Gesualdo
and Montefusco lie only a few kilometres apart.
The Capuchin monastery was constructed at the
expense of prince Don Carla Gesualdo and belonged
to the Monastic Province of Naples. It was abandoned
during the suppression of 1866 and handed over
to the Capuchin community of Foggia in 1905. The
monastery was seriously damaged by the 1980 earthquake,
and restoration work is still underway.
Padre Pio stayed at the monastery about a month,
studying moral theology. Some of his classmates
there have provided reports of his brief spell
there. A fellow-novice, now Padre Guglielmo from
San Giovanni Rotondo, said: "... all of a
sudden, following his departure we became aware
of a great emptiness in our monastery; yet we
had hopes and expectations to comfort us, along
with the certainty that the love-filled presence
of Brother Pio would always be with us".
"Oh how deeply must we love He who bestowed
his tender love on us! Oh how must we burn with
the desire to lead the whole world to this humble
manger, the nursery of the King of kings, which
being the home of God is far greater than any
human palace ". (Epist. N p. 972).
Padre Pio's Spirituality
Spiritual
school
"Let
us always trust in God, and may our lively faith and the comfort of Christian
hope assist us in this. We must pray continually, moreover, that peace may soon
smile on the nations. We should turn our thoughts to heaven, our true homeland,
of which our earthly country is but a dim image, and make every effort with the
divine assistance to preserve at all times, amidst happy or sad events, the cheerful
calm that becomes the true followers of the fair Nazarene" (Epist. I,
p. 596)
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