Padre Pio had a profound humility; he was blessed with extraordinary spiritual gifts, but he always, always considered himself the least of his fellow priests. Padre Pio never asked anything for himself, but he treasured and loved the privilege of offering Midnight Mass. This was a solemn Mass, and the right to offer it usually belonged to the guardian of San Giovanni. But successive guardians, knowing how much offering this Mass meant to Fr. Pio, gave Padre Pio the honour of celebrating it.
It was a long Mass – Padre Pio sometimes finished at five in the morning. But many of the faithful went to great pains to attend it. It was an arduous journey to the friary in the 1920s and 1930s, when the road was a rocky mule path, and in winter it was coated in snow and ice. Before Midnight Mass, Padre Pio waited and greeted those…
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Nelson MCBS 