THE CURE OF ARS AND PADRE PIO LOVED ST PHILOMENA, WHO PIO HAILED AS THE PRINCESS OF HEAVEN

I have a thorny question for The Curé of Ars, St Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, perhaps the most remarkable parish priest to have ever lived. I’d love to ask him if he had any regrets about how he tried to micromanage the marvels worked by his beloved St Philomena. It is 60 years since St Philomena was removed from all liturgical calendars that mentioned her. I just wonder if the good Curé had known what would befall St Philomena’s reputation in 1961, if he would not have put restraints on her and allowed her intercessory powers with God to be on full display. 

 

You see, during the Curé’s 41 years of ministry in the remote hamlet of Ars in Eastern France, he became known as a grand miracle worker, but he refused credit and said that the miracles seen in Ars were the work of the virgin-martyr Philomena who was beheaded under Diocletian. But while he loved Philomena dearly, there was a time when he tried to dictate the type of miracles she worked among the multitudes who came as pilgrims to his church. He wanted her to prioritise the conversion of those sick in soul primarily as opposed to those sick in body, and he was even known to say, “She must cure souls before all else”. Once the Curé even forbade Philomena outright from healing the physically ill while they were in Ars. But suddenly, a disabled child called on Philomena and got the full use of her limbs. To the Curé’s consternation this was the talk of Ars and he griped, “St Philomena has broken her word, she should have cured the child elsewhere.”

 

The Curé also tried to keep Philomena to a timetable, asking that she cure people when they got home. When someone began a novena to Philomena, the Curé asked her to heal them during the last days of the novena, when it was Philomena’s way to answer them on the first day.  The gaunt-faced Curé and Philomena were close friends, even familiars. Once a parishioner crept up behind the Curé and overheard him talking with Our Lady. Afterwards the Curé conceded, “With the Holy Virgin and with St Philomena, we know each other pretty well.” Yet he disliked that miraculous cures of the body took all the attention from souls being converted to Christ. I think, however, that this was a better situation than the one that has held sway in the past 6 decades, whereby people have utterly doubted she is a saint and failed to ask her help. She is my favorite saint of all time, and I grieve for those who do not know her. 

 

Alongside the Curé, other luminaries and great saints have highly esteemed Philomena. I did one interview with a disciple of Padre Pio’s who quoted Pio as saying, “St Philomena is the Princess of Heaven”. Pio also stated firmly that Philomena is a saint and that “the confusion is the work of the devil”. It is noteworthy that Pio was so declarative, honoring Philomena as being a royal in Heaven, because Philomena was the object of Diocletian’s obsession. The blood-thirsty emperor wanted Philomena for his bride, and had she accepted she would have been Empress of the Roman Empire. When she spurned diabolical Diocletian’s marriage proposals, he had her murdered. 

 

Her relics remained hidden for many centuries, but in 1802 they were discovered in the Catacombs of Priscilla. And in the decades that followed, her cult attracted a dizzying variety of devotees. Popes Gregory XVI, Leo XII, Leo XIII, Pius IX and Pius X were in awe of her. St Damien of Molokai was greatly devoted to Philomena, and the church where he had his ministry to lepers was named in her honor. The satanic-priest turned promoter of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo enjoyed Philomena’s favor. Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi’s granddaughter Peppina suffered a horrific injury to her eye when her pupil was ripped. The doctors despaired of her recovery. Anna Maria, however, blessed Peppina with the oil of St Philomena and her eye was totally and miraculously restored. Moreover, St Peter Julian Eymard, St Peter Chanel, St Hannibal Mary, St John Nepomucene, Mother Cabrini, St Madeleine Sophie Barat and St Geltrude Comensoli were all amazed by how Philomena answered their prayers. 

 

But of all her ardent followers, the one that owed the most to Philomena for not allowing him impede her power was most likely the Curé of Ars. The Curé may have tried to forbid her from curing bodies, and had she bent to his will, she would not have rescued him from the jaws of death. In a dramatic and ironic turn, the Curé needed her to heal his body, even though he had asked her to refrain from healing others of their maladies of flesh. In 1843, 25 years into his earthly stint at Ars, the Curé fell deathly ill and was diagnosed with fatal pneumonia. He collapsed and was given the Last Rites. But he requested that Mass be offered in St Philomena’s honor and at the exact moment Mass was being offered at the altar of St Philomena that the Curé had enshrined, the Curé was healed instantly and completely. 

 

When the Curé was so ill, he had a priest-friend who was very good to him. This friend, however, caught TB and was dying. The Curé told him he was not long for this world and Heaven awaited. But the Curé was privy to a change in Our Lord’s will and he had this glad news for his friend, “My dear friend, you were so charitable to me during my illness that the Lord has changed His plan for you; you will recover. In one of the churches of your city, you’ll dedicate a statue to St Philomena and you’ll ensure that the parish chosen by you consecrates a chapel to her.” Everything the Curé said came to pass, and his priest-friend did indeed consecrate a chapel to her. 

Please consider offering the Litany of St Philomena composed by the Curé of Ars for your most pressing needs and intentions and watch the miracles worked through St Philomena abound in your life.

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Classic painting of St Philomena by Giuseppe Bezzuoli. I wrote this for the Winter 2021 Mass of Ages Magazine. You may read the entire magazine here.