First titled, "The Holy Man on the Mountain," this book tells the fascinating life story of Padre Pio, with emphasis on his life as a seminarian, young priest and his early decades at San Giovanni Rotondo. Incredible is the number of times the Capuchins sent him home sick unto death while a seminarian and young priest and how he was finally sent to remote San Giovanni Rotondo "For a couple of weeks of mountain air." He never left. But from this small, remote mountain friary, he became world famous and exercised unbelievable influence on the entire world--though early on, he was forbidden by his superiors to preach, to write or to correspond. A few clerics developed enmity toward Padre Pio, resulting several times in orders from his superiors that he be moved. It is simply hilarious to learn why ne never was--though being under obedience, he was entirely willing to do so.
