Chapter Ten

      San Giovanni Rotondo

       Refused Permission to Die

      Shortly after Padre Pio arrived in Foggia, Padre Agostino took him to the Cerase home, to meet in person for the first time the lady with whom he had been corresponding for two years. Agostino wrote: “The meeting of Padre Pio and Donna Raffaelina was that of two souls who had known each other before the Lord for a long time…. The way they looked at each other — it was angelic — more eloquent than words can tell.”¹

      For the next couple of months, Padre Pio paid regular visits to the sick woman as her physical condition continued to deteriorate. On March 17, Padre Pio wrote to Padre Agostino, who was at the friary at San Marco la Catola, “For several days now Raffaelina has been on the cross of the Beloved. She is suffering with unconquerable resignation. It breaks my heart to see her in such a state.”² The same day he wrote to Padre Benedetto, “She is already in the antechamber of the King. Before long she will be led in to the nuptial banquet.”³

      Giovina, eavesdropping, heard the friar say to her sister, “My dear daughter, let’s tell Jesus to take me in your place.”

      “No, Father,” answered Raffaelina, “I want to go first to Jesus myself. Then I will tell him to send me to take you.”⁴

      On March 25, Padre Pio wrote Padre Agostino: “At 4:00 this morning we gained another intercessor at the throne of the Most High. Raffaelina has finished the course; she has celebrated the nuptials with her Divine Spouse. She fell asleep, happy soul, with a smile of disdain for this world.”⁵ Agostino praised the “lovely soul,” the “veritable treasure of goodness and piety,” who had “immolated herself” in exchange for the permanent return of Padre Pio to the cloister.

      Padre Pio now passionately yearned for death. He begged Padre Agostino to give him permission to die. Shortly afterward, he had a vision of Raffaelina in her heavenly glory, who conveyed to him a message that he was not eager to hear. To Padre Agostino, who had refused him permission to die, Padre Pio lamented, “The whole lot of you are cruel! Padre Benedetto, the provincial, says no, you say no. And now that other spirit … comes to tell me that she can’t do anything because Jesus doesn’t want it! If I had known that, I would never have given her permission to go to heaven before me! All of you are cruel!”⁶

       More Extraordinary Phenomena

      For about six months, Padre Pio remained at St. Anna’s, during which time he was constantly ill and spent much of his time in bed. His confreres found it unusual that, even though he was able to retain hardly any of the food he ate, he showed no signs of starvation. What concerned them most, however, were the horrific noises that issued from his room early every evening.

      Padre Paolino di Tommaso of Casacalenda (1886–1964), who was assigned to the friary of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, twenty-five miles away, found the friars there worried about the terrifying noises that came from Pio’s room. He passed through Foggia in May on his way to a medical examination for military service (which, to his relief, he failed).

      Padre Paolino was skeptical, until the dinner hour came and the community sat down to eat. Padre Pio, who seldom, if ever, partook of the evening meal, remained upstairs in his room. During the course of the meal, everyone heard a terrific crash, just as if, as Padre Paolino put it, a huge drum of oil or gasoline had been dropped and crashed to the floor. Immediately Padre Paolino ran upstairs to find Padre Pio pale and drenched in sweat, as if he had gone swimming in his nightshirt. The same thing happened for several successive nights.

      Word of this reached Padre Benedetto, who hurried to the friary. The minister provincial conferred with Padre Pio and asked Padre Paolino to be present as a witness. Padre Benedetto ordered Padre Pio to have the noises stopped.

      Padre Pio humbly responded, “Your Paternity knows very well that I am not to blame and that I have nothing at all to do with what is happening…. It is God’s will that is permitting this!”

      “Well, you tell the Lord,” commanded Padre Benedetto, “that I, as superior, for the greater good of this community, want to be pleased … in having these noises stop!”⁷

      The noises stopped. Padre Pio told Padre Paolino that the noises were of demonic origin and were associated with temptations so frightening that they made him break out in a cold sweat. He did not describe the nature of the temptations, and Padre Paolino did not ask. Padre Pio later affirmed that the temptations continued — but silently. Word of the ghastly noises, however, spread among the Capuchin community and the lay people of the area. Soon several local women, convinced that this was evidence of Padre Pio’s divine predilection, were seeking out the “holy monk” for spiritual direction.

      One of these “spiritual daughters” was Annitta Rodote. One day, when Padre Paolino was in Foggia, Annitta told him, “Father, yesterday something happened that never happened before in my life!” She went on to recount that one afternoon, around two, she was in her kitchen when she heard “a clear and intelligible voice” calling her by her nickname: “Annina! Annina!” At first, she thought she was dreaming, but as the voice continued to call her, she realized that she was wide awake. After calling “Annina!” twice more, the voice directed her, “Kneel down and pray for me, for I am at present very much tormented by the devil.” Rodote was terrified and confused. Then the voice spoke again: “Quickly, quickly, Annina! Don’t doubt, because this is Padre Pio who is asking you to pray! Kneel and let’s pray the litanies of the Madonna together.” When Rodote fell to her knees, Padre Pio’s disembodied voice began the Kyrie Eleison (“Lord, have mercy”), the beginning of the responsive prayer. They continued to the end, when the voice said, “Thank you. I am calm now.”

      Padre Paolino wondered if this experience was a diabolical trick, but he dismissed the possibility because it would have meant that hell was invoking people’s prayers against itself. He told Annitta: “If you receive any other signs of this nature, tell the voice that you always pray for Padre Pio, but that you do not like this method of requesting prayer because you do not want to encounter illusions. You can also say that this was the counsel of your confessor.”

      The next day Rodote told Padre Paolino that the same thing had happened again. When she had spoken of the danger of “illusion,” the voice had said: “But this is no illusion! I have need of souls to join with me in prayer, especially now, when I am tempted by the devil and feel the need acutely. So don’t deny me the charity of praying with me!”

      Padre Paolino told Rodote that if Padre Pio should call her in the same manner the next day, to say to him, “Tell me where you are.” So, the next day Padre Paolino carefully monitored Padre Pio’s movements, especially around 2:00 p.m., the time that Annitta had been hearing the voice. When she reported a recurrence of the phenomenon, Paolino asked, “Did Padre Pio tell you where he was?” The place Annitta indicated was the very spot where Padre Paolino had observed Padre Pio at that very hour. Satisfied, Paolino left Rodote in full liberty to pray with Padre Pio every time he called her invisibly. He never questioned Padre Pio about the phenomenon, however.⁸

       “Finding a Most Edifying Religious Community”

      The summer of 1916 was very hot, and Padre Pio, who always suffered greatly from the heat, was so uncomfortable at night that he couldn’t sleep. Padre Paolino invited his friend to come and spend a few days at the friary of Our Lady of Grace outside of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he was the superior. Situated in the mountains, it tended to be significantly cooler than Foggia. A similar suggestion was made by Rachelina Russo, who ran a clothing store in that town. She had befriended the friars when they reestablished their friary in San Giovanni a few years before, giving them financial and material assistance. She had been going to the “holy monk” in Foggia for counsel. “You must come to San Giovanni Rotondo,” she told Padre