Memories from the Canonization of St. Padre Pio
It promised to be a very warm day. The promise was kept with temperatures to soar to 100 degrees by 1:00 p.m. that afternoon. We were advised by Fr. Saldutto: “Be there by 6:00 a.m.” The Canonization was to begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 3:00. It would also be a long day.
We arose well before dawn, but anxious crowds were already forming. Rivers of humanity from around the world poured toward the Vatican from all directions, reaching to the Tiber and the Castel Sant’ Angelo, filling the broad Via Della Conciliazione leading into St. Peter’s huge piazza and spilling into the side streets.
It is impossible to estimate the size of the crowd. The Home for the Relief of Suffering, Padre’s hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, had already issued 250,000 free tickets for the Mass to its prayer groups. We had 50. On Sunday morning, more than 4,000 buses and 50 special trains were expected to arrive in Rome.
Attendance estimates ranged from 200,000 to 800,000 and anticipation of the presence of the Holy Father and the omnipresent spirit of Padre Pio loomed over the throngs. Hundreds suffered from heat exhaustion or dehydration, with many dropping before the 6:30 a.m. official opening of the gates. It was a sea of organized chaos. We were mere specks, bobbing nearly helpless and somehow alone amidst human waves of excitement, concern and frustration. This was not to be the tranquil, floating holiday pilgrimage some expected. For most of us, it was to be a transcendent moment in our lives.
Police prohibited motor traffic to cross the Tiber and the bus carrying our pilgrims, like all other buses, was directed to a specific spot near the Castel to unload. Then the bus was ordered to move or be removed. While some of our group hurried through the throngs to try to grab a good vantage point, others, because of their own physical condition or accompanying pilgrims less agile, found it difficult to make headway through the restless throngs to reach the areas designated for prayer group members with tickets.
The pick-up of our pilgrims was just as trying—first in, last out—and the bus had a specific limit on how long it could remain in its assigned place or it would face an extraordinary fine. If you know Rome and are familiar with it’s police or laws, you know that a subway ticket may cost less than a dollar. But if you ride without buying a ticket, you face a $200.00 fine! The threat of fine to all bus drivers was several times as great, including impounding of the bus.
Those who expected discipline, order and front row chairs in the shade were invariably disappointed. An English pilgrim was heard to admonish the countless masses behind her: “Please—no pushing! Let’s be patient!” To no avail. There was a free-for-all aspect to the occasion, with pilgrims from Italy feeling they had first rights to every available seat and place within sight of the canopy set up to shelter the Holy Father. Those very few pilgrims who were fortunate to sit near the Pope and behind the Cardinals witnessed squabbling laity and constant cell phone activity, even during the Mass and homily. Admonitions from Cardinals and Franciscans went unheeded.
Was it an awesome experience? Absolutely. Was it a great personal and profoundly spiritual moment for most of our pilgrims? Absolutely. Was it perhaps one of the most challenging days of any of our lives? Absolutely. Was it perfect? Absolutely!
As the temperature rose during the early and mid-morning, even our most stalwart and dedicated pilgrims had moments when they thought it would be impossible to remain in the sun. But many of us who underwent this trial say that at that very moment, there would suddenly come a blast of frigid air which would relieve their suffering and restore their determination to bear witness to this glorious occasion.
One of our pilgrims later pointed out that this was a perfect example of Padre Pio’s presence among us. It was a reminder from him that if we expected his canonization to be an easy and comfortable “vacation experience,” we must recall that he suffered with us and for us for the last 50 years of his life and that it is not promised that our earthly lives are to be easy and comfortable either.
It was a true life lesson. It was almost allegorical, an animated sacred Renaissance painting: an endless sea of humanity; blazing, desiccating heat; no shelter under a cloudless sky; personal, physical, mental and emotional stresses surrounding us, engulfing us in the momentary suffering of humanity set amidst the splendor and pomp of temporal, transient gifts of place and time.
We were reminded that it is only through our faith in Christ’s abundant mercy that we receive relief from our suffering; it is through our faith in the teaching of the Church that our souls are quenched of their thirst for everlasting life. It is in the shadow of the Cross that we must seek refuge from the fires of Hell. It is in the love of His Mother and ours that we are given the perfect example of patience and of total faith in God’s Will for each us. And at the moment of our greatest trial during the occasion of Padre Pio’s canonization, many of us were mercifully relieved by the cool, sweet, fresh and restoring grace of God, manifest in the simplest way, in momentary breezes which enabled us to complete the pilgrimage to Calvary with our Holy Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Through His infinite love shone His infinite mercy. What joy!
Through God’s boundless grace, we were sustained in our effort to glorify Him on earth as He is in Heaven. It was beautiful; it was profound; it was the experience of a lifetime for those who opened their hearts to it and received it just as God gave it.
It reminded us of Padre Pio’s last Mass on September 22, 1968.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina—Pray for us!
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