During late November and early December, Padre Agostino brought Holy Communion to Padre Pio several times while he was in ecstasy, but the ailing friar apparently was unaware of it because several times he asked Jesus, “Did I receive Communion this morning?” Padre Agostino could deduce from Padre Pio’s surprised response that Jesus had told him that he had indeed partaken of the sacred host. Padre Pio, apparently echoing Jesus’ words to him, repeated, “Pio, see Jesus! I command you to partake, in the Name of Jesus, whom I hold in my hands.” Padre Agostino recognized these as the exact words he used when he gave Padre Pio Communion. Padre Pio also repeated the French phrase “petit enfant” (little child), which he had also used. It did not seem as if Padre Pio was repeating words he remembered hearing; it seemed as if someone — evidently Jesus — was telling him something that he had not known until that moment.21
As mentioned earlier, Padre Agostino did not record all of Padre Pio’s ecstasies, especially those that concerned Padre Pio’s personal life. He did note that Padre Pio prayed several times that Padre Agostino might be freed from the assaults of the devil, and it seems that Padre Pio went into more detail than Padre Agostino cared to record. Later Padre Agostino recounted:
One day he prayed in ecstasy for a soul whom I knew as well as myself. The soul was troubled for more than a year by terrible temptations, which were known only to God and to his confessor. Of these, Padre Pio was able to know absolutely nothing. And then one day he prayed for this soul, that the Lord might free him from those terrifying temptations. He was in ecstasy and only through divine revelation could he know the interior of that soul. Jesus answered Padre Pio that he would help that soul, but that the soul would have to be tried and tested. From that day on this soul felt strengthened, and thank God, the temptations … were not so violent as before.22
In his ecstasies, Padre Pio seemed to be told to pray for certain individuals. Padre Agostino could not identify three of them. When asked, Padre Pio told him that he had never met these people or heard of them. Padre Pio would later write to Padre Benedetto: “At times I feel moved, when I am praying, to intercede for those for whom I never intended to pray, and, what is more wonderful, at times for those whom I have never known, nor seen, nor heard, nor had recommended to me by others. And, sooner or later, the Lord always grants these prayers.”23
Dr. Lombardi at first diagnosed Padre Pio as suffering from catalepsy, a condition sometimes associated with schizophrenia in which the body becomes rigid and frozen and often impervious to external stimuli. After observing him more extensively, Lombardi ruled out catalepsy and expressed the opinion that the trances had no natural explanation. Noting that in these episodes Padre Pio’s face assumed an unearthly beauty and that everything he said was totally coherent, Lombardi expressed his conviction that the young Capuchin was experiencing “true ecstasy” — a purely religious experience.24
As for Padre Pio’s physical condition, Lombardi noted abnormal sounds in his respiration, but thought this had more to do with the larynx than the lungs. He found that his patient did not suffer from evening sweats or fever, characteristic of tuberculosis. Even though he vomited almost everything he ate, he showed no signs of emaciation or malnutrition. He found it significant that these symptoms occurred in every friary to which he had been sent, but much less when he was at home in Pietrelcina. Lombardi wrote, “From these facts I excluded a specific affection of the lungs, and I judged that this was a case of a nervous disturbance.”25
Mystics and visionaries very often suffer from ill health and undiagnosable illnesses. Some have posited that this is because of the great duress the body is put under in such experiences.
Back to “Breathe His Native Air”
However Padre Pio’s superiors were inclined to interpret his illness, it was both real and distressing. Padre Evangelista — concerned because Padre Pio had been unable to retain any food for weeks — wrote to Padre Benedetto, begging him to permit the young priest to return once more to Pietrelcina. When he received no answer, he risked offending Padre Benedetto by going over his head and writing directly to the minister general, Padre Pacifico. Padre Evangelista told the minister general that he had written several letters to the provincial without receiving a reply, declaring on December 3, 1911:
Along with all my friars here and even all the friars of the province, I am able sincerely to attest to the fact that Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, sick now for three years, is unable to retain any food in his stomach except in his native town. For nearly two years he breathed the air of his hometown, and there he never suffered from vomiting, while, each time he has gone to a friary, even for a single day, he has been seized with agonizing pains and, especially, by vomiting. He has been here a month and a half and I can sincerely attest that he has never held his food for a quarter of an hour. For sixteen or seventeen days he has been bedfast and has not been able to retain even a spoonful of water…. Scarcely had he arrived in this friary than he began to vomit, and this has persisted to the present time. As soon as he sets foot on his native soil, however, his stomach recovers. Could this be the will of God that his poor priest must always remain at home?
In order not to give the minister general the impression that Padre Pio was malingering because he did not enjoy life in the friary, and so as not to put him in danger of being dismissed by the order, Padre Evangelista added: “Everyone can attest to the fact that he is the best kind of priest. Therefore he has not the slightest wish to stay at home, nor do we, his brethren, wish to deprive ourselves of his treasured presence.”26
Padre Pacifico thereupon instructed Padre Benedetto to send Padre Pio home. Benedetto was furious and wrote to Padre Agostino, fuming: “I don’t know what to make of this concern to run to Rome for a provision that is supposed to be left to my wisdom. I’m troubled because it’s a sign of a lack of respect and reverence toward one’s immediate superiors.”27
Padre Benedetto nevertheless granted his consent for Padre Pio to return to Pietrelcina and authorized Padre Agostino to accompany him. On the morning of December 7, 1911, the two priests set out for Pietrelcina. The next day Padre Pio was able to celebrate Mass in his hometown — “as if he had suffered nothing.”28
Chapter Seven
The Double Exile
Back in Pietrelcina
Padre Pio called the five years between 1911 and 1916 his “double exile” because he was separated from his religious community as well as from heaven. It was, however, during these years that his reputation for sanctity spread from his religious community to his hometown.
Since the Capuchin Constitutions specified that a friar forced by some exigency to live apart from his community was not to live at home with his family (as many secular priests did), Padre Pio lived during the summer in the cabin his father had built him in the Piana Romana, and during the winter he dwelt in “The Tower,” the one-room structure owned by his parents near the family home.
This was not a time of placid retreat. Padre Pio’s health, although better than it was when he was living in community, continued precarious; there were difficulties with his family; there was, at first, misunderstanding on the part of the townsfolk. There was trouble with his superiors. And there were also great spiritual trials, including terrifying diabolical assaults.
In addition to his usual disorders, Padre Pio began