WONDROUS WEDNESDAY: THE DAY OF ST JOSEPH IN THE LIFE OF PADRE PIO

In recent months I have felt like I've been living in Italy of the 1880s: this was the decade when Padre Pio's parents got married and when he was born. I studied the calendars from that time to find out which day of the week certain episodes happened. As I've been re-writing the chapters of my book on Pio that concern his early life, it has simply amazed me that the most important events of his young life occurred on Wednesdays. 

Why Wednesday you may ask, and you may also ask if this is mere coincidence. Bear with me as I explain the concise answer. Wednesday is the day devoted to St Joseph who is terror of demons, and as such that day has special protection from demonic attack. Joseph is present in every hour of Wednesday - the day belongs to him and that time is like his property - and the evil spirits have much less room to run in the minutes where Joseph holds sway.

Padre Pio's parents were married on a Wednesday. This is noteworthy because his mother's relatives were against the marriage and tried to dissuade her from marrying Grazio, Pio's father, because he was from a poorer background. So much could have gone wrong on their wedding day. But Wednesday June 8th 1881 was a gloriously peaceful day, and Grazio and Guiseppa had a beautiful wedding. Had Grazio and Guiseppa never married,  they would never have had the son who grew to be Padre Pio. 

Padre Pio was born on a Wednesday. On May 25th 1887 he came into the world in his parents' bedroom and as Guiseppa cradled him and his creamy blonde curls fell about the crook of her arm, she was not to know that her little one had suffered in her womb when demons had bullied him. 

Yes, even when he was an unborn baby, Pio was subject to ferocious demonic persecution. But such demonic vexation always stopped completely on a Wednesday and thus Guiseppa had a serene labor. Grazio and Giuseppa, however, did not plan for their son to be born on Wednesday. Heaven designed that Pio was born under the great protection of Joseph. 

Padre Pio was ordained a priest on a Wednesday, August 10th, 1910. I had a suspicion about this before I checked the calendar because the day was so completely free from demonic interference. Thus he became Padre Pio on Joseph's day.

Padre Pio never shared the exact date in 1910 that he first received the stigmata as a newly ordained priest. But it may well have happened on a Wednesday. I fully believe this to be the case.  The peaceful day he describes has all the hallmarks of a Wednesday. As a young priest, Pio was often beaten up by the demons, pursued relentlessly by them, but they always disappeared on Wednesday. When he first received the wounds of Christ, he was  relaxing and praying in the shade of an almond tree. The mere fact that he was at ease and was not being harrassed by even one demon tells us it was Wednesday.

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I have no means of contacting Fr Donald Calloway, the author of the book on consecration to St Joseph, but I would like Fr Donald to know about the role of Wednesday, Joseph's day in the life of Pio. Please, if you have a way of contacting him, feel free to share this post with him. 

Fr Donald Calloway's Consecration to St Joseph is available at the Spirit Daily store.