Mystic Monk Padre Pio Part 1

In trying to entertain you, I have put all kinds of things on here that go from one end of the spectrum to other - some good, some bad and some that are out there.

I spend a lot of time searching for something a little different.

Today, tomorrow and Friday I have a different and strange story for your review.


Popular Catholic Saint Exhumed in Rome

ROME - The body of the mystic monk Padre Pio, one of the Roman Catholic world's most revered saints who died 40 years ago, has been exhumed to be prepared for display to his many devotees.

The friar, born Francesco Forgione, died in 1968 aged 81.

Clergymen in the southern Italian town of San Giovanni Rotondo look at a glass-top coffin containing the remains of Padre Pio, one of the Roman Catholic world's most revered saints who died 40 years ago. His body was exhumed and is set to go on display in Rome in late April.

The body of the Capuchin friar, who was said to have had the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ's crucifixion -- on his hands and feet -- is to be conserved and put in a part-glass coffin for at least several months from April 24.

The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without even leaving a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side which then disappeared.

A Church statement said the body was in "fair condition", particularly the hands, which Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, who witnessed the exhumation in the southern Italian town where Pio died, said "looked like they had just undergone a manicure".

A spokesman for the monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo said he believed morticians would be able to conserve the face of the bearded monk well enough for it to be recognizable.

The body, which had been buried under marble in a crypt, was exhumed during a three-hour service that ended after midnight.

A Catholic magazine once found that far more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than to any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

Some 7 million people visit his tomb every year. There are some 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" around the world, with a membership of around 3 million.

OK, so is this not weird to dig up a body that is in fair condition and put it on public display?

Do you also find it weird that more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than to any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus?

I'm not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time and as I was thumbing through the Gideon's that was conveniently located in the night stand drawer on the right side of the bed, I came across the following;

"I am the Lord your God , you shall have no other gods before me."

"You shall not make for yourself any graven images, and worship them."

So does that mean those Catholics praying to Padre Pio and any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus, have never stayed in a Holiday Inn Express?

How do you view their practice of digging up their own revered dead and sprucing them up for general display?

I will be truly surprised if there will not be a "cover charge" for viewing Padre Pio.

Among the stories that surround him is one that he wrestled with the devil in his monastery cell.

Padre Pio is also said to have predicted future events, to have been seen in two places at once, and to have been able to tell people their sins before they confessed them to him.

More about Padre Pio tomorrow for those of you that don't know the history about this fake saint.