This Saturday we celebrated the memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio. In the summer of 2003 I had the opportunity to visit his home in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy where he spent the last 50 years of his life. The picture above is actually a stained glass window that was in the chapel in the hotel where we stayed (yes, all the hotels there have chapels, with the Eucharist reserved!). There are many miracles that I could talk about, but Padre Pio has a special place in my life regarding my discernment of the call to priesthood.

By the summer of 2003 I had been working as a Software Engineer for 4 years, having graduated from KU in 1999. I had gotten to the point where I was really on the fence as far as my vocation goes. I had a great job, had bought a nice house, had a wonderful roommate. I was basically all set just kind of waiting for God to send me my wife and everything would be perfect. However, God wasn’t sending me a wife and the thought of being called to the priesthood was getting stronger to the point that I really didn’t know what God was asking of me. I remember thinking “God, if I’m called to marriage I’m ready now; send me my wife. But, if I’m called to priesthood, you’re going to have to call a little louder.”

Early in the year I got the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to Italy later that summer and I decided that I would go. I decided that I would pray that the fruit of my pilgrimage would be more clarity in my vocation. We were going to Padre Pio’s home and I had read many stories about him particularly related to vocations. On one occasion, a businessman was visiting San Giovanni just out of curiosity. When introduced by name to Padre Pio, the saint indicated that this was not actually his name. After insisting several more times that the stranger was not who he said he was Padre Pio indicated that the man would soon be called “father” as he was going to be a priest. The man had no intention of being a priest but, sure enough, several years later he entered the seminary. On another occasion a young man from the U.S. was making a pilgrimage to visit Padre Pio before entering the seminary. On telling Padre Pio that he would soon be entering seminary, the saint told him that he was mistaken. He indicated that when he got back to America he would “run into” his wife. Sure enough, when he got off the boat in New York he literally knocked over a young lady who he of course later married.

So, I took my special intention for guidance in my own vocation with me to Italy and prayed at the tomb of St. Pio for his intercession. It wasn’t too many days later, in Rome, that I became convinced (enough) that God was calling me to the priesthood. I came home still not certain, but I had prayed that the fruit of my pilgrimage would be more clarity and I knew that the balance had definitely shifted and that I had to go to seminary. Ironically there were a number of very wonderful young Catholic women on the pilgrimage and, I must admit, I tried very hard to make a vocation with one of them the fruit of my pilgrimage But, it was not to be. God showed me my vocation on the pilgrimage and I know that, at least partly, I have St. Pio to thank. I pray that he will help many more people to discern their vocation and that he will help me to be a good holy priest.

Below is a picture of the church in San Giovanni. The little one on the left with the bell was the original but so many people were coming to see this holy man that a second larger church was built and attached to the first. They are currently building an even larger church as both have long since been outgrown with all the pilgrims. The other picture is of the town of San Giovanni showing the big hospital for the poor that Padre Pio built with all the donations sent to him. You can also just see the church in the background, just left of center up against the mountain.