The reflex that Padre Pio’s mother instilled in him to repair blasphemy

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When Padre Pio was still young, his mother taught him how to “repair” the damage caused by blasphemy.

When he was still a child, Francesco Forgione – the future Padre Pio – associated with young people who were accustomed to using foul language, swearing and cursing. At first, little Francesco’s reaction was to run away so as not to hear such sentences which saddened him deeply. Indeed, from his childhood, he had great faith and a deep love for the Lord and at 5 years old, he already had a religious vocation and the desire to devote himself to God. In the book The True Story , C. Bernard Ruffin writes: 

“Every time another boy swore or cursed, Franci would run away. His friend Luigi Orlando describes him as “a boy like any other” and remembers that once, while the two were wrestling, Luigi let “a strong expression” escape his lips, whereupon Franci, who had tackled him to the ground, jumped up and ran away.

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“Blessed be God”

Padre Pio’s mother, Maria Giuseppa, did not want him to associate with other children who used blasphemous language and thus failed in the second commandment. Padre Pio took this very seriously and avoided anyone who swore or cursed. His mother also taught him to “repair” the damage caused by these blasphemies. Indeed, every time she heard someone swear, she would “repair” them with the phrase “bless God” – a practice she tried to instill in all her children.This is how Padre Pio, as he grew up, stopped running away from those who blasphemed and began to “repair” as his mother had taught him. A teaching that he engraved in himself and that he transmitted to the countless faithful who knelt in his famous confessional in Pietrelcina. 

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