Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

When Padre Pio died on 23 September 1968, at the age of eighty-one, the stigmata that had marked his body for decades are reported to have vanished. About a hundred thousand people came to his funeral, and the veneration that followed made him one of the best-loved saints of the last century.

He was born Francesco Forgione on 25 May 1887 in Pietrelcina, in the province of Benevento, to Grazio and Giuseppa, poor farmers who were deeply devout. The family prayed the rosary together every evening. According to accounts of his life, from childhood he was visited by Jesus and Mary and saw angels and demons, but he assumed everyone did and spoke of it to no one. On 22 January 1903, at sixteen, he entered the Capuchins at Morcone and took the name Fra Pio da Pietrelcina. He was ordained a priest on 10 August 1910, and he longed to go as a missionary to distant lands.

His first years as a priest were clouded by poor health. He had a grave lung illness, and his superiors sent him back several times to his family home in Pietrelcina, where the climate suited him better. The doctors gave him little time to live. In 1916 he was moved to the friary of Santa Maria delle Grazie at San Giovanni Rotondo, in the Gargano, and he stayed there for more than fifty years. People came in great numbers to his confessional, where he is said to have spent fourteen to sixteen hours a day.

Throughout his life Padre Pio was known for reported supernatural phenomena, above all the stigmata, wounds like those of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet and side. The Vatican carried out several investigations, and church authorities limited his ministry for a time, including a ban on celebrating Mass in public that ended on 16 July 1933. Even so, his reputation for holiness kept growing. He gave spiritual direction, reconciled penitents and cared for the poor and the needy, and his work lives on in the Home for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital built near the friary.

Pope John Paul II beatified him on 2 May 1999 and canonized him on 16 June 2002. His relics rest in the sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina next to the friary, now a major place of pilgrimage.

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us.