St. Padre Pio Photo Album Part 2

Padre Pio at the friary barber--His personal assistant and secretary, Fr. Alessio Parente, always ready to help, gives some last touches. Padre Pio said, "Fr. Alessio is good-hearted and is like a faithful puppy-dog who takes good care of me."

"Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"O God, show yourself more and more to this poor heart of mine, and complete in me the work You have begun. I hear deep within me a voice which says to me repeatedly - sanctify yourself and sanctify others."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

In April of 1959, Padre Pio was gravely ill and for three months he was bedridden while his life hung in the balance. The pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima was visiting different parts of Italy and when she arrived at the monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, Pade Pio asked to be carried to the sacristy to venerate the image. His eyes filled with tears as he kissed the statue and placed a rosary in her hands. When the statue was leaving, Padre Pio prayed, "Dear Mother, ever since you came to Italy, I have been reduced to helplessness by this illness. Now that you are leaving, aren't you going to say even one word to me?" At that moment a powerful force surged through his body and he immediately felt a sense of well-being. Padre Pio attributed the grace of his regained health to the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima.

"Remember that we are children of an infinitely merciful Father who is very indulgent toward us."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"You think you know my love for you but you don't know that it is much greater than you can imagine. I follow you with my prayers, with my suffering and with my tears."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Padre Pio loved the innocence of little children. He said, "Humility and purity are the wings which carry us to God and make us almost divine."

Every Christmas Eve, at the midnight Mass in San Giovanni Rotondo, the 16th century church of Our Lady of Grace would be beautifully illuminated by softly glowing candles. Padre Pio would carry a statue of the Baby Jesus, in procession, from the choir to the altar and from the altar to the crib. He wanted the crib to be in front of him when he heard confessions, so that he could look at the image of Jesus. Padre Pio said, "All the feasts of the Church are beautiful. Easter, yes, is glorification, but Christmas has a gentleness, a childlike tenderness, that captures my heart."

"The characteristic which stood out more than anything else in Padre Pio, was continual prayer, which kept him uninterruptedly united to God. Prayer was his refuge, his weapon, his mysterious strength."

- Fr. Carmelo of San Giovanni in Galdo

"Let us say to ourselves with the full conviction of telling the truth, 'My soul, begin today to do the good which to this day you have not done.' Let us be moved by the presence of God. Let us often say to ourselves, 'God sees me, and as He looks at me, He also judges me.' Let us act in such a way that He sees only good in us."

- St Pio of Pietrelcina

"My children, we cannot prepare ourselves too much for Holy Communion."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"The Christian is raised up in Jesus at baptism. He is lifted up to a supernatural life and acquires the splendid hope of occupying a heavenly throne in glory. What an honor! His vocation demands that he aspire continually to the home of the blessed and consider himself as a pilgrim in this land of exile. The Christian vocation requires that we do not attach our hearts to this miserable world. "

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"The Heart of Jesus and my own, if you will pardon the expression, fused. They were no longer two hearts beating but only one. My heart disappeared as if it were a drop in the ocean."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina

"Let us look at ourselves in Jesus, my dear, as our mirror, in Jesus who led a hidden life. All His infinite majesty was hidden in the shadows and silence of that modest little workshop in Nazareth. So let us, too, make every effort to lead a completely interior life, hidden in God."

- St. Pio of Pietrelcina