It was January of 1931
when Ubaldo Giovanni from Bologna read about Padre Pio for the first
time. The wonders of the saint were related in a booklet written by
Alberto Del Fante, who was one of the very first authors to write
about the stigmatist and mystic from San Giovanni Rotondo. Ubaldo
was a practicing Catholic, but was rather skeptical about some of the
stories of the cures, conversions and miracles he had just read
about. He placed the booklet where his father could find and read it
when he returned from work. Later, when his father, Gattamorta, had
finished reading it, Ubaldo asked him, “Doesn't it seem to you,
dad, that these stories about Padre Pio are rather exaggerated?
Personally, I am like St. Thomas, there are some things that if I do
not experience them first hand, I just don't believe them. For that
reason I would love to make a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo.”
And so Gattamorta,
Ubaldo, his cousin Narda, and a few friends and relatives, decided to
make the trip to see Padre Pio for themselves. Then with their own
eyes they could see if these many tales and stories were true. Thus
on the 12th of February, they departed Bologna and headed
for San Giovanni Rotondo in the south of Italy. They arrived there
about noon, and at about 4:00 pm went into the monastery for
Confession. Afterwards, Ubaldo's father later wrote that, to be
truthful, when he made his confession, Padre Pio did not make any
particular impression on him, and the same was true of the other
people in the group from Bologna.
The very next day, they
all went to the friary again for Communion. Afterwards, when Padre
Pio entered the sacristy, they went up one by one to kiss his hand.
Ubaldo and the other Bolognese with him experienced a very strong and
extraordinary odor of perfume when they did so. However, they
marveled when Ubaldo's father Gattamorta said he had not smelled
anything, even though they insisted that it was very strong. Every
day during their trip, whenever they came up to Padre Pio to kiss his
stigmatized hand, they could smell the same perfume. However,
Gattamorta only smelled it one time, and it happened when he was in
the church, but not with Padre Pio. The aroma was on his hands, and
when he approached the others, they told him it was the exact same
perfume that they had all experienced.
Notwithstanding the
experience of the perfume, Ubaldo still retained his skepticism,
while his father had no difficulty in accepting the truth about Padre
Pio's sanctity. Then one day, while they were walking up the road
leading to the friary, an idea flashed through Gattamorta's mind. He
would pray for something to occur that would prove Padre Pio's powers
even to his son.
They reached the friary
and church, and the little group knelt before the altar waiting to
receive Communion, which was distributed by Padre Pio after Mass.
When it was Ubaldo's turn, he held the paten in his hand. Suddenly,
he turned pale and waxen like a candle, let go of the paten, and
started to fall backwards. His father rushed over to him and held
him tightly in his arms. Ubaldo's body seemed cold as marble, and to
Gattamorta it seemed that his son had no signs of life.
Assisted by Ubaldo's
cousin Narda, they brought him into the sacristy and seated him on a
bench, where he remained immobile. They sprayed water on his face,
and someone found some vinegar which they put under his nose, but
nothing could revive him. When Padre Pio had finished his Mass and
went into the sacristy, Ubaldo was still in this state. What was the
Padre's reaction upon seeing him? First he smiled at him kindly and
gently. Then he put his hand upon his head and lovingly caressed his
head and face. At this, Ubaldo suddenly revived.
His father began to cry
after witnessing his son coming to life again upon the touch of Padre
Pio. Gattamorta asked him if he felt ill, but Ubaldo replied that he
did not feel sick at all. He expressed a desire to receive Communion
when Padre Pio returned to the chapel to distribute it, and both
father and son went to receive the Holy Particle from the saint's
stigmatized hand. Afterwards in the sacristy, Padre Pio once again
gave a gentle caress to Ubaldo, and kissed him on the forehead.
Throughout the rest of
that day, Ubaldo felt completely well. He remained so for the
duration of their stay at San Giovanni Rotondo and also after their
return home to Bologna. It was the first time something like this
had ever happened to him, and it was also the last time. After his
encounters with Padre Pio, Ubaldo became his enthusiastic admirer,
and his devoted spiritual child.
Not long after their
homecoming, a telegram arrived for Ubaldo's cousin Narda, who was at
that time living in the same home with Gattamorta's family. His
father Giacomo, was the brother-in-law of Gattamorta. With a few
words, the telegram stated that Narda's father was gravely ill and he
wanted to see his son. “Giacomo grave, attendo Narda.” As soon
as he read the cryptic message, Narda burst out crying, fearing that
his father might be dying. Ubaldo and Narda immediately left for
Ravenna to the home of the sick man. Upon seeing him, Ubaldo
urgently wired Gattamorta stating that Uncle Giacomo was very sick,
stricken by cerebrospinal meningitis. His condition was hopeless.
The attending doctor, a
noted Ravenna physician, told the family, “I do not want to delude
you, your father is more dead than alive. Speak to him now about
anything you wish to tell him, because it may only be a matter of
hours. There is absolutely no hope that he can survive more than
four days at the most.”
But Narda had with him a
picture of Padre Pio. Placing the picture under the pillow of his
father, he began praying to the stigmatized friar. The very next
day, the doctor returned and to his surprise found his patient
sitting up in bed on his own. The physician declared, “They say
that miracles are a thing of the past, but to me it seems that they
still can occur!” Then after only one more day, Giacomo was able
to leave his bed.
When Narda and his
sisters met with the doctor to thank him, his reply was, “Do not
thank me, since I have done nothing, and no other doctor could have
done anything either. What happened I do not know, perhaps it was
the Lord or his Mother. It is certain that, of the people in your
father's condition who are hospitalized, few manage to survive, and
they never fully recover. They are either blind, or deaf, or
mentally incapacitated. But Giacomo regained his complete health in a
few days.”
As for Giacomo, he shows
the picture of Padre Pio to everyone he can, and proclaims, “My son
Narda says that this is the image of the friar that cured me!”
Based on an account in
Per La Storia, by Alberto Del Fante, pp. 348-352.
View my Catholic books on
Padre Pio, St. Francis and others Here.
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