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Padre Pio is another Saint who has linked part of his life to the land of
the Molise. In January of 1904 he lived at Sant’Elia a Pianisi
while studying. In 1907, in this same town, he took the solemn vows,
before moving to Venafro.
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Sant'Elia
a Pianisi
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Towards
the end of October 1911, after receiving the stigmata the previous year,
Padre Pio went to the Franciscan monks in Venafro, for rest and
treatment. He was, in fact, seriously ill, so much so that he went to
Naples to see the famous Molisan doctor Antonio Cardarelli who, after
examining him, gave him only a few days to live (but, for once,
Cardarelli was wrong). At Venafro, Padre Pio stayed about a month and a
half. His health was so precarious that it prevented him from eating.
The only thing that he succeeded in swallowing was the consecrated Host,
which was his only nourishment. He repeatedly fell into a state of
ecstasy, staring into nothingness, in spiritual dialogue with Jesus, the
Madonna, the Saints. In one of the monk's moments of ecstasy, a local
doctor, Nicola Lombardi, passed in front of his eyes a lighted match
without obtaining any reaction. Padre Pio left Venafro on 7th
December, after a sudden and unexplainable recovery.
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