I had written an article on Saints with Sass, particularly against Satan, awhile back and decided to write a “spiritual successor” to it. In the events I mentioned in “Saintly Sass” post, I talked about how the Devil was utterly humiliated by snarky comments, from Saints, directed at him.
In this article, I want to talk about times when the Devil flat out admitted to Saints how much trouble they were giving him. I hope this article inspires all to strive to be saints they are destined to be. Saints so great that when people call upon your intercession, Satan whimpers, “No… Anyone but that person.”
St. Padre Pio
When a person thinks of St. Padre Pio, a lot of different attributes of him come to mind. The various healing miracles he performed, the hours he spent in his confessionals, the fact St. Padre Pio could read your soul, but especially when demons tirelessly attacked him.
St. Padre Pio
Satan first appeared to him as a big Hellhound with a smoke filled mouth uttering the words, “him it is, it is him!” The reason for this is because the Evil One was so frustrated with how many souls he was losing to God through Padre Pio, especially in the confessionals. Satan was immensely desperate to stop Padre Pio that he appeared to the Saint in many frightening forms and even as apparitions of Jesus, Mary, and his guardian angel to try and trick him.
Satan tried so hard but, in the end, he and his demons failed to have Padre Pio quit his ministry and were so frustrated they screamed, “Padre Pio, you give us more trouble than St. Michael!” This statement, coming from Satan none the less, means you are probably doing something right with your life.
“It does not bother me when Satan is active, what concerns me is when he is at peace.” –St. Padre Pio
St. John Vianney
Similar to St. Padre Pio, St. John Vianney could read souls and would spend hours in the confessional. He was bringing many souls back to God and obviously the Devil was not happy about this.
St. John Vianney
St. John Vianney would be tormented nightly with attacks from Satan and his demons. They would cause him to be exhausted throughout the day with the lack of sleep he was getting. Satan’s goal was to try to have St. John Vianney quit his ministry so he could no longer save people through the confessionals. One night, Satan was so desperate that he even caught St. John Vianney’s bed on fire!
The devil apparently felt threatened by this Saint of God so much, he exclaimed to St. John Vianney, “If there were three priests like you, my entire kingdom would be ruined!” It is unfortunate that St. John Vianney could not tri-locate because Satan would’ve then cried in fear.
“We must take great care never to do anything before having said our morning prayers…The Devil once declared that if he could have the first moment of the day, he was sure of all the rest.” –St. John Vianney
Pope St. John Paul II
Though St. John Paul II did not have any recorded physical manifestations of the demonic attacking him, that does not mean he was not a significant threat to the Devil. St. John Paul II was even prophesized to come in St. Faustina’s Dairy in paragraph 1732 when Jesus says,
“I bear a special love for Poland, and if she is obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.”
St. John Paul II
St. John Paul II spent his papacy fighting communism, which caused many Christian martyrs, restoring the truth of our sexuality, which was forgotten due to the sexual revolution, and exclaiming the importance of devotion to Mary, the message of Fatima. A lot of great and holy feats are attributed to this man, and he has positively impacted the world and is truly hated by demons.
The chief exorcist of Rome recently released that he had been calling upon the intercession of St. John Paul II, and it has worked very effectively in casting out demons.
When the exorcist asked why the demons hated the Saint so much, they responded with two answers: “He ruined our plans,” which is most likely referring to his role in the fall of communism, and “he stole so many youths from our hands,” which shows just how much Satan and his minions desire to go after the young people.
“The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the devil is still alive and active in the world.” -St. John Paul II
The point of these stories is not to only do good just to anger Satan. Truth be told, these Saints could not care less what the Devil thought about them because they were too caught up in loving God and bringing souls to Heaven with them. The Devil tried to get in the way and only seemed like a spoiled child having a temper tantrum to these great Saints.
Continue to strive to reach Heaven and become the Saint you are called to be! I will tell you a little secret, however, on what scares the Devil the most based on what these three Saints have in common: He hates it when you don’t give up hope on pursuing God, but he feels gravely threatened when you don’t give up hope on guiding others toward God.
“You can pray for yourself, but if you pray for others, I will make you pay dearly for it” -Satan to St. Gemma Galgani
