Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.  Francesco Forgione, who would later be known as Padre Pio, was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, on May 25, 1887. His mother named him Francesco or Francis for the great devotion that she had to St. Francis of Assisi. On January 1, 1803, when he was already decided to enter a Franciscan convent, the young Francesco received Holy Communion, and then he had a vision which preannounced a continual battle between him and the devil. Four days later, his last day before entering religious life, he had another vision of God and of Our Lady, who both encouraged him and assured him of His predilection in their eyes.
St. Paul says in Colossians 1:24, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body that is the Church." As followers of Christ, we all share in Christ's passion in one degree or another. Padre Pio shared in it far more than most people. Suffering was his constant companion. Even from the age of five, he suffered various illnesses. The illnesses came and went throughout his childhood and also throughout his religious formation.
Ordained to the priesthood on August 10, 1910, subsequently he fell ill again and, for health reasons, was given permission to return home and live alongside his family for the next six years. In 1916, he requested permission from his provincial to "pass some time" at the Capuchin Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, about 80 miles northeast of his hometown, because Jesus had told him that he would be better off there. And there he stayed until his death in 1968.
In Galatians 6:17, the apostle says, "Henceforth, let no man trouble me for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." In September of 1910, St. Padre Pio received the gift of the temporary stigmata, so the wounds and the marks on the hands and feet where our Lord was crucified, also wound in the side. And out of humility and embarrassment, he asked Jesus to remove the marks but not to take the pain away. On September 20, 1918, those transitory and temporary wounds became permanent, and they would remain with him along with that wound in his side until shortly before his death, some 50 years later. St. Francis bore the stigmata for two years, St. Pio for 50. My understanding is that St. Pio is the only priest saint to have actually borne the stigmata of Jesus.
Padre Pio suffered physically, mystically. He also suffered slander, mistreatment, misunderstandings as well. The famed physician, psychologist, Franciscan priest, and founder of Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Father Agostino Gemelli, gave a clinical description of St. Pio in the 1920s, saying that Padre Pio had, "a restricted field of knowledge," so he wasn't very intelligent. "Low psychic energy, monotonous ideas, little volition, and he was a mentally deficient poor soul with self-inflicted wounds," Father Gemelli. He called Padre Pio an "ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity." Many of the Vatican censures which St. Pio had to endure during his priesthood were likely the result of Father Gemelli's harsh criticism, but also the criticism of others, too.
St. Pio suffered tremendously, but he also prayed tremendously. He prayed constantly. He was reported to have prayed upwards of 100 rosaries each day, which is a mystical grace, of course. Padre Pio is quoted as saying, "Love Our Lady and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today." And he also said, "Prayer is the best weapon we have. It's the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart." In fact, on certain occasions, he said, "You should only speak to Him with your heart."  St. Pio of Pietrelcina was given the gifts of bilocation, of prophecy, the reading of hearts, miraculous healings. There was the smell of a sweet perfume which emanated from his person and also from his wounds, too. At times, he would hear confessions for 18 hours a day. He was a martyr for Christ for many, many years and in many ways. I remember when I was in Italy studying there, the friars would say that Padre Pio actually helped save the faith in Italy, that without him, Italy would have completely embraced the atheistic, communistic ideology that seeped into the country after World War II.
Briefly, I just want to tie this into what our country has experienced in the last couple of weeks with the death of Charlie Kirk, whom Cardinal Dolan actually said was a modern-day St. Paul. Charlie said that above all else, he wanted to be remembered for the courage of his Christian faith, the faith which he was essentially martyred for. And in many ways, he, too, was battling against the atheistic and communistic ideology that St. Pio helped to keep at bay. What Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 called the Errors of Russia, which she said would spread throughout the whole world, and they have over the last 100-plus years, the Errors of Atheism and Communism or Marxism.
If any of you saw the memorial service for Charlie the other day in Arizona, the whole service was basically a revival, large-scale revival meeting with virtually every speaker testifying to their faith in Christ. And our president and the vice president, the whole presidential cabinet, was actually there. It was really an unbelievable event. To me, the highlight of it was Charlie's wife, Erika, one, having the strength and the courage to actually speak at the audience after her husband had just been killed, and two, then actually forgiving Charlie's assassin, specifically because Jesus forgave His executioners. "The answer to hate is not hate," she said. "The answer is love."   Erika is a devout Catholic. Charlie wasn't far behind. It seems like he was actually on the verge of embracing the Catholic faith as well. I read yesterday that he was wearing a medal of St. Michael the Archangel when he was shot a couple weeks ago, a medal which his wife is now wearing in his honor. Charlie even recently said that Protestants don't honor Mary enough and that Our Lady is the solution to toxic feminism in America. He said that on his July 16th episode of his show. I'm not sure if he was aware of the significance of that date. By now, he probably is aware of that.
Just mention all this because even though Charlie wasn't spiritually and mystically graced like Padre Pio, and who is frankly, but even though he wasn't a Padre Pio, my prayer, my hope is that Charlie's death will help save our country spiritually. Like Padre Pio's decades-long martyrdom helped save his. That Charlie's death will be the fruit of a true spiritual awakening in our country. And remember, as America goes, so goes the world. As America goes, so goes the world. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church or the seed of Christians, Tertullian said many years ago, still true today.
So at his feast day, let's ask St. Pio for his intercession that our country would continue its return to the Lord in full force. And let's pick up our rosaries and petition Our Lady, especially for that grace.  Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever. Amen.