Local News

Sept. 21, 2006

Prayer group inspired by stigmatist’s suffering

By Andrew Junker
The Catholic Sun

Receiving the Eucharist from a priest bearing the wounds of the Crucified Christ led Nancy Rosiello to a life of prayer.

The St. Bernard of Clairvaux parishioner grew up in Bari, Italy, a few miles from St. Padre Pio’s monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo.

“My grandma used to send food for the monk,” she recalled, referring to Pio. “We went to his Mass at 5 in the morning.”

Her interaction with the Franciscan led her to organize a Padre Pio prayer group many years later and a continent away in north Scottsdale.

Rome officially recognized the group in 2003. A year earlier, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio.

The monk became famous in his life for the supernatural events surrounding him. Thousands of Catholics would wait in lines for hours, sometimes days, just for the priest to hear their confessions.

He reportedly had the ability — like St. John Vianney before him — to know a penitent’s sins before he or she even confessed them.

The Vatican has recognized numerous miracles attributed to his intercession and he is greatly revered worldwide, but he is not as well known in America.

Rosiello hopes that more of the faithful will come to know the saint through upcoming feast day celebrations at the Scottsdale parish.

Prayer groups

In the aftermath of World War II, Pope Pius XII encouraged the faithful to form prayer groups as a way of encouraging a Christ-centered life.

Padre Pio echoed the pontiff’s call. “Prayer is the best weapon we have and the key to God’s heart,” he would say.

The Padre Pio prayer groups that evolved attached themselves spiritually to the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, the hospital founded by the saint. The groups pray for those suffering physically and spiritually.

Suffering was very close to Padre Pio’s heart. He faced great pain from the wounds on his hands, feet and side, which bled for 50 years.

His embracing of suffering has inspired the more than 20,000 members of Padre Pio prayer groups worldwide to pray for people in pain.

Deacon Lou Cornille, a parishioner of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, said the saint helped to make clear “the relationship between suffering and grace. Many of the people showing up for the prayer group are in pain.”

The local prayer group, which meets twice a month, begins by praying the rosary. A novena to St. Padre Pio follows. They have Mass, Benediction and petitions offered by those in attendance.

“People are learning more about Padre Pio and his active intercession today,” Deacon Cornille said. The prayer group “gives people an avenue for prayer with a community,” he added.

Deacon Cornille estimated that between 50 and 60 people attend each prayer group from all over the Valley. Many of them come because they have met Rosiello, whom Deacon Cornille described as being “filled with the Spirit.”

He said the Italian woman has a gitft for finding people in pain. She comforts them and invites them to the prayer group after handing them a Padre Pio prayer card. She always carries a few with her for this purpose.

Deacon Cornille and Rosiello hope that Padre Pio’s feast day celebrations will bring even greater attention to this saint.

The weekend will begin with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Friday, Sept. 22. The faithful are welcome to spend time in quiet meditation from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. — the time of Padre Pio’s death in 1968.

On Saturday, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted will celebrate Padre Pio’s feast day Mass at 5 p.m. After the Mass, he will bless and dedicate a statue of the saint, which the parish commissioned from a sculptor in Italy.

The parish will also host two relics of Padre Pio.

One is a glove that he wore while bleeding from the stigmata. The other is a pillow on which his head bled in the shape of a heart one night. The relics will be available for veneration.

For more information about the feast day celebrations or the Padre Pio Prayer Groups, contact St. Bernard of Clairvaux at (480) 661-9843 or Nancy Rosiello at (480) 391-1257.

Andrew Junker/CATHOLIC SUN