1972:  The Secret of Padre Pio
by Alberindo Grimani

In 1971, at the end of July/beginning of August, Padre Pellegrino of Sant’Elia a Pianisi met with the artist Amedeo Trivisonno in the Shrine of Santa Maria del Monte in Campobasso. The artist had gone to pay homage to the Madonna, of whom he, like all residents of Campobasso, was a devotee, and also to check the status of the frescoes painted by him in the Church.
Padre Pellegrino, then Guardian of the Capuchin Friary of Santa Maria del Monte (his term as Guardian of San Giovaani Rotondo had been concluded in September 1970), became famous throughout the world after 23 September 1968; in the hours preceding Padre Pio’s death he remained close to the Saint at the end of his earthly life, witnessing his last prayers and blessings.  For devotees of the Saint, Padre Pellegrino was always Padre Pio’s “favourite disciple”; the “Angel of the Night” who had looked after the Padre through the nights for many years, and cared for him as a child looks after a sick parent; he was the friar who had heard his confessions, his most intimate thoughts and, at the end, Padre Pio’s spiritual testament.
Padre Pellegrino and Trivisonno, who were also friends, met, therefore, in the Sanctuary of La Madonna del Monte.  The Capuchin said more or less these words to the artist: “Amedeo, The Madonna appeared to Padre Pio in this Sanctuary several times! You must do a painting to commemorate the most important apparition: that when Padre Pio agreed to be “l’Alter Christus”!
Trivisonno, stunned by the secrets revealed to him, did everything he could to extricate himself from carrying out the task; but in the end, he gave in to the insistence of Padre Pellegrino and, in September 1971, started work.  After various studies, “The Apparition of the Madonna del Monte to Padre Pio” was completed in May 1972 and therefore, after a succession of events, sent to Campobasso and placed in the Marian Shrine.
This painting by Amedeo Trivisonno, undertaken by him in Florence where he lived, has always been overlooked and rarely mentioned in biographies of Padre Pio. There are many reasons, which are hidden in secret and inaccessible Vatican archives, and to this day are still unavailable to researchers of the Saint.
After years of study and research on the life of Padre Pio, it is certain that between 1904 and 1909 that Jesus and Mary appeared to the Friar on several occasions in the Marian Sanctuary of Campobasso and that They gave him several messages for the Church and for humanity. Apparitions and messages which have been kept secret since 1922 and upon which has been placed a tombstone. In particular upon the messages from the Madonna to Padre Pio.
“The Secret of Padre Pio” is in the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Monte: Padre Pellegrino of Sant’Elia a Pianisi entrusted this secret to Amedeo Trivisonno in 1971 and gave him the key which the artist has hidden in the painting. On 15 August 1905, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, Padre Pio accepted to being “l’alter Christus”.
15 August 2005 will mark the Centenary of that Apparition of the Madonna to Padre Pio. It would be right, at such a tragic time for the world, to reveal and uncover the messages of the Madonna del Monte to Padre Pio.
Photo: painting by Amedeo Trivisonno, 1972: The Apparition oft he Madonna del Monte to Padre Pio(Sanctuary of the Madonna del Monte – Campobasso)

Amedeo Trivisonno - La Madonna del Monte appare a Padre Pio
(Santuario S. Maria del Monte – Campobasso)