'It's like having an All-Ireland medal' — Padre Pio's glove to go on display in Co Kerry

Fr Mossie Brick expressed his delight that the venerated relic of the Italian saint will be the focus of devotions in Castleisland

Irish Capuchin Provincial Fr Bryan Shortall OFM, and Fr Mossie Brick, Parish Priest of Casteisland with the glove of Padre Pio which will be at the monthly devotions to Padre Pio in St Stephen and St John's Church in Castleisland on Tuesday. Picture: Kerry Kennelly/Kerry's Eye

The arrival in Kerry this Tuesday of a glove which belonged to Padre Pio is like “having an All-Ireland medal in your pocket”, the parish priest leading devotions to the saint has said.

Padre Pio is venerated by Catholics for having healing powers. Known also as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, many miraculous healings have been attributed to him.

This fingerless glove is one he used to cover wounds on his hands while a priest in Italy before his death in 1968.

Padre Pio who was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2002. 

These wounds were known as “stigmata” and he also carried wounds on his feet and side, in an echo of wounds inflicted on Jesus Christ during the crucifixion.

Fr Mossie Brick has led calls for a Padre Pio relic for Castleisland, and he described the moment he heard from the National Shrine of St Pio as special.

“When he rang and said we were getting the glove, it was an amazing message. It’s really magical,” he said.

“It means, first of all, that its presence alone is like having an All-Ireland medal in your pocket, in a small parish. 

"It means that glove is going to spread devotion to St Pio, it is going to enhance devotion to St Pio and is going to have his name revered.”

The glove belonging to St Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, will arrive in the Church of Saints Stephen and John in Castleisland on Tuesday. 

The parish already holds devotions to Padre Pio on the third Tuesday of every month at 7.30pm. This glove will now play a key role.

“Amazing things have happened through these gloves,” he said. 

The real connection with the glove is what we call faith, if one doesn’t have the faith, sure it’s only a glove. The faith is the connection with it really. 

The glove is being delivered by the national director of the Padre Pio Apostolate in Ireland Fr Bryan Shortall.

“We will be obligated to pass this back if ever devotions die out,” Fr Brick said.

Pope John Paul II pictured at the canonisation ceremony of Padre Pio at the Vatican in 2002. File picture: Vincenzo Pinto/AP

“You are obligated to pass this back, and then it is passed on. There is a massively long waiting list, we waited 16 years.”

Fr Brick is hopeful the glove will draw parishioners and visitors to devotions.

“Castleisland is very central, it’s only 12 miles from Abbeyfeale in West Limerick, and we’re not too far from the county bounds here into Cork,” he said. “People would have phenomenal devotion to this, and devotion or faith is important.” He added:

The glove will always bring numbers. There should be a big crowd. It’s as precious now as a Cork All-Ireland medal. 

The relic is enclosed in glass for safety, and he would not say exactly where they will store it for fear of theft.

“It does carry with it a massive responsibility,” he said.

Fr Brick explained why the gloves are so closely associated with the saint, saying: “They could find no physical or human reason for the stigmata. 

Italian police officers wipe a statue of Padre Pio with handkerchiefs handed to them by the faithful in Messina, Sicily, in 2002 after the statue was reputed to have started weeping. File picture: Francesco Saya/AP

The church authorities decided he could never appear in public with those sores exposed so he wore fingerless gloves.

“He was allowed to say Mass without the gloves, but otherwise he wore them.”

The National Shrine of St Pio in Dublin contains authentic relics linked to the saint. These include Crusts of the Wounds of the Hands of St Pio and an authentic portion of a night shirt with his blood stains.