Padre Pio had saved Michele's life
during World War II, but then refused to hear his confession.
Michele Cardone was born
in Padre Pio's hometown of Pietrelcina, before moving to Australia
later in his life. While he was living in Italy, he heard Padre Pio
spoken of often, even from his childhood. However, he never bothered
to find out anything about the saint, and was not even sure what he
looked like. As a young adult, all he knew about him was that he was
a holy monk who lived in San Giovanni Rotondo.
When the Second World War
broke out, Michele volunteered for the Navy, and was assigned to
various ships. On Palm Sunday, April 18, 1943, he was serving on
board the destroyer Alpino, which was anchored at the port of La
Spezia, in northern Italy. The chaplain of the ship had invited the
sailors to perform their Easter duty that morning, by going to
confession and communion. Almost everyone responded to the request,
except for a few. Among those few was Michele Cardone. But it was
not because he was opposed or indifferent to the sacraments.
Instead, during his next shore leave, he was planning on going home
to Pietrelcina, and then from there to travel to San Giovanni
Rotondo, in order to make his confession to Padre Pio, and to receive
communion from him. It was to be his first visit to see him and his
friary.
But that Palm Sunday
evening, about half an hour before midnight, an alarm suddenly
sounded, taking the 200-man crew by surprise. A heavy incursion of
enemy aircraft rumbled overhead, and they began raining down their
load of bombs. In just a few minutes, the earth and the sky were
transformed into an immense ring of light and fire, both from the
anti-aircraft artillery and from the exploding projectiles. There
were enormous flames and deafening booms – it seemed like the end
of the world. The destroyer Alpino was directly hit by the incendiary
bombs at many points, causing deaths and injuries among the crew.
The ship began to take on water through the numerous holes opened by
the bombs, and slowly began to sink. In the meantime, crude oil
naphtha began leaking from damaged storage tanks on board; it ignited
and spread in rivulets of fire along the deck.
The sailors were trying
to remain calm as the situation became more frightening, but the
terror disoriented everyone completely. They did not know where to
go to seek safety because of the suffocating fumes and heat produced
by the spread of the burning naphtha. In addition, munitions that
were stored on the deck were beginning to explode due to the intense
heat, endangering the larger ammunition stores that were below deck
in the interior of the ship. The situation was desperate. In those
moments Michele was sure that his life would be over.
“Then I beheld before
me, at some distance, the figure of a monk with a beard, who had
suddenly appeared. He was there with his arms opened wide as if
waiting for someone at the opposite side of the quay. I don't know
why, but I regained courage and hope again.” Then, just as quickly
as he had emerged, the monk disappeared. How would it be possible to
get across through the flames of the naphtha raging on the ship and
on the dock? “Then I saw once again above and in front of me the
same friar beckoning me with open, inviting arms. I became infused
with tremendous energy, and dragging along with me two wounded
companions, succeeded in reaching a place of safety.”
A few days after that
fearful April night, all of the uninjured survivors were allowed a
short period of leave. Michele returned to his home in Pietrelcina,
in order to be reunited with his family, and to refresh himself
spiritually and physically. He hastened to the parish church of Our
Lady of the Angels, to make his thanksgiving before the statue of the
Madonna della Libera (Our Lady Liberatrix), the Patron Saint of
Pietrelcina, to whom Padre Pio was very devoted.
 |
| Madonna della Libera |
Then on the first of May,
Michele, accompanied by his mother, traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo.
They entered the monastery church, where he waited in line to
confess to Padre Pio. “While I was waiting for my turn to make by
confession, I began to feel empty and spiritually dry in my soul.
When my turn arrived, and I saw Padre Pio for the very first time, my
breath was taken away, and my heart gave a start. He resembled
perfectly the monk whom I had seen two times in front of me with open
arms during the evening of the bombardment at La Spezia.”
But Padre Pio refused to
hear his confession. Brushing him away he said to Michele, “One
does not pray to God only at San Giovanni Rotondo!” Although
mortified and confused, the very next morning Michele returned to the
friary. This time Padre Pio listened with kindness to his
confession. His emotions reached a peak when later he was allowed to
visit the saint in his cell. Padre Pio blessed him, saying, “Go
forward, pray, and may God be with thee.”
Based on an account in
the “Voce di Padre Pio,” January 1996, page 46.
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