The Communion of Saints
The familiarity and friendship that Gio had with some saints,
blessed and venerable was extraordinary. They presented themselves gradually in his earthly pilgrimage, through travels, meetings, books, films, relics and often through even small signs.
Gio told his mom that everyone was sent to by the Virgin Mary because she knew which saint they were in need of.
Gio loved the holy children and young adults very much:
Nennolina (Antonietta Meo), the first met at the age of one and a half.
Francesco and Giacinta, when older Gio often repeated the prayer taught to them by the Angel.
San Domenico Savio whose motto he remembered 'death but not sins'.
Santa Maria Goretti, invoked to always being able to forgive, especially in times of therapeutic persistence.
Sant'Agnese, very young martyr, from the name evocative; due to the proximity to his Roman home,
Gio participated twice to the Mass in her memorial day in the Basilica of Sant'Agnese Fuori le Mura; and on another occasion, he prayed before the relic of the little martyr kept in the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone.
San Gabriele dell'Addolorata, was known by Gio for his mother storytellings, about the saint's Sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso, about the Art Biennali. He was calling him for Mother Mary's cry.
San Luigi Gonzaga, Gio's asked his mother to read the letter written by this young saint to his mother, that was a love song to Jesus and a touching farewell when the saint felt ill of black death.
Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist, the most faithful of Jesus whose name he bore, said they were always with him.
San Pio da Pietralcina, visited twice on pilgrimage, often made himself present with images or medals found by chance at crucial moments in therapeutic decisions and when suffering was greatest.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta always accompanied him, even in the most unexpected circumstances and in the last year also through the sisters of her Order, The Missionary of Charity, who prayed a lot for Gio. He invoked her as the mother of the little ones entrusted to her especially the unborn children.
St. Francis of Assisi was dear to Gio who called him the barefoot saint and made him particularly sensitive to the poor. In addition, he also came to the rescue of his family in an economically difficult and dark moment, when homeless in New York. After finding a steel bookmark on the street that reads “All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of a single candle. San Francesco d'Assisi”, they returned at home to receive a call from a dear friend who had found a nice accommodation for them.
During his long stay at the OPBG, Gio was given a relic from the purificator used by the John Paul II in the celebrations at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, which was placed under his pillow. Leaving the hospital, Gio went to greet St. John Paul II, in the Basilica of san PIETRO, when his tomb was on the lower floor. A special, intimate visit with very few people present.
The little sister Celeste in Rome found the cross of
St. Benedict on the street, and this gave them the opportunity to learn how to implore his protection against evil.
Gio received the First Holy Communion in the day of the feast Sant' Antony of Padua and from that moment he called him the good saint with the Baby Jesus.
Saint Joseph, met in the parish of Rome, entered the life of Gio powerfully thanks to Barbara, a woman of great faith and friend of the contemplative Dominican sisters and priest friends of New York. Every day from March 2011 he will address the saint as a good father .... when it was clear that Gio would die to earthly life, many prayed together with their mother for Gio's beautiful death.
He wanted to entrust himself to San Giuda Taddeo, the saint of very difficult cases, on the occasion of the Sacrament of Confirmation, when the doctors had decreed his imminent death, which instead gave way to an extraordinary recovery.
To San Giovanni Maria Vianney Gio entrusted his priest friends.
He entrusted his school friends to San Giovanni Bosco.
Saint Catherine of Siena was indicated by Gio to her mother to taught her how to pray for the priests, as she did, to love the whole church as she loved it and to care for the sick as she treated them.
From Santa Teresa d'Avila, Gio saw with his mother some parts of a television series in Spanish about the life of the saint and one day he defined her as the one who had the mystical experience of the descent into hell.
Of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, the mother read the Story of a soul to Gio while he was recovered in Intensive Unite. Later Gio heard about her by Fr. Enrique.
Of Santa Giuseppina Bakita, Gio saw the film about her life during a holiday in Veneto on her grandfather's farm, and smilingly repeated her phrase "il paron (the boss) loves everyone, grandfather".
Saint Bernadetta, Gio met her when, on the way to medical test, he was able to venerate his relics and to attend a Mass for the sick in Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (11 February 2010). The following year he then visited his home during the pilgrimage to Lourdes.
A friend introduced St. Joseph Moscati to him, during the second pilgrimage to Medjugorije, and from that moment Gio entrusted "his" doctors to him, to some of whom he gave the film about his life.
Gio returning from the day hospital at the OPBG sometimes stopped for the weekday mass in Santa Maria della Pace, the Prelatura Church of Opus Dei, where the tomb of San Jose Maria Escrivà is located and where he once met Don Flavio Capucci who gave him a small image with the relic of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo.
San Filippo Neri was one of his favorite films, which he likes to relate to and he often hummed the song "Paradiso".
After having seen Luc Besson's film on Saint Joan of Arc he came out with an expression that opens a glimpse into the mystery of his inner life: "The knight of God, who hears voices like me", he said with great normality .
He knew the prayer of the angelic crown thanks
to a young Nigerian who worked as a vigilante in the skyscraper where Gio lived. From then on this prayer too became usual for Gio, especially
in moments of greatest difficulty or suffering.
Saints met in America :
Santa Francesca Cabrini, was known by Gio for the invitation of Fr. Enrique to the church where they are kept her mortal remains in New York, to pray together in the presence of the relic. An elderly Missionary
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, gave him the biography
of the Saint. His protection was invoked in the difficulty that arose due to the imminent expiry of the short entry visa, which in fact was renewed in via extraordinary very quickly.
Saint Elisabeth Ann Seton, was taken as an example by Gio to be good with widowed mothers and their children without fathers.
The story of Santa Rosa da Lima was heard by Gio while attending the Dominican friars of the Church of Santa Caterina.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, entered the life of through the testimony of her daughter, met in the Church of Santa Caterina in NY, and since then families in suffering have also been recommended to her.
To the Servant of God Mother Maria Alfonsa (Rose Hawthorne), Gio entrusted the nurses having visited the home for the poor terminally ill she founded. On that occasion he went to her grave in the garden and wanted to greet her by getting out of the wheelchair to kneel on it. He received with devotion
the hair relic of the servant of God given to him by the Mother Superior and since then he has distributed various images of the servant of God to hospital staff.
Saint Charbel, was invoked for the healing of Gio since the Lebanese mother of a school friend gave him a small relic.
