Relics to visit Diocese

PARSIPPANY  Bishop Serratelli has announced that relics of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina will visit the Diocese for public veneration on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Church here to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. The historic event will conclude with a Mass at 7 p.m. in honor of St. Pio, to be celebrated by Msgr. Herbert Tillyer, St. Peter the Apostle’s pastor.

On Aug. 16, Bishop Serratelli sent a letter to the faithful of the Diocese, in which he wrote that he was “happy to announce the visit of relics of St. Pio to the Diocese.” In it, he wrote that the “traditions of visiting the relics of saints is a rich part of our Catholic heritage.” The Italian saint’s life was marked by long hours in prayer, continual austerity and immense physical and spiritual suffering — including bearing the stigmata, wounds that corresponded to Jesus’ wounds at his crucifixion, for 50 years. He is also known for his deep union with Jesus and devotion to Mary and the Eucharist.

“While we ask for their powerful intercession, there have been many blessings and conversions that have come through devotion to these saints. Those who attend are encouraged to bring articles of devotion, such as rosaries, holy cards and pictures of loved ones, which may be touched to the reliquaries as a means of intercessory prayer,” wrote the Bishop, who also asked all pastors, priests and parish leaders in the Diocese “to encourage devotion to these important witnesses of our faith as a way of building up the faith of our people.”

The day of the visit of St. Pio’s relics will begin with the Rite of the Reception of the Relics at 8:30 a.m. to be led by Msgr. Tillyer and include prayers, including the Litany of the Saints. Starting at 9 a.m., several meditations by St. Pio will be delivered followed by the praying of a decade of the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary throughout the day, said Linda Pasquale, member of the area St. Padre Pio Prayer Group at St. Peter’s and a Third Order Secular Franciscan, who is helping to coordinate the visit of his relics.

That day, the faithful in attendance will pray the Angelus at noon and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3 p.m. with music led by Theresa Steinel of the music ministry of St. Christopher Parish, also in Parsippany. Msgr. Tillyer will be in St. Peter the Apostle Church after the Mass to impart a blessing. Also, books and religious items related to St. Pio will be for sale in the narthex of the church with proceeds going to the work of the Saint Pio Foundation, which will sponsor the event, Pasquale said.

The faithful will be invited to pray before the following relics of St. Pio, which are encased in reliquaries: his glove, scabs of his wounds, cotton-gauze with his blood stains, a lock of his hair, his mantle and his handkerchief soaked with his sweat hours before he died, according to the foundation’s website, saintpiofoundation.org.

“In the Catholic Church, relics are physical objects associated with a saint or candidate for sainthood — part of the saint's body or something with which he or she was in contact. Relics are not worshiped, but treated with religious respect. Touching or praying in the presence of the relics helps a faithful individual focus on the saint’s life and virtues, so that through the saint’s prayer or intercession before God, the individual will be drawn closer to God,” said Luciano Lomanaco of the St. Pio Foundation, located in New Rochelle, N.Y. “The most important fact, in our opinion, was that a majority of those attending the tour of the relics of Padre Pio would never be able to travel to San Giovanni Rotunda or Pietrelcina to visit the places where our saint was born, lived, and died. It has, therefore, become a mission for us to enable these faithful devotees to have a “spiritual encounter” with Padre Pio, he said.

The visitation of the relics to the Diocese marks one of the stops on the St. Pio Foundation’s tour of the U.S. this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the saint’s death. Bishop Serratelli made a formal request for the relics to be available for veneration in the Paterson Diocese and the foundation complied with his request. The non-profit St. Pio Foundation promotes awareness of the saint and his charism nationally and internationally by working with institutions and individuals who share the same vision to serve “those in need of relief of suffering,” its website states.

Coordinating the visit of the relics with the St. Pio Foundation’s are several members of the St. Peter the Apostle’s community, including Msgr. Tillyer; Father Yojaneider Garcia Ramirez, parochial vicar; Pasquale; Claudette Bonfanti, secretary; and Josephine Minerva, also of the St. Padre Pio Prayer Group, Pasquale said.

Born on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina in southern Italy, St. Pio was ordained a priest in the Capuchin Franciscan order in 1910. On Sept. 20, 1918 the five wounds of Our Lord’s passion appeared on his body, making him the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Catholic Church. Countless persons were attracted to his confessional and many more received his saintly counsel and spiritual guidance through correspondence. He built a Home for the Relief of Suffering for the sick in 1956, according to his biography on the foundation’s website.

St. Padre Pio died on Sept. 23, 1968. Increasing numbers from all parts of the world flock to his tomb and many testify to spiritual and temporal graces they have received. St. Pope John Paul II beatified him on May 2, 1999 and canonized him a saint on June 16, 2002.

St. Peter the Apostle Parish has a connection with St. Pio through the late Msgr. Leo Fanning, who formerly served the parish, and died in 2008. He met the future saint, while serving in the U.S. military in Italy, during World War II. When then-Corporal Fanning was introduced to Padre Pio, the priest responded, “It is Father Leo Fanning.” He did become a priest and received a congratulatory telegram from Padre Pio minutes before his ordination in 1954, although he never informed him of the exact day or time. Msgr. Fanning helped found the St. Padre Pio Prayer Group, which still meets monthly, to pray and venerate a relic from the saint, Pasquale said.

“We are excited and honored to have relics of Padre Pio,” said Msgr. Tillyer. “We invite people to come any time throughout the day.”

[Information: St. Peter the Apostle Parish at (973) 334-2090 or email the parish at [email protected].]