St. Pius of Pietrelcina, commonly known as Padre Pio, was born on May 25, 1887, in the small southern Italian town of Pietrelcina. His parents, Grazio and Maria Giuseppa Forgione, were devout Catholics and poor peasant farmers. He was baptized the day after his birth at St. Ana’s Chapel and given the name Francesco, named after San Francesco, St. Francis of Assisi.
Francesco entered the Capuchin Franciscan Friars at the age of fifteen, was invested with the Capuchin habit on January 22, 1903, and chose the name Pius or Pio in honor of St. Pius II, the patron saint of Pietrelcina. He imposed severe fasts on himself, lost weight, compromised his immune system, and eventually became seriously ill with tuberculosis or bronchial pneumonia as well as raging fevers. He left the friary and returned to his family because they were better able to care for him. Once recovered, he returned to the community, moved to San Giovanni Rotondo and studied philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest on August 10, 1910.
Less than a month after his ordination, on September 7, 1910, while at prayer in his family’s farmhouse in Piana Romana, Padre Pio received the invisible stigmata, the five wounds of the crucified Jesus. Eight years later, on September 20, 1918, while at prayer in the Friary Chapel at San Giovanni Rotondo, he had a mystical encounter with Jesus and received the visible stigmata, wounds that he carried on his hands, feet, and side for the next fifty years, and he did so with great humility covering his hands with gloves and his feet with stockings.
Padre Pio was highly regarded for his personal holiness and spiritual wisdom, and as a result throngs approached him for advice and encouragement. He also had a tremendous reputation as a kindly confessor. Many days he spent up to twelve hours in the confessional, and some years he reportedly heard as many as twenty-five thousand confessions. Not only did he give wise counsel, he was able to see into the penitent’s heart and determine if the person was unaware of or in denial about a sin, and able to help the person to both name and turn away from the sin.
As the steady string of pilgrims and the size of the crowds grew, so did his troubles. Members of his own Capuchin community and Vatican officials were increasingly jealous and skeptical, alleged that his stigmata was a fraud, and maintained that he was promoting himself. Padre Pio was placed under investigation more than ten times, his priestly faculties were suspended, and he was forbidden to say Mass or hear confessions. It was a cross of untold suffering for him to be doubted, ridiculed, and rejected, and for long periods he retreated into isolation. Dark as those days were, he never lost faith, kept his sense of humor, and remained steadfast in prayer, especially before the Eucharist. He often said, “I only want to be a poor friar who prays.” It took until 1968 before Pope Paul VI granted the official approval of the Church.
Padre Pio’s dream was to establish a hospital that would provide compassionate care for the poor, and it was realized with the establishment of La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, the Home for the Relief of Suffering, a one thousand bed hospital. It was dedicated in 1956 and it continues its mission today in conjunction with an international bioscience research facility.
Padre Pio died September 23, 1968 at the age of 81, was beatified in 1999 in the presence of 250,000 people, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002. St. Pius of Pietrelcina is the patron saint of civil defense volunteers and Catholic adolescents.
