Saints

St. Padre Pio

Having died in 1968, St. Padre Pio is a saint of our own times.  Padre (meaning Father in Italian) Pio was an Italian Capuchin priest (Capuchins are a branch of the Franciscans) who lived most of his priestly life in a monastery in southern Italy (San Giovanni Rotundo).  He is one of the most extraordinary saints in the history of the Church in terms of supernatural phenomena that he experienced.  Only 2 saints, as far as anyone seems to know, in the entire history of the Church have borne the full stigmata of Christ for a continuous period of time – St. Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio (the stigmata refer to the “5” wounds of Christ – both hands (2) + both feet (2) + the lance in the side).  Others have borne partial stigmata but only these 2 had all 5 of these wounds.  He also had the gift of reading souls, prophecy, bilocation, and more.  There is actually live footage of Padre Pio saying Mass in this video.

St Joseph Cupertino

This is a black & white movie on St Joseph Cupertino, an Italian Franciscan from the 1600’s.  The phenomena surrounding him are truly amazing.  He is especially known for frequently levitating.  St Joseph Cupertino reminds us that the most important part of our conversion is our interior, not just exterior conformity, but real interior union with Christ – that exterior appearances are never enough.  The movie is generally faithful to his life, although not 100% accurate; still a good presentation of a saint who is worth our contemplation.

St Maximillian Kolbe

A decent documentary on St Maximillian Kolbe, a (Conventual) Franciscan priest in the Auschwitz concentration camp of the Nazis, who volunteered to take the place of another man selected to die in a starvation cell. 

St John Bosco

St. John Bosco was an Italian priest in the 1800’s.  There was a lot of poverty in his part of Italy at that time, with the result of a good number of boys who tended to run wild and get into frequent trouble.  Fr Bosco’s work was with these boys.  He started an “oratory” where they were taught the faith and received the sacraments.  His oratories were also something like a combination of an orphanage and a school.  They could eat and sleep there if need be and they could also learn a trade.  Our Lord directly intervened, through dreams, to assist Fr Bosco in his work.  In Fr Bosco's frequent “dreams” there was a “guide" (presumably our Lord) who would show him things about his boys – the jeopardy of their souls and so on – or about the Church or the religious order he formed (the Salesians, named after St Francis de Sales).  The dreams were very realistic, so much so that John Bosco often did not know if he was awake or asleep.  As an example of just how realistic his dreams were, in one of them he was shown a representation of hell which, in his dream, was surrounded by 1000’s of thick concrete walls.  His “guide” ordered him to touch the outermost wall.  Bosco drew back but the guide insisted.  He finally touched it and when he woke up, his hand was actually burnt.  You might want to get the book: “Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco” from Tan publishers.  These 2 video clips present 2 of his dreams.

Short Clips of Several Different Saints - Very Brief Introductions

Fatima

In 1917 our Holy Mother (Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus) appeared six times to 3 shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal.  Mary has appeared numerous times throughout the history of the Church to various people.  Although no apparition is by any means trivial or without great value, in terms of the scope of her message (which was worldwide), the gravity of her message, the number of people present at the final apparition, the magnitude of the miracle performed to confirm the apparitions, and the number of people who saw the miracle, this is perhaps one of the most major and significant of all her apparitions.  Pope St John Paul II said that the message of Fatima is more relevant for our own time than when it was first given in 1917.  This movie, produced by EWTN, is perhaps the best Fatima movie ever produced.  There is little if any undue drama and it is very faithful, even in details, to what Lucia (the oldest of the 3 children) wrote and told of the apparitions, reactions to them, their family life, and so on.

EWTN made a documentary on Fatima that is excellent.

The-True-Story-of-Fatima.pdf

St Maria Goretti 

St Maria Goretti was just a young Italian girl (about 13) when she was martyred.  She was born into a poor Italian family in 1890.  When her dad died, her mom (Assunta) took up the field work in order to provide for the family.  Maria and her family lived in an upstairs house/apartment, which they shared with Giovanni (John) Serenelli and his son, Alessandro.  Alessandro, who was in his early 20’s, took notice of Maria and began to make advances towards her.  Maria was always able to stave them off or ignore them.  But then one day Maria was alone in the apartment, watching her baby sister.  Alessandro snuck back to the house and tried to have his way with Maria.  But Maria resisted and kept saying: no Alessandro, no, it’s a sin.  Alessandro became enraged and stabbed her multiple times.  She remained conscious and survived for about 20 hours but in the end succumbed to her wounds and died.  That, however, is just the beginning of the story.  This documentary tells the story of Maria and Alessandro.