Hundreds of devotees of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina flocked to the St. Augustine of Hippo Parish Church in Bacong, Negros Oriental Tuesday to venerate a first class holy relic of the late Capuchin friar, and offer prayers and petitions to him for his intercession.
Bishop Julito Cortes of the Diocese of Dumaguete presided over a concelebrated mass Tuesday afternoon at the Bacong church in honor of the saint after which he also led in the unveiling of the Padre Pio Shrine situated next to the church.
Bishop Cortes extended his congratulations to Msgr. Julius Perpetuo Heruela, the parish priest of Bacong, and for the other team priests, Fr. Clefford Buhian and Fr. Jojo Abillar, for the erection of a Padre Pio Shrine there.
He urged the lay faithful to follow the example of St. Padre Pio who lived a simple life and embodied the example and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, to appreciate creation and find God in it.
Ramon Rodriguez, the chair of the Philippine Center for St. Pio of Pietrelcina and also the representative of San Giovanni Rotondo (the Padre Pio shrine in southern Italy) accompanied the holy relic from its site in Libis, Quezon City.
Rodriguez said the visit of the relic of St. Padre Pio to Bacong was made possible because of Monsignor Heruela, who is a devotee of the saint, and who informed him of the project of putting up a shrine in honor of the saint.
Without hesitation, Rodriguez said he will visit Bacong with the relic and bring novenas, rosaries and “estampitas” or small cards or papers with a picture of the saint to be given to the devotees.
Rodriguez described the first class relic as one of the gloves that Padre Pio used and was never washed and so his blood is still there.
He disclosed he has three gloves of Padre Pio, known for his stigmata or bearing wounds or marks on his body in locations of Christ’s crucifixion wounds, but this one is the official relic that goes around on pilgrimages.
“Once you are a devotee of Padre Pio, it stays for life,” Rodriguez said.
Based on his experience, of the many intercessions he’s known for, it is to “ask for a baby”, he added.
He cited an example of a couple that prayed to Padre Pio for his intercession to ask for twins and they got what they asked for, Rodriguez said.
About six of them have already experienced the same, and it’s the easiest to ask of St. Padre Pio he said.
As for the donors of the 5-foot, 200 kilograms statue of St. Padre Pio, which was bought in Italy and shipped to Bacong, they say it is a blessing for them to be able to help the parish put up a shrine in honor of their patron saint.
Francesco Proti, an Italian who lives in Bacong with his Filipina wife Maggie, and their eight-year old daughter Ashley, disclosed that since he was small, he’d already known of Padre Pio as it was the patron saint of their family.
Maggie Proti said that they agreed that wherever they would reside, “they would bring Padre Pio with them”.
She thanked Sr. Cristina di Nocco, an Italian nun of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in Bajumpandan, Dumaguete, for recommending the Bacong parish to them.
Msgr. Heruela, meanwhile, describes the shrine of St. Padre Pio as a blessing from God and for having the saint’s relic visit his parish.
According to him, Padre Pio is his patron saint and his devotion to the Franciscan friar-saint continues to this day.
“I hope that the holiness of Padre Pio will always (inspire) us to dedicate ourselves to the Lord in a very simple and humble way of giving ourselves to God,” Monsignor Heruela said. (PNA/JFP)
