt and John Hooper guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 September 2010 15.08 BST Article history

Pope Benedict at a meeting of religious leaders at St Mary's University College in Strawberry Hill, south-west London. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters



The pope intervened in the debate over the origins of the universe today by claiming that science could not explain the "ultimate meaning" of human existence.



Speaking at St Mary's University College in Strawberry Hill, south-west London, Benedict told an audience of religious leaders from different faiths that the human and natural sciences provided us with an "invaluable understanding" of aspects of our existence.



But he said science could not satisfy the "fundamental" question about why we exist.



"They cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart, they cannot fully explain to us our origin and our destiny, why and for what purpose we exist, nor indeed can they provide us with an exhaustive answer to the question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?'"



He may well have been referring to Stephen Hawking, who writes in his latest book that no divine force is needed to explain why the universe was formed. He argued in The Grand Design that physics, and not a creator, was responsible for the Big Bang.



The pope warned against rejecting religion in favour of a purely scientific outlook. "Never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerous and narrow if it ignores the riches or ethical dimensions of life. Just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world."



He added: "We need good historians, and philosophers and economists but if the accounts they give of human life is too narrowly focused they can lead us seriously astray."



The pope also used his wide-ranging speech – made before the revelation that five men had been arrested in connection with an alleged threat against him – to reiterate his opposition to the persecution of Christian minorities. He said that restricting religious freedom was an obstacle to interfaith dialogue.



Earlier the pope warned against the cult of celebrity and wealth, telling about 4,000 school pupils and young people that "money is not enough to make us happy".
He urged them to find happiness in God instead of modelling themselves on sport or entertainment stars.



In contrast to his strongly worded addresses yesterday, the pope struck a more informal tone. "I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the 21st century," he said.



Benedict is known for baffling lay audiences with abstruse dissertations on the faith. But on this occasion, he made a point of talking in a language that was calculated to reach his listeners.

In an address that was relayed to Catholic schools around the country, he said: "Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like.

"We live in a celebrity culture and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment."

But by inviting his listeners to become saints, the pope said he was asking them "not to be content with second best".



He urged them not to be swayed by the motivations of wealth: "Having money makes it possible to be generous and do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy.

"Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy."



Taken from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/17/pope-benedict-science-not-enough

Pin-Headed Scientists

A Note From Father Brian Harrison

....

You look at these brilliant new photos displaying the vastness of creation (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1212272/Hubble-telescope-images-universe-before.html), and you wonder how anyone could take seriously the Big Bang theory that all of this material and energy in the universe was once concentrated into a tiny point far, far smaller than the head of a pin! (And these are the same folks who ridicule the Church for supposedly debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin!)

Blessings,
Fr. Brian


Robert Sungenis (Bellarmine Theological Forum) has further commented on this:

....
Indeed!

One interesting problem the BB's have had is explaining how Hubble can get such clear images of objects that are supposedly billions of light years away. All the images, those supposedly close and those supposedly far, have the same clarity.
Also, they have never been able to explain how the galaxies that they say are at the edge of the universe are fully formed, just as the galaxies close to us. The BB theory predicted that there should be no fully formed galaxies at the edge, since they would have had no time to develop into galaxies.
All of this, of course, gives evidence that the galaxies were created as they are at the same time, coincident with the Genesis record.
....

History and Journey of the Shroud of Turin



The Shroud of Turin - its Origin and Journey

One of the most fascinating gifts the Lord has given us is His own burial cloth.



The Shroud of Turin may be one of the greatest Miracles on the face of the Earth!



How His image was burned into that cloth, and how it has survived these 2000 years is nothing short of miraculous.



We have always had a great love for and devotion to this gift of Our Lord. Let us share with you the history and the journey of the Shroud.



First let us pause and review the Gospel accounts of the Shroud of Turin.



“Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in fresh linen…” Matthew 27:59



“Then, having brought a linen shroud, Joseph took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a tomb which had been cut out of rock.” Mark 15:46



“He took it down (the body of Jesus), wrapped it in fine linen, and laid it in a tomb hewn out of the rock, in which no one had yet been buried.” Luke 23:53.



“He (Peter) stooped down, but could see nothing but the linen cloth.” Luke 24:12



“He (John) did not enter but bent down to peer in and saw the linen wrappings lying there.” John 20:5



The Shroud of Turin, or linen cloth, is mentioned in each of the Evangelists’ accounts of the death and burial of Jesus.



It is never mentioned again, which makes sense because the cloth’s importance was completely overshadowed by the surge of energy which brought the life of Our Savior back into His body.



But logic dictates, His followers did not just leave the cloth there on the ground, to be thrown away.



This was the cloth which held the body of Jesus.



At a minimum, it would be considered a relic of the Savior.



At most, it was a precious keepsake of the death and resurrection of Jesus.



And probably, when Jesus left us after 40 days, this cloth was one of the few mementos they had of the physical presence of Jesus among them.



What happened to the Shroud of Turin next?



The answers to this question are documented in part.



One of the gaps was officially filled in just this year.



But there are areas where we have to employ; “What if”, and “Why not”.



Another question we’re not sure how to answer is, when did the image of His Face, and then His whole body, become visible for all to see? Let’s begin with tradition.



St. Jude Thaddeus was the cousin of Jesus. He is known to have evangelized the area around Turkey.



He is also the only one of the apostles, who wore a large medal around his neck, with the Image of Jesus on it.



There is a tradition that has to do with the emir of Edessa in Turkey, Abgar who lived during the time of Jesus. Abgar was a leper, and he had heard about Jesus and His healing power. He wrote to Jesus, asking Him to come to Edessa and cure Abgar. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send one of His disciples, who would heal Abgar.



Jesus died, and tradition has it that His cousin, Jude Thaddeus took on the task of going to Edessa to fulfill the request of Abgar for a healing, and also to evangelize the area.



Tradition also has it that he brought with him a cloth handkerchief which had on it a faint image of Jesus, similar to the medal Jude Thaddeus wore around his neck.



When Abgar saw the image of Jesus, he was immediately healed and converted to Christianity. In addition, he also had his emirate converted to Christianity.



Now, most of this has been documented historically.



There was an emirate named Abgar V, who lived during the time of Jesus.



The town of Edessa was evangelized during that time, and there was a tradition of a sacred image of the Holy Face of Jesus involved.



There’s no explanation as to how Abgar got the Holy Cloth of Jesus from St. Jude, but tradition tells us that it was revered in that area during the lifetime of Abgar.



However, after his death, his son reverted back to his pagan ways and carried out a terrible persecution of the Christian converts. He attempted to destroy all images of Jesus, most especially the Holy Cloth. At that point, the image of Jesus disappeared, and was not heard of again for almost 500 years.



Historian Ian Wilson[1] suggests that the Christians who hid the Image were most likely killed by the son of Abgar during his persecution, because, although Christianity was restored in the second century, the Holy Image was never recovered, although the people continued to revere it.



If we believed in coincidence, we would say the finding of the Holy Face of Jesus was coincidental.



But since the only coincidence we will accept is Holy Coincidence, the Lord decided it was time for the Shroud of Turin to come back to be venerated and adored by the people.



In 525 or 544, depending on whose date you accept, the walls of the city of Edessa had to be repaired. In removing the covering of the west wall above the gate, or portal, the Image of the Holy Face was found. This was the first time that any description of the Image was given.



It was said to be a reflection, or a negative, rather than a positive which we would see in a photograph or painting. The Image found a place of honor in Edessa, and in the entire region.



The emperor Justinian, had a cathedral built in honor of the Sacred Face. Veneration continued through a period when the heresy Iconoclasm, was very strong in the Church.



However, the Lord protected His Image from the wrath of that heresy. During this time, it was called a Mandylion, which is an Arabic word for Napkin or Handkerchief. We have to assume that no one ever opened up the linen image the entire length and width, until 944, when a very strange thing happened. We go from this little town in Turkey, way up to Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, a distance of almost 1,300 kilometers, or 800 miles.



The emperor, who had not lived the holiest of lives, wanted the Holy Image to be brought to him in Constantinople, most likely, to safeguard himself and the city against invaders.



He felt, as did the Jews with the Ark of the Covenant, that if he possessed this most holy Image, that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, it would be a free pass to Heaven.



He went to great lengths to get it, offering the emir so many benefits, he could not turn it down. There was a slight problem when the people of Edessa, who venerated the Holy Image greatly, even though they only saw it a few times a year, did not want to see it leave their land.



Forgeries and disruptions slowed the process, but eventually, the Shroud of Turin found its way to the Cathedral Hagia Sofia in Constantinople.



SIDEBAR Bob and Penny Lord have been writing a small but very complete account of the Shroud of Turin with all of its historical twists and turns including the series of investigations in the 20th century. This has been a major work on their part to have a booklet available that presents a unified sequence with accompanied references. And of course Bob and Penny use their investigative and organizational excellence to put many of the pieces of this puzzle together to bring clarity and veracity to the Shroud of Turin.SIDEBAR





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[1] The Shroud of Turin – Pocket Books 1979







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Shroud of Turin

Complete, concise, and clarifying booklet

20 Pages - color photos

e-book $2.95

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The History of the Shroud of Turin by Bob and Penny Lord



Booklet - Many pictures - 24 pages - complete history and journey from Jerusalem to Turin - Concise - Complete - Clarifying



$4.95 order now - -Shipping January 14 2010

Taken from: http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/shroud-of-turin.html