Pio of Pietrelcina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Confessor
Born May 25, 1887(1887-05-25), Pietrelcina, Italy
Died September 23, 1968 (aged 81), San Giovanni Rotondo
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified May 2, 1999, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II
Canonized June 16, 2002, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine San Giovanni Rotondo (where he lived and is now buried)
Feast September 23
Patronage civil defense volunteers, Catholic adolescents, unofficial patron of stress relief and New Year Blues
St. Pio of Pietrelcina (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968) was a Capuchin priest from Italy who is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He was born Francesco Forgione, and given the name Pio when he joined the Capuchins; he was popularly known as Padre Pio after his ordination to the priesthood. He became famous for his stigmata.
[ life
Francesco Forgione was born to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, a farming town in the Southern Italian region of Campania.[1] His parents made a living as peasant farmers.[2] He was baptized in the nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls of a castle.[3] He later served as an altar boy in this same chapel. Restoration work on this chapel was later undertaken by the Padre Pio Foundation of America based in Cromwell, Connecticut.[4] His siblings were an older brother, Michele, and three younger sisters: Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was later to become a Bridgettine nun).[2] His parents had two other children who died in infancy.[1] When he was baptised, he was given the name Francesco, which was the name of one of these two.[3] He claimed that by the time he was five years old he had already taken the decision to dedicate his entire life to God.[3][1] He is also said to have begun inflicting penances on himself and to have been chided on one occasion by his mother for using a stone as a pillow and sleeping on the stone floor.[5] He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned.[6] This delayed his education to some extent.[5]
Pietrelcina was a highly religious town (feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year), and religion had a profound influence on the Forgione family. The members of the family attended Daily Mass, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.[3] Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate; they memorised the Scriptures and narrated Bible stories to their children. It is claimed by his mother that Francesco was able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary and his Guardian Angel, and that as a child, he assumed that all people could do so.[7]
As a youth he claimed to have experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies.[1] In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin friar who was, at that time, seeking donations in the countryside. When he expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Capuchin Order. The monks there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed more education qualifications.[3]
Francesco's father went to the United States in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son Francesco so that he might meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order.[6][1] It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on September 27, 1899.[3] He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On January 6, 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone, where on January 22 he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Brother) Pio in honor of Pope Saint Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina.[3] He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.[1]
Priesthood
To commence his six year study for priesthood and to grow in community life, he travelled to the friary of St. Francis of Assisi by oxcart.[3] Three years later on January 27, 1907 he made his solemn profession. In 1910, Brother Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family until early 1916 while still retaining the Capuchin habit.[5]
On September 4, 1916, Padre Pio was ordered to return to his community life. Thus he was moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo. Along with Padre Pio, the community had seven friars. He stayed at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death, except for his military service.
When World War I started, four friars from this community were selected for military service.[8] At that time, Padre Pio was a teacher at the Seminary and a spiritual director.[8] When one more friar was called into service, Padre Pio was put in charge of the community.[8] Then, in the month of August 1917 Padre Pio was also called to military service.[8] Although not in good health, he was assigned to the 4th Platoon of the 100th Company of the Italian Medical Corps.[8] Although hospitalized by mid-October, he was not discharged until March 1918, whereupon he returned to San Giovanni Rotondo and was assigned to work at Santa Maria degli Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels) in Pietrelcina.[8] Later, in response to his growing reputation as a worker of miracles, his superiors assigned him to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo.[8] In all, his military service lasted 182 days.[8]
Padre Pio then became a Spiritual Director, guiding many spiritually, considering them his spiritual daughters and sons. He had five rules for spiritual growth, namely weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.[8]
He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote, "Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry" . He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.[8]
[edit] Poor health
We know from the diary of father Agostino da San Marco in Lamis, the spiritual director of Padre Pio, that the young Francesco Forgione was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from a grave gastroenteritis, which kept him bedridden for a long time. At ten he caught typhoid fever. At 17, after completing his novitiate year in the Capuchins, brother Pio was sent to a neighboring province to begin his formative study - but he suddenly fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and terrible migraines. He vomited frequently and could absorb only milk.
The hagiographers say that it was during this time, together with his physical illness, that inexplicable phenomena began to occur. According to their stories, one could hear strange noises coming from his room at night - sometimes screams or roars. During prayer, brother Pio remained in a stupor, as if he were absent. Such phenomena are frequently described in the hagiographies of saints and mystics of all time.
One of Pio's fellow brothers claims to have seen him in ecstasy, levitating above the ground.[9]
In June 1905, brother Pio's health was so weak that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him some good. His health got worse however, and doctors advised that he return to his home town. But even there, his health continued to worsen.
In addition to his childhood illnesses, throughout his life Padre Pio suffered from "asthmatic bronchitis". He also had a large kidney stone, with frequent abdominal pains. He also suffered from a chronic gastritis, which later turned into an ulcer. He suffered from inflammations of the eye, of the nose, of the ear and of the throat, and eventually formed rhinitis and chronic otitis.
In the summer of 1915, in spite of poor health, he was drafted into the army. But after 30 days he was sent home on leave due to bad health. He returned to military service, and was put on leave again, this time for six months at a convent in a mountain village, San Giovanni Rotondo, where the weather was relatively cool even in the summer. After six months in this convent he returned to military service, but was sent home again two months later. On his return he was declared fit for service, and sent to the Sales barracks in Naples, where he remained until March 1917, at which time he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, certified by a radiological exam. He was then sent home on permanent leave.
In 1925 Padre Pio was operated for an inguinal hernia, and shortly after this a large cyst formed on his neck which had to be surgically removed. Another surgery was required to remove a malignant tumor on his ear. After this operation Padre Pio was subjected to radiological treatment, which was successful, it seems, after only two treatments.[10]
In 1956 he came down with a serious case of "exudative pleuritis". The diagnosis was certified by professor Cataldo Cassano, who personally extracted the serous liquid from the body of Padre Pio. He remained bedridden for four consecutive months.
In his old age Padre Pio was tormented by arthritis.
Spiritual suffering
Padre Pio believed that the love of God was inseparable from suffering and that suffering all things for the sake of God was the way for the soul to reach God.[6] He felt that his soul was lost in a chaotic maze, plunged into total desolation, as if he were in the deepest pit of hell. During his period of spiritual suffering, his followers believe that Padre Pio was attacked by the Devil, both physically and spiritually.[6] His followers also believe that the devil used diabolical tricks in order to increase Padre Pio's torments. These included apparitions as an "angel of light" and the alteration or destruction of letters to and from his spiritual directors. Padre Augustine confirmed this when he said:
The Devil appeared as young girls that danced naked, as a crucifix, as a young friend of the monks, as the Spiritual Father or as the Provincial Father; as Pope Pius X, a Guardian Angel, as St. Francis and as Our Lady.[11]
Now, twenty-two days have passed, since Jesus allowed the devils to vent their anger on me. My Father, my whole body is bruised from the beatings that I have received to the present time by our enemies. Several times, they have even torn off my shirt so that they could strike my exposed flesh.[11]
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, senior exorcist of Vatican City stated in an interview that Padre Pio was able to distinguish between real apparitions of Jesus, Mary and the Saints and the illusions created by the Devil by carefully analysing the state of his mind and the feelings produced in him during the apparitions. In one of Padre Pio's Letters, he states that he remained patient in the midst of his trials because of his firm belief that Jesus, Mary, his Guardian Angel, St. Joseph and St. Francis were always with him and helped him always.[11]
Transverberation and visible stigmata
This section may contain wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording or find sources which back the claims.
Based on Padre Pio's correspondence, even early in his priesthood he experienced less obvious indications of the visible stigmata for which he would later become famous.[12] In a 1911 letter, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis, describing something he had been experiencing for a year:
Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feel it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain.[12]
His close friend Padre Agostino wrote to him in 1915, asking specific questions such as when he first experienced visions, whether he had been granted the stigmata, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Padre Pio replied that he had been favoured with visions since his novitiate period (1903 to 1904). He wrote that although he had been granted the stigmata, he had been so terrified by the phenomenon he begged the Lord to withdraw them. He did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since, at the time he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.[12] The visible wounds disappeared at that point, but reappeared in September 1918.[12] He reported, however, that the pain remained and was more acute on specific days and under certain circumstances. He also said that he was indeed experiencing the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. He was not able to clearly indicate the frequency of this experience, but said that he had been suffering from them at least once weekly for some years.[12]
These experiences are alleged to have caused his health to fail, for which reason he was permitted to stay at home. To maintain his religious life of a friar while away from the community, he said Mass daily and taught at school.
St. John of the Cross describes the phenomenon of transverberation as follows:
The soul being inflamed with the love of God which is interiorly attacked by a Seraph, who pierces it through with a fiery dart. This leaves the soul wounded, which causes it to suffer from the overflowing of divine love.[2]
World War I was still going on, and in the month of July 1918, Pope Benedict XV who had termed the World War as "the suicide of Europe" appealed to all Christians urging them to pray for an end to the World War. On July 27 of the same year, Padre Pio offered himself as a victim for the end of the war. Days passed and between August 5 and August 7, Padre Pio had a vision in which Christ appeared and pierced his side.[8][2] As a result of this experience, Padre Pio had a physical wound in his side. This occurrence is considered as a "transverberation" or piercing of the heart indicating the union of love with God.
As a side-note, a first-class relic of Padre Pio, which consists of a large framed square of linen bearing a bloodstain from "the wound of the transverberation of the heart" in Padre Pio's side is exposed for public veneration at the St. John Cantius Church in Chicago.[13]
With his transverberation began another seven-week long period of spiritual unrest for Padre Pio. One of his Capuchin brothers said this of his state during that period:
During this time his entire appearance looked altered as if he had died. He was constantly weeping and sighing, saying that God had forsaken him.[2]
In a letter from Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, dated August 21, 1918 Padre Pio writes of his experiences during the transverberation:
While I was hearing the boys’ confessions on the evening of the 5th [August] I was suddenly terrorized by the sight of a celestial person who presented himself to my mind’s eye. He had in his hand a sort of weapon like a very long sharp-pointed steel blade which seemed to emit fire. At the very instant that I saw all this, I saw that person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might. I cried out with difficulty and felt I was dying. I asked the boy to leave because I felt ill and no longer had the strength to continue. This agony lasted uninterruptedly until the morning of the 7th. I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish. Even my entrails were torn and ruptured by the weapon, and nothing was spared. From that day on I have been mortally wounded. I feel in the depths of my soul a wound that is always open and which causes me continual agony.[13]
On September 20, 1918, accounts state that the pains of the transverberation had ceased and Padre Pio was in "profound peace".[2] On that day, as Padre Pio was engaged in prayer in the choir loft in the Church of Our Lady of Grace, the same Being who had appeared to him and given him the transverberation, and who is believed to be the Wounded Christ, appeared again and Padre Pio had another experience of religious ecstasy.[8] When the ecstasy ended, Padre Pio had received the Visible Stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. This time, however, the stigmata was permanent and would stay on him for the next fifty years of his earthly life
In a letter from St. Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, his superior and spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio describes his experience of receiving the Stigmata as follows:
On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. [...] I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. This sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel deep in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition. Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.[13]
Though Padre Pio would have preferred to suffer in secret, by early 1919, news about the stigmatic friar began to spread in the secular world. Padre Pio’s wounds were examined by many people, including physicians.[2] People who had started rebuilding their lives after World War I began to see in Padre Pio a symbol of hope.[8] Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (One account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Eucharist without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and the fragrance from his wounds
Controversies
Accusations made against Padre Pio
As Padre Pio's fame grew, his ministry began to take the center-stage at the friary. Many pilgrims flocked to see him and he spent around nineteen hours each day celebrating Mass, listening to confessions and corresponding, often sleeping not even two hours per day.[8] His fame had the negative side effect that accusations against him made their way to the Holy Office in Rome (since 1983, known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith[14]), causing many restrictions to be placed on him. His accusers included high-ranking archbishops, bishops, theologians and physicians.[15]
[Nature of the charges
His accusers brought several accusations against him, including insanity, immoral attitude towards women - claims that he had intercourse with women in the confessional; misuse of funds, and deception - claims that the stigmata were induced with acid in order to gain fame, and that the reported odor of sanctity around him being the result of self-administered eau-de-cologne.[16]
The founder of Milan's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, friar, physician and psychologist Agostino Gemelli, concluded Padre Pio was "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity."[16] In short, he was accused of infractions against all three of his monastic vows: poverty, chastity and obedience.
In 1923, he was forbidden to teach teenage boys in the school attached to the monastery because he was considered "a noxious Socrates, capable of perverting the fragile lives and souls of boys
Home to Relieve Suffering
In 1940, Padre Pio began plans to open a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, to be named the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza or "Home to Relieve Suffering"; the hospital opened in 1956.[18][8] Barbara Ward, a British humanitarian and journalist on assignment in Italy, played a major role in obtaining for this project a grant of $325,000 from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). In order that Padre Pio might directly supervise this project, Pope Pius XII, in 1957 granted him dispensation from his vow of poverty.[19][20] Padre Pio's detractors used this project as another weapon to attack him, charging him with misappropriation of funds.[19]
Investigations
Padre Pio was subject to numerous investigations.[18][19] Fearing local riots, a plan to transfer Padre Pio to another friary was dropped and a second plan was aborted when a riot almost happened.[15] In the period from 1924 to 1931 the Holy See made various statements denying that the happenings in the life of Padre Pio were due to any divine cause.[18][8] At one point, he was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such as hearing confessions and saying Mass.[18]
Papal views on the situation in the 1930s to 1960s
By 1933, the tide began to turn, with Pope Pius XI ordering the Holy See to reverse its ban on Padre Pio’s public celebration of Mass. The Pope said, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed."[8] In 1934, he was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite never having taken the exam for the preaching licence.[8] Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, encouraged devotees to visit Padre Pio. According to a recent book, Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) apparently did not espouse the outlook of his predecessors, and wrote in 1960 of Padre Pio’s “immense deception.”[21] However, it was John XXIII's successor, Pope Paul VI, who, in the mid 1960s, firmly dismissed all accusations against Padre Pio.[15][19]
] Death
The deterioration of Padre Pio's health started during the 1960s in spite of which he continued his spiritual works. Due to Padre Pio's advanced age and deteriorating health, Pope Paul VI granted Padre Pio special permission to continue saying the Traditional Latin Mass following the institution of certain liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council.[17] On September 21, 1968, the day after the 50th anniversary of his receiving the Stigmata, Padre Pio experienced great tiredness.[22] The next day, on September 22, 1968 Padre Pio was supposed to offer a Solemn Mass, but feeling weak and fearing that he might be too ill to complete the Mass, he asked his superior if he might say a Low Mass instead, just as he had done daily for years. Due to the large number of pilgrims present for the Mass, Padre Pio's superior decided the Solemn Mass must proceed, and so Padre Pio, in the spirit of obedience to his superior, went on to celebrate the Solemn Mass. While celebrating the Solemn Mass, Padre Pio appeared extremely weak and in a fragile state. His voice was weak when he said the Mass, and after the Mass had concluded, he was so weakened that he almost collapsed as he was descending the altar steps and needed help from a great many of his Capuchin confreres. This would be Padre Pio's last celebration of the Mass.
Early in the morning of September 23, 1968, Padre Pio made his last confession and renewed his Franciscan vows.[8] As was customary, he had his Rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to say the Hail Marys aloud.[22] Till the end, he repeated the words "Gesú, Maria" (Jesus, Mary). At around 2:30am, he said, "I see two mothers" (taken to mean his mother and Mary).[22] At 2:30am he breathed his last in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo with his last breath whispering, "Maria!"[1]
His body was buried on September 26 in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people. He was often heard to say, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death".[22] The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without even leaving a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side which then disappeared.[22]
Posthumous controversies
[edit] Town commercialization
The commercialization of the monastery town, San Giovanni Rotondo, has been criticized: "Alessandro Maggiolini, Bishop of Como and an eminent theologian, spoke out [the day before St. Pio's canonization] against the vast industry that has grown up around him. "Jesus Christ chased out the merchants from the temple, but I see now that they have returned," he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica".[23]
Supernatural phenomena
Padre Pio during the celebration of Mass. His Mass would often last hours, as the mystic received visions and experienced sufferings. Note the coverings worn on his hands to cover his stigmata.Padre Pio acquired fame as a worker, and was purported to have the gift of reading souls. He is alleged to have been able to bilocate according to eyewitness accounts[24]
In 1947, Father Karol Józef Wojtyła, a young Polish priest who would later go on to become Pope John Paul II, visited Padre Pio who heard his confession. Although not mentioned in George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an account of the same visit, Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting Padre Pio told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the Church."[25] Cardinal Stickler further went on to say that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a Cardinal, not Pope, as has been reported in works of piety.[26]
Bishop Wojtyła wrote to Padre Pio in 1962 to ask him to pray for Dr. Wanda Poltawska, a friend in Poland who was thought to be suffering from cancer. Later, Dr. Poltawska's cancer was found to have regressed; medical professionals were unable to offer an explanation for the phenomenon.[27]
Because of the unusual abilities Padre Pio possessed, the Holy See twice instituted investigations of the stories surrounding him. However, the Church has since formally approved his veneration with his canonization by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
In the 1999 book, Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Irish priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma de Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose alleged blindness some believe was corrected during a visit to the Capuchin priest.[28] Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her grandmother, was born without pupils.[28] During her trip to see Padre Pio, the little girl reportedly began to see objects including a steamboat and the sea.[28] Gemma's grandmother did not believe the child had been healed.[28] After Gemma forgot to ask Padre Pio for Grace during her Confession, her grandmother reportedly implored the priest to ask God to restore her sight.[28] Padre Pio, according to Carroll, told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for the child sees and you know she sees."[28] The section goes on to say that oculists were unable to determine how she gained vision.[28] Padre Pio is alleged to have waged physical combat with Satan, similar to incidents described concerning St. John Vianney, from which he is said to have sustained extensive bruising. He is also said to have possessed the ability to communicate with guardian angels, often granting favors and healings prior to any written or verbal request.
Stigmata
Padre Pio showing the stigmataOn September 20, 1918, while hearing confessions, Padre Pio is said to have had his first occurrence of stigmata—bodily marks, pain, and bleeding in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. This phenomenon continued for fifty years, until the end of his life. The blood flowing from the stigmata is said to have smelled of perfume or flowers, a phenomenon mentioned in stories of the lives of several saints and often referred to as the odour of sanctity.
His stigmata, regarded by some as evidence of holiness, was studied by physicians whose independence from the Church is not known.[18][19] The observations were reportedly unexplainable and the wounds never infected.[18][19] It was reputed, however, that his condition caused him great embarrassment, and most photographs show him with red mittens or black coverings on his hands and feet where the bleedings occurred.[19]
At Padre Pio's death in 1968, his body appeared unwounded, with no sign of scarring. There was even a report that doctors who examined his body found it empty of all blood.[29] Photos taken of his bare feet and hands during his funeral procession created some scandal with allegations of stigmata fraud, although believers saw the disappearance of the marks as yet another miracle.
Accusations of fraud
Historian Sergio Luzzatto and others, both religious and non-religious, have accused Padre Pio of faking his stigmata. Luzzatto's theory, namely that Padre Pio used carbolic acid to self-inflict the wounds, is based on a document found in the Vatican's archive — the testimony of a pharmacist at the San Giovanni Rotondo, Maria De Vito, from whom he ordered 4 grams of the acid.[30] According to De Vito, Padre Pio asked her to keep the order secret, saying it was to sterilise needles. The document was examined but dismissed by the Catholic Church during Padre Pio's beatification process.[30]
One commentator expressed the belief that the Church likely dismissed the claims based on alleged evidence that the acid was in fact used for sterilization: "The boys had needed injections to fight the Spanish Flu which was raging at that time. Due to a shortage of doctors, Padres Paolino and Pio administered the shots, using carbolic acid as a sterilizing agent.”[31][30]
Sainthood
In 1982, the Holy See authorized the archbishop of Manfredonia to open an investigation to discover whether Padre Pio should be considered a saint. The investigation went on for seven years, and in 1990 Padre Pio was declared a Servant of God, the first step in the progression to canonization.
Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how heroically Padre Pio had lived his life, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A discussion of the effects of his life on others followed, including the cure of an Italian woman, Consiglia de Martino, which had been associated with Padre Pio's intercession. In 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed.
After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues and ability to do good even after his death, including discussion of another healing attributed to his intercession, the Pope declared Padre Pio a saint on June 16, 2002.[26] Three hundred thousand people were estimated to have attended the canonization ceremony.[26]
[edit] Later recognition
On July 1, 2004, Pope John Paul II dedicated the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in San Giovanni Rotondo to the memory of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.[32] A statue of Saint Pio in Messina, Sicily attracted attention in 2002 when it allegedly wept tears of blood.[33] Padre Pio has become one of the world's most popular saints. There are more than 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" worldwide, with 3 million members. There are parishes dedicated to Padre Pio in Vineland, New Jersey and Sydney, Australia. A 2006 survey by the magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics pray for Padre Pio than to any other figure. This prayer, more properly understood as a request, is not to be confused with worship which the Catholic Church teaches is due only to God himself.
Exhumation
The incorrupt body of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.On March 3, 2008 the body of Saint Pio was exhumed from his crypt, 40 years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for display. A church statement described the body as being in "fair condition". Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, papal legate to the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated "the top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved".[35] Archbishop D’Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that “the stigmata are not visible.”[36] He went on to say that St. Pio's hands "looked like they had just undergone a manicure". It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it will be recognizable. However, due to its deterioration, his face was covered with a life-like silicone mask.[37]
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, celebrated Mass for 15,000 devotees on April 24 at the Shrine of Holy Mary of Grace, San Giovanni Rotondo, before the body went on display in a crystal, marble, and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery.[38] Padre Pio is wearing his brown Capuchin habit with a white silk stole embroidered with crystals and gold thread. His hands hold a large wooden cross. 800,000 pilgrims worldwide, mostly from Italy, made reservations to view the body up to December 2008, but only 7,200 people a day will be able to file past the crystal coffin.[39] [40][41] Officials extended the display through September, 2009.[42]
[ See also
Visions of Jesus and Mary
Incorruptibility
[
giovedì 2 luglio 2009
chi di voi ci crede?
Pio of Pietrelcina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Confessor
Born May 25, 1887(1887-05-25), Pietrelcina, Italy
Died September 23, 1968 (aged 81), San Giovanni Rotondo
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified May 2, 1999, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II
Canonized June 16, 2002, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine San Giovanni Rotondo (where he lived and is now buried)
Feast September 23
Patronage civil defense volunteers, Catholic adolescents, unofficial patron of stress relief and New Year Blues
St. Pio of Pietrelcina (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968) was a Capuchin priest from Italy who is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He was born Francesco Forgione, and given the name Pio when he joined the Capuchins; he was popularly known as Padre Pio after his ordination to the priesthood. He became famous for his stigmata.
[ life
Francesco Forgione was born to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, a farming town in the Southern Italian region of Campania.[1] His parents made a living as peasant farmers.[2] He was baptized in the nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls of a castle.[3] He later served as an altar boy in this same chapel. Restoration work on this chapel was later undertaken by the Padre Pio Foundation of America based in Cromwell, Connecticut.[4] His siblings were an older brother, Michele, and three younger sisters: Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was later to become a Bridgettine nun).[2] His parents had two other children who died in infancy.[1] When he was baptised, he was given the name Francesco, which was the name of one of these two.[3] He claimed that by the time he was five years old he had already taken the decision to dedicate his entire life to God.[3][1] He is also said to have begun inflicting penances on himself and to have been chided on one occasion by his mother for using a stone as a pillow and sleeping on the stone floor.[5] He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned.[6] This delayed his education to some extent.[5]
Pietrelcina was a highly religious town (feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year), and religion had a profound influence on the Forgione family. The members of the family attended Daily Mass, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.[3] Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate; they memorised the Scriptures and narrated Bible stories to their children. It is claimed by his mother that Francesco was able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary and his Guardian Angel, and that as a child, he assumed that all people could do so.[7]
As a youth he claimed to have experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies.[1] In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin friar who was, at that time, seeking donations in the countryside. When he expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Capuchin Order. The monks there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed more education qualifications.[3]
Francesco's father went to the United States in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son Francesco so that he might meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order.[6][1] It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on September 27, 1899.[3] He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On January 6, 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone, where on January 22 he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Brother) Pio in honor of Pope Saint Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina.[3] He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.[1]
Priesthood
To commence his six year study for priesthood and to grow in community life, he travelled to the friary of St. Francis of Assisi by oxcart.[3] Three years later on January 27, 1907 he made his solemn profession. In 1910, Brother Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family until early 1916 while still retaining the Capuchin habit.[5]
On September 4, 1916, Padre Pio was ordered to return to his community life. Thus he was moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo. Along with Padre Pio, the community had seven friars. He stayed at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death, except for his military service.
When World War I started, four friars from this community were selected for military service.[8] At that time, Padre Pio was a teacher at the Seminary and a spiritual director.[8] When one more friar was called into service, Padre Pio was put in charge of the community.[8] Then, in the month of August 1917 Padre Pio was also called to military service.[8] Although not in good health, he was assigned to the 4th Platoon of the 100th Company of the Italian Medical Corps.[8] Although hospitalized by mid-October, he was not discharged until March 1918, whereupon he returned to San Giovanni Rotondo and was assigned to work at Santa Maria degli Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels) in Pietrelcina.[8] Later, in response to his growing reputation as a worker of miracles, his superiors assigned him to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo.[8] In all, his military service lasted 182 days.[8]
Padre Pio then became a Spiritual Director, guiding many spiritually, considering them his spiritual daughters and sons. He had five rules for spiritual growth, namely weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.[8]
He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote, "Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry" . He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.[8]
[edit] Poor health
We know from the diary of father Agostino da San Marco in Lamis, the spiritual director of Padre Pio, that the young Francesco Forgione was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from a grave gastroenteritis, which kept him bedridden for a long time. At ten he caught typhoid fever. At 17, after completing his novitiate year in the Capuchins, brother Pio was sent to a neighboring province to begin his formative study - but he suddenly fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and terrible migraines. He vomited frequently and could absorb only milk.
The hagiographers say that it was during this time, together with his physical illness, that inexplicable phenomena began to occur. According to their stories, one could hear strange noises coming from his room at night - sometimes screams or roars. During prayer, brother Pio remained in a stupor, as if he were absent. Such phenomena are frequently described in the hagiographies of saints and mystics of all time.
One of Pio's fellow brothers claims to have seen him in ecstasy, levitating above the ground.[9]
In June 1905, brother Pio's health was so weak that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him some good. His health got worse however, and doctors advised that he return to his home town. But even there, his health continued to worsen.
In addition to his childhood illnesses, throughout his life Padre Pio suffered from "asthmatic bronchitis". He also had a large kidney stone, with frequent abdominal pains. He also suffered from a chronic gastritis, which later turned into an ulcer. He suffered from inflammations of the eye, of the nose, of the ear and of the throat, and eventually formed rhinitis and chronic otitis.
In the summer of 1915, in spite of poor health, he was drafted into the army. But after 30 days he was sent home on leave due to bad health. He returned to military service, and was put on leave again, this time for six months at a convent in a mountain village, San Giovanni Rotondo, where the weather was relatively cool even in the summer. After six months in this convent he returned to military service, but was sent home again two months later. On his return he was declared fit for service, and sent to the Sales barracks in Naples, where he remained until March 1917, at which time he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, certified by a radiological exam. He was then sent home on permanent leave.
In 1925 Padre Pio was operated for an inguinal hernia, and shortly after this a large cyst formed on his neck which had to be surgically removed. Another surgery was required to remove a malignant tumor on his ear. After this operation Padre Pio was subjected to radiological treatment, which was successful, it seems, after only two treatments.[10]
In 1956 he came down with a serious case of "exudative pleuritis". The diagnosis was certified by professor Cataldo Cassano, who personally extracted the serous liquid from the body of Padre Pio. He remained bedridden for four consecutive months.
In his old age Padre Pio was tormented by arthritis.
Spiritual suffering
Padre Pio believed that the love of God was inseparable from suffering and that suffering all things for the sake of God was the way for the soul to reach God.[6] He felt that his soul was lost in a chaotic maze, plunged into total desolation, as if he were in the deepest pit of hell. During his period of spiritual suffering, his followers believe that Padre Pio was attacked by the Devil, both physically and spiritually.[6] His followers also believe that the devil used diabolical tricks in order to increase Padre Pio's torments. These included apparitions as an "angel of light" and the alteration or destruction of letters to and from his spiritual directors. Padre Augustine confirmed this when he said:
The Devil appeared as young girls that danced naked, as a crucifix, as a young friend of the monks, as the Spiritual Father or as the Provincial Father; as Pope Pius X, a Guardian Angel, as St. Francis and as Our Lady.[11]
Now, twenty-two days have passed, since Jesus allowed the devils to vent their anger on me. My Father, my whole body is bruised from the beatings that I have received to the present time by our enemies. Several times, they have even torn off my shirt so that they could strike my exposed flesh.[11]
Fr. Gabriele Amorth, senior exorcist of Vatican City stated in an interview that Padre Pio was able to distinguish between real apparitions of Jesus, Mary and the Saints and the illusions created by the Devil by carefully analysing the state of his mind and the feelings produced in him during the apparitions. In one of Padre Pio's Letters, he states that he remained patient in the midst of his trials because of his firm belief that Jesus, Mary, his Guardian Angel, St. Joseph and St. Francis were always with him and helped him always.[11]
Transverberation and visible stigmata
This section may contain wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording or find sources which back the claims.
Based on Padre Pio's correspondence, even early in his priesthood he experienced less obvious indications of the visible stigmata for which he would later become famous.[12] In a 1911 letter, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis, describing something he had been experiencing for a year:
Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feel it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain.[12]
His close friend Padre Agostino wrote to him in 1915, asking specific questions such as when he first experienced visions, whether he had been granted the stigmata, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Padre Pio replied that he had been favoured with visions since his novitiate period (1903 to 1904). He wrote that although he had been granted the stigmata, he had been so terrified by the phenomenon he begged the Lord to withdraw them. He did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since, at the time he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.[12] The visible wounds disappeared at that point, but reappeared in September 1918.[12] He reported, however, that the pain remained and was more acute on specific days and under certain circumstances. He also said that he was indeed experiencing the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. He was not able to clearly indicate the frequency of this experience, but said that he had been suffering from them at least once weekly for some years.[12]
These experiences are alleged to have caused his health to fail, for which reason he was permitted to stay at home. To maintain his religious life of a friar while away from the community, he said Mass daily and taught at school.
St. John of the Cross describes the phenomenon of transverberation as follows:
The soul being inflamed with the love of God which is interiorly attacked by a Seraph, who pierces it through with a fiery dart. This leaves the soul wounded, which causes it to suffer from the overflowing of divine love.[2]
World War I was still going on, and in the month of July 1918, Pope Benedict XV who had termed the World War as "the suicide of Europe" appealed to all Christians urging them to pray for an end to the World War. On July 27 of the same year, Padre Pio offered himself as a victim for the end of the war. Days passed and between August 5 and August 7, Padre Pio had a vision in which Christ appeared and pierced his side.[8][2] As a result of this experience, Padre Pio had a physical wound in his side. This occurrence is considered as a "transverberation" or piercing of the heart indicating the union of love with God.
As a side-note, a first-class relic of Padre Pio, which consists of a large framed square of linen bearing a bloodstain from "the wound of the transverberation of the heart" in Padre Pio's side is exposed for public veneration at the St. John Cantius Church in Chicago.[13]
With his transverberation began another seven-week long period of spiritual unrest for Padre Pio. One of his Capuchin brothers said this of his state during that period:
During this time his entire appearance looked altered as if he had died. He was constantly weeping and sighing, saying that God had forsaken him.[2]
In a letter from Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, dated August 21, 1918 Padre Pio writes of his experiences during the transverberation:
While I was hearing the boys’ confessions on the evening of the 5th [August] I was suddenly terrorized by the sight of a celestial person who presented himself to my mind’s eye. He had in his hand a sort of weapon like a very long sharp-pointed steel blade which seemed to emit fire. At the very instant that I saw all this, I saw that person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might. I cried out with difficulty and felt I was dying. I asked the boy to leave because I felt ill and no longer had the strength to continue. This agony lasted uninterruptedly until the morning of the 7th. I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish. Even my entrails were torn and ruptured by the weapon, and nothing was spared. From that day on I have been mortally wounded. I feel in the depths of my soul a wound that is always open and which causes me continual agony.[13]
On September 20, 1918, accounts state that the pains of the transverberation had ceased and Padre Pio was in "profound peace".[2] On that day, as Padre Pio was engaged in prayer in the choir loft in the Church of Our Lady of Grace, the same Being who had appeared to him and given him the transverberation, and who is believed to be the Wounded Christ, appeared again and Padre Pio had another experience of religious ecstasy.[8] When the ecstasy ended, Padre Pio had received the Visible Stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. This time, however, the stigmata was permanent and would stay on him for the next fifty years of his earthly life
In a letter from St. Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, his superior and spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio describes his experience of receiving the Stigmata as follows:
On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. [...] I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. This sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel deep in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition. Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.[13]
Though Padre Pio would have preferred to suffer in secret, by early 1919, news about the stigmatic friar began to spread in the secular world. Padre Pio’s wounds were examined by many people, including physicians.[2] People who had started rebuilding their lives after World War I began to see in Padre Pio a symbol of hope.[8] Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (One account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Eucharist without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and the fragrance from his wounds
Controversies
Accusations made against Padre Pio
As Padre Pio's fame grew, his ministry began to take the center-stage at the friary. Many pilgrims flocked to see him and he spent around nineteen hours each day celebrating Mass, listening to confessions and corresponding, often sleeping not even two hours per day.[8] His fame had the negative side effect that accusations against him made their way to the Holy Office in Rome (since 1983, known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith[14]), causing many restrictions to be placed on him. His accusers included high-ranking archbishops, bishops, theologians and physicians.[15]
[Nature of the charges
His accusers brought several accusations against him, including insanity, immoral attitude towards women - claims that he had intercourse with women in the confessional; misuse of funds, and deception - claims that the stigmata were induced with acid in order to gain fame, and that the reported odor of sanctity around him being the result of self-administered eau-de-cologne.[16]
The founder of Milan's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, friar, physician and psychologist Agostino Gemelli, concluded Padre Pio was "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity."[16] In short, he was accused of infractions against all three of his monastic vows: poverty, chastity and obedience.
In 1923, he was forbidden to teach teenage boys in the school attached to the monastery because he was considered "a noxious Socrates, capable of perverting the fragile lives and souls of boys
Home to Relieve Suffering
In 1940, Padre Pio began plans to open a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, to be named the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza or "Home to Relieve Suffering"; the hospital opened in 1956.[18][8] Barbara Ward, a British humanitarian and journalist on assignment in Italy, played a major role in obtaining for this project a grant of $325,000 from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). In order that Padre Pio might directly supervise this project, Pope Pius XII, in 1957 granted him dispensation from his vow of poverty.[19][20] Padre Pio's detractors used this project as another weapon to attack him, charging him with misappropriation of funds.[19]
Investigations
Padre Pio was subject to numerous investigations.[18][19] Fearing local riots, a plan to transfer Padre Pio to another friary was dropped and a second plan was aborted when a riot almost happened.[15] In the period from 1924 to 1931 the Holy See made various statements denying that the happenings in the life of Padre Pio were due to any divine cause.[18][8] At one point, he was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such as hearing confessions and saying Mass.[18]
Papal views on the situation in the 1930s to 1960s
By 1933, the tide began to turn, with Pope Pius XI ordering the Holy See to reverse its ban on Padre Pio’s public celebration of Mass. The Pope said, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed."[8] In 1934, he was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite never having taken the exam for the preaching licence.[8] Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, encouraged devotees to visit Padre Pio. According to a recent book, Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) apparently did not espouse the outlook of his predecessors, and wrote in 1960 of Padre Pio’s “immense deception.”[21] However, it was John XXIII's successor, Pope Paul VI, who, in the mid 1960s, firmly dismissed all accusations against Padre Pio.[15][19]
] Death
The deterioration of Padre Pio's health started during the 1960s in spite of which he continued his spiritual works. Due to Padre Pio's advanced age and deteriorating health, Pope Paul VI granted Padre Pio special permission to continue saying the Traditional Latin Mass following the institution of certain liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council.[17] On September 21, 1968, the day after the 50th anniversary of his receiving the Stigmata, Padre Pio experienced great tiredness.[22] The next day, on September 22, 1968 Padre Pio was supposed to offer a Solemn Mass, but feeling weak and fearing that he might be too ill to complete the Mass, he asked his superior if he might say a Low Mass instead, just as he had done daily for years. Due to the large number of pilgrims present for the Mass, Padre Pio's superior decided the Solemn Mass must proceed, and so Padre Pio, in the spirit of obedience to his superior, went on to celebrate the Solemn Mass. While celebrating the Solemn Mass, Padre Pio appeared extremely weak and in a fragile state. His voice was weak when he said the Mass, and after the Mass had concluded, he was so weakened that he almost collapsed as he was descending the altar steps and needed help from a great many of his Capuchin confreres. This would be Padre Pio's last celebration of the Mass.
Early in the morning of September 23, 1968, Padre Pio made his last confession and renewed his Franciscan vows.[8] As was customary, he had his Rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to say the Hail Marys aloud.[22] Till the end, he repeated the words "Gesú, Maria" (Jesus, Mary). At around 2:30am, he said, "I see two mothers" (taken to mean his mother and Mary).[22] At 2:30am he breathed his last in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo with his last breath whispering, "Maria!"[1]
His body was buried on September 26 in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people. He was often heard to say, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death".[22] The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without even leaving a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side which then disappeared.[22]
Posthumous controversies
[edit] Town commercialization
The commercialization of the monastery town, San Giovanni Rotondo, has been criticized: "Alessandro Maggiolini, Bishop of Como and an eminent theologian, spoke out [the day before St. Pio's canonization] against the vast industry that has grown up around him. "Jesus Christ chased out the merchants from the temple, but I see now that they have returned," he said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica".[23]
Supernatural phenomena
Padre Pio during the celebration of Mass. His Mass would often last hours, as the mystic received visions and experienced sufferings. Note the coverings worn on his hands to cover his stigmata.Padre Pio acquired fame as a worker, and was purported to have the gift of reading souls. He is alleged to have been able to bilocate according to eyewitness accounts[24]
In 1947, Father Karol Józef Wojtyła, a young Polish priest who would later go on to become Pope John Paul II, visited Padre Pio who heard his confession. Although not mentioned in George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an account of the same visit, Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting Padre Pio told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the Church."[25] Cardinal Stickler further went on to say that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a Cardinal, not Pope, as has been reported in works of piety.[26]
Bishop Wojtyła wrote to Padre Pio in 1962 to ask him to pray for Dr. Wanda Poltawska, a friend in Poland who was thought to be suffering from cancer. Later, Dr. Poltawska's cancer was found to have regressed; medical professionals were unable to offer an explanation for the phenomenon.[27]
Because of the unusual abilities Padre Pio possessed, the Holy See twice instituted investigations of the stories surrounding him. However, the Church has since formally approved his veneration with his canonization by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
In the 1999 book, Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Irish priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma de Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose alleged blindness some believe was corrected during a visit to the Capuchin priest.[28] Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her grandmother, was born without pupils.[28] During her trip to see Padre Pio, the little girl reportedly began to see objects including a steamboat and the sea.[28] Gemma's grandmother did not believe the child had been healed.[28] After Gemma forgot to ask Padre Pio for Grace during her Confession, her grandmother reportedly implored the priest to ask God to restore her sight.[28] Padre Pio, according to Carroll, told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for the child sees and you know she sees."[28] The section goes on to say that oculists were unable to determine how she gained vision.[28] Padre Pio is alleged to have waged physical combat with Satan, similar to incidents described concerning St. John Vianney, from which he is said to have sustained extensive bruising. He is also said to have possessed the ability to communicate with guardian angels, often granting favors and healings prior to any written or verbal request.
Stigmata
Padre Pio showing the stigmataOn September 20, 1918, while hearing confessions, Padre Pio is said to have had his first occurrence of stigmata—bodily marks, pain, and bleeding in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. This phenomenon continued for fifty years, until the end of his life. The blood flowing from the stigmata is said to have smelled of perfume or flowers, a phenomenon mentioned in stories of the lives of several saints and often referred to as the odour of sanctity.
His stigmata, regarded by some as evidence of holiness, was studied by physicians whose independence from the Church is not known.[18][19] The observations were reportedly unexplainable and the wounds never infected.[18][19] It was reputed, however, that his condition caused him great embarrassment, and most photographs show him with red mittens or black coverings on his hands and feet where the bleedings occurred.[19]
At Padre Pio's death in 1968, his body appeared unwounded, with no sign of scarring. There was even a report that doctors who examined his body found it empty of all blood.[29] Photos taken of his bare feet and hands during his funeral procession created some scandal with allegations of stigmata fraud, although believers saw the disappearance of the marks as yet another miracle.
Accusations of fraud
Historian Sergio Luzzatto and others, both religious and non-religious, have accused Padre Pio of faking his stigmata. Luzzatto's theory, namely that Padre Pio used carbolic acid to self-inflict the wounds, is based on a document found in the Vatican's archive — the testimony of a pharmacist at the San Giovanni Rotondo, Maria De Vito, from whom he ordered 4 grams of the acid.[30] According to De Vito, Padre Pio asked her to keep the order secret, saying it was to sterilise needles. The document was examined but dismissed by the Catholic Church during Padre Pio's beatification process.[30]
One commentator expressed the belief that the Church likely dismissed the claims based on alleged evidence that the acid was in fact used for sterilization: "The boys had needed injections to fight the Spanish Flu which was raging at that time. Due to a shortage of doctors, Padres Paolino and Pio administered the shots, using carbolic acid as a sterilizing agent.”[31][30]
Sainthood
In 1982, the Holy See authorized the archbishop of Manfredonia to open an investigation to discover whether Padre Pio should be considered a saint. The investigation went on for seven years, and in 1990 Padre Pio was declared a Servant of God, the first step in the progression to canonization.
Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how heroically Padre Pio had lived his life, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A discussion of the effects of his life on others followed, including the cure of an Italian woman, Consiglia de Martino, which had been associated with Padre Pio's intercession. In 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed.
After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues and ability to do good even after his death, including discussion of another healing attributed to his intercession, the Pope declared Padre Pio a saint on June 16, 2002.[26] Three hundred thousand people were estimated to have attended the canonization ceremony.[26]
[edit] Later recognition
On July 1, 2004, Pope John Paul II dedicated the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in San Giovanni Rotondo to the memory of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.[32] A statue of Saint Pio in Messina, Sicily attracted attention in 2002 when it allegedly wept tears of blood.[33] Padre Pio has become one of the world's most popular saints. There are more than 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" worldwide, with 3 million members. There are parishes dedicated to Padre Pio in Vineland, New Jersey and Sydney, Australia. A 2006 survey by the magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics pray for Padre Pio than to any other figure. This prayer, more properly understood as a request, is not to be confused with worship which the Catholic Church teaches is due only to God himself.
Exhumation
The incorrupt body of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.On March 3, 2008 the body of Saint Pio was exhumed from his crypt, 40 years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for display. A church statement described the body as being in "fair condition". Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, papal legate to the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated "the top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved".[35] Archbishop D’Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that “the stigmata are not visible.”[36] He went on to say that St. Pio's hands "looked like they had just undergone a manicure". It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it will be recognizable. However, due to its deterioration, his face was covered with a life-like silicone mask.[37]
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, celebrated Mass for 15,000 devotees on April 24 at the Shrine of Holy Mary of Grace, San Giovanni Rotondo, before the body went on display in a crystal, marble, and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery.[38] Padre Pio is wearing his brown Capuchin habit with a white silk stole embroidered with crystals and gold thread. His hands hold a large wooden cross. 800,000 pilgrims worldwide, mostly from Italy, made reservations to view the body up to December 2008, but only 7,200 people a day will be able to file past the crystal coffin.[39] [40][41] Officials extended the display through September, 2009.[42]
[ See also
Visions of Jesus and Mary
Incorruptibility
[
YouTube - Elkie Brooks - Lilac Wine
DING---------- DONG....----.......OR ...SHOULD I SAY............'ZUM ZUM'.
...MRS KRAP...MAKES LILAC WINE....it's bloody marvellous! Do any of the 'women writers here make lilac wine? If so, please DO POST THE RECIPE'...perhaps the English understanders amongst you could 'translate'...>>>>>>to the Italian readers who can't understand 'inglese'...that would be MOST KIND....grazie..................
per chi ne avesse di bisogno " USATELA"
Manicomio di VolterraIxtab
"la donna con la corda" era la dea del suicidio Maya. Nella societa' Maya dello Yucatan, il suicidio, in particolar modo il suicidio per impiccagione, in alcune circostanze era considerato un modo onorevole di morire. Ixtab accompagnava le anime dei suicidi in paradiso.
SE FOSSE TROPPO CORTA FATEMELO SAPERO VE NE PROCURERO' UNA PIU LUNGA AL PIU' PRESTO POSSIBILE LOL LOL
Scritto da Signor Julent: Un aiuto per chi vuole scrivere romanzi o altro
Storybook - Un valido aiuto per gli Scrittori
Siete dei novelli scrittori di racconti o romanzi, ma avete una certa difficoltà a ricordare le peculiarità di ogni personaggio da voi descritto? Non ricordate con chi è sposato il personaggio X e se il personaggio Y è nato nel 1958?
Niente paura, per voi novelli Hemingway, è stato pensato e messo in opera un software che vi sarà senz'altro utile : Storybook
Storybook è un'applicazione gratuita e open source che permette di tener traccia di tutto ciò che scriviamo, creare archivi di personaggi e di luoghi, creare Tag per ogni descrizione, sapere in ogni momento dove si trova un determinato personaggio, cosa fa, come lo fa e perché.
Avremo inoltre la possibilità di gestire la struttura della narrazione spostando le varie scene e i vari capitoli semplicemente con un drag&drop e ridistribuendoli nell'ordine che preferiamo; se i luoghi che stiamo descrivendo esistono realmente, potremo gestirli con Google Maps direttamente dal programma, attraverso una funzione integrata.
Insomma Storybook ci consentirà di tenere una traccia logica di tutte le informazioni riguardanti il nostro scritto, dandoci la possibilità di tenere ben chiaro un quadro d'insieme senza perdere il filo della narrazione.
Storybook consente di esportare il testo in vari formati tra cui Pdf, Rtf, Odt, Html e gira su sistemi Windows (Xp e Vista) e Linux.
mercoledì 1 luglio 2009
uno dei miti del nostro autore
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5854018606313608966
Noam Chomsky Norbert Hornstein In Edward Craig (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London, 1998 Fish swim, birds fly, people talk. The talents displayed by fish and birds rest on specific biological structures whose intricate detail is attributable to genetic endowment. Human linguistic capacity similarly rests on dedicated mental structures many of whose specific details are an innate biological endowment of the species. One of Chomsky’s central concerns has been to press this analogy and uncover its implications for theories of mind, meaning and knowledge. This work has proceeded along two broad fronts. First, Chomsky has fundamentally restructured grammatical research. Due to his work, the central object of study in linguistics is ‘the language faculty’, a postulated mental organ which is dedicated to acquiring linguistic knowledge and is involved in various aspects of language-use, including the production and understanding of utterances. The aim of linguistic theory is to describe the initial state of this faculty and how it changes with exposure to linguistic data. Chomsky (1981) characterizes the initial state of the language faculty as a set of principles and parameters. Language acquisition consists in setting these open parameter values on the basis of linguistic data available to a child. The initial state of the system is a Universal Grammar (UG): a super-recipe for concocting language-specific grammars. Grammars constitute the knowledge of particular languages that result when parametric values are fixed. Linguistic theory, given these views, has a double mission. First, it aims to ‘adequately’ characterize the grammars (and hence the mental states) attained by native speakers. Theories are ‘descriptively adequate’ if they attain this goal. In addition, linguistic theory aims to explain how grammatical competence is attained. Theories are ‘explanatorily adequate’ if they show how descriptively adequate grammars can arise on the basis of exposure to ‘primary linguistic data’ (PLD): the data children are exposed to and use in attaining their native grammars. Explanatory adequacy rests on an articulated theory of UG, and in particular a detailed theory of the general principles and open parameters that characterize the initial state of the language faculty (that is, the biologically endowed mental structures). Chomsky has also pursued a second set of concerns. He has vigorously criticized many philosophical nostrums from the perspective of this revitalized approach to linguistics. Three topics he has consistently returned to are: · Knowledge of language and its general epistemological implications · Indeterminacy and underdetermination in linguistic theory · Person-specific ‘I-languages’ versus socially constituted ‘E-languages’ as the proper objects of scientific study. 1 The aims and principles of linguistic theory There is an intimate relation between how a problem is conceived and the kinds of explanations one should offer. Chomsky proposes that we identify explanation in linguistics with a solution to the problem of how children can attain mastery of their native languages on the basis of a rather slender database. This is often referred to as ‘the logical problem of language acquisition’. A natural language assigns meanings to an unbounded number of sentences. Humans typically come to master at least one such language in a surprisingly short time, without conscious effort, explicit instruction or apparent difficulty. How is this possible? There are significant constraints on any acceptable answer. First, a human can acquire any language if placed in the appropriate speech community. Grow up in Boston and one grows up speaking English the way Bostonians do. However, the ‘primary linguistic data’ (PLD) available to the child are unable to guide the task unaided. There are four kinds of problems with the data that prevent it from shaping the outcome:, (a) The set of sentences the child is exposed to is finite. However, the knowledge attained extends over an unbounded domain of sentences. (b) The child is exposed not to sentences but to utterances of sentences. These are imperfect vehicles for the transmission of sentential information as they can be defective in various ways. Slurred speech, half sentences, slips of the tongue and mispronunciations are only a few of the ways that utterances can obscure sentence structure. (c) Acquisition takes place without explicit guidance by the speech community. This is so for a variety of reasons. Children do not make many errors to begin with when one considers the range of logically possible mistakes. Moreover, adults do not engage in systematic corrections of errors that do occur and even when correction is offered children seem neither to notice nor to care. At any rate, children seem surprisingly immune to any form of adult linguistic intrusion (see Lightfoot 1982). (d) Last of all, and most importantly, of the linguistic evidence theoretically available to the child, it is likely that only simple sentences are absorbed. The gap between input and intake is attributable to various cognitive limitations such as short attention span and limited memory. This implies that the acquisition process is primarily guided by the information available in well-formed simple sentences. Negative data (the information available in unacceptable ill-formed sentences) and complex data (the information yielded by complex constructions) are not among the PLD that guide the process of grammar acquisition. The child constructing its native grammar is limited to an informationally restricted subset of the relevant data. In contrast to the evidence that the linguist exploits in theory construction, the information the child uses in building its grammar is severely restricted. This suggests that whenever the linguistic properties of complex clauses diverge from simple ones, the acquisition of this knowledge cannot be driven by data. Induction is insufficient as the relevant information is simply unavailable in the PLD. The general picture that emerges from these considerations is that attaining linguistic competence involves the acquisition of a grammar, and that humans come equipped with a rich innate system that guides the process of grammar construction. This system is supple enough to allow for the acquisition of any natural language grammar, yet rigid enough to guide the process despite the degeneracy and deficiency of the PLD. Linguistic theorizing takes the above facts as boundary conditions and aims both at descriptive adequacy (that is, to characterize the knowledge that speakers have of their native grammars) and explanatory adequacy (that is, to adumbrate the fine structure of the innate capacity) (see Language, innateness of). Issues of descriptive and explanatory adequacy have loomed large in Chomsky’s work since the beginning. Chomsky’s objection, for example, to ‘Markov models’ of human linguistic competence was that they were incapable of dealing with long distance dependencies exemplified by conditional constructions in English and hence could not be descriptively adequate. His argument in favour of a transformational approach to grammar rested on the claim that it allowed for the statement of crucial generalizations evident in the judgments of native speakers and so advanced the goal of descriptive adequacy (Chomsky 1957). Similarly, his influential critique (1959) of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior consisted in showing that the learning theory presented therein was explanatorily inadequate. It was either too vague to be of scientific value or clearly incorrect given even moderately precise notions of stimulus or reinforcement. The shift from the early Syntactic Structures (1957) theory to the one in Aspects of a Theory of Syntax (1965) was also motivated by concerns of explanatory adequacy. In the earlier model the recursive application of transformations allows for the generation of more and more complex sentences from the sentences produced by the ‘phrase structure’ component of the grammar. In the Aspects theory, recursion is incorporated into the phrase structure component itself, and removed from the transformational part of the theory (see Syntax §3). The impetus for this was the observation that greater explanatory adequacy could be attained by grammars that had a level of ‘Deep Structure’ incorporating a recursive base component. In particular, Fillmore (1963) observed that the various optional transformations in a Syntactic Structures theory always applied in a particular order in any given derivation. This order is unexplained in a Syntactic Structures theory; in Aspects it is deduced. Thus, the move to an Aspects-style grammar is motivated on grounds of greater explanatory adequacy: introducing Deep Structure and moving recursion to the base allows for a more restricted theory of Universal Grammar. All things being equal, restricting UG is always desirable as it advances a central goal of grammatical theory; the more restricted the options innately available for grammar construction, the easier it is to explain how language acquisition is possible, despite the difficulties in the PLD noted above. The same logic motivates various later additions to and shifts in grammatical theory. For example, a major move in the 1970s was radically to simplify transformational operations so as to make their acquisition easier. This involves eliminating any mention of construction-specific properties from transformational rules. For example, an Aspects rule for passive constructions looks like (1), the left-hand side being the Structural Description (SD) and the right hand side being the Structural Change (SC): X-NP1-V-NP2-Y->(1)X - NP2 - be + en V - by + NP1 - Y x This rule would explain, for instance the grammaticality of ‘the ball is kicked by John’ given that of ‘John kicks the ball’. Observe that the SC involves the constants ‘ ’ and ‘by’. The SD mentions three general expressions, ‘NP1’, ‘V’ and ‘NP2’ and treats these as part of the context for the application of the rule. In place of this, Chomsky proposed eliminating the passive rule and replacing it with a more general rule that moves NPs (Chomsky 1977, 1986). The passive rule in (1) involves two applications of the ‘Move NP’ rule, one moving the subject ‘NP1’ to the ‘by’ phrase, and another moving the object ‘NP2’ to the subject position. In effect, all the elements that make the passive rule in (1) specific to transitive constructions are deleted and a simpler rule (‘Move NP’) replaces it. There is a potential empirical cost to simple rules, however. The simpler a transformation the more it generates unacceptable outputs. Thus, while a grammar with (1) would not derive ‘was jumped by John’ from ‘John jumped’, a grammar eschewing (1) and opting for the simpler ‘Move NP’ rule is not similarly restricted. To prevent overgeneration, therefore, the structure of UG must be enriched with general grammatical conditions that function to reign in the undesired overgeneration (Chomsky 1973, 1977, 1986). Chomsky has repeatedly emphasized the tension inherent in developing theories with both wide empirical coverage and reasonable levels of explanatory adequacy. A high point of this research agenda is Chomsky’s Lectures on Government and Binding (1981). Here the transformational component is reduced to the extremely simple rule ‘Move a’ - that is, move anything anywhere. To ensure that this transformational liberty does not result in generative chaos, various additions to the grammar are incorporated, many conditions on grammatical operations and outputs are proposed, and many earlier proposals (by both Chomsky and others) are refined. Among these are trace theory, the binding theory, bounding theory, case theory, theta theory and the Empty Category Principle. The picture of the grammar that Chomsky’s Lectures presents is that of a highly modular series of interacting subsystems which in concert restrict the operation of very general and very simple grammatical rules. In contrast to earlier traditional approaches to grammar, Lectures witnesses the virtual elimination of grammatical constructions as theoretical constructs. Thus, in Government Binding (GB)-style theories there are no rules of Passive, Raising, Relativization or Question Formation as there were in earlier theories. Within GB, language variation is not a matter of different grammars having different rules. Rather, the phenomena attested in different languages are deduced by variously setting the parameters of Universal Grammar. Given the interaction of the grammatical modules, a few parametric changes can result in what appear on the surface to be very different linguistic configurations. In contrast to earlier approaches to language, variation consists not in employing different kinds of rules, but in having set the parameters of an otherwise fixed system in somewhat different ways (see Chomsky 1983). The GB research programme has proven to be quite successful in both its descriptive range and its explanatory appeal. Despite this, Chomsky has urged a yet more ambitious avenue of research. He has embarked on the development of a rationalist approach to grammar that goes under the name of ‘Minimalism’ (Chomsky 1995). The theory is ‘rationalist’ both in that it is grounded on very simple and perspicuous first principles, and in that it makes use only of notions required by ‘virtual conceptual necessity’. Chomsky hopes to make do with concepts that no approach to grammar can conceivably do without and remain true to the most obvious features of linguistic competence. For example, every theory of grammar treats sentences as pairings of sounds and meanings. Thus, any theory will require that every sentence have a phonological and an interpretative structure. In GB theories, these sorts of information are encoded in the PF (Phonetic Form) and LF (Logical Form) phrase markers respectively. In addition, GB theories recognize two other distinctive grammatical levels: S-structure and D-structure. A minimal theory, Chomsky argues, should dispense with everything but LF and PF. It will be based on natural ‘economy’ principles and indispensable primitives. Chomsky has suggested reanalysing many of the restrictions that GB theories impose in terms of ‘least effort’ notions such as ‘shortest move’ and ‘last resort movement’. For example, he proposes that the unacceptability of sentences such as ‘John is expected will win’, are ultimately due to the fact that the moved NP ‘John’ need not have moved from the embedded subject position (between ‘expected’ and ‘will’) as it fulfils no grammatical requirement by so moving. This work is still in its infancy, but it has already prompted significant revisions of earlier conclusions. For example, with the elimination of D-structure, the recursive engine of the grammar has once again become the province of generalized transformations. Whatever its ultimate success, however, Minimalism continues the pursuit of the broad goals of descriptive and explanatory adequacy enunciated in Chomsky’s earliest work. 2 Knowledge of language According to Chomsky, the three fundamental epistemological questions in the domain of language are ‘What constitutes knowledge of language?’, ‘How is knowledge of language acquired?’ and ‘How is this knowledge put to use?’. The answer to the first question is given by a particular generative grammar. Harold’s knowledge of English is identified with Harold’s being in a particular mental/brain state. A descriptively adequate grammar characterizes this part of Harold’s mental/brain make-up. An answer to the second question is provided by a specification of UG and the principles that take the initial state of the language faculty to the knowledgeable state on exposure to PLD. Harold knows English in virtue of being genetically endowed with a language faculty and having been normally brought up in an English-speaking community. Beyond this, further issues of grounding are unnecessary. Issues of epistemological justification and grounding in the data are replaced by questions concerning the fine structure of the initial state of the language faculty and how its open parameters are set on the basis of PLD. The third question is answered by outlining how linguistic knowledge interacts with other cognitive capacities and abilities to issue in various linguistic acts such as expressing one’s thoughts, parsing incoming speech and so on (see Chomsky 1986). How much does the language case tell us about epistemological issues in other domains? In other words, should knowledge of quantum mechanics be analysed in a similar vein, that is, being in a particular mental state, grounded in specific innate capacities and so on. Chomsky only makes sparse comments on this general issue, but those he advances suggest that he believes that knowledge in these domains should be approached in much the same way they are approached in the domain of language. This suggests that humans have an innate science-forming capacity that underlies our success in the few domains of inquiry in which there has indeed been scientific success. As in the domain of language, this capacity is focused and modular rather than being a general all-purpose tool and this, Chomsky speculates, might well underlie the patchiness of our successes. Where we have the right biological propensities, we develop rich insightful theories that far outpace the data from which they are projected. Where this mind/brain structure is lacking, mysteries abound that seem recalcitrant to systematic inquiry. Stressing our cognitive limits is a staple of Chomsky’s general epistemological reflections. If humans are part of the natural world we should expect there to be problems that fall within our cognitive grasp and mysteries that lie outside it. The rich theoretical insights allowed in the natural sciences are the result of a chance convergence between properties of the natural world and properties of the human mind/brain (see Chomsky 1975). 3 Indeterminacy and underdetermination Knowledge of language, Chomsky has argued, presents a strong argument in favour of traditional rationalist approaches to mind and against traditional empiricist approaches (see Learning §1; Rationalism). In particular, ‘learning’ is treated as more akin to growth and the course of acquisition is seen more as the unfolding of innate propensities under the trigger of experiential input than as the result of the shaping effects of the environment. This rationalist perspective is now quite common and this is largely due to Chomsky’s efforts. Chomsky has consistently warned against empiricist prejudices in philosophy, and in no instance more strongly than in his critique of Quine’s methodological remarks on linguistics (for example, see Quine 1960). Chomsky takes Quine to be arguing that linguistic investigations are beset with problems greater than those endemic to inquiry in general. Whereas empirical investigation in general suffers from underdetermination of theory by evidence, linguistic study is beset with the added problem of indeterminacy (see Radical translation and radical interpretation §§2-3). Indeterminacy differs from standard inductive underdetermination (see Underdetermination) in that where there is indeterminacy ‘there is no real question of right choice’ among competing proposals. Chomsky interprets Quine as arguing that ‘determining truth in the study of language differs from the problem of determining truth in the study of physics’ (Chomsky 1975: 182-3). In reply, Chomsky (1969) argues that Quine’s thesis rests on classical empiricist assumptions about how languages are acquired. Quine, he argues, supposes that humans have ‘an innate quality space with a built-in distance measure’ tuned to certain ’simple physical correlates’. In addition, certain kinds of induction in this space are permitted. Beyond this, however, ‘language-learning is a matter of association of sentences to one another and to certain stimuli through conditioning’. Further, one cannot ‘make significant generalizations about language or common-sense theories, and the child has no concept of language or of "common-sense" prior to this training’ (Chomsky 1969: 54-5, 63). Chomsky notes that Quine provides no evidence to support these assumptions. Nor can there be any good evidence to support them if the nature of the learning problem in the domain of language is characterized as Chomsky has argued it must be. Chomsky concludes that ‘Quine’s thesis of the indeterminacy of translation amounts to an implausible and quite unsubstantiated empirical claim about what the mind brings to the problem of acquisition of language (or of knowledge in general) as an innate property’ (Chomsky 1969: 66). Stripped of these tendentious empirical assumptions, Quine fails to show that indeterminacy is anything other than the familiar problem of underdetermination of theory by evidence as applied to linguistics. Chomsky (1996) has since argued that the ultimate source of many critiques of the mental sciences in general and linguistics in particular (including Quine’s indeterminacy thesis) is a kind of methodological dualism that takes humans to be separate from the natural world. This dualism is manifest in the a priori constraints that philosophers place on explanations in the mental sciences, which would be regarded as inappropriate if applied to the physical sciences. In this vein Chomsky asks, for example, why access to consciousness is so often taken to be crucial in substantiating the claim that humans have I-language or follow rules. Suppose, he asks, we had a theory that perfectly described what happens when sound waves hit the ear, stimulating the performance system to access the cognitive system and construct a logical form that interacts with other cognitive systems to yield comprehension, in so far as the language faculty enters into this process. What more could be desired? The insistence that this entire process be accessible to consciousness in order for the account to be credible, he argues, is a demand beyond naturalism, a form of methodological dualism of dubious standing that would be summarily rejected if raised elsewhere. Or consider the oft-voiced suspicions concerning mentalist approaches in psychology. Many philosophers are ready to accept these as perhaps temporarily necessary but ultimately, the view seems to be, mentalist theories must reduce to physical ones to be truly legitimate. Chomsky argues that this sentiment is another manifestation of methodological dualism and should be rejected. First, it presupposes that there is a tenable distinction between the mental and the physical. However, Chomsky argues that since Newton undermined the Cartesian theory of body by showing that more ‘occult’ forces were required in an adequate physics, mind-body dualism has lost all grounding. Second, even if reduction were possible, reduction comes in many varieties and there is little reason to believe that the contours of the reducing physical theory would be left unaffected by the process. Since Newton, Chomsky notes, ‘physical’ has been an honorific term that signifies those areas in which we have some nontrivial degree of theoretical understanding. The relevant scientific question is whether some theory or other offers interesting descriptions and explanations. The further insistence that its primitives be couched in physical vocabulary is either vacuous (because ‘physical’ has no general connotation) or illegitimate (another instance of methodological dualism). The general conclusion Chomsky draws is that whatever problems linguistic theory encounters, it is no more methodologically problematic than theories in other domains. He attributes the qualms of philosophers to lingering empiricist dogma or an indefensible epistemological dualism. 4 I-language versus E-language Given the aims of Chomskian linguistic theory, the proper objects of study are the I-languages internalized by native speakers, rather than public E(xternal)-languages used by populations. Chomsky denies that public E-languages are interesting objects of scientific study. Indeed he denies that E-languages can be coherently specified as they simply do not exist. The proper objects of inquiry are I-languages; ‘I’ standing for intensional, internal and individual. An I-language is individual in that each speaker has one. This focus turns the common wisdom on its head. E-languages like English, Swahili and so forth are (at best) radical idealizations for Chomsky, or (at worst) incoherent pseudo-objects. At best, E-languages are the intersection of the common properties of various I-languages. Thus, for example, it is not that speakers communicate because they have a language in common; rather wherever I-languages overlap communication is possible. An I-language is internal in the sense of being part of a speaker’s individual mental make-up. It is neither a Platonic object nor a social construct. Also, an I-language is intensional, not extensional. Comprised as it is of an unbounded number of sentences, a language cannot be ‘given’ except via a specification of the function that generates them, that is a grammar for that language. Thus, it is languages in intension, languages dressed in all of their grammatical robes, not simple concatenations of words, that are the proper objects of scientific interest. One consequence of this is that weak generative capacity (that is, the extensional equivalence of languages generated by different grammars) is of dubious interest. In short, the shift from E-language to I-language turns many long-standing questions around, raising some to prominence that were considered secondary and relegating many that previously were considered crucial to the status of pseudo-questions. Many philosophers have found Chomsky’s focus on I-language problematic. To illustrate, we will consider an important philosophical critique and Chomsky’s reply. Dummett (1986) argues against internalist approaches to language that they fail to provide an account of notions like ‘language of a community’ or ‘community norms’ in the sense presupposed by virtually all work in the philosophy of language and philosophical semantics. These notions, Dummett claims, are required to provide a notion of a common public language which ‘exists independently of any particular speakers’ and of which native speakers have a ‘partial, and partially erroneous, grasp’ (see Language, social nature of §2). The naturalistic study of language, Chomsky counters, has no place for a Platonistic notion of language, a notion of language outside the mind/brain that is common to various speakers and to which each speaker stands in some cognitive relation. The reason is that this Platonistic reification rests on notions like ‘language’ and ‘community’ that are hopelessly under-specified. Asking if two people speak the same language is, in Chomsky’s opinion, to ask a highly context-dependent question - much like asking whether Boston is near New York. What counts as a community depends on shifting expectations of individuals and groups. Human society is not neatly divided into communities with languages and their norms. Thus, what counts as a community is too under-specified to be useful for theoretical purposes. Therefore, it is not a defect of linguistic theory that these notions play no role within it. From Chomsky’s perspective E-languages are epiphenomenal objects, if coherent at all. I-language in its universal aspects is part of the human genotype and specifies one aspect of the human mind/brain. Under the triggering effects of experience a particular grammar arises in the mind/brain of an individual. From this perspective, universal grammar and the steady-state grammars that arise from them are real objects. They will be physically realized in the genetic code and the adult brain. E-language, in contrast, has a murky ontological status. Chomsky (1980) argues that the priority of I-language cannot be reasonably doubted once we observe that languages involve an infinite pairing of sounds and meanings. Given that language is infinite, it cannot be specified except in so far as some finite characterization - a function in intension - is provided. It might be possible to give some characterization to the notion ‘a language used by a population’ but only indirectly via a grammatical specification of the language. But this concedes the priority of I-language as the claim unpacks into something like: each person in the relevant population has a grammar in their mind/brain that determines the E-language. Thus, at best, an E-language is that object which the I-language specifies. However, even this might be giving too much reality to E-languages, for there is nothing in the notion I-language that requires that what they specify corresponds to languages as commonly construed, that is, things like French, English and so on. It is consistent with Chomsky’s viewpoint that I-language never specifies any object that we might pre-theoretically call a language. Whether this is indeed the case, the key point is to realize that the move from grammar to language is a step away from real mechanisms to objects of a higher degree of abstraction. I-language is epistemologically and ontologically hardier than E-language, much philosophical opinion to the contrary.
eraqvate preoccupati per il chat? Niente paura ecco una novita' assoluta eheheheheheeh
Sarinuzzo2000: IO ALLO NOVE SONO GIA NUDO
Rxsarracin: Ciucina: ciri ma mettilo in ignore e' pazzoLA PAZZA SEI TU CHE TI SEDEVI SENZA MUTANDA AL PC NON IO IO MI SIEDO VESTITO
Ciucina: io col pigiamino
Sarinuzzo2000: PERO SUL LETTO
Sarinuzzo2000: LOL
The RomaNCastles: VIVA LE SEPPIE IN ZIMINO
Ciucina: e Sofia col pigiamino pure lei
MORRIS ICEMAN: piano sari lol
Rxsarracin: CIUCINA PUTTANACCIA PERCHE NON VAI NELLA STALLA FAI UN BOCCHINONE AD UN CAVALLO
Sarinuzzo2000: =-O
Rxsarracin: LOL
Sarinuzzo2000: MISCAPPA
MORRIS ICEMAN: ciucina pero' qui dentro per certi la gelosia uccide lol
The RomaNCastles: VIVA IL BORBATINO
Rxsarracin: LOL
Rxsarracin: LA GELOSIA
Rxsarracin: LOL
Ciucina: il bornatino cosa sarebbe lol
Enrico BK: picciotti va manciu ni sintemu chiu tardu lassu u me nomi ca
Sarinuzzo2000: A ME MI PIACE SOFIA DEL PAL = BONITAS
The RomaNCastles: In bordatino era un piatto di recupero fatto con gli avanzi del giorno prima. Un piatto della Livorno povera.
The RomaNCastles: LOL
Ciucina: ah
Ciucina: nemmeno lo sapevo lol
Ciucina: anche il cacciucco e' cosi
Sarinuzzo2000: DEVO CHIUDERE CIAO TUTTI
The RomaNCastles: MO LO SAI LOL
Ciucina: avanzi di pesce
OnlineHost: Sarinuzzo2000 has left the room.
MORRIS ICEMAN: later sari ciao
AEMlLIUS: io conoscevo il bombardino..... uno che si fa PRESTARE I SOLDI
AEMlLIUS: A E POI NON LI RI DA'
Rxsarracin: MARUT?
OnlineHost: loreleilizzi has entered the room.
Rxsarracin: LOL
loreleilizzi: guys stop pm meee ... my cam is on nuurl.us/4e78b
OnlineHost: detratamikogbf has left the room.
MORRIS ICEMAN: ciucina sai cosa ho provato a livorno? LA SALSICCIA CRUDA CON UNA CERTA CREMA
The RomaNCastles: HO FAME
The RomaNCastles: VADO A CUCINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
MORRIS ICEMAN: ERA BUONA
Ciucina: bona
The RomaNCastles: VE SALUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
MORRIS ICEMAN: SAI DI COSA PARLO
Rxsarracin: ROMAN TUTTA LA MERDA CHE HAI TROVATO MANGIA QUELLA
Ciucina: ciao Castro roman
Rxsarracin: STRONZO
Rxsarracin: LOL
The RomaNCastles: UNA TAZZURIELLA PER SARACENO (Keyword to: http://mindgames.zip.net/images/merda.jpg)
AEMlLIUS: SALUTATE ROMAN SE NO S'OFFENDE
OnlineHost: CAS08 has entered the room.
loreleilizzi: guys tell me waht u htink about me nuurl.us/4e78b
The RomaNCastles: Melanzane Alla Saraceno (Keyword to: http://orabasarda.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/cacca.jpg)
CAS08: whatsup room?
The RomaNCastles: Menu per il pranzo di Sarracino....Scegli e' tutto GRATIS Sarrasega.... (Keyword to: http://orabasarda.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/cacca.jpg)
Rxsarracin: SE ARRABBIATO DI NUOVO
The RomaNCastles: Menu' Per Saraceno..la Colazione (Keyword to: http://orabasarda.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/cacca.jpg)
Rxsarracin: LOL
The RomaNCastles: SARRASEGA A PRANZO (Keyword to: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/154886346_1857bb35c7.jpg?v=0)
Rxsarracin: MI FA RIDERE STO SCEMO
Rxsarracin: LOL
Rxsarracin: ROMAN COME DICESTI IN IM ?
OnlineHost: The RomaNCastles has left the room.
Rxsarracin: VOLEVI ACCAREZZARE IL PUBE?
Rxsarracin: HAAHAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHA
Rxsarracin: STO COGLIONE
Rxsarracin: STRONZA
loreleilizzi: hurry guys il turn it off soon nuurl.us/4e78b
Rxsarracin: ADDO STAI?
MORRIS ICEMAN: SDENTATO DOMANI LAVORI? devi pagare per peppiniell lol
Rxsarracin: ROMAN TI VOLEVA ACCAREZZARE IL PUBE
Rxsarracin: HAAHAAHAA
Rxsarracin: MA CHE SEI UNA PUTTANA A PAGAMENTO?
AEMlLIUS: ROMAN E MOLTO PUBICO
MORRIS ICEMAN: AL NIPOTINO GLI SERVONO I SOLDI SDENTTO LOL
Rxsarracin: HAAHAHAHA
MORRIS ICEMAN: AL NIPOTINO GLI SERVONO I SOLDI SDENTTO LOL
Rxsarracin: HAAHAHAHA
Rxsarracin: MOLTO STRONZO
Rxsarracin: VORRAI DIRE
AEMlLIUS: PUBICAMENTE PARLANDO
Rxsarracin: LOL
Rxsarracin: DOPO RE DI CUORI E IL PIU SEGAILO DEL CHAT ROMAN
Rxsarracin: SEGAIOLO*
Rxsarracin: TE LO GARANTISCO
AEMlLIUS: INFATTI HA PERSO TUTTI I CAPELLI
Rxsarracin: LO SO
AEMlLIUS: A FORZA DI SEGHE
MORRIS ICEMAN: SGANGALATO TU NON DOVRESTI PARLARE DI SEGHE AHAHAHA LA CAM LA STAI BRUCIANDO AHAHAHAHAAH
AEMlLIUS: E DEVE PORTARE GLI OCCHIALI
OnlineHost: Hjadav54 has entered the room.
Rxsarracin: NNO PARLARE DI CAPELLI SENNO STO TESTA DI CAZO DI NINO 131 SI SPARA
AEMlLIUS: SE NON NON VEDE LE MANCE
Rxsarracin: NNO PARLARE DI CAPELLI SENNO STO TESTA DI CAZO DI NINO 131 SI SPARA
AEMlLIUS: SE NON NON VEDE LE MANCE
OnlineHost: Luv4U2see09 has entered the room.
CAS08: yes. im me on bklynkitty143ox
MORRIS ICEMAN: AHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Rxsarracin: GAB HAAAAAHHHAHAA
OnlineHost: Hjadav54 has left the room.
MORRIS ICEMAN: NON LAVORA PER SPARARE IN CAM AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Rxsarracin: PORTA GLI OCCHIALI?
AEMlLIUS: PER FORZA...
MORRIS ICEMAN: E PEPPINIELL NON PRENDE I SOLDI AHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
Rxsarracin: NNO LO SAPEVO
AEMlLIUS: LUI DEVE LEGGERE CAZZI COME ILMENU ECC ECC
OnlineHost: Luv4U2see09 has left the room.
Rxsarracin: IO LI METTO SOLO PER LEGGERE IL PC
Rxsarracin: PR ALTRO NON MI SERVONO
Rxsarracin: RIDING GLASS
MORRIS ICEMAN: Rxsarracin: IO LI METTO SOLO PER SPARARE IN CAM QUANDO NON VADO A LAVORARE
Rxsarracin: NINUZZO SCOMMETTO STAI SBAVANDO
MORRIS ICEMAN: :-D
Rxsarracin: IDIOTA
Rxsarracin: POVERO STRONZO
MORRIS ICEMAN: Rxsarracin: IO LI METTO SOLO PER SPARARE IN CAM QUANDO NON VADO A LAVORARE
Rxsarracin: LOL
OnlineHost: Pxglassey has entered the room.
CAS08: 27 female with pics 2 trade.. im me
MORRIS ICEMAN: PPPPPPPPPPPPXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX CIAO BELLA MUAAAAA
Pxglassey: buona sera
Ciucina: PXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pxglassey: morrisssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Rxsarracin: CIUCINA PUTTANACCIA PERCHE NON VAI NELLA STALLA FAI UN BOCCHINONE AD UN CAVALLO
AEMlLIUS: CIAOPX
OnlineHost: CyberAngelo has entered the room.
Pxglassey: ciucinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
AEMlLIUS: BENVENUTA
MORRIS ICEMAN: Rxsarracin: IO LI METTO SOLO PER SPARARE IN CAM QUANDO NON VADO A LAVORARE
AEMlLIUS: SI SEGGA PREGO
Pxglassey: lius ciao
Pxglassey: mado non si respira oggi
AEMlLIUS: CHE AFA FA...
OnlineHost: trpbrzx has entered the room.
Ciucina: anche qui fa un caldo tremendo
CyberAngelo: BUONA SERA A TUTTI CHI MERITA
Rxsarracin: LE CICCIONE LO SENTONO DI PIU IL CALDO
Ciucina: ciao Angeloo
Rxsarracin: VERO STRONZA?
MORRIS ICEMAN: BEL TEMPO QUI OGGI
Rxsarracin: LOL
CyberAngelo: CIUCINA BELLA CIAO
AEMlLIUS: CYBER BUONA SERA
Ciucina: che fanno i cani Px
CAS08: 27/f/pics im me
Screenamsolely: it lifted up its head
CyberAngelo: Aemilius buona sera
AEMlLIUS: LA TROMBANO?
Rxsarracin: LOL
MORRIS ICEMAN: Rxsarracin: IO LI METTO SOLO PER SPARARE IN CAM QUANDO NON VADO A LAVORARE
Ciucina: non vogliono andare fuori scommetto
Pxglassey: da noi e tutto il contrario, l inverno siamo sempre fuori,e l'estate sempre dentro
Pxglassey: lol
MORRIS ICEMAN: LOL PX
Ciucina: lol
Screenamsolely: unless you are a mosquitoe
OnlineHost: La mia anima has entered the room.
CyberAngelo: px buona sera
Rxsarracin: POVERO NINO STO CALABRESE DE MIERDA CHE FINE
Pxglassey: angelo ciao
MORRIS ICEMAN: AHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
MORRIS ICEMAN: AHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
OnlineHost: La mia anima has left the room.
MORRIS ICEMAN: :-D
Rxsarracin: RIDE ANCHE STO SCEMO
Rxsarracin: LOL
CAS08: 27f pics.. im me 2 trade
MORRIS ICEMAN: IO HO TUTTI I DENTI E TU SEDNTATO? AHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Pxglassey: hahahaha morris
Rxsarracin: LOL
MORRIS ICEMAN: AHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAPX
Screenamsolely: UN MODO ASSAI PITTORESCO
Pxglassey: si
Rxsarracin: PX STRONZA CHIEDI ALLA TUA MAICA HA LA FOTO
Rxsarracin: AVVACATA DEI CAZZI
MORRIS ICEMAN: LUI SI METTE LA MANO DAVANTI LA BOCCA QUANDO, PARLA SE NO SPUTA DALLE FINESTRELLE AHAHAHAHAHA
Ciucina: eeewww
Pxglassey: ok ha incominciato l ubriaco
Pxglassey: vai nel bidone sarraci
MORRIS ICEMAN: DROGATO PX
Rxsarracin: UN BIDONE DI MERDA SEI TU PX
Rxsarracin: CICCIONA
Pxglassey: i know
Rxsarracin: TROIA
Pxglassey: comunque sarraci risparmati perche' sei a ignore
Rxsarracin: Ciucina: eeewww PERO QUANDO MI SDITALINAVO LA FICA NON DICEVO EWWWWWWWW
Pxglassey: lol
MORRIS ICEMAN: MADONNA SE PX E' CICCIONA ? AHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHA ME LA FAREI TUTTI I GIORNI AHAHAHAHA PX SEI UNA BELLA ( CICCIONA) AHAHAHAHAHA
Rxsarracin: VERO ZOCCOLA?
CAS08: 27/f/webcam
CAS08: bye room :(
OnlineHost: CAS08 has left the room.
Rxsarracin: PX IGNORE? MA CHI TI HA MAI CAGATO?
Rxsarracin: STRONZA?
Rxsarracin: LOL
MORRIS ICEMAN: ACCUCCIA BAVOSO E LASCIA LA GENTE PER BENE IN PACE SDENTATO LOLOLOLOL
OnlineHost: Damion21284 has entered the room.
Ciripiripin: BK
Rxsarracin: CIUCINA PUTTANACCIA PERCHE NON VAI NELLA STALLA FAI UN BOCCHINONE AD UN CAVALLO STRONZA DI MERDA
Damion21284: is this room boring too?
OnlineHost: PNausicaa has left the room.
MORRIS ICEMAN: \CIUCINA LO HAI CONCIATO MALE A QUESTO SDENTATO DI MERDA NON SI DA PACE AHAHHAHAAAHH
Rxsarracin: BRB TEL
MORRIS ICEMAN: BRB TEL ( NON MI CHIAMA NESSUN O FACCIO FINTA) AHAHAHAHAH
MORRIS ICEMAN: WHAT A POOR LOSER SCUMBAG QUESTO SARRASCHIFO SDENTATO LOLOLOL
OnlineHost: Popag42 has entered the room.
Damion21284: 27/f/pics im me
OnlineHost: DomeiiDiRico has entered the room.
Ciripiripin: uh. che calma ora
MORRIS ICEMAN: povero fallito sarracin invece di comprarti la pittura per quei 4 peli che hai in testa comprati un dente dal macellaio scemm ahaaahahahahaaaaaaaaa
Rxsarracin: MORRIS ICEMAN: APPENA ENTRA SARRACINO IN CHAT RAGLIO COME UN SOMARO
Pxglassey: si io sono stata di quel periodo a napa
Pxglassey: molto bello
Screenamsolely: DUBAI SI
Rxsarracin: QUESTA E COSA MIA TSTADI CAZZO
Rxsarracin: LOL
Ciripiripin: piu' bello a sud
OnlineHost: BttrflyPrincess1 has left the room.
Primo Aviere: px sonoma dove sono io e' molto piu' bello
MORRIS ICEMAN: METTITELA IN CULO SARRACIN COME TI METTI IL DITINO AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Rxsarracin: NINO SPARATI COGLIONE
Rxsarracin: CHE SEI FUSO
Screenamsolely: CIRI YOU HAVE A CALIFORNIA-CENTRIC VIEW OF LIFE
MORRIS ICEMAN: AHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Pxglassey: a si aviere?
Rxsarracin: IL CHAT TI FA MALE
Primo Aviere: certo
Screenamsolely: 120 DEGREES?
OnlineHost: Danielletrevino6 has entered the room.
Pxglassey: non sapevo
Ciripiripin: lol SCREEN i love where I live!
MORRIS ICEMAN: DOMANI LAVORI SNATURATO?
Danielletrevino6: whatsup room
Ciucina: viva caliiiii
Rxsarracin: MA VAI NEL CESSO
Pxglassey: yessssssssss
Rxsarracin: COGLIONE
Rxsarracin: CLIK
Pxglassey: vivaaaaaaaaa
Rxsarracin: LOL
Pxglassey: lol
MORRIS ICEMAN: A PEPPINIELL QUANDO LO PAGHI SARRASCHIFO?
Screenamsolely: THAN STOP COMPLAINING AND LOVE THE WARMTH
Screenamsolely: BUT IT IS NOT HOT
Ciripiripin: uffa
Screenamsolely: DUBAI IS HOT
Ciucina: or Las Vegas lol
MORRIS ICEMAN: LE SEGHE IN CHAT NON PAGANO IL CHILD SUPPORT SDENTATO
OnlineHost: loreleilizzi has left the room.
MySunshine966: BACK
Ciucina: w/b my
MySunshine966: VI SIETE DATI UNA CALMATINA?
MORRIS ICEMAN: WB SORELLIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Screenamsolely: EXACTLY, CIUCINA
Screenamsolely: OR DEATH VALLEY
MySunshine966: TI CIUCI
Ciucina: hai mangiato il gelato?
MySunshine966: TY FRATELLI
Ciripiripin: boccaccia mia statte zitta
Follia Jackson: suicidi a catena tra i fan
La notizia secondo cui sarebbero già una dozzina i fan di Michael Jackson che si sono tolti la vita in tutto il mondo dopo la morte del loro idolo fa riemergere dalle ombre del passato un altro famoso divo, in questo caso del cinema, la cui morte improvvisa gettò gli adoratori in un tale sconforto da indurli a seguirlo nell’ultimo viaggio.
Rodolfo Valentino, uno dei primi divi di celluloide, infatti, fu anche uno dei primi a meritarsi l’omaggio estremo da parte dei suoi fan: quando morì infatti, il 23 agosto 1923, due donne tentarono il suicidio fuori dalla clinica di New York in cui l’attore era appena spirato, mentre una londinese si avvelenò davanti alla sua foto con dedica e lo stesso fece un fattorino degli ascensori dell’Hotel Ritz di Parigi, che fu trovato su un letto tappezzato di foto del divo.
E oltre a loro un’altra trentina di cultori, soprattutto di sesso femminile, della star hollywoodiani di origini pugliesi posero fine ai loro giorni, incapaci di vivere senza di lui o meglio senza i suoi film. Infatti Valentino l’aveva capito benissimo: «Le donne non sono innamorate di me, ma della mia immagine sullo schermo. Io sono soltanto la tela sulla quale le donne dipingono i loro sogni». Come i regnanti e gli aristocratici egiziani, Michael e Rodolfo insomma anche nell’aldilà saranno seguiti per sempre dai loro fedeli seguaci. Per fortuna le star della musica e del cinema non hanno sempre avuto questa influenza così funesta: per il mito Elvis nessuno commise suicidio, mentre nel 1994 un solo fan, a quanto pare, decise di seguire le orme del leader dei Nirvana Kurt Cobain, sparandosi un colpo in colpo in testa come il cantore del grunge. Mentre qualche anno fa la cantante Paula Abdul si trovò di fronte a casa il cadavere di un suo ammiratore che aveva scelto proprio quel luogo per porre fine ai propri giorni.
Tornando a Jackson e agli strascichi che ogni illustre morte si porta dietro, la telenovela appena iniziata sembra destinata a far sembrare la querelle sull’eredità Pavarotti un’operetta. Jacko era talmente famoso a livello globale che lunedì un ragazza tunisina si è tolta la vita dopo essersi chiusa nella sua stanza per tutto la giornata ad ascoltare i suoi successi. Mentre stampa e media del mondo arabo continuano a fornire dettagli e indiscrezioni sulla morte del cantante, i quotidiani del Bahrain, dove Jackson aveva vissuto qualche tempo, titolano a caratteri cubitali: “da qui è passata la leggenda”. A quanto pare infatti, proveniente da una famiglia di testimoni di Geova, Michael era divenuto musulmano l’anno scorso.
E a proposito di famiglia, l’ultima novità sarebbe, secondo quanto riportato dal Wall Street Journal, l’esistenza di due testamenti. La versione più recente è datata 2002. Il documento potrebbe essere presentato dall’avvocato di Jackson alla Los Angeles Superior Court già giovedì prossimo, in ogni caso entro 30 giorni dalla data della morte, come prevede la legge in vigore in California.
In base a questo documento, il patrimonio, stimato in un miliardo di dollari, andrebbe suddiviso tra la madre, i suoi tre figli e diverse associazioni benefiche. A stilarlo, secondo quanto riportato dal quotidiano, è stato l’avvocato John Branca, che ha curato gli affari legali del cantante dal 1980 al 2006, e che aveva ripreso a farlo poco tempo prima della morte di Jackson. Nel documento, Branca è anche nominato esecutore testamentario, insieme all’impresario musicale John McClain, vecchio amico di Jackson. Ma secondo quanto riportato da diversi media americani, vi sarebbe in circolazione anche un’altra versione delle ultime volontà di Jackson. Intanto i genitori del cantante avrebbero già presentato una denuncia in tribunale in cui si dichiara che il figlio è morto senza lasciare loro alcun testamento. Non c’è pace per i divi pop.
“Non è stata una fatalità”
Indica il semiasse del primo vagone rovesciato, o quel che ne resta, il tecnico di Trenitalia, «ma il nome non lo scriva ci hanno proibito di parlare», e in un paio di frasi chiude l’inchiesta: «Guardi - attacca con il volto annerito dal fumo mezzo coperto dal caschetto giallo - s’è rotto quello, all’altezza della boccola, e il vagone è deragliato, trascinandosi dietro gli altri. I binari non c’entrano nulla. Da vent’anni mi occupo di manutenzione ed è la rottura di quel pezzo la causa: può capitare, all’improvviso, ma può anche darsi che non tutti i controlli fossero stati fatti». Parte da lì, «dal cedimento strutturale», anche la ricostruzione degli investigatori che però, per mestiere, devono sondare tutte le ipotesi, nessuna esclusa, e soprattutto, raccogliere prove e identificare eventuali responsabili. «Disastro ferroviario, omicidio colposo plurimo e incendio colposo», sono le ipotesi di reato del fascicolo (per ora contro ignoti) aperto dalla Procura di Lucca, in merito all’esplosione avvenuta lunedì notte a poche centinaia di metri dalla stazione di Viareggio.
«C’è stato un deragliamento - ha spiegato il procuratore di Lucca, Aldo Cicala - il gas gpl è fuoriuscito dalle cisterne e poi si è verificata l’esplosione». Il magistrato aveva finito il sopralluogo all’alba, insieme al pm Giuseppe Amodeo, cui è stata affidata l’indagine. Tra i primi atti, il sequestro del convoglio e, guarda caso, proprio della boccola del primo vagone: in soldoni, l’anello di metallo tra l’asse e le ruote. Ma non si depenna alcuna ipotesi, come ha poi sottolineato il procuratore generale della Toscana, Beniamino Deidda, che è stato subito informato dai colleghi di Lucca: «Per ora gli inquirenti non sono in grado di indicare con precisione la causa dell’incidente - ha detto - ma si stanno vagliando delle ipotesi sul deragliamento, come quella del cedimento strutturale di uno dei carri, ma al momento nessuna viene esclusa, tranne chiaramente e recisamente quella di un attentato». L’impressione è che s’indagherà a fondo sui collaudi e la revisione dei vagoni, perché alla fatalità non si crede molto: «Questo incidente non è frutto del caso - ha continuato Deidda - ma di precise azioni od omissioni che saranno attentamente vagliate».
Le prime parole a finire sulle pagine dell’indagine sono state quelle dei due macchinisti, Roberto Forchesato e Andrea D’Alessandro, ascoltati in mattinata al commissariato di Viareggio: «Abbiamo sentito come uno strappo, qualcosa che stava frenando il convoglio - hanno raccontato agli agenti - e abbiamo subito frenato. Sporgendoci dal finestrino abbiamo notato tantissimo fumo bianco». Ormai era troppo tardi, per l’esplosione è bastata la temperatura elevatissima generata dall’attrito sui binari, hanno spiegato i vigili del fuoco. «Abbiamo fatto appena in tempo a scappare». Poi è arrivata la fiammata. In stato di choc, erano stati medicati al pronto soccorso, per poi rientrare a La Spezia, dove abitano. S’erano sfogati solo con alcuni colleghi: «Siamo vivi per miracolo». Per ora, gli indizi paiono escludere un loro errore: secondo i primi rilievi, il treno stava procedendo intorno ai 90 chilometri all’ora, una velocità consentita in quel tratto.
Con «le longarine dei binari presumibilmente integre», ha spiegato un investigatore, si punta l’attenzione soprattutto sullo stato dei vagoni e, quindi, la loro manutenzione. A un primo controllo formale, tutti avevano i documenti in regola, con le date di collaudo non scadute: il prossimo era previsto per il dicembre 2009. Gli accertamenti richiederanno comunque tempo, perché il convoglio è di proprietà della multinazionale Gatx, che ha il quartier generale a Chicago, nell’Illinois, ma che ha la sede operativa della divisione ferrovie per l’Europa meridionale a Perchtoldsdorf, nei dintorni di Vienna. E qualche domanda andrà fatta all’amministratore delegato di Gatx Rail Austria, Johannes Mansbart. Diverse le giurisdizioni anche per i controlli sui materiali: il primo vagone deragliato risulta immatricolato dalle ferrovie polacche, gli altri in Germania e Ungheria, almeno secondo le prime verifiche. Per questo, alla Procura, saranno necessarie alcune consulenze tecniche, a partire da quella che dovrà stabilire le cause della rottura della boccola. Gli investigatori vogliono però controllare anche l’effettività dei collaudi cui furono sottoposti i vagoni che, agli ordinari check up fatti alla partenza di ogni viaggio, sembravano in ordine: le verifiche fatte a Trecate non avevano evidenziato alcuna anomalia, hanno spiegato le Ferrovie dello Stato.
I pirati (condannati) diventano ricchi: venduto per 5,5 milioni il sito web
Il sito per lo scambio di file musicali The Pirate Bay, condannato a Stoccolma per violazione di copyright, è stato acquistato dalla software house svedese proprietaria di Internet Café Global Gaming Factor X per 60 milioni di corone, circa 5,5 milioni di euro. Gli acquirenti intendono riportare la nave corsara in acque legali, usando un modello di business «che consentirà — secondo una prima nota dell’azienda — di soddisfare sia i fornitori di contenuti che i detentori dei diritti d’autore».
In che modo, lo si vedrà. I soldi della vendita di Pirate Bay, intanto, andranno nelle tasche dei tre fondatori, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm e Peter Sunde, che nell’aprile scorso erano stati condannati in primo grado a un anno di carcere e a una multa corrispondente a 2,7 milioni di euro per «complicità nella violazione della legge sul diritto d’autore». Gli avvocati difensori avevano presentato ricorso per conflitto d’interessi di uno dei giudici (iscritto a due associazioni svedesi per la tutela del copyright) ma il ricorso è stato respinto la settimana scorsa. L’amministratore delegato di Ggfx Hans Pandeya non ha detto chiaramente come intende chiudere i conti con il passato. Major musicali e cinematografiche — tra cui i colossi Warner, Columbia, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony Bmg, Universal ed Emi — hanno infatti chiesto un risarcimento pari a circa 9 milioni di euro. Chi lo pagherà? I fondatori con i soldi incassati dalla vendita? Probabilmente sì. E sicuramente ci sarà nuovo lavoro per gli avvocati.
Ma come sarà la baia dei pirati senza più pirati? The Pirate Bay, tra i primi cento siti Internet del mondo, è oggi uno dei maggiori luoghi virtuali per lo scambio di musica, con oltre venti milioni di utenti. Non è ancora ben chiaro da dove arriveranno i ricavi che sosterranno il nuovo modello di business. E infatti le prime osservazioni degli esperti sono improntate a un certo scetticismo.
Molto positivi sono invece i commenti dei discografici, i quali osservano che in ogni caso la notizia va letta come il passaggio a una logica di legalità e normalità. «L’era del tutto gratis e dell’illegale sta finendo — ha dichiarato il presidente della Federazione dell'industria musicale italiana Enzo Mazza — e la rete si avvia a diventare elemento fondamentale nella distribuzione di contenuti ». Di segno diametralmente opposto i commenti dei sostenitori della gratuità a oltranza.
Il passaggio di fase non sarà comunque facile. Come non lo è stato per Napster, il padre di tutti i pirati, comprato nel 2002 da Bertelsmann. Il gruppo tedesco acquisì sessanta milioni di utenti ma non riuscì a trasformare il sito nella macchina da soldi iTunes di Apple. E in quella vicenda tutti capirono che trasformare l’utente non pagante in utente pagante è impresa alquanto ardua. Forse fu colpa della formula di pagamento scelta dai tedeschi (l’abbonamento) ma il marchio forte nella musica libera non è diventato un marchio forte nella musica a pagamento.
La Baia dei Pirati ha oggi un problema molto simile, per di più amplificato dal nome: un nome che è un programma...
Inferno a Viareggio
treno, il gas, il boato: 14 morti «Muro di fuoco come a Pompei»
GIUSI FASANO PER IL CORRIERE DELLA SERA
La notte che ha fatto tremare il cielo è passata. È bruciata assieme al treno, alla cisterna colma di Gpl, alle palazzine di via Ponchielli, alle macchine parcheggiate lungo il viale della stazione. Bruciata. Come le speranze di chi ha vagato fino all’alba fra ospedali e unità di crisi, per non arrendersi al pensiero di un lutto. Ieri sera a mezzanotte Viareggio contava quattordici morti, tre (forse più) dispersi e una trentina di feriti, 15 gravissimi. E poi i mille sfollati del quartiere Bottega nuova, i sopravvissuti. «Come se si potesse sopravvivere alla morte di un figlio...» si tormenta Marco che da lunedì sera pesca sempre lo stesso ricordo: l’abbraccio di uno dei suoi tre bambini e il salto nel vuoto, fra le fiamme. Ora lui e il bimbo sono salvi, ma è perduto per sempre l’altro piccolo di cinque anni. E anche Marco in qualche modo sembra non esserci più.
Ore 23.48: l’esplosione
Assente. Indietro nei giorni, quasi a cercare di riavvolgere il filo delle ore che Viareggio non scorderà mai più. Ecco l’orologio segnare mezzanotte meno dodici di lunedì, sembra di sentire quel boato così pazzesco da far pensare a «un terremoto », a «un bombardamento», a «un attacco terroristico». La gente si affaccia dalle finestre e vede il fuoco camminare veloce per le strade, arrampicarsi come un killer sulle scale delle case, avvolgere e incenerire passanti per strada, arrivare sui muri più alti. Cosa sta succedendo? Un treno merci è deragliato assieme alle sue 14 cisterne piene di Gpl, una delle più pericolose fra le sostanze infiammabili. Sette vasche sono rimaste sui binari, integre, altre sei sono finite sulla massicciata, anche loro intere, ma una è caduta sui picchetti che segnalano le curve e si è «bucata». Così in pochi secondi il gas si è infilato in ogni strada, in ogni giardino, in ogni casa che ha trovato sul suo percorso. Una scintilla ed è stato il disastro. Ecco cosa succede a mezzanotte meno dodici di lunedì. Ma in quel momento nessuno lo sa. La sola cosa che sanno, tutti, è che bisogna scappare via. La centrale operativa fa appena in tempo a bloccare altri due treni passeggeri diretti a Viareggio. «Non so come ma il fuoco spuntava dai gradini, tante piccole fiamme che mi nascevano sotto i piedi» racconta Maria Paltrinieri, piano rialzato di una delle tante palazzine raggiunte dal rogo.
Ore 1: viavai di sirene
All’una la città è un viavai di sirene. Le ambulanze corrono verso gli ospedali o il centro di unità mobile di pronto soccorso allestito vicino al Municipio, diventato in un batter d’occhio il quartier generale dei soccorsi. Sullo sfondo il cielo brucia di arancione e rosso, per le strade è un caos senza fine. Voci che nessuno sa confermare parlano di palazzi crollati e decine di persone sotto le macerie. È il panico. Tutti a cercare un parente, un amico, un vicino di casa. I vigili del fuoco e gli agenti municipali provano a bloccare le strade più vicine al disastro, sgolandosi per cacciare via una folla crescente di curiosi che arrivano davanti alla zona rossa per capire di più, sapere qualcosa. Alle due e mezzo il Comune decide di evacuare tutta l’area a rischio: più di mille persone. Ci sono decine di case in fiamme e un’onda di persone che scappa senza sapere bene da chi e da cosa. Si sentono quattro-cinque esplosioni. E ogni volta si vede un nuovo pezzetto di cielo colorarsi di rosso.
Ore 3.15: lo sgombero
Alle tre e un quarto le auto della protezione civile fanno un primo giro a ridosso della zona rossa con i megafoni: «Dovete lasciare immediatamente le vostre case» è l’ordine. Ancora gente per strada. Altro panico. Si temono esplosioni più devastanti della prima che ha innescato tutto. Se le altre cisterne dovessero scoppiare i morti si conterebbero a centinaia. Si deve accelerare. Dal ministero degli Interni mandano nuove forze. Gente in divisa arriva da Pisa, Firenze, Livorno, La Spezia, da qualunque posto sia più o meno raggiungibile in un paio d’ore. Alle cinque, mentre decine e decine di uomini scavano sotto le macerie delle case accartocciate, altre centinaia (a questo punto quasi mille) organizzano i soccorsi per gli sfollati e finalmente riescono a circoscrivere con il nastro rosso la zona che nessuno può varcare. Gli abitanti delle aree in pericolo sono tutti fuori casa. Si fatica a spegnere le fiamme diventate più basse, ma non per questo meno minacciose. Il rischio è ancora altissimo. Soltanto fra le sei e le sette le facce sfinite dei soccorritori si fanno un po’ meno tese. «È una piccola Pompei» dice uno di loro.
L’alba: il bilancio
Con la luce del giorno il disastro sembra più spaventoso. Vicino alla stazione è un cimitero di case. Sono mozziconi di palazzi a due-tre piani. Ma un nuovo «quartiere» è nato davanti alla piazza del Comune, una tendopoli per 80-90 persone. Decine e decine di volontari, come piccole formichine laboriose, tirano corde e trasportano brande, montano un piccolo ospedale da campo e distribuiscono latte caldo. Nell’unica tenda piena di sfollati Claudia Fabbris dice che tutto sommato è fortunata anche se si trova sotto una tenda, come i terremotati: «Io so che la mia casa c’è ancora e che ci tornerò » dice. Ci tornerà presto, come promette a pomeriggio anche il capo della Protezione civile Bertolaso. Fra oggi e domani i vigili del fuoco svuoteranno le cisterne che non possono essere spostate. Almeno tre le inchieste aperte: magistratura, ministero delle infrastrutture e Trenitalia. Tutto in mezzo a polemiche feroci: dei sindacati che annunciano scioperi e parlano, con Guglielmo Epifani, di «disastro annunciato» e con la sortita del presidente di Confindustria Emma Marcegaglia: «Queste cose non succedono in un Paese civile».
Dall'Italia
Mercoledì 1
IL FATTO DEL GIORNO, la tragedia di Viareggio: Come e perché è esploso l’inferno in quella stazione?
A “ULTIME DA BABELE”, la mia trasmissione radiofonica in onda dal lunedì al venerdì, dalle 8,25 alle 9,00 su RADIOUNO, oggi ho chiacchierato con Massimo Lugli, scrittore in corsa per lo Strega col romanzo “L’istinto del lupo”, e Antonia Custra, figlia del poliziotto Antonio Custra, morto nel 1977, a 25 anni, mentre sorvegliava una manifestazione indetta da organizzazioni extraparlamentari di estrema sinistra. Erano gli anni di piombo. Antonia ha perdonato l’assassino di suo padre, e ce l’ha raccontato. Ecco qui la puntata.
Ancora articoli sulla strage del treno-bomba:
• Niente alibi di Sergio Rizzo
• Il treno, il gas, il boato: 14 morti «Muro di fuoco come a Pompei» di Giusi Fasano
• “Non è stata una fatalità” di Massimilano Nerozzi
• Sotto accusa la revisione del vagone-cisterna di Gianni Santucci
• Berlusconi tra fischi e applausi: “Tutte le case saranno ricostruite” di Maria Corbi
• Caccia al tesoro nascosto di Madoff di Paolo Valentino
• I pirati (condannati) diventano ricchi: venduto per 5,5 milioni il sito web di Edoardo Segantini
• R+B: la formula della ricchezza di Gabriele Beccaria
• Forattini: «La sinistra non sa ridere di sè» di Francesco Specchia
• Jacko, l’ultimo spettacolo di Francesco Semprini
• Follia Jackson: suicidi a catena tra i fan di Carlo Faricciotti
• U2, kolossal per 90 mila fan «Un viaggio nello spazio» di Andrea Laffranchi
• Il sesso in estate e la musica che rinfresca di Gianluca Grossi
• Gli animali pensano, anche senza parole di Angelo Tartabini
Il ritorno di Luciano Moggi:
• Moggi allo scoperto di Marco Ansaldo
• Dal processo al Bologna Moggi gioca a tutto campo di Fulvio Bufi
• Non siamo un paese normale di Marco Ansaldo
Iscriviti a:
Post (Atom)
Iscriviti a controinfo
Post
Tutti i commenti
