Nudged by faith: St. Pio, the Holy Face and Padre Domenico da Cese
I have always said that I don’t know of any good physician who does not believe in God. The very nature of our work is linked to the divine. We are healers. We want our patients to recover from their ailments, regain their strength and lost senses, and feel better because of our care. But we also experience failure despite our best efforts. And for those of us who have to deal with serious ailments, we are often reminded that while we can do all that science offers to help our patients, we must do so with the faith of children who also know that we rely on God. And at some point, we may have to simply surrender to His will, even if the outcome is not what we want.
I was never a devotee of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, and I knew very little about the Holy Face; save that it was supposed to be the image of the face of Jesus Christ. This all changed after 2015 because of three patients who, because of their devotion to St. Pio, nudged me toward him and then ultimately toward the Holy Face, and more.
My first “call” from St. Pio of Pietrelcina came in 2015 after a patient of mine gave me a St. Pio rosary bracelet after his corneal transplant. It was a very pretty fresh water pearl bracelet with a medal of St. Pio and a crucifix. Then the next “call” from St. Pio came when a patient with a very challenging eye condition, gave me a blessed image of Padre Pio after his successful transplant procedure in 2016. Then in August 2018, I received a great gift from yet another patient. After her surgery, she surprised me with a relic of St. Pio. It was a small piece of a cloth that was used to wrap his hands in order to soak the blood from his stigmata as these would bleed when he said Mass. It became clear to me then, as it was apparently also clear to many long-time devotees of St Pio, that he had been very active of late; making himself felt in many ways.
Then one Saturday in September, while I was not feeling well and resting in bed, I saw a book that my cousin Betta Gallego gave me more than two years before, but which I never read. The title of the book was “The Face of God” by Paul Badde. It was the story of the Volto Santo, or the Holy Veil. In the book she wrote a dedication hoping that my husband and I could visit the sanctuary one day.
The Gallego family was among the benefactors of the Immaculate Concepcion Church in Nampicuan, Nueva Ecija where, on Sept. 16, 2014, the Sudarium, a gift from the Basilica de Volto Santo in Manoppello, was enthroned. This Sudarium is an exact replica of the Volto Santo in Manoppello, honored as the burial cloth of Christ which bears the Holy Face of the Risen Jesus. If the Shroud of Turin bears the image of the crucified Christ, the Volto Santo bares the image of the Risen Christ.
Thus, it happened that a very humble church in an obscure town in the Philippines, became the official sanctuary in Asia of the Holy Veil of Manoppello; a treasure that St. Pio, during his lifetime, described as “the greatest miracle in our possession.” Things were never the same for this little-known church since then. It is now a pilgrimage destination.
While the book was on my bedside table for years, I had never read it. Upon opening the book my attention was immediately drawn to one chapter about St. Pio, the Volto Santo and a Capuchin monk I had never heard about, namely Padre Domenico da Cese.
St. Pio referred to Padre Domenico as his spiritual son. He used to tell people who would trek all the way to Pietrelcina from Manoppello, “why do you have to come all the way here to see me? You have Padre Domenico. He is just like me.” One day before St. Pio passed away, while he collapsed as he was saying his last mass in Pietrelcino, he bilocated to Manoppello where Padre Domenico saw him praying while gazing at the Volto Santo. The two monks had a touching conversation during what was to be their last encounter. St. Pio, Padre Domenico, and the Holy Face---they are linked.
Padre Domenico was the first to exclaim and recognize the Volto Santo, without doubt in his heart, as the face of Jesus, upon seeing it in the altar in Manoppello, where he was finally assigned. He recognized it as the face of the mysterious man who saved him and his father, when he was still a little boy, from the rubble of their village church after an earthquake—that he predicted would happen—devastated their village. The earthquake killed his sisters along with tens of thousands of people in their town. He would never see the mysterious man again until he gazed upon his face in the altar of the small church in Manoppello. So strong was his devotion, that he requested his superiors to allow him to spend the rest of his life as the rector of that church. And he did so, until his death on Sept. 17, 1978, during a pilgrimage to Turin.
Then it occurred to me that perhaps Padre Domenico was among the reasons St. Pio had been “nudging” me through my patients for the last three years. Padre Domenico was a stigmatist who could also bilocate; a holy man whom St. Pio described as a spiritual son who was just like him. Yet he remained unknown. Perhaps St. Pio wanted me to help in the cause of sainthood of this monk? I proceeded to google him and found out that the cause for his sainthood commenced on Mar. 3, 2015.
On Oct. 20, 2018, with my husband and sister in law, I finally trekked to the Immaculate Conception Church in Nampicuan, Nueva Ecija, the Sanctuary of the Holy Face. So much about the experience was special, almost magical. It was worth the visit.
Now I have added yet another mission of sorts to my other missions. I have started to tell my patients about Padre Domenico da Cese. And I have also asked him to intercede for my most difficult cases. And in telling his story I cannot but tell the stories of St. Pio and the Holy Face.
Our small clinic has always been a place where the physical meets the spiritual; where science meets faith. And we are blessed with patients who, because of their faith, help to increase our faith as well. The saints indeed intercede for us and work with us continuously toward ends we have yet to discover. I thank my patients for being instruments for nudging me toward St. Pio, the Sanctuary of the Holy face, and to yet another mission I am happy to take on.
Dr. Ma. Dominga “Minguita” B. Padilla is an ophthalmologist. She is the founder of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines, a clinical associate professor at the Philippine General Hospital- University of the Philippines Manila, and an active consultant at the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Global City.
