Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In last week's episode, Tears Idle Tears, we heard the strange tale of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sculpture, which some believe cried real tears over the course of four intense days in the town
of Syracusa in Sicily in nineteen fifty three. Throughout the years, many have claimed to witness similar religious artifacts engaged in equally miraculous behavior, to the point where it might almost seem commonplace. The Weeping Madonna of Syracusa, however, remains the only such artifact to formally recognized by the Catholic Church. In terms of the genre we might call the strange
and unexplained. With regards to stories that have a particularly religious angle, I find tales of crying inanimate objects to be at the more interesting end of the scale. But if we're looking for something a little more shocking, few apparent miraculous occurrences can compare to the claimed phenomena of stigmata.
For something so well known it's interesting that apparent cases of stigmata, the sudden appearance of wounds on an individual mimicking those that are said to have been endured by Jesus Christ during his alleged crucifixion, are in fact few and far between. It is said that Saint Francis of Assisi was the first person to endure such a thing, having apparently been marked by the stigmata at the end of a forty day fast he conducted in the year
twelve twenty four. Since then, only about thirty or so people have seriously claimed to have suffered from it, and perhaps the most famous of them all was a man born into a humble farming family in eighteen eighty seven. His name was Francesco for Joni, or as he would later be known, Padre Pio. One morning in May nineteen twenty one, a letter sent from the Holy Office of the Vatican arrived at the episcopal residence of newly installed
Bishop of Voltaire RAPHAELI Rossi. The Holy Office, formerly known as the Roman Inquisition, was the department of the Catholic Church tasked with, among other things, preserving Catholic doctrine and assessing accusations against members of the clergy to determine whether they should face disciplinary action or not, and it was regarding this latter responsibility that the forty four year old
Bishop Rossi had been contacted. As the letter went on to explain, it had come to the Vatican's attention that Capuchin priest Padre Pio, who resided at Our Lady of Grace Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo in Foggia, southern Italy, was claiming to be suffering from stigmata. These stigmata wounds were so substantial that you could see right through them.
It was all said to have started back in nineteen eighteen, and as word had grown about the apparent miracle, large numbers of religious devotees had begun flocking to Padre Pio's town to hear him talk and conduct confession with him. Since then, the church had received a number of complaints from Po's colleagues, accusing him of fabricating the whole thing.
To his supporters, Po was also a mystic who had the power of healing, and also by location, the supposed ability to be in two places at the same time. With things threatening to get out of hand, the church had no option but to conduct a formal investigation of the apparent miracle, and it would fall to Bishop Rossi to carry out the arduous task. Arrived at the Friary in San Giovannia, Rotondo on June fourteenth, nineteen twenty one,
and asked immediately to meet with Padre po. As he later noted, Rossi's first impressions of Po were that he was extremely pale, with a slight suffering disposition, but was none the less sweet and solemn, with an expression of goodness and sincerity in his face. His hands he kept hidden under a pair of fingerless gloves. Over the next few days, Brosci conducted a series of interviews with Pio and slowly began to piece together the story of his life.
Padre Pio was born Francesco for Joni in the city of Pietro China in southern Italy in May eighteen eighty seven, as one of eight children. Pio said that from the age of five he experienced terrifying visions of God and the devil, and decided soon after to dedicate his life to God. Through the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi.
To that end, despite no formal schooling In nineteen o three, at the age of fifteen, he joined the Capuchin Order of Monks, an offshoot of the better known Franciscan Order, who believed their way of life better reflects the austerity and simplicity that Saint Francis had originally envisaged. After seven years of dedication to the order, Pio was ordained as a priest, and four days after that, according to him, was when the first marks of stigmatyr appeared on his body.
They appeared first as a single spot on the palm of his hand that throbb'd with pain beforefore other marks emerged, first on his other hand, then his feet, and finally on the left side of his chest, the place where Jesus Christ was said to have been stabbed by a spear after his death on the cross. Although the marks
eventually disappeared, the pain did not. As Padre Pio insisted to Bishop Rossy, he was so embarroedt to be blessed by such an occurrence that he first decided to try and keep it all a secret, But then the marks came back. With the outbreak of World War One, Patre Pio was conscripted into the army, but eventually discharged due to the ill health he'd suffered most of his life,
mainly from a persistent bronchitis and kidney trouble. Then, in nineteen eighteen, Pope Benedict the fifteenth encouraged people to pray for an end to the war, and so, as Padre Pio explained to Bishop Rossi as he tugged herself consciously at his fingerless gloves, he did except not only did he pray, but he offered himself up as a sacrifice too. A few days later, after celebrating mass, Pio was singing
with a quire when he had a vision. A near naked man was stood before him, with his arms stretched out wide as though he were being crucified, and his hands, feet, and side dripping with blood. It was unmistakably Jesus Christ. As Po stared on in amazement, the vision of Christ asked him to share in his pain and join him in his unyielding concern for the salvation of others, and Padre Pio agreed. When the vision ended, Po felt a pain in his hands and saw that his palms were
dripping with blood. Then he felt the pain in his feet and sighed too, and saw that they also were bleeding. From that day forward, he said the wounds had not healed. At Bishop Rossi's request, Padre Po then pulled back one of his fingerless gloves. As Rossi recorded later, the priest appeared to be in some pain as he revealed the strange wound underneath a scab roughly two centimeters a cross that seemed to cling to the material of the glove as he removed it. Then Po showed him the wounds
on his feet. These, according to Bishop Rossy, were more like sores that were in the process of healing, almost to the point of no longer being visible. When asked why this was so, Po claimed simply that they often seemed to be about to disappear, only to suddenly grow red and bloody again. Then, finally, Padre Pio removed his undershirt to reveal a clear, wine colored mark in the shape of a triangle in his left side that looked
to have bled recently. Bishop Rossy spent a total of eight days observing Padre Pio and talking to his colleagues to get a sense of his character. All was said to have described the man as a much respected and genuine devotee to his religion. And no one had a bad word to say about him, Having himself found Padre Pio to be generally polite and eminently believable, Bishop Rossy informed the Vatican's Holy Office that it was impossible to
deny that the stigmatr wounds were genuine. Some had claimed that Padre Pio was simply making the marks himself with carbolic acid and then aggravating them to prevent them from healing. Bishop Rossy, however, concluded that no such fraud was taking place, and that ultimately, as he said, there seemed to be enough reason to lean toward the presence of the supernatural with regard to the marks. As to whether they truly
were supernatural, however, he couldn't say. Despite Bishop Rossy's assessment, With the Vatican unable to decide exactly what to make of Padre po it was decided to err on the side of caution and ban him from conducting Mass and confession. Such was the strength of public opposition to this decision. However, in nineteen thirty three, with po Stigmatyr still seemingly going strong,
Pope Pious eleven was forced to overturn the ban. Throughout his lifetime, po Is said to have healed hundreds of people, not limited to the apparent restoring of sight and curing of cancer, while tales of his apparent ability to appear in two places at the same time were also numerous. With the Vatican tacit endorsement of Padre Pio's apparent stigmata and mystical abilities, his fame and popularity grew so much that he was forced to make his time a ticketed event.
Over five million people are said to have sought confession with him before his eventual death on September twenty third, nineteen sixty eight, with his stigmata being said to have lasted fifty years, although the question of whether this stigmata had been real or not was never formally resolved. The Catholic Church agreed to have Padre Pio canonized on account of his dedication to the Church and its followers, and so in twenty seven Padre Pio became Saint Pio of Pietrol, China.
The same year that Padre Pio was Canoni, Italian historian Sergio Luzzato finally went public with some startling information that he'd been sitting on for some time back in twenty oh one, while researching a book about the apparently long suffering priest Luzato, came across a box in the Vatican's archives full of documents relating to his various dealings. Among them, he found a small, faded letter written from Padre Pio to one of his devotees, Maria de Vito, who just
so happened to be the cousin of a pharmacist. In the letter, Padre Pio asked de Vito if she could have her cousin supply him with three hundred grams of carbolic acid, imploring her to keep the request a complete secret and not to let any of his fellow brothers know about it. This letter seemed to all but firm the accusation that Padre Pio had inflicted the wounds on himself after all. In addition to this, there is another interesting aspect of Pio's apparent stigmata in relation to its
possible legitimacy, that is rarely remarked upon. It's a common claim among supposed recipients of stigmata that two of the wounds appear in the palms of their hands. According to many historians, however, this is a false depiction of the actual wounds of crucifixion. It is widely considered that most victims of it would not have been nailed through the palm of their hands, but rather through the radius and uner, the two bones in the forearm that join the hand
at the wrist, pinning the victim. This way is thought to have been crucial in order for the arms to be able to support the weight of the body. This technique is also thought to have been used so the nails could be driven through the median nerve to inflict maxim and pain. If Jesus Christ was indeed a real person who was crucified, it is highly likely that this is the true manner in which it would have happened.
And one thing is for sure. If that was the pain that Padre Pio had been tasked with enduring for fifty years while also being able to successfully carry out all his theological duties, that truly would have been a miracle. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can now do so via Patreon To receive access to add three episodes. Just go to patron dot com
forward slash Unexplained pod to sign up. Unexplained the book and audiobook featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
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