Friday, June 29, 2018

Padre Pio and the Anglican Minister - Partners in Healing



     As the Reverend Eric Fisher laid his healing hands upon the infirm leg of Alice Jones, she was astonished to see his face transform into the face of Padre Pio

     The Reverend Eric Fisher is an active Anglican priest of the Church of England, who has dedicated his life and ministry to the healing of suffering souls and bodies. He wrote of his experiences in his best-seller from 1993, Healing Miracles. It was in the early 1970's, not long after being advised by his bishop that his role in the Church would be the healing ministry rather than parish work, that he first came to hear about Padre Pio. While he was at the home of experienced Anglican healer, Mary Rogers, in order to seek her advice, an Italian lady arrived. She often called on Mary when she visited from Italy. Noting that she was quite uncomfortable in his presence, Fr. Fisher discretely left the room for a short time. Upon his return, the Italian woman told him that her being disturbed at his presence in the room was nothing personal – she had an aversion to all priests. That is, all but one. “There is only one that I like and that is Padre Pio.”

     After that incident, Fr. Fisher was moved to read and learn more about this Padre Pio. Since then, he has come to consider Padre Pio his “brother in the spirit,” and has been aware of his assistance on many occasions during his healing sessions. Of course, Fr. Fisher understands that it is Jesus Christ that is the ultimate healer. He feels that while the healing of ailing bodies is good in itself, it is the healing of hearts and minds that is the truly important objective. 
 
     In 1980, he was part of a mission team that was sent out to Haydock, which is near Liverpool. They were each asked to visit certain people that were on the local vicar's sick list. Among those assigned to Fr. Fisher was a middle-aged school teacher named Alice Jones, who lived with her husband in a modest home near the center of town. On his first visit, he found her tearful and depressed, and in a bitter state of mind. Alice could no longer experience any sensation in her left leg. Her left foot was twisted to one side, and her spine was out of alignment. Seven years before, while lifting some tables for a school function, she tripped and fell, seriously injuring her hip. Her back hurt since that time, and she had undergone a major spinal fusion operation, whereby bone from her hip was grafted onto her spine. She could barely walk, only with great difficulty, with the aid of elbow crutches, and by means of a splint which lifted her left foot slightly off the ground. The pain was intense, and she controlled it by an excessive use of alcohol and drugs. Like some others who had undergone a fusion operation, she felt she was on her way to becoming an alcoholic. The State had assessed her as one hundred percent disabled. 

     Before this visit to Alice, Fr. Fisher said a special prayer to Padre Pio from a novena prayer card, asking for his protection and support. He had also distributed these cards after morning Mass. They featured a picture of the saint, and gave an account of his austere life of service. Although Padre Pio had already passed on, the Anglican priest frequently prayed for his assistance.
 
     Upon seeing Alice that first time, he began with a prayer for her and all the sick of the parish. Then he laid his hands on her back, running them up and down along her spine. Since her accident, her back had always felt icy cold, but surprisingly she now felt a sudden warm glow, which flowed down her spine and all around her. Fr. Fisher continued with his laying on of hands for about fifteen minutes, but then stopped. At the time he did not know why he ceased, but later became certain that it was Padre Pio protecting him from putting too much pressure on the spine, which might have affected the spinal fusion. After leaving the Jones' residence, and during a church service that evening, he asked Padre Pio for a miracle.  


     Returning to Alice's home the next day, he found her in a better state of mind and not as bitter, but she did not show any marked optimism or expectation. Fr. Fisher started again on her spine, and then began to treat her infirm left leg. He was curious as to why she had no sensation in it, since it seemed her calf muscles had not deteriorated. Then she abruptly exclaimed that she could feel “pins and needles” in a part of her leg, which also felt hot. She gradually experienced these sensations throughout the whole limb, even down to her twisted left foot. Then the priest concentrated his healing efforts on her ankle and foot, until it gradually straightened out and could rest flat on the floor. These changes were not accompanied by intense pain, although the operated part of the spine was probably affected.

     Finally it was time for her to try and walk. Father urged her to try, but she insisted that she could not walk. Finally, after a seeming eternity, she raised herself up. Sobbing with joy, she began to hobble across the room. There was a deep silence felt throughout the house, and in his book Fr. Fisher wrote that it was similar only to what he “experienced on the rare occasions when something tremendous was happening.”  

     Later that same evening Alice Jones told Father something that, unknown to him, was occurring during the healing process. She said that when she looked down upon him, she saw superimposed upon his face, the visage of an older man with a beard. Thinking it was a hallucination, she tried opening and closing her eyes, but the strange old personage was still there. Then she saw the old man, dressed in a monk's habit, standing by her side. He seemed to take over. She could hear Fr. Fisher's voice, but she also heard the older man speaking in a foreign language. He blessed her twice with the sign of the Cross, while repeating “Gesu`, Maria; Gesu`, Maria.” With a great feeling of love and warmth, he took her arm, telling her to get up and walk in the name of Jesus. When she heard the voice commanding her to walk, her old fears of falling returned. But the word “walk” reverberated around in her head, and as it did, she gained a sense of confidence and faith, and overcame her fear of failure. She was utterly amazed that she could walk across the room to the door, and return to her chair! By then the old man had disappeared from her view; her pain and discomfort were gone, and once again she saw the face of Fr. Fisher.

     Everyone was in an emotional state, and her daughter Lesley was in tears. Lesley has become aware of a strong smell of perfume. Her baby son had been having sleeping problems since birth, and she felt compelled to stand with him behind her mother's chair. She experienced the sensation of being wrapped in a warm, comforting blanket. After Alice promised to attend a healing session that evening in the church, Fr. Fisher left, in order to take in what had happened. Hearing the news that she could walk, her husband Frank returned home from work early. She ran down the drive to meet him and they hugged each other with joy in their hearts. That night they went as a family to give thanks in the church. The parishioners gasped in amazement when they saw that Alice was walking. But she still had no idea who the “old man” was. Back home, she became emotional and told Frank that she had seen Moses. She slept well that night, without having to take any tablets or sleeping pills, but her husband was worried that this was all a dream, and he kept a vigil by the bed.
 
     Frank was concerned that her previous condition might return, which would be a sad disappointment. But instead he was about to witness a further miracle. Every morning Frank dutifully packed an ulcer that had left a gaping hole in her left heel. That night he had readied the bandages that would be needed for dressing the wound. He warned Alice that it might be painful now that sensation in her left leg had returned. The next morning he prepared to dress the wound as usual, but the ulcer was no longer there! At first Frank thought she had given him the wrong leg. But there was no sign of the ulcer, not even a mark. They found the dressing rolled up in the bed. Frank wept, saying that it was a miracle.
 
     That evening Alice returned to the church again to receive Holy Communion in thanksgiving. She felt that she was seeing everything with new eyes. The words of the liturgy became real, and it seemed that she was truly participating at the Last Supper. As she left the service, Fr. Fisher handed her one of the Padre Pio novena prayer cards. She realized at once that Padre Pio was the old man at the healing. She was relieved to find that he was a real person and not imaginary. But she was shocked to learn that he had died in 1968. And so began her quest to find out “Who is Padre Pio?”



Note:  Comments from sedevacantists who question, doubt, or are offended that Padre Pio assisted a non-Catholic Anglican in his healing ministry will not be approved.  Sedevacantism is a dead end, see my prior post on this topic.


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37 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this story.

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  2. I am not a sedevacantist, I still question this story. I question if this Eric Fisher guy made the story up or not. I question that if he did not make up the story, why he did not become Catholic. He has a admiration of Padre Pio, who allegedly worked though him, and still he refused to convert to Catholicism. He is shown first hand that the Catholic Faith is the One and Only Faith, and still he remained blind.

    Pardon me for being hesitant.

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    1. Alice Jones has given independent testimony of this miracle, it is in Bernard Ruffin's book "Padre Pio the True Story." As for Padre Pio, he said: "I belong to everyone, everyone will say Padre Pio is mine, I can refuse no one." pp. 387-391 Ruffin. As for Father Eric Fisher converting to Catholicism, I do not know why he has not, but I believe he will.

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    2. I met Alice Jones and her husband when we attended a Padre Pio celebration in Liverpool Catholic Cathedral. This event really happened.You can safely trust that it is true.

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    3. I truly believe in this, about Padre Pio. Everyone is God's child doesn't matter the denomination. God truly see their heart. I saw Children of Padre Pio in Facebook, and I add myself there and keep on wondering is this really true am I really Padre Pio's child or just for FB. I ask for a sign after one week I had a dream, an old man just same size as padre pio, we were standing outside a church, and he came and approach me and said don't worry we are friend.. and I wonder, when I woke up and wondering, my heart with strong said that is Padre Pio who told me that I'm his friend. Beside that My office colleague, give me a small souvenir, she said someone went to Medjugorje and give the souvenir to her mother, since her mother very old, then she thought give it to me, when I received, the souvenir printed with Mary&child Jesus and Padre Pio Picture. I really felt that Padre Pio assured me physically that he is my friend.

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    4. I believe this is an example of how the church, the ekklesia katholicos as we say in the Creed, is far bigger than the divisions we create. The Greek term means "all called out are of one piece". We divide not Christ whose Body on earth is one. Thus this miracle is truly a miracle with a message that we need to learn, as both Fr. Fisher and Padre Pio taught us. I am an Eastern Catholic with a Roman Catholic background, but I pray united often to Orthodox, Protestant, Reformed, Pentecostal, etc. Christians. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. So we can all say, Viva Gesu'! Viva Maria! and Viva Padre Pio!

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  3. What a story, nothing is impossible to God, please pray for healing to my family .Thank you for sharing.

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  4. Such an incredibly beautiful story, thank you! Dear Padre Pio, give us all a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Blessed Holy Mother. Please pray for us to be healed if it be in the Lord's Holy Will for us. Amen!

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  5. We are all God's children and all Christians belong to the Body of Christ. Jesus did not divide us into denominations. That is our sin. This Anglican priest has a devotion to Padre Pio and asks for his help in the healing ministry. Would Jesus deny the prayers of Fr. Fisher? Would St. Pio refuse to help through his prayers? I don't think so. It is faith that heals through Jesus. See Mark 9:38-40.

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  6. We will all soon enough be under one roof thank God

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  7. My mother in law was a Catholic who for certain practical reasons became Episcopal, but had a devotion to Padre Pio, the rosary and many other saints. She became a mystic herself. Only God can judge!

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  8. I am very confident hat St. Padre Pio did intervene in this healing.
    After he died he said that he would wait at the gate of heaven for all his spiritual children to go in before he will enter. I believe this woman will be one of them.

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  9. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
    Our Lady, Help of the Sick, pray for us!
    Padre Pio, intercede for my family!

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  10. Interesting story! I would like to read Fr Fisher's book!

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  11. Jesus' face appears regularly on the face of Vassula Ryden as she travels the globe speaking in the True
    Life in God ministry. Isn't God fabulous!!!

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  12. If I a Catholic did not believe in PADRO PIO what makes you think that a reverend could convert Catholics who already know of Padre pio's existence . Is being called to give testimony to non-catholics if you became Catholic he would only be talkin to Catholics who already know he exists and do not believe in him as I did not until now. My friend Mary Ann sent me this article and I read it. We buddy else's ideas on the subject I was diagnosed with kidney failure My Level has gone down to 17 it supposed to be 40 that's a normal kidney. My devoted Catholic aunt sent me this packet of oil that was blessed by padro Pio. I didn't even remember doing this until now I'd left myself with the oil on my ankles my feet my legs my hips my two breasts, my back my stomach my kidneys my thyroid I had three different kinds of thyroid cancer hurthle papillary and lymph node. I also blessed my eyes. The reason I'm telling you all of this is to lead up to how I got to believe in Padre Pio. I had to lose 10 lb that's what my kidney doctor told me I was 179 pounds and I could not lose the weight I tried everything after I blast myself with the oil I asked that I would be able to be able to lose the weight. I didn't remember this until after I had read this whole entire thing and I've tried to put my testimony on this 9 times. I had heard my great-grandfather pray to Padre pale and he would bless asked to bless all of us from his Elvis daughter and all her grandchildren great-grandchildren all the way to his youngest son and their children. My grandmother has daughter and many others in my family are devoted to hydro pale but I was biggest skeptic there was. I was told that I had to get test done in order to go to the kidney Hospital and get the surgery to give me a new kidney. The first test I came to do was a mammogram I had to get a mammogram I hadn't gotten it for 3 years and what they did was I asked for the 3D mammogram and thank God I did because my breast so that I had calcification and it only came up on the 3D it didn't come up on an ultrasound I had to go to an oncologist . Who sent me for a biopsy in two days thank God I did not have I did not have cancer. This is why I was converted I forgot that I had blessed myself and that I had put the oil on my body I had been told I had it in my blood work as proof that I was borderline for cholesterol 199 200 is cholesterol I was one point away from having type 2 diabetes and i was waiting to find out if i was cancer-free for my 9 th year. I got my phone call that I was in fact not diabetic, did not have cholesterol, and I have another year of cancer free. The real shock was when my friend Maryanne my friend who sent me this and I went clothing shopping because I had lost weight supposedly my pants were a little big. I didn't know until I tried on a pair of size 14 pants and they were too big for me. It turned out that I was in fact a size 10. After sitting here I realized at the oil I had put on me way back had actually worked and i had to give my testimony to what had happened. My prayer to lose the weight had happened. And I had no cancer no type 2 diabetes no breast cancer no thyroid cancer and no cholesterol. I also had my kidney level stop going down. PADRO PIO STILL Does IN FACT DO MIRACLES IN OUR TIME!!!

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  13. I and many of my friends, along with some correctional facility inmates with whom I have visited have experienced Padre Pio's "perfume of sanctity".

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  14. I had cooked dinner and burned my finger which had a burning blister. It was on Padre Pio's feast day and it is said that on his feast day one could ask for a miracle and while watching the Mass on EWTN in his honor, I asked for the burn to be healed right there. It was immediately healed - no blister - nothing. My family saw this. He is a powerful saint and does not like insincere prayers or phony people but true ans sincere believers in God's mercy.

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  15. When I visited the island of Jersey 40 years ago the couple who ran the guest house I stayed in learned I was Catholic-- and they told me of the death of their child 20 years before that. Apparently the child-- about 10 0r 11 -- had a painful bone cancer and they wrote to ask Padre Pio for a miracle. They did not tell their son. One day they went to his room to bathe and feed him and he was radiantly happy. He told them that a monk visited him, who said his parents had written to ask for a miracle healing for the boy. The monk said that the boy had a choice-- he could be cured and live a long time but run the risk of sinning, -- or he could accept that an early death would bring him straight to heaven and eternal happiness. The boy said he would like to go to Heaven, but worried that his parents would grieve his death. So he told his parents how wonderful heaven was, and that they weren't to grieve, and eventually they would all meet happily forever in Heaven. The parents knew it was Padre Pio who had visited the boy. They said they understood-- their son's radiant joy was astounding, compared to his usual pain. They all said good-night, and went to bed. The next morning they found him dead, smiling, and the room filled with the scent of roses. They recounted this story with peaceful quiet joy, and said that they were spared the pain of grief knowing how merciful God was to let their son die such a holy and joyous death.

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  16. Please St. Padre Pio take care of my family, let us all be in heaven together, Billy, Cathy, Ed, Marianna, Carly, and all relatives. Let the whole world turn to God, to do God's Will. Thanks

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  17. Please, all of you here who are devoted to Padre Pio...I have discovered him only recently and have a photo of him by my desk at work...would you all please pray one pray to Padre Pio for me? Would you please pray that my son, TW's IQ rise by 20 points? That is the miracle that will need to happen for him to be able to control his violent impulses. Please, please, all who read this and love Padre Pio, please pray just once: let my son's IQ rise by 20 points. I beg each one of you to beg Padre Pio to intercede with out Lord.

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  18. Thank you St. Padre Pio for healing my daughter from cranial synostocis. I also asked Madre Isabella de Rosis' help for healing my daughter and I was so happy to see your photo and hers inside the waiting room in the convent in San Giovanni Rotondo. Please help her to become a saint. My daughter needs another miracle for her Scoliosis. I am praying to God through your intercession to heal my daughter again. In Jesus' name Amen.

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  19. Please pray for John L. for a healing.Only God can heal him of his cancer. Please pray for me and my family. I need a healing too. Have prayed to St. Padre Pio for years. Know he hears us.

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  20. Jesus Christ is the recapitulation of all mankind. It is we who make divisions. God in Christ has willed all to be healed, to be saved, to live with him eternally.

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    1. Amen! God Bless you for the comment! Totally true!

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    2. Amen! Be blessed!

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    3. Amen! And bless you for using the phrase "recapitulation of all mankind". We all need to hear that and think about that more! The Eastern Church fathers used those words a lot !

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  21. Jesus is not exclusive to a single group only!

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  22. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, this is a marvelous statement that when we say in the Creed that the ecclessia is katholicos, the chruch is catholic, we are saying "those called out are all of one piece". Everyonb baptized into Christ is a christian, and every church is a church. There is only one Christ. We make divisions. We make distinctions. God does not. IC XC NIKA

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  23. Father Fisher is a good man and helped many. Unfortunately, it was not God's will that he could not hel my mother with MS but he cosoled her.

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  24. I love this miracle in particular because of what it says about the Lord's desire that all christians recognize each other as brothers and sisters and that ALL the churches are part of the one church we call the ekklesia katholicos . Those words in the Creed mean "all the called are of one piece. And that is the truth, we have one Lord, was are one body, and it is so much proof of that that in Alice's case the Lord used a Roman Catholic priest and and Anglican minister to make that point!

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  25. There is one Lord and one Church, the ekklesia katholicos as was say in the creed and that simply means "all called out are of one piece", the one Body of Christ. So all christians are one church despite our man made divisions. Padre Pio and Fr. Fisher showed how true this is and a miracle resulted.

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  26. Is Fr Fisher still alive in this world?

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    1. I do not know. His book was published in 1993.

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    2. He died on Sept. 9th 2022. I knew him
      for 45 years as a family friend.

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  27. Thank you so much for your reply. He must have been a great and holy man, and you are fortunate to have known him personally.

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