The
monastery dates back to 1625 and stands more than
two kilometres away from the town of Sant'Egidio.
The Capuchins from the province of Naples stayed
there until 1867, when they had to vacate the
complex under the suppression laws. Later on,
the monastery was handed over to the Capuchin
community of Foggia and reopened on 15 November
1900. In 1837 cardinal Gioacchino Pecci, later
Pope Leo XIII, came to stay in this monastery
to recover from ill health. Padre Pio himself
arrived there in late
November
1908 but remained in the monastery only for a short
time. Although Padre Pio outwardly appeared to be
in good health, in point of fact he was ill, and
Padre Agostino decided to take him to Pietrelcina
in the early months of the following year. Padre
Paolino from Casacalenda said of him: "He was
a good looking, chubby young man with a pinkish
face who did not in the slightest show any hint
of the illness he was affected by. All his person
emanated goodness and brotherly love". "May
the Holy Child make your heart feel all the holy
emotions that He made me feel during that blessed
night when He was born in that humble stable".
(Epist. III p. 982).
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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