Testing the Spirit

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After spending twenty-two weeks with Father Gino at the time of the Church investigation, this is the results of my investigation, an investigation that spans ten years.  I was there in San Vittorino and in Mondo Migliore, Rocca De Papa, Italy, when the investigations by the Church were taking place regarding charges against him by the seminarians and women postulants.

My first experience with Father Gino goes way back to when he was Brother Gino. I received a pamphlet telling his story. It claimed that he had acquired the stigmata on the day Padre Pio died. He was reported to be very humble. He did not want to be a priest, did not like to talk to people, and simply prayed all the time.

He lived in Italy and belonged to one of the finest orders of priests and brothers in the world today, The Oblates of the Virgin Mary--OMV. The brochure told of miracles: multiplication of rosaries, cures, etc.

Over the years I kept track of this man and believed in him. The biggest reason for believing is that one of our favorite priests in the world was the writer of his story.   Many years ago I spent four days with this writer, Father Robert Fox. I listened to all his stories about the then (Brother) Gino. I read Father Fox’s book and other pamphlets on Brother Gino. There was only one problem. His stigmata was in the wrists.

Many of us owe to Padre Pio the fact that we are and have stayed Catholic. I have studied the stigmata of over 300 stigmatists. I have in our office a life-size picture of the Shroud of Turin. I studied all the books of the Shroud. It is from the scientific evidence of the Shroud and the 360 stigmatists throughout history that made me dubious, to say the least, about Gino.

First of all, I studied all the doctors’ reports about the Shroud of Turin. We know that it was the common practice of Romans to nail in the wrists. We know that the Shroud has a large blood-clot on the wrist. We also read that it was the doctors’ conclusion that Christ was nailed in the wrists.

But we also know the Scriptures. In the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin languages there are distinct words for wrist and hand, and yet John 20:27 and Psalm 21:17 reads "hands". In the Greek the word hand includes wrist. But if you go back to the Old Testament in Hebrew, the word is always "hand". You must also be impressed by the fact that all the 360 stigmatists in history, not only had the stigmata in the hands but also had them in the same way, not round but three edged.

We are also aware of many false stigmatists, like Magdalen of the Cross in the 16th Century, who not only fooled the hundreds of priests and nuns she lived with, but fooled her own bishop. Only exorcism saved her soul at the last year of her life.

Pope Benedict XIV's criteria of discernment regarding the stigmata also becomes interesting when you consider that 360 stigmatists have been approved by the Church using this criteria:

1) "The stigmata are localized in the very spots where Our Lord received the five wounds...

2) Generally, the wounds bleed afresh and the pains recur on the days or during the seasons which recall the Savior's Passion ...

3) The wounds do not become infected, and the blood which flows from them is pure, while the slightest natural lesion in some other part of the body develops pus ... etc."

Yes, the Shroud of Turin shows large blood-clots on the wrist, but listen to the words of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Book 4, Pages 271-274:

EMMERICH

Remember, God does not contradict Himself, and His true seers will not contradict each other. Now, let us read the same account by the visions of Therese Neumann, Pages 171-178. See References:

Now let us look at the Shroud of Turin keeping in mind that both seers saw the cross-beams up in the shape of a "Y", the hands tied at the wrists, and nailed in the hands. Also keep in mind the way the blood flowed on Neumann's hands [from the palm to the wrist].

THE SHROUD

The shroud shows a small blood clot on the back of the palm of the hand, then a line of blood to the wrist and a large blood clot on the wrist. Not only that, but there is a long blood clot down the arm. This blood is straight on one side and jagged on the other.

In 1982 I started doubting Gino. We studied Emmerich, Neumann and the Shroud. I made crucifixes in clay, in wood, and even put live people on a cross to see if what the mystics said could be true. Then I knew.

IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR OUR LORD TO HAVE BEEN NAILED IN THE WRISTS.

If the cross-beams were straight as most crucifixes show, and He was nailed in the wrists, the blood would flow from the wrist down--not towards the hand. If, however, He was nailed in the hand and tied at the wrist with the cross-beams up, the blood would flow from the hand to the rope at the wrist and coagulate there.

Then there is the problem of the stain on the arm. The only way that blood stain could have occurred is if His arm was tied tightly to the beam. Then the blood would flow down the arm in the shape of a "V" between the arm and the beam. It would be straight on one side [the side where the arm and beam come together] and irregular on the other.

If, however, his hands and arms were on the top of the side beams and tied only at the wrists, it could easily hold all His weight and account for the arm blood stain. True science must take into account all observable facts. The blood stain in the hand and the "V" stain on the arm leave no other conclusion.

Before we go on we must establish that the Holy Shroud of Turin is really the cloth that was wrapped around Christ at His death. You may remember that it was dated using the Carbon 14 dating method and was found to be only 500 years old. Even the Vatican said that if the Carbon 14 method was correct, it is not the Shroud of Christ. Here are the facts compiled from the investigation of "The Catholic Counter-Reformation of the Twentieth Century", and published in April 1991.

SHROUD INVESTIGATION

In 1981, "the Shroud of Turin Research Project" published in detail their main conclusions. Not the least trace of paint had been detected on the Shroud, but instead the cloth had been stained with real human blood from a real human body which had suffered all the torments of Christ's Passion. The markings composing the image had been scorched onto the cloth in an instant of most intense heat from a body which was, temporarily at least, weightless!

On the basis of the 48 classes of pollen tested on the Shroud, the team affirmed that the linen cloth dated back to Palestine 2,000 years ago.

The team of "the Shroud of Turin Research Project" had taken the first steps (in 1979) towards gaining authorization for a radiocarbon dating of the Holy Shroud. On the 18^th of March 1983, the Shroud's owner, Umberto II, the exiled King of Italy, died, bequeathing the Shroud to the Holy See. Pope John Paul II appointed the Archbishop of Turin as the Shroud's Pontifical Custodian.

No doubt that the Shroud of Turin Research Project’s findings made the same reaction with anti-Christian scientists that the finding of Noah’s Ark did. They determined that, at any cost, the findings must be discredited. But how? They needed a fraud like the "Piltdown Man". It was decided that this would best be done by giving it radiocarbon dating, but not by the same research team. With an "authoritative" dating, the Shroud could be changed overnight into just another scandal. The task then was to get control of that project away from the research team, to get the desired result.

In July 1982 the Trustees of the British Museum placed Dr. Michael Tite, Director of the Museum's Research Laboratory, in charge of their campaign to "get" the Shroud. They convinced the Vatican that they and they alone would do the dating, leaving the Research team out in the cold. Even the Vatican Scientific team was not allowed in the project. How they convinced the Vatican of this is another story involving a Cardinal.

Dr. Tite then went about looking for a piece of cloth from the 14^th century to be used in the fraud. With the help of Dr. Evin, they pulled some tufts out of a cape worn by St. Louis.

Meanwhile Dr. Tite had acquired from the Victoria and Albert Museum a 10 mm. by 70 mm. strip of 14th century cloth which he had cut into three equal pieces. These he placed in each "Sample 3" cylinder - to be switched later with each "Sample 1" cylinder containing the Shroud piece. ("Sample 3" was nominally from the mummy of an Egyptian child buried during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (r. 117 to 138 A D)

At Turin on 21 April Dr. Tite ordered a strip the same size as the fraud to be cut from the Shroud. But the cutter, Giovanni Riggi, cut a strip which he then cut into two pieces. The smaller piece was kept as a "reserve" by Riggi while the larger was cut into four pieces. (It was this piece kept by Riggi that proved the fraud.)

"Cleopatra's mummy" (in fact the Shroud) was dated by the three laboratories, at 9 B C to 78 A D. The forged piece, (now called the Shroud) dated between 1300 and 1400 A D.

On 13 October 1988 Cardinal Ballestrero announced that the Shroud had been shown by radiocarbon dating to be a forgery.

(Note: We firmly believed in the Shroud of Turin from the beginning. When we heard that they were going to carbon-14 date the Shroud, we expected it to work, since carbon-14 dating does work up to 5000 years. After that it cannot work, since it assumes that the ozone, oxygen, heat, and ice are the same today as they were the same 5000 plus years ago. But that is another story.)

Condensed from the writings of D. J. McDonnell.

Anyway, with overwhelming evidence that the visions of Therese Neumann and Catherine Emmerich were true, and with the Shroud of Turin, we concluded that there was something wrong with Gino. I flew to Fatima, then to Lourdes, then to Rome, and finally to San Vittorino, Italy.

On the way to San Vittorino on a bus, I met two young girls. One was going to San Vittorino to become one of Father Gino's newly formed "Sisters of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary of Fatima". The other was a friend riding with her. I told them I was were going to Vittorino to investigate Gino and to write about him.

"Actually," I said, "I do not investigate miracles of God, but miracles of Satan."

When I said that, the two girls got a frightened look on their faces. They moved away from me and would not talk anymore. They were truly frightened.

I spent four days with Father Gino at San Vittorino. I attended his Masses, went to the audiences he gave after the Masses, talked to his supporters, watched the postulate nuns and seminarians, walked around the town.

I saw Gino (who is a very tall man with cut-off gloves on his hands to cover his stigmata) get violently mad at some old lady who wanted his prayers. In the book store I watched the novice nuns. They were putting away books and praying the Rosary out loud as they did so. They never smiled. They never looked at the visitors. The "Mother Master" watched the nuns very carefully to make sure they never looked my way. I compared them to Mother Teresa's Daughters of Charity, who are always smiling or laughing. These nuns were afraid of the superior and of themselves.

An old lay-woman helped me and sold me some statues of Our Lady of Fatima and a picture of the statue in the church showing how it had moved its head upward. I left them with her so that Father Gino could bless them.

Outside the grounds of San Vittorino was an old building about to fall apart. Inside it was an orphanage with only one beautiful nun. The poverty was enormous, but the nun was always smiling and working. Inside San Vittorino was a lot of wealth but no joy. Why was Gino and those nuns in there not helping these children? Somehow I knew that this nun and this orphanage was of God. But inside the Shrine of San Vittorino, it was not.

I could not prove it. It was only a feeling. But we knew. I wrote down my ideas and put them away, but could not publish a feeling. I needed proof. Four years later, I would get it.

I got a call from Canada. A lady had read one of our books and wanted to know what we thought about Gino. We told her that we were not free to say anything, since we had no proof. She said she only wanted our feelings about him. We told her that we felt that he was not of God.

"I think you are wise people." she said. "My son is a seminarian there. He just came home. He is not going back. He has never thought Gino was anything special. Would you like to talk to him?"

We did. Through him we met another seminarian who became a close friend. The Canadian family began to write to us every week We received more information from another part of the United States. There was a major problem.

Just before Christmas of 1988 we flew to Rome. We arrived at St. Helen's in Rome just as the American seminarians were packing up everything they had.

The American seminarians were being moved to Mondo Migliore in Rocca De Papa. The Italians were being moved to St. Helen's. San Vittorino was closed down. We stayed with the seminarians for TEN DAYS.

In 1989 we went back to Mondo Migliore and stayed TEN WEEKS with the seminarians and their superiors. We ate with them. We slept with them. We prayed with them. We can say without any doubt that we know them.

Now we had all the proof we needed. This was one of the biggest stories in Church history. Not only that, it was the perfect example of how a false mystic could fool even those who are good priests and nuns, even those living with them.

Gino, first of all and most important, does not have a STIGMATA. He has birthmarks all over his body. He has two birthmarks on the back side of his wrists -- nothing in the palms. Never have these birth-marks opened. Never have they bled. Never has anyone seen anything unusual. Several of the seminarians have watched him during his so-called Holy Friday passion. All they can say about it is that it was poor play-acting.

One priest, who lived with Gino for four years and witnessed the so-called passion of Gino, saw the gloves removed one time. There were scars. However, they looked as though they were made with a razor blade to draw blood and then allowed to dry. Another priest said that he noticed that the scars were not in the same place from one year to the next.

The Oblates have three formation houses in Rome. One is in the City at St. Helen's. Another is Mondo Migliore, at Rocca De Papa. The one at Rocca De Papa is large and was purchased in 1980 for a retreat house. The third house is San Vittorino. In 1960 Gino found this property. He received private donations, permission from his superiors, and he started construction.

In 1971 four Americans went to Rome looking for a good seminary. It is not unknown that one can lose his faith in an American seminary. These boys ran into Gino because of a car accident. He suggested the Oblates. From them the word spread and in 1972 fifty to sixty American and Canadian boys went to Rome to join the Oblates. In those first years all the seminarians were from America and Canada.

Right from the beginning, however, the Americans were not fooled by Gino. Italian boys came into the order. Gino could communicate better with them.

In those years Gino was not a priest. He was a brother. Somehow he became a priest without ever going to school. It is claimed that he had a private instructor. Whatever! He is now a priest, but was never ordained by his own bishop.

The reputation of the Oblates spread to the young girls in America. Gino wanted to start an order of nuns. He received permission from the local bishop (not his bishop) for a religious order of nuns. Anyone who knows about these things will find that a bit unusual. It is (the nuns) the only locally controlled "religious" order in the world. It is not a diocesan order.

Gino started this order of nuns and controlled their entire formation himself. He directed everything with an iron hand, even though he was not [and is not] the superior of anyone.

Millions of dollars poured into the center. People from all over the world visited it as another Marian Shrine. Miracles were often claimed. We interviewed over 50 boys who lived with him from four to eight years. Not one ever saw a miracle.

We asked about the odor of perfume, since we had smelled it ourselves from a cloth of Gino in the United States. They told us that there was this odor often; however, [as one priest told us] they found bottles of perfume in his room. They also noticed that statues that had this odor would become sticky after the odor went away.

His supporters have made a big thing out of the paintings Gino is supposed to have painted. They told us that he would go to his room at night, come out the next day with a complete painting finished. There was no paint on him, no paint brushes seen, and no one has ever seen him paint them. These paintings are all over the place. We have copies of sixteen of them. We were asked what we thought of the paintings.

"The nicest thing we can say is that he is a very poor artist. The worst thing we can say is that they look Diabolical."

The kids who asked us the question agreed. Anyone who looks at them would have to agree. But until the end it had not dawned on them. Gino is very charismatic. Most of the investigators believe that an old woman friend of Gino did the paintings. She died in 1988. There have been no paintings since. One priest told us that Gino could paint but the style he painted in was totally different. They also saw packages in his room that looked like they could contain paintings.

For years the superiors suspected something wrong, but Gino was too clever. He had bishops eating out of his hand. The Arch-Bishop of the Sacred Congregation for Religious at the Vatican, Vincent Figiolo, was going to him for confession.

Although, not in his name, Gino controlled the money. There were more new postulates than ever before. There was more money. Because of this, his superiors overlooked a great deal of problems. It was not entirely their fault. But without direct proof, they bowed to the evidence of the so-called fruits of his followers: more new postulates, more money, more confessions, more prayers, more visitors, more everything.

From the 1960s testimonials with very compelling evidence of sexual misconduct were sent to the Vatican. These documents were buried in the archives by Gino supporters. Civil cases regarding money were documented. In 1972 a new case regarding homosexual conduct was sent to the superiors.

But it was not until 1989 that these testimonials finally came to light. In 1988 two seminarians came forward and testified about homosexual conduct on behalf of Gino. They signed testimonials and had them witnessed. The superior of the community was informed. They decided to just watch and listen.

Later in 1988 [about April] three more boys came forward and testified to homosexual conduct by Gino. They also signed the statements. All these were taken to the Superior General. A Council was called. The information was evaluated. The boys were questioned. Within a week four more seminarians came forward to testify. They signed statements. In America other cases from years before came to light.

Unsolicited cases regarding sexual misconduct of the nuns arrived in Rome from ex-nuns in America. Stories of mental and verbal coercion were told. Many cases of Gino violating the sanctity of the confessional were documented. Ex-nuns were being treated by Psychiatrists. They were being deprogrammed by cult experts.

An Apostolic Visitor from the Vatican was assigned to the house. All the documents were sent to the Vatican.

When Gino's superiors finally decided to act, they had to be very careful. They could not make any mistakes. Gino had supporters even in the Vatican. He was, and he knew it, more powerful than his own superiors. He was the reason for the growth of the community.

They were very patient and meticulous in gathering information about him. They assembled the testimonials about homosexual activity and the unsolicited documents from ex-nuns about sexual and mental abuse. They documented misappropriated funds and violations of the confessional.

On June 6th of 1988 they censored Gino and ordered him to leave until everything could be investigated. He was sent to the Lorredo house in Austria. Postulants and nuns were not permitted to see him.

Father Gino pretended to be obedient but made calls to the Italian seminarians and the nuns. He asked for them to help him secretly. They did. Because of an illness he was sent to the summer camp of the Oblates near Florence. He continued communications with the Italians and the nuns by phone against orders.

The Oblate Sisters were so well controlled by Gino, they were blind to the evidence. The Italian seminarians were in his control. Everything began falling apart. Verbal fights between seminarians and superiors became common.

The Italian seminarians wire-tapped the superior’s phone. Other superiors were called and given death threats. Intimidations were written on the walls of the superiors’ rooms. Even the nuns called the superiors to express their hatred in very UNCHRISTIAN language. One nun said:

Rumors spread that Gino was going to return to San Vittorino, and 50 buses were chartered to handle the crowds of people who wanted to go [just from around Rome]. They were canceled. It is claimed by some of the seminarians that Gino [with the help of the nuns] took $10,000,000 out of San Vittorino and placed it into a private account before he left.

We arrived at St. Helen's late at night the week before Christmas [1989]. Everyone was packing their belongings. Italians were moving into rooms and Americans were moving out. The order was being divided into two factions to keep the peace. The followers of Gino were moved to St. Helen's. Those who obeyed the superiors were moved to Mondo Migliore. San Vittorino was closed. We stayed that night at St. Helen's and moved the next day with the Americans to Mondo Migliore. We went back to St. Helen's Christmas night for the midnight Mass. We gathered up documents and talked to the superiors, the Italians, the Americans and to a Cardinal.

Eventually those who did not follow Gino were sent to Boston to protect their vocation. During the peak of the problems an Oblate seminarian, Joe Dwight, [now a priest in Rome] wrote regarding Gino followers:

Joe Dwight was in his last year for his License on "Cults and New Religious Movements". But now, he is not even an Oblate. The Oblates wanted to keep everything quiet in order to not stop new postulates, but they were afraid that Joe would not be silent. He was removed. He eventually became a priest in another order.

Many attribute these things to fraud and the charismatic qualities of Gino. We do not. He has too much hypnotic control over the nuns and some of the boys. He has power. Some of those we talked with told of his ability to know hidden secrets about people that could not have been known by anyone. This cannot be fraud. Where did he get this power? We don’t yet know, but we do know why. If you want to go to San Giovanni Rotondo and see the home of Padre Pio, you must go to Rome and take a train south. If you decide to see Gino, you must go to Rome and take a bus north. If you go to San Vittorino, you will never get to San Giovanni. For many years there were tours of Fatima, Lourdes, and San Giovanni. Then these tours became Fatima, Lourdes, and San Vittorino. Get the point?

The Oblate Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Fatima are more under his control than the boys, but the cult control methods are the same.

Gino [in order to have absolute control] uses a variety of abusive behaviors towards the sisters. He insists on extremely rigorous discipline, and exhibits behaviors otherwise cult-like in their manifestation.

Many of the postulant nuns were received into the order with NO SCREENING at all, having only corresponded with Fr. Gino, who told them to come, that it was God's will that they come.

Once there, they lived in crowded conditions, in apartments at first, until the house for the postulants was ready. They rose early, prayed the liturgy of the Hours, Rosary, and some reading, sewing, and an hour walk everyday, though the rest of the time they were not allowed out of the apartment. Silence was maintained during two periods of the day. All talk was to be about spiritual things.

When the programming began in earnest, the basic idea was to understand and live the spirit of the order, and especially of the founder, Fr. Gino. No other spiritual reading was allowed except what Gino wrote.

Gino was explicitly referred to as "THE PROPHET SENT BY GOD IN THE PRESENT AGE." According to the myths of the group, at earlier times, e.g. the Old Testament, there was a string of prophets up to and including John the Baptist, and then a string of Saints up to the present, speaking for God, and in this present age, it is Gino.

Postulants were told to give up all old interests no matter how talented they might be in these things. But more significantly was the mind style that the group adopted. The phrase

"DON'T THINK, the Devil can use that" was emphasized in the extreme. In order to keep not thinking, the rosary was to be constantly recited in one's mind to avoid the temptations, e.g. to leave, TO QUESTION AUTHORITY. Fr. Gino's talks were taped and constantly re-played. There were daily talks on the spirit of the order, one for an hour just before lunch, another for three hours in the late afternoon.

Some of the nuns testified that their experience of not thinking was so total that THEY FORGOT THEIR OWN NAMES AND THE NAMES OF FAMILY MEMBERS. Glowing letters were sent home to their families, which were according to the format approved by the superiors. All mail was opened by the superiors. SOME LETTERS WERE NEVER DELIVERED.

No one was allowed to keep any thought or feeling "private". Rather, they had to disclose all to their superior. So the superiors had complete and intimate knowledge of every thought and feeling of each of their charges. And the people above them, the "Mother Master", the Mother General, and Fr. Gino, all knew or had access to the details of these personal disclosures. Among the superiors and Gino nothing was confidential, not even confession.

Once in the Novitiate, the sisters were given THE RULE, which was to be kept SECRET. THE SECRET was from the postulants, from their families, from other "seculars", and especially from PRIESTS AND BISHOPS, who were ignorant of many of the dynamics of the group. The rule was a list of things for which permission was to be obtained. The list was comprehensive. No one was to show initiative, as that would admit of disobedience. Therefore, permission was needed in all things.

In one extreme case, a fire was burning on an adjacent property and coming toward the convent. One sister went to the Mother General, waited obediently for her to finish a conversation, and said,

"M.G. there is a fire outside the window. What should we do?"

M.G. called the fire department. Now do you understand the followers of Jim Jones?

Fr. Gino, holding such a high place in the economy of salvation, had special favors. There is a special cupboard for food for him, he had a special coffee service, silver tray, etc. He lived very comfortably. He had a van for his personal use, WHICH HIS OWN SUPERIORS DID NOT KNOW ABOUT, as it was kept on the sisters’ property. He had thousands of dollars [kept for him by the sisters] and AGAIN WITHOUT GINO'S SUPERIOR'S CONSENT. He often went on "missions", which were, in fact, vacations, the real purposes of them being UNKNOWN TO HIS SUPERIORS.

When money was given to the sisters for various specified charitable purposes, it was generally put together with the money for Fr. Gino's use. Money brought and held for the postulants was used indiscriminately for various purposes of the community.

One postulant, who decided to leave the group, WAS THREATENED WITH THE SURGICAL REMOVAL OF HER UTERUS. She was also worried about her sister, who had become a postulant also and was starting to "become like me". She secretly used the phone to call and arrange for her trip home.

Anyone who left was considered evil. They may be wonderful one day, but they were not allowed to leave even for a good reason. Even the bishop is led to believe that everyone who ever left had a sick relative, illness, or whatever.

There are documents from at least eight ex-nuns. Some of these girls complain that they have quit having feelings, that they suffer from periods of "spacing out", that they can't tell their families about any of the things they experienced. Some are plagued by an inability to make decisions, adapting a strategy of doing whatever seems to be what the person with them wants or accepts, unable to think for themselves.

One of the girls said that she used to be very affectionate, but that she cannot touch people at all, not even shaking hands.

The "Mother Master" of Gino's order of nuns administered special cups of chamomile tea, but her recipes included adding several drops of LIQUID VALIUM.

This was given to sisters who were particularly stressed out, most especially THOSE WHO WERE CONSIDERING LEAVING. The Mother Master's brother was a physician and gave her whatever medicines she wanted.

Touching was avoided [not so much as a sexual prohibition] but rather as a device that the group used to keep emotional communication severed, so that Oblates would be emotionally dependent on the controlling people. Mother Master was allowed to touch others, as superior to them. Higher-ups on the same level weren't allowed to touch each other. However, Gino was allowed to touch as you will soon see.

Gino's power of auto-suggestion over the girls was so complete that he bragged about it. Once, with the help of one of the seminarians, he called the Mother General on the telephone to tell her that there was a MIRACLE HAPPENING OUTSIDE WITH THE SUN [like at Fatima] and she should go out and see it. She called all the sisters out to the portico in the back, where they could be seen by Gino and the seminarians. The sisters all "SAW THE SUN MOVING AROUND, THE STARS TOO, A GREAT MIRACLE, ETC. THE SISTERS WERE WORKED INTO A REAL FERVOR OF SWOONING AND SAYING, ‘O LORD! I AM NOT WORTHY OF SEEING THIS GREAT MIRACLE, ETC., ALL BELIEVING IT."

Later, Gino called them up and told them that it was all a joke, and they all accepted it, without question.  But what he did not know is that they actually did see what he said to see as a joke.

The manipulation used on postulants was mostly guilt. People would be made to feel really guilty for disobeying the rules. The rationale went from how bad an example it would be, to raising questions about their eternal salvation.

If they sat and rested when exhausted making beds in the 350-room hostel, they were guilty. To rest at all, they had to lock the doors so that no one would come in and find them.

The "rules" were so constricting as to limit virtually every movement and constrict communication to the point that the superiors knew virtually everything going on. For example, if a sister wanted to borrow a pencil from another, she had to ask her Mother Master. If permission was granted, she would go to the sister, who would then have to go to the Mother Master to ask permission to give the pencil. Permission to go to the bathroom was sometimes denied as a form of discipline. If they needed to go at night, they could but had to tell the Mother Master in the morning.

Fr. Gino taught the nuns that "marriage was a piece of flesh", and that "you can't trust anyone, only God".

Letters received by members which the superiors deemed "upsetting" to the member were withheld from them and destroyed. [Harm to the vocation!]

The idea of vocation was not what a girl or boy wanted, but what God demanded. Gino was the voice of God and he, and only he, knew what God demanded.

The community had a SONG. Among the themes in this song is how:

FR. GINO IS THE ONE TRUE LIGHT, THE GROUP IS THE BEST, THE GROUP WILL SAVE ITALY FROM COMMUNISM, ETC.

Gino would suffer the three hours of Good Friday, and novices [women] and seminarians were "privileged" to watch him feel the torture. He would sometimes toss and turn, other times he would be still, sleeping. Each year he would select one privileged seminarian as his assistant to give his injections of ??"vitamin supplements"??

The girls were sometimes humiliated before the group for how they held a broom, how they cleaned their shoes, how they spoke Italian.

In the Oblates, all the letters received were read aloud in the community recreation periods. The letters and the people who sent them were criticized. The postulants were criticized for causing the people to write such letters.

Fr. Gino told the sisters that he had a vision of BVM [Our Lady of Sorrows] at the age of five. Gino had a book of his life in the possession of the sisters in the community, who were instructed to keep it hidden. He gave lectures to the sisters [taped] and sometimes told the sisters to turn off the recorders so that he could tell them things that are not to be heard by anyone except the sisters.

Gino clamed to have an annual apparition of the BVM on May 13th each year. He claims that: THE VIRGIN MARY TELLS HIM THINGS ABOUT FORMER SISTERS WHO HAVE LEFT THE ORDER.

Gino said that at a young age he was beaten by his communist aunt and uncle with whom he was staying at the time, causing one arm to be shorter than the other. In fact, he fell off a tractor causing that injury. The ex-nuns said that GINO TOLD ALL KINDS OF LIES ABOUT HIMSELF OVER THE YEARS.

One postulant nun took only a small serving of pasta, feeling sick to her stomach. Sr. Jacenta [who many say is the power behind Gino in the order] then loaded her plate full of the pasta, and insisted she eat it. The girl said she would likely vomit if she did. Sr. Jacenta told her that if she did, it was because she was deliberately disobedient. So she ate and then had to throw up. Sr. Jacenta berated her in front of the community for her disobedience, and as a punishment, brought her a breaded piece of veal, and insisted she eat it. She tried to eat it, but couldn't chew it, feeling so sick. Sr. Jacenta insisted that she take more in. She did, but still couldn't chew it. Then Sr. Jacenta used the fork, forcing it into her mouth. Finally, she had to vomit again. She reported that she still cannot eat any red meat to this day.

The "mystical manipulation" of both orders [girls and boys] was: to not think at all, to let the superiors do all the thinking, to not have a corporeal feeling of any kind, to not feel good about anything except the order. A typical cult technique.

THE SEXUAL RELATIONS

The way Gino would have sexual relations [whether with the boys or the girls] is interesting and typical of all cult leaders. If he heard [even in a confession] that someone had a temptation to sex [not a sin], he would call them to his room for a cure. He or she was told that God had given Gino the right and the power to rid one of these temptations. He would then undress them [boy or girl -- it did not matter to him]. He would then put his hands all over their bodies. [We will not go into the details that we have heard.] He was so charismatic and so intimidating, that some actually believed that God gave him this liberty. Others were too frightened to speak out. Some left the order but would not say a word for fear their families might hear about it. Some liked it. There are cases spanning twenty years.

One thing we would like to add. We believe that Gino actually believes himself to be a messenger of God and Mary.

8,000,000 BELIEVERS

We have spent a lot of time on Father Gino, but we know a great deal more about him. He is a great example of false mystics and the harm they can do. What concerns us the most is that throughout the world there are over 8,000,000 people who believe him to be a prophet. Not only that, but even when they read this, they will not change. They could write to Cardinal Ratzinger for the truth, but they will not. We will become the enemy of God and His Prophet.

We told a very holy nun about the homosexual documents, the sex with the nuns, the money, the disobedience, and the faked stigmata. She said, "Maybe people are making this all up because they are jealous of him?" Sick! Sick! Sick! Please, Catholics, put your faith in the Church and not in mystics. Let the Church test the mystics for you. You are not prepared to do battle with Satan.