The
Soldier and the Saint,
Memoirs of an American Soldier
The
soldier is Private First Class Joseph W. Peluso from Western
Pennsylvania. The core of this enjoyable book consists of Peluso’s
own personal memoirs of his forty-five visits to Padre Pio, from
October 1944 to July of 1945. It is also profusely illustrated with
photos of many of the people he met at the time, including stills
from movies he took.
Joe
passed on in 1996. This book was compiled from Joe’s notebooks by
his son-in-law Thomas Konvolinka. You will meet here a different
Padre Pio from the priest and man-of-God presented in his formal
biographies. Instead this is a very informal close-up of an
extremely affectionate, loving person, with a wonderful sense of
humor.
This
is a fun read. Joe Peluso was so close to Padre Pio and to the
Superior of the Friary, Padre Agostino, that he was allowed on some
occasions to dine with the friars in their own refectory, sitting
next to Padre Pio. “Padre Pio is served everything that the others
are served, but he does not eat it because he eats very little. You
could put all the food that he eats in one day in the cup of your
hand. He eats no meat whatsoever, and eats fish only occasionally if
it is fresh fish caught from Gulf of Manfredonia. […] Padre Pio
sat there telling funny stories all during the meal, and the priests
would have to hold their sides for fear that they would open over the
laughter. Some even got up from the table in order to stop laughing
and wipe the tears that were running down their cheeks.”
The
Friary was thirty-seven miles from his army camp, which was just
south of the city of Foggia. When Joe could not arrange for a ride
with his buddies, he would hitch-hike all the way up the mountain.
During these journeys to the friary he was often given rides from
colorful characters, such as a truckload of Gurkha soldiers, who were
fighting alongside the British. You will meet Count John Telfener,
Red Cross Director William Carrigan, Padre Pio’s father known as
Nono, the Padre’s older brother Mike, and other family members.
Not to be overlooked is Mary Pyle, the “Americana” who gave up
her worldly life in the USA to live near the Padre. Her dining room
hosted Peluso and his buddies quite a number of times.
There
were even a few miracles, such as the gift of tongues, and the aroma
of sanctity. Although in most cases, the only word of Padre Pio’s
Italian that Joe understood was “America.” He was there for
Padre Pio’s fifty-eighth birthday party, for the Christmas eve
Mass, and for the wedding of the saint’s niece Pia.
After
each visit he wrote an account of his experiences and the people he
met. Here is a short excerpt from visit number thirty-eight. Joe is
in the Friar’s refectory, sitting next to Padre Pio for dinner.
“After finishing my dinner, dessert, and all of Padre Pio’s food
and most of his wine, I was filled to the brim. However, he started
to nibble on a little fruit and nuts in the little drawer under the
table. He ate a few and gave me a handful to eat. I ate some and
saved some for what I considered relics. Again, my glass was empty,
and I had drunk all of my wine and almost all of his. He took his
bottle and filled my glass down to the last drop of wine from his
bottle. My glass was filled to the very top, not another drop could
have fit in, and yet, it did not run over. After dinner we all sat
around and everyone joined in the conversation. When it was time to
leave, Padre Pio took me by the arm, and took me into the sacristy of
the Church. We knelt and prayed together at the altar. After
prayers, I went into the back room with the priests. All of them bid
me goodbye, and then Padre Pio gave me a very fatherly and heavenly
embrace, kissed my cheeks and we bid each other goodbye.”
Actually
it was Joe Peluso who did the most to open the floodgates for the
hundreds of troops who eventually come to San Giovanni Rotondo to
receive the sacraments from Padre Pio. Peluso wanted to share his
“discovery” of Padre Pio with the Allied soldiers stationed in
southern Italy, and not just the Americans and Catholics. He asked
Padre Pio if it was possible to change the 5 AM Mass to 9 AM,
so that the troops could attend, and it was done. Peluso also
desired to have an article appear in the “Stars and Stripes”
armed forces newspaper about Padre Pio, and that also was done.
In
addition to the forty-five “memoirs” of his visits to the saint,
the book also has a chapter on Padre Pio’s life and also on Mary
Pyle, and closes with additional stories from Peluso’s note cards
and his daughter, his return visit to Italy forty-three years later,
and quotes from Padre Pio.
This
140-page book is currently available directly from the author. For
single copies, send check or money order for $17.45 (which includes
$4.50 for S & H) to:
Thomas Konvolinka
6530 Leo’s Lane
Fennville, MI 49408
Please
include your email address with your order in case of any questions.
For
multiple copies or bookstore pricing, contact Tom at: konvolinka at gmail.com
Notice
that this prayer does not ask ‘increase my love for You Jesus,’
but instead it petitions Jesus to increase His love in us.
That is because the Lord needs to pour forth His infinite love for
us, which is rejected by so many. “I pour it into those who love
Me to receive comfort therefrom.” This is the secret for
increasing in holiness. The more he effuses His love in us, the more
we shall love.
The
only place I have ever seen this prayer is in the writings of the
mystic and victim soul, Maria Valtorta. On March 30, 1949 she wrote
that the Lord told her this: “Along with the great John, you,
little John, should repeat the short perfect request: ‘Lord Jesus,
increase Your love in me.’ Repeat it! Repeat it! I need to pour
forth this infinite love of mine, which so many reject. […] I pour
it into you.”
The
great John is the Apostle St. John, the Evangelist. The little John
refers to Maria Valtorta herself, it is how the Lord often refers to
her, because of her mission as an evangelist of the gospel.
The
Lord said, “Along with the great John,” because it was St.
John himself who first prayed this prayer, as recorded in a vision
Maria received a few years earlier, on April 28, 1945. It takes
place near the beginning of the second year of the public life of
Jesus, and He is talking with his twelve Apostles – the topic is
suffering and death.
“I
will endeavour to get accustomed to suffering,” says Bartholomew.
[…] “I am old and all I ask for is to precede You and enter peace
with You,” says Simon Zealot. […] “I will be unhappy if I
survive You. But I will be comforted by preaching You to the
people,” says the Iscariot.
The
Apostles continue to comment, and finally Andrew exclaims, “Oh!
Keep quiet. You would think that the Master is to die soon! I do
not want to think of His death!” Peter, his brother, responds that
he is quite right, since Jesus is young and healthy. But the Lord
interjects: “What if they killed Me?”
Peter
replies, “Let that never happen to You, but I will avenge You.”
“How, by a blood vengeance?” “Well, also by that means if You
will allow me. Otherwise by my profession of faith amongst the
peoples. […] The world will love You because I will be
indefatigable in preaching You.” The Lord replies, “That is true
and that is what will happen. And what about you John, and you,
Matthew?” The latter replies, “I must suffer and wait until I
have washed my soul by suffering a great deal.”
John
on the other hand does not seem to know for sure what to answer. He
affirms that he would like to die at once so that he would not have
to see Jesus suffer. He would like to be near the Lord to comfort
Him in His agony. Then he also says that he would like to live a
long time in order to serve Him. He continues with, “I would like
to die with You to enter heaven with You. I would like everything,
because I love You. And I think that I, the least of my brothers,
will be able to do all that, if I know how to love You properly."
Then John concludes with, “Jesus, increase your Love!”
Judas
the Iscariot tries to correct him. “You mean, increase my
love,” he remarks.
John:
“No. I say: ‘increase Your love.’ Because the more He will
inflame us with His love, the more we shall love.”
Jesus
is pleased by John’s words, and drawing him closer says, “It is
not a mistake, but a wise prayer, to ask God to increase His love in
one’s heart.” He says that John has revealed a mystery of God
about the sanctification of hearts. “God effuses Himself to just
souls, and the more they surrender to His love, the more He increases
it, and their holiness grows greater. That is the mysterious and
ineffable work of God and of souls. It is accomplished in mystical
silence, and its power, which cannot be described in human words,
creates indescribable masterpieces of holiness.”
Lord
Jesus, increase Your love in me. Repeat it! Repeat it!
Based
on The Notebooks, 1945-1950, page 520; and The Gospel as Revealed to Me, chapter 149.
View
my Catholic books Here.
St.
Paul’s Prison Mass – A Vision of St. Paul and the Early Martyrs.
Based
upon a vision experienced by Maria Valtorta, reported in The
Notebooks 1944,
February 29, pp. 176-186.
It
is one of the earliest
persecutions, and St. Paul will soon be holding Mass in a dark
chamber for the future martyrs incarcerated there by the Emperor
Nero. It is not Rome’s Mamertine, but the Tullianum jail. It is a
large, dark cellar made of blocks of stone and oozing moisture. Its
small size is not sufficient for the great throng of Christian
prisoners held therein. They are from every age and social
condition, from the elderly who were not mercifully allowed to die a
natural death, to little children only a few years old who should
have been left free to play their innocent games.
Packed
together, the rich and poor, the Romans, Greeks, Iberians and
Thracians, and others of different origins, have one thing in common,
their love for one another. The strongest give up their places, on
seats of stone, to the weaker, and the healthiest aid those who are
sick. They surrender their cloaks and togas to help bind the wounds
of those suffering from tortures previously undergone.
They
sing from time to time, until a child moans in the darkness, halting
the song.
Someone
asks, “Who is crying?” and the answer comes: “It is Castulus.
The fever and the burn give him no relief. He is thirsty and cannot
drink because the water burns his lips, scorched by the fire.”
The
face of the child Castulus is one big burn; perhaps once handsome,
now he is monstrous. There are no longer cheeks and nose, but a
bright red swelling, and instead of eyes and lips, there are just
open wounds. Apparently they must have held his face over a flame,
and only his face, for the rest of his body is not burnt.
An
imposing matron says, “I am a mother who no longer has her baby to
give milk to, have Castulus brought to me, milk burns less than
water.” It is Plautina, who is sitting on one of the blocks of
stone against a wall. A man comes forward and carefully takes the
child of about 8 years into his arms and lays him along the lap of
the matron, as if upon a bed. Plautina looks like the mother of
sorrows, as tears roll down her cheeks. She squeezes her breast so
that the milk trickles into the mouth of the boy, and lets some of it
fall upon his face to medicate it with its balm. Castulus caresses
her hand in thanksgiving, and lets himself be rocked to sleep by the
Roman matron.
The
singing resumes, until interrupted by a voice that says, “Fabius is
dead; let us pray.” They all pray the Our
Father
and another prayer. An old man exclaims, “How fortunate is Fabius,
he is already seeing Christ!” Another person answers, “We too
shall see Him Felix, and go to him with the two-fold crown of faith
and martyrdom. […] We sinned greatly – we who were pagans for
long years – and it is a great grace for the jubilee of martyrdom
to come to us to make us new, worthy of the Kingdom.”
Suddenly
a voice thunders: “Peace be with you my brothers and sisters.”
“Paul!
Paul! Bless us!”
“Peace
be with you,” the Apostle repeats, as he advances into the area
with two other priests.
“What
about the Pontiff?” many ask.
“He
[Peter] is alive for now and safe in the catacombs; he sends you his
greeting and blessing. He would have come but he is too well known
among the jailers. I, less well-known and a Roman citizen, have come.
Brothers and sisters, what news do you have for me?”
“Fabius
is dead,”
“Castulus
is suffering martyrdom.”
“Sixta
has now been led to torture.”
“Linus
has been taken with Urbanus and his sons to Mamertinus or to the
Circus, we do not know.”
And
Paul, with his arms opened in the form of a cross, prays in the
middle of the dungeon: “Let us pray for them – whether alive or
dead – that Christ may give all of them his Peace” After their
prayers, Paul asks: “Where is Castulus?” He is told that he is on
Plautina’s lap, in the back of the jail.
Paul
cuts through the throng and blesses the child and matron. Castulus
has awakened, and meekly raises a hand to Paul, who says to him: “Be
strong, Castulus, Jesus is with you.” But the child cries, and
moving his scorched lips with difficulty, laments that he can no
longer receive his Lord.
Paul
responds: “Don’t cry; can you swallow a single crumb? You can?
Well then, I’ll give you the Body of the Lord. Then I’ll go to
your mother – what should I say to her?” “Tell her fire does
not hurt when the angels are with us and that she shouldn’t fear
for my sake or for hers. The Savior will give us strength.”
The
Apostle then relates to the jailed Christians how a fourteen year-old
girl named Lucina “. . . was tortured with a thousand torments.
Beaten, hung, stretched out, and twisted with tongs. And she was
always healed by the work of God. […] Then, unable to break and
destroy the lily of her purity in any way, the tyrant ordered that
she be bound and hung in such a fashion that she would remain as if
seated and then lowered swiftly onto a pointed wedge, which tore
apart her viscera. […] She is now in peace. The barbarian thought
he had thus taken away her beloved virginity, but her purity had
never flourished so beautifully as in that bloodbath.
“Courage,
brothers and sisters. I had fed her yesterday with the Bread of
Heaven, and with the taste of that Bread she went to her final
martyrdom. I shall now give that Bread to you as well. […] The
Circus awaits you. And you do not fear. In the beasts and snakes
you will see celestial appearances, for God will work this miracle
for you, and the jaws and coils will seem to you to be loving
embraces; the roars and hisses, heavenly voices.”
All
of the Christians, except for Plautina with Castulus on her lap,
kneel and sing psalms of praise. At the same time, some friendly
Roman soldiers and jailers enter, and mount guard over the group,
while Paul prepares for the rite of Mass.
“You
shall be our altar,” he says to Castulus. “Can you hold the
chalice on your chest?”
The
child answers “Yes,” and a linen cloth is spread over his little
body as he lays along the lap of Plautina. The chalice and the bread
are set upon the cloth. The Mass is served by Paul and the two
priests accompanying him.
The
Mass seems to contain “...parts now lacking and to lack parts now
in use [in 1944]. It lacks the epistle, for instance, and after the
blessing – ‘May the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit bless
you’ – there is nothing else. But the parts are the same as now
from the Gospel to the Consecration. The Gospel read was that of the
Beatitudes.” [St. Matthew’s gospel was possibly written about
ten years before Nero’s persecution began.]
After
breaking the Host, Paul is about to bend over the little martyr to
give him Communion as the first of all, with a tiny particle; but
Plautina says, “He is dead.” Paul pauses for an instant, and
then gives the matron the particle meant for Castulus. The child has
remained with his fingers closed over the base of the chalice in his
final contraction, and they have to disengage them from it in order
to take the chalice and give it to the others.
The
Mass ends after Communion has been distributed. The Apostle removes
his vestments and places them and the linen cloth, the chalice, and
the receptacle for the hosts in a bag he is carrying under his cloak.
Paul then takes the body of the little martyr Castulus, in order to
give him a proper burial. As he goes out carrying the child, he
blesses everyone: “Brothers and sisters, may peace be with you, and
remember me when you are in the Kingdom.”
~
~ ~
The
victim soul and mystic Maria Valtorta was graced with over 20 visions
of the heroic witness and martyrdom of the early Christians (e.g. St.
Cyprian, St. Agnes, Pope St. Cletus), which occurred during the
seminal years of the Catholic Church. The following depiction of St.
Paul holding Mass for imprisoned Christians condemned to death under
Nero is based on a detailed vision granted by the Lord to her in
1944, and recorded in her Notebooks.
The treasury of this set of visions is especially relevant now, since
it refutes the disgraceful lie of the modernists and revisionists
that the death of Christians in the Colosseum and Circus Maximus is
nothing more than a pious fabrication and myth. These visions are not
included in her Opus, The
Gospel as Revealed to Me, since
they occurred after the Gospel era, but they comprise part of her
three Notebooks.
All
of
the chapters of the Gospel
as Revealed to Me
were lifted from her Notebooks,
and that aforementioned book has received four Imprimaturs.
View
my Catholic writings Here.
