National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania (courtesy photo)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, known as Padre Pio. (Courtesy photo)
Few people know more about St. Pio of Pietrelcina, popularly known as Padre Pio, the 20th century Italian stigmatic Capuchin priest who was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2002, than St. Anthony, Kailua, parishioner Chuck Furr.
That’s because Furr is the nephew and former guardian of the late William M. Carrigan of Washington, D.C., who, as field director for the American Red Cross in Italy during World War II, became the future saint’s benefactor and “his best American friend.”
In his first meeting with Padre Pio in 1943, Carrigan sensed he was in the presence of profound holiness.
“I am a witness. I am a witness to a saint in formation,” he would later say in a speech. “I was totally convinced that here was a priest who had attained a state of sanctity the life of which I had only read about, but never met before.
Chuck Furr with Padre Pio memorabilia in his Kailua home in 2018 (Courtesy photo)
“In the sacristy after Mass, we met for a few minutes. I received his blessing and was allowed to kiss the wound in his hands. I knew we had a destiny together. I sensed that I wanted to help make him known in America.”
Through his nephew, Carrigan continues to honor that pledge.
As caregiver for his uncle for the last two years of his life, Furr also became the custodian of a treasure trove of Padre Pio correspondence and other memorabilia, which he had kept for nearly 20 years. In order for the items to be best preserved, studied and displayed, last September he donated five boxes of material to the National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania.
Many of the letters, handwritten in a tight cursive, were penned to Carrigan and his wife Ramona by Padre Pio’s personal assistant, Maria Pyle, on behalf of the Capuchin priest who could not write in English.
The correspondence expressed thanks for Carrigan’s gifts, which included everything from pineapple juice (one of Padre Pio’s favorites, Furr said) and socks, to money for the construction of a hospital.
The letters gave details of the priest’s ministry: “Padre Pio’s time is divided between prayer and confession, between taking in from the Lord and giving out to suffering humanity”; his prayer life: “Padre Pio, besides all his other work, says 30 and sometimes even more than 30, complete rosaries of 15 decades each, a day and especially during the night”; and even his health: “He has had several very bad kidney attacks with gall stones and fevers which no thermometer can register.”
Toward the end of one of her letters, Pyle wrote, “Father Pio prays for you every day in his holy Masses and remembers you as his best American friend.”
Furr said the saint’s description of Carrigan as his “best American friend is “profound,” because Padre Pio befriended many Americans.
Furr took his uncle to Rome for the beatification of his friend on May 2, 1999. Carrigan died in 2000.
Nick Gibboni, executive director of the National Centre for Padre Pio, said in an email last year to Furr, that he was “truly blown away by the letters and other memorabilia belonging to Mr. William Carrigan.”
Gibboni said he learned that it was Carrigan who brought the first two American soldiers to meet Padre Pio during World War II, “opening the door for so many others who followed in his footsteps.”
“I have met a number of American GIs from World War II who had spent time with Padre Pio, and all were forever changed by the experience,” he said.
“It is simply amazing to me that we are now in possession of some of Mr. Carrigan’s correspondence as well as original photographs relating to his own time spent with St. Pio,” Gibboni said. “The handwritten letters from Padre Pio’s well-known personal assistant, Mary Pyle, are especially rare and precious gems for the centre. We are very much looking forward to putting together an exhibit of Mr. Carrigan’s artifacts to display in our museum.”
Maria Koltonuk, general manager of the center also wrote to Furr regarding the Carrigan collection: “It contains wonderful pieces of history, giving depth to his work promoting Padre Pio in the United States. It is especially wonderful to have come across correspondence between the founder of our Centre, my mother, Vera M. Calandra, and Mr. Carrigan.”
These are “rare treasures,” she said.
The National Centre for Padre Pio was founded in 1971 by Vera and Harry Calandra after their daughter Vera Marie, born with a fatal congenital defect of the urinary tract, was cured in 1968 through the intercession of Padre Pio, who died shortly after. Vera Marie is now the assistant manager and vice president of the center.
Padre Pio, also known as St. Pio of Pietrelcina, was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy.
