Oh how the Holy Spirit can take our little efforts and make them His.
I’ve had this Pio painting in my prayer space for the past month… every time I
look up from the table I use to set my books and beads on, Pio is there. All
month long, as I consider this work I’ve done, taking it in, I hear the words REMNANT. And indeed there is a piece of clothe that is VERY obvious in this work,
that I haven’t been a fan of, I even tried to pull it off but it tore the canvas.. I
occasionally use fabric in my work, but this particular piece of fabric didn’t
blend into the background as it has in the past.
And one morning, after doing some research, it was revealed to me why…
.
Padre Pio was the first stigmatized Priest, sent from God to be a sign for our
times. Francesco Forgione (born 1887) received the five wounds of Christ only
after ordination (1910) when he began offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
and became known as Padre Pio. These visible and bleeding wounds of Christ,
which he had received on September 20, 1918, had disappeared from Padre
Pio by the time that he completed his last Mass on September 22, 1968 – two
days after the 50th Anniversary. The wounds were related to the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass. When it was announced that experimental changes to the Traditional Latin Mass, so loved by Saint Padre Pio, would take place in the mid1960’s, Pio did not hesitate to request permission from Rome to continue offering the Immemorial Tridentine Mass. It is said that permission was granted in
consideration of his advanced age, fragile health, and poor eyesight.
By the time the Novus Ordo Liturgy was promulgated by Paul VI on April 3,
1969, Padre Pio had been dead for six months, therefore Pio never Novus Ordo
Mass.
There always was, and still is, a remnant of the faithful who stayed with the
Traditional Latin Mass. Always remember, and let no one ever discourage you:
“…At the present time there is a remnant left, selected out of grace”
(Romans 11:5).

We are that Remnant. Padre Pio is our Saint.