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Saints Who Battled Satan: Seventeen Holy Warriors Who Can Teach You How to Fight the Good Fight and Vanquish Your Ancient Enemy
Paul takes the reader through the development of this battle starting where it all began in the Garden of Eden and the temptation of Adam of Eve by Satan. Ever since that time the Devil has prowled the earth in search of those he can tempt and lure away from God. It is important to know that we are still engaged in that battle today. St. Peter warns us. “Your adversary the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pt 5:8).
One aspect of this book is to show us that we have companions on the journey that have faced the same battle, stared down the adversary and won the ultimate reward…eternity with God the Father. Paul takes a chronological approach to telling the stories of seventeen of these saints. I addition to Eve they are: The Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Paul, St. Perpetua, St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Meinrad, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Martin de Porres, St. John Vianney, St. Gemma Galgani and St. Pio of Pietrelcina. Each of their stories is inspiring and a witness to us as we face our own struggles.
St. Pio of Pietrelcina has also been a favorite saint of mine and his story was of particular interest to me. In case you are unfamiliar with Padre Pio he was a Capuchian priest who passed away in 1968. He was also the only priest to have received the stigmata. His physical ailments were numerous from attacks of vomiting so severe that he he went weeks without being able to retain solid foods. He also endured spasms of violent coughing, pains in his chest and back, frequent high fevers, and pounding headaches.
Mystical experiences also played a part in Pio’s life He received the spiritual gifts of bilocation, levitation, and the knowledge of hidden matters. In fact many people reported that in the confessional Padre Pio often told the confessor their ins before they had the chance to tell him. He even experienced apparitions and heavenly visitations and visitations of the more demonic variety.
As a young man one night he was in his room and went to the window where on the window sill of the next room he saw a huge, black dog, with an immense head and furious eyes. Before he could react the dog jumped onto the roof and disappeared, He learned the next day that the room where he saw the room was unoccupied.
This was only the beginning of Padre Pio’s trials. After being ordained a priest in 1910 the attacks only intensified. As he wrote in a letter, “The Devil continues to wage war and doesn’t show signs of giving up.” At one point Pio’s physical ailments were so great that he was sent back to his Pietrelcina in the hopes his native air would do him good. The spiritual battle followed him. Demons would harass Pio in his room at night. The noise was so loud at night at time that people could hear it over a great distance. It was so intense at times neighbors became frightened and fled their homes.
He returned to the friars and the attacks continued. There were blows to the wals and friars discovered broken ceramic pots and wooden chairs in his room. The Devil came to Padre Pio in many forms in multiple attempts to tempt him. On September 23, 1968 Padre Pio passed away. In his final breaths he uttered “Jesus…Mary…Jesus…Mary.” His final battle was won.
Spiritual battle is real. We all face it in varying degrees. Paul Thigpen has given us a book to show the reader just how real it is. Paul states it best in the intro. “Skeptics may read these accounts and scoff in disbelief. Perhaps they deny the existence of demons or presume that preternatural phenomena simply do not occur. Even so, my personal experiences and those of countless others – not to mention the testimony of Our Lord Himself, Scripture, and two millennia of Christian tradition – have all convinced me otherwise.”
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