In the first place, we know that they had an uncanny ability to focus on spiritual things to the exclusion of all mundane tasks.

I mean, when we are praying or meditating, thoughts will slip into that state of mind we are in and move us off the holy path for a moment or two.

This probably disqualifies us as candidates for sainthood. I will admit that I am no longer being considered, and I will even own up to all my inadequacies. This is just a reminder that many of you will also be thrown off the path toward canonization.

But there are many candidates who have a legitimate chance to go all the way to that army of saints that has inspired young and old Catholics for centuries. The latest is Padre Pio, who will be beatified in May 1999 by Pope John Paul II in Rome. Beatification is the second step in the process toward sainthood. The next step would be canonization, full status as a saint of the church.

Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione in Italy in 1886. But in his early 30s, after becoming a priest, Pio was kneeling in front of a large crucifix when his hands and feet began to show the signs of the crucifixion.

That is, Pio’s body showed wounds on the hands and feet and in his side, all places where Jesus was pierced on the cross. Those wounds never healed, and Padre Pio carried the five piercings of Christ for 50 years.

That condition is called the stigmata, but over the years he became known for other miracles. The secretions from the wounds, for instance, carried the odor of flowers or perfume. He was gifted also with the ability to be in two places at once -- known as bilocation.

World War II Allied pilots claimed they could see Padre Pio in the clouds directing air traffic over his small monastery in Italy.

The story goes that Padre Pio could read the hearts and minds of penitents before they had a chance to speak. Thousands came to him for confession and healing, and 100,000 people attended his funeral in 1968.

I’ve always found Padre Pio fascinating. A friend told me about Padre Pio a long time ago, and consequently I read a book about the priest.

But my friend had actually visited Pio in Italy. In the 1940s or 1950s, my friend’s father dragged him to a small Italian village on a spiritual pilgrimage. They stood outside a tiny monastery until Padre Pio made an appearance, showed his wounded hands and feet and then went back inside the monastery. A weird but mind-enhancing experience for a young fellow.

We have a deceased religious brother in the North Lands who just might become a saint someday. In 1995, Brother Solanus Casey was declared venerable, the first step in the long process of canonization. As part of the veneration scenario, Casey’s body was exhumed from its resting place in the chapel floor of a monastery in Detroit.

Casey’s body was then examined for blemishes. When none were found, the priests in attendance washed his body, dressed it in a new robe, covered it with plastic and placed it in a shallow grave in a side chapel of the monastery.

Pope John Paul II visited the burial place and subsequently named him venerable. Of course it could be hundreds of years before Casey is declared a saint. But he is the first man in the United States to be named venerable.

Casey was moved to become a priest when he was 21 years old, but in just a few short weeks, it was discovered he did not have the mental capacity for the arduous studies. He was named as a gatekeeper at St. Bonaventure’s Monastery in Detroit and assigned to enroll people in the Seraphic Mass Society.

Soon people were returning to their parishes telling of miraculous healings, and Casey became busy 12 hours a day with his consultations.

Long after the other priests and brothers retired from their prayers in the evening, Casey would continue praying for the people who had petitioned him that day. Some days the priests would find him asleep early in the morning on the hard floor of the chapel where he is now buried.

These stories are not meant to inspire you to seek sainthood -- we all know where we stand with the church. But the stories of people who were holier than you or I will ever be are always interesting.

Peace be with you.

Clark D. Morphew