A Pilgrimage

Early in our relationship, I remember Diane mentioning Padre Pio as someone she found very inspiring.  Padre Pio was a priest who served in a small mountainous town in eastern Italy.  One of the distinguishing features of this man is that he had the marks of the stigmata, the visible wounds of a crucifixion on his hands, feet and sides.  The public pictures of him typically show him wearing gloves.  Padre Pio died in that small town of San Giovani Rotondo in 1968 and was made a saint in the Catholic Church.

Having seen all there is to see in Pompei, I asked Diane if she would like to make the trip to San Giovani Rotondo.  It is the second largest pilgrimage site in the world.  We did some research and found that there were buses from Naples.  The downside was that the trip was 3 hours each way and allowed visitors only one hour at the site.  The innkeeper where we are staying suggested renting a car and driving ourselves.  Given what I have seen of Italian roads and drivers, this had me a bit concerned, but it seemed the best option.  The innkeepers let us borrow their Tomtom gps (which we nicknamed TimTom after the Reverend on the tv show "The Middle").  TimTom did a great job getting us through the small towns and onto the highway.  The only problem was in the mountains where TimTom got a bit confused.  On a hairpin turn that went left, he would say, "Turn right here."  Maybe TimTom didn't like me, who knows.  But in the mountain we muted TimTom and made our own route.

San Giovani Rotondo  is set on a mountainside and is a beautiful city.  We found a parking spot near the church and began our tour.  There are three churches...the old one, the updated one and the modern one.  We began in the updated one which led to the museum devoted to Padre Pio.  The museum was filled with stories of his life and ministry and was a very nice tribute to the man.  In the basement of the church, there is the crypt where the priest's body was buried until 2008.  There were many tributes, with people leaving coins, letters, photos, etc. 

At the end of the tour, Diane asked where the body was now.  Unfortunately, their English was as poor as our Italian.  We were directed to one area, but this did not work.  We found a very helpful priest who told us to go to the modern church.  It was a little distance away (and it was raining), but this was important to Diane and we were now on a quest.  We walked into the new building, a vast expansive church searching for the body of Padre Pio.  It was very frustrating and we were having no luck.  We had looked everywhere and we had come a long way.  Diane sat down on the stairs in frustration with her hands on her head looking like she was going to cry.

At that moment, I felt like an observer to Easter morning.  Remember the story of Mary going to the tomb?  She is looking for the body and she cannot find it.  She is grieving and sad.  At that moment, I felt like a witness to Mary's grief.  I looked some more.  We finally found someone and pointed to the picture of Padre Pio's tomb and I asked, "Dov'e?"  "Where?" in Italian.  We were not far.

We walked a little further and came into this incredible gold sanctuary.  There was a priest conducting mass in the room so we joined the service.  Diane noted later that the priest looked to be the age that he might have known Padre Pio.  That made the service that much more special.  When the mass concluded, the particpants joined in a procession to where Padre Pio's body is entombed. 

The tours would have permitted us to stay for one hour.  We were at San Giovani Roounda for about three hours. 

TimTom led us back toward Pompei before delivering us to an unknown location and declaring, "You have reached your destination."  How we got back to the Bed and Breakfast I don't know.  It was dark and it was late when we pulled into the gated inn.  It was an exhausting day and the stress of navigating the unknown territory was a challenge.  But our pilgrimage brought us great joy to visit this holy site.