Miracle-seekers flock to relics of Padre Pio
SOME CAME to pray for a miracle. Others looked for inspiration or simply wanted to show reverence.
Whatever their reasons, hundreds of devout Catholics flocked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday to touch and kiss relics that belonged to St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.
It was part of a special Mass commemorating the revered Italian Capuchin monk’s 130th birthday, which was May 25, and the 15th anniversary of his canonization. The Mass included renditions by the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel Choir.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan personally escorted two cancer patients and prayed before Padre Pio’s cloak and several silver reliquaries containing his glove, a lock of his hair and a handkerchief that he held on his deathbed.
“We ask you for Kathy. We ask you for Kelly. We ask you for all the people to come here to Padre Pio. Trust. Pray. Be not afraid,” Dolan said as he put his arm around the worshipers seeking a medical miracle.
Dolan said he wanted to make sure the cancer patients got a moment with Padre Pio’s relics.
“I have been close to them for a while,” he said. “As you can see, they make no secret that they are suffering from cancer. We trust their physicians. (Pio) said God works through physicians. God works through nurses.”
Padre Pio was known as a mystic credited by believers with the gift of holy healing.
His followers believe he suffered the stigmata — bleeding wounds on his hand, feet and abdomen, similar to those suffered by Jesus during his crucifixion.
Pio, who died in 1968 at 81, was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002.
During Sunday’s gathering at the Midtown cathedral, Dolan spoke about his niece, Shannon, who once battled cancer.
He said he was reminded of Padre Pio’s mantra — “trust, pray, do not be worried, don’t be afraid” — during a visit Shannon once had with her doctor.
“It was 17 years ago, that my little niece, Shannon, was diagnosed with cancer,” Dolan recalled. “You can imagine the trauma that it was for us.”
At one point, Shannon asked the doctor if she was going to die, Dolan remembered.
“The doctor said, ‘Shannon, you might die. No kids come to see me unless they are really sick,’ ” Dolan said.
“But then (the doctor) said, ‘Shannon, whether you live or die, you belong to God,’ ” Dolan recalled.
Worshipers applauded when he said Shannon is now doing well.
Dolan encouraged them touch and kiss the relics and smiled encouragingly when they did.
Luz Sanabra, 60, visiting from Florida, credits Padre Pio with healing her husband from to leg injuries four years ago.
“He had an accident,” she said. “He couldn’t walk. He prayed for nine days and didn’t need the leg surgery after all.”
She gently touched Padre Pio’s cloak and kissed his glove, encased in the cross-shaped ornament. “He’s a holy saint,” she said. “He used to carry Jesus in his heart. If you have faith, he can do miracles.”
Corazon Lirag, 65, of Queens, said she felt blessed being close to items that belonged to the saint.
“He really preached about forgiveness,” she said. “When he was alive, he was really good at confession. He spent most of his time in the confessional. If the person wasn’t telling everything, he would know it. He is a really inspiring saint for me.”
Her son, Gilbert Lirag, 41, said he also wanted to be here close to Padre Pio’s relics.
“It’s a privilege to see the relics here,” he said. “He makes people realize that they can always ask God for forgiveness.”
Luciano Lamonarca, 39, an opera singer who founded the St. Pio Foundation three years ago, said he was moved by the devotion of others.
He plans to take the relics to other cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta and Providence, R.I.
“We want people to venerate Padre Pio,” he said. “We want them to touch the relics. This changed my life, it really did. (Pio) did say, ‘I will be more powerful in death than in life.’ ”