And not many couples can claim to have had their engagement ring and wedding rings blessed by the future saint, when they were wed at the church of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, on the Solemnity of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 1968. Padre Pio’s wedding gift to the couple was a picture of Mary and the Christ Child, which he signed on the back with a prayer that “the Virgin Mary hold you tightly in her love.” Just over a month later, the future saint was called home. A mother’s example The story begins in 1945. Ortrud Schumann was born in Germany and grew up in a poor, non-religious household with five older siblings and a divorced mother. When Ortrud was a teenager, her maternal grandmother died suddenly. “My mother realized that life can end abruptly,” Ortrud recalls. “She began to practice her Catholic faith with great fervor.” For a long time, Ortrud resisted her mother’s attempts to bring her to the practice of faith. Then, one day, Ortrud’s mother handed her a pamphlet containing passages from the Diary of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska. The Divine Mercy devotion had not yet been approved by the Church, and Ortrud never knew where her mother got the pamphlet. “It must have touched her,” she says. But the writings of a Polish nun did not interest Ortrud. Yet, in order to have Padre Pio: Our Spiritual Father Marian Helpers in Action By Marian Friedrichs An unexpected death. A thwarted wedding. A brother’s mental illness. The prospect of a hungry night on the street. And a kindly priest named Padre Pio. Marian Helpers Ortrud and Germain Bianchi from Somers, Connecticut, have an amazing family saga to tell. “Our lives revolve around how God can bring good out of suffering,” says Ortrud. 4 Marian Helper • Winter 2025-26 • Marian.org Ortrud and Germain Bianchi on their wedding day, Aug. 15, 1968, and visiting the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy this year on their 57th anniversary.
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