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PADRE
PIO AND JOEY LOMANGINO
By Connie Hoebich
 In
1963, Joey Lomangino was spiritually converted and received a miraculous
physical cure from God through Padre Pio. Since that very day, Joey
has been a man of prayer, ever increasing; a daily Communicant and
a daily Rosarian. The overflow of his spiritual life has brought
about the founding and inspirational impetus of an organization
whose apostolic activities and rich spiritual fruits have reached
around the world.
 The
kernel from which all has sprung is Joey’s celebrated “conference”,
a slide-talk presentation on Padre Pio, Fatima and Garabandal which
he has given some 4,000 tiimes in 25 states in America and 11 other
countries. From its beginning- when Joey would go house to house
with a photo album under his arm to tell people about Padre Pio
and at the same time to tell of his own convictions regarding Garabandal-there
have been here and there rumblings of discontent from well-meaning
devotees of Padre Pio: “That Joey is a swell guy, and Garabandal
is probably authentic but why talk about the two matters together?
Why connect our saintly Padre with apparitions that haven’t
yet received the endorsement of the official Church?”
That the question should be raised at all perplexes those who know
Joey well, for they know that is was Padre Pio who opened Joey’s
heart to God, Padre Pio who taught him to pray, and, through prayer,
to find peace and purpose. And they know that it is grace, obtained
through prayer, that has turned Joey from a shy, introverted, non-religious,
scantily educated blind man into a dynamic lay missionary, a man
who stands up before thousands of people-from bishops in great cathedrals
to murderers in federal prisons—and holds their attention for
two and more hours as he speaks, often effecting a change for the
better in their lives.
Once when Joey was standing with a friend near Padre Pio, the friend
pointed to Joey’s eyes. The Padre said in response: “I
can’t give him sight for his eyes, but I can give him sight
for his soul.” He did, and Joey wouldn’t trade it for
anything in the world, 20-20 vision included. Joey’s simple
and to the point thought is: “If only more people could know
about Padre Pio, they could be converted just as I was.” These
are the reasons Joey preaches Padre Pio, with deep gratitude and
conviction.
Now this same Padre Pio who has meant so much to Joey lived in his
own life every aspect of the message of Garabandal. And it was he
who first pointed Joey in the direction of Garabandal. Padre Pio
assured Joey of the truth of the apparitions, and he told him to
go to the village. As far as Joey is concerned, the two—Padre
Pio and Garabandal-are forever connected in his heart and, therefore,
his apostolate must give witness to both.
 CONVERSION
AND CURE
The accident that blinded Joey in 1947 flung his family into poverty.
For seven years they lived, for the most part, on the charity of
neighbors and friends. Fortunes changed in 1954 when Joey and his
brothers were offered a business venture. Through Joey’s natural
business acumen, a lot of hard work and perseverance on the part
of everyone in the family and- Joey believes-God’s blessings,
the business paid off.
Now, in 1961, Joey was 31, financially successful, and much overworked.
On doctor’s orders he took a vacation trip to Europe, where
he stayed with relatives in Bari, Italy. While there, his uncle
persuaded him to visit San Giovanni Rotondo, the monastery home
of Padre Pio, 75 miles away in Foggia.
 Reluctantly,
for he just wasn’t interested, Joey went to Foggia, arriving
in time for the 5 a.m. Mass celebrated by the famous stigmated priest.
After Mass, Joey and his uncle knelt with many other men for the
Padre’s blessing. When he came to Joey, Padre Pio called him
by name, touched him on the cheek and blessed him. That was all.
And yet it was everything, for it crystallized all that Joey heard
and sensed during this brief stay at the Rotondo-the great affection
of the people for this priest, and his extraordinary holiness. For
two years afterwards, Joey couldn’t get the presence of Padre
Pio out of his soul.
In going to Foggia, Joey had made a tiny opening in his heart for
God. Grace had entered and begun the transforming work. Mass and
the Sacraments were still only occasional events in Joey’s
life, but now he was experiencing the turbulence of conversion.
He began to have lights of understanding-about his blindness and
the family hardships that had weighed so heavily on him. He began
to understand why the financial comfort he’d dreamed about,
struggled for, and attained hadn’t brought the joys or peace
he’s thought it would. He began to fathom the emptiness.
When Joey returned to Italy in 1963, it was specifically to be again
in the presence of that holy man whose seemingly simple blessing
had wrought such wonders in his soul.
On the third day of this second visit to the Rotondo, Joey knelt
for confession. There was no partition between him and Padre Pio,
who grabbed him by the wrist and said, “Joey, confess yourself.”
Stunned by this face-to-face encounter, Joey couldn’t speak
right away. The Padre said again, “Joey, confess yourself.”
Joey began:
“Bless me, Father, for I
have sinned.”
…but the priest interrupted him.
“Joey, you’re angry, eh?”
“No, Father, I work hard, I’m tired…”
“No, no, Joey, you’re angry, eh?”
As Joey searched his soul for unclouded
truths, Padre Pio raised his arm and said, “I call Jesus and
Mary for you.” At that moment, which Joey recalls as though
it were now, he understood that Padre Pio knew his soul. Joey says,
“I felt deeply sorry for every sin I’d ever committed,
and I understood that God knew this and Padre Pio knew this, and
that I was being absolved of all.”
The Padre touched Joey’s lips, made him kiss the stigmated
hand, caressed him and said, “Joey, a little patience, a little
courage and you’re going to be all right.”
A few days later, Joey knelt with about 50 other men outside the
cloister in the Rotondo waiting for Padre Pio to pass by. Suddenly,
Joey threw his arms up and plunged backward to protect himself from
what he thought, in his darkness, was an explosion. Actually, it
was a scent-of roses. But Joey had had no sense of smell for so
long that the sensation suggested an explosion to him. Suddenly
Padre Pio was next to him and had grabbed him by the arm: “Joey,
don’t be afraid.”
Though his olfactory nerve had been severed 16 years earlier in
the accident that took also his eyes, Joey had regained his sense
of smell. He has no physical faculty to smell, but his sense of
smell is as acute as anyone’s-by the grace of God working through
Padre Pio.
THE BIG QUESTIONS-AND THE BIG ANSWERS
The friend who had accompanied Joey to San Giovanni on this trip
had done so with the understanding that after a week or so the two
would go to Garabandal. While Joey’s friend was interested
in these reported apparitions, Joey knew nothing of them and, besides
he only wanted to stay at San Giovanni where he could be near Padre
Pio. Joey persuaded his friend to put the matter before Padre Pio
and accept whatever the Padre would say. Joey asked the question:
“Father is it true that the Virgin Mary
is appearing to four girls in Spain?”
“The answer was simply: “Yes.”
But Joey still wanted an out, and so he asked:
“Father, should we go to Garabandal?”
The answer again was simply: “Yes.”
And so with the assurance that these apparitions
were of God, and following the instructions of Padre Pio, Joey Lomangino
went to Garabandal. One would have to consider that day as a major
turning point in God’s plan to reach men through the Garabandal
event, for, through Joey, the message of Garabandal has spread to
millions around the world; Our Lady’s kissed objects, through
which she promised Jesus would work prodigies, have been widely
distributed: and untold numbers of people have been renewed in the
grace and peace of God.
EVERYTHING MUST LEAD TO THE BLESSED
SACRAMENT
Between 1963 and Padre Pio’s death in 1968, Joey returned to
San Giovanni three or four times each year. There is an interesting
anecdote that made an important point to Joey.
During his visits to the Rotondo in 1963, Padre Pio was very affectionate
with Joey. When Joey would kneel with the others for a blessing,
the Padre would always come up to him especially. He would hug him
warmly, give his customary tap on the cheek, and then bless him.
But, when Joey returned in 1964, there was none of this. Joey felt
the Padre was ignoring him. He missed the special attention, and
he thought to himself: “Here I am; I’ve been a daily Communicant
for over a year; I spend many hours every day praying, listening
to records on the lives of the saints, giving conferences. Before,
when I was nowhere, he paid attention; now that I’m doing the
right thing he ignores me.”
It disturbed Joey enough to make him bring it up with Mary Pyle._
This woman told Joey that a year ago he “needed” that
attention, and now he did not, for he had found the Blessed Sacrament
and thus knew the source of true consolation. She suggested that
perhaps Padre Pio was testing him-to make him wonder and find out
for himself just how far he’d come. It made some sense to Joey,
but the next day solidified it. As he knelt again among many others
to await the blessing, the Padre this time came up to Joey, tapped
his cheek and said, “Now you understand, eh?”
And Joey has come to understand more and more. In the beginning,
people need a lot of consolation, and God provides it- often through
other people. But the more they pray, the more they are drawn to
find all that they need in Mass and Communion and the presence of
God in the Blessed Sacrament. Joey recalls that at first he used
to arrive at the Rotondo at 3 a.m. to make sure he had a seat up
front for Padre Pio’s 5 a.m. Mass. Then he would scramble to
get to the hall outside the sacristy and be first on line for the
Padre’s blessing after Mass. But after a while he began to
realize that the greatness of the moment was not in Padre Pio but
in the Body and Blood, present and sacrificed on the altar. These
graces would reach him no matter where he was in the Church; so,
too, would the Christ-given power of the priestly blessing reach
him-no matter where he was on line.
“SEE, JOEY…”
In 1969, after Padre Pio’s death, Joey went to Foggia and knelt
before the Padre’s crypt to say the Rosary. He experienced
a tremendous consolation, vivid in his mind even today, and yet
difficult to describe. He felt the presence of Padre Pio, so real
that it made Joey lift his hands in an attempt to touch him. At
the same time that he felt this presence, Joey felt inside of him
the knowing conviction that said, “See, Joey, we Christians
never die.” It was a moment of inexplicable happiness for Joey,
and he will never forget its impact on him.
When Joey meditates on Padre Pio, the words of Our Lady of Garabandal
come quickly to his mind: “Pray much for priests that they
be holy, for the faithful follow their example.” Joey thinks
of Padre Pio’s great power as a priest-a power that is at the
disposal of all priests; he thinks of how much he helped people
in the confessional, in his ministering of the sacraments, and by
the example of his obedience to and reverence for the Holy Father.
For himself, Joey remembers the inspiration provided him through
Padre Pio, the inspiration that led him to put himself in the hands
of God and thus to know, deep in his soul, that, having done that,
God will take care of everything in and around him.
And Joey thinks, too, of Padre Pio’s words to him: “I
will be at all your conferences, and I will bless the people.”
_.
Mary MacAlpine Pyle was born in 1888 into an extremely wealthy,
Protestant family in New York. She became a convert to Catholicism
in 1918. In 1923 she met Padre Pio. Shortly afterward, she turned
over her vast fortune to the Capuchin Fathers and set up a modest
dwelling near the monastery at Foggia, where she remained until
her death in 1968. Padre Pio was her confessor and spiritual director,
and he accepted her into the Profession of Third Order Franciscan
with the name of Sister Pia. For 45 years, she assisted, along with
other territories, in the clerical and liturgical needs of the monastery.
Her home was always open to visitors, and her humble holiness and
joyful peace touched all who met her.
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