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VINELAND -- Two city churches now bear the name of a recently canonized Italian
monk who has captured the devotion of the region.
Our Lady of Pompeii Church and St. Mary's Church are officially joined as St.
Padre Pio Parish, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio announced.
The new parish also includes St. Joseph Mission in Richland.
The churches, which have more than 1,100 parishioners combined, will retain their names in part. For example, one is called St. Padre Pio Parish, Our Lady of Pompeii Campus.
Each will remain open for daily and weekend Mass. But the parish councils will merge immediately.
"The two churches were unified because of growth in the area," said the Rev. Peter Saporito, pastor at Our Lady of Pompeii who now assumes responsibility as pastor of St. Padre Pio Parish. "There's more we can do for the community as a larger parish."
The two churches, about 1.8 miles apart, already combined their senior and youth clubs. They also both send students to St. Mary's Regional School.
That made the merger logical.
The choice of name is logical, too.
Padre Pio is honored at a shrine that sits on 10 acres of farmland in Landisville.
Local residents have heard of Padre Pio's miraculous healing powers.
He's credited with curing an 8-year-old Italian boy with meningitis who awoke from a 12-day coma after seeing Padre Pio in a dream.
He's also credited with curing a Pennsylvania girl suffering from congenital defects in her kidney and bladder.
Local residents often pray at the shrine for those same powers.
"The devotion to him is very high down here," Saporito said. "He was a good Italian man and we're a good Italian community."