Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, commonly known as Padre Pio

Posted by Jim on September 22, 2024

Saint Pius of Pietrelcina

Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, commonly known as Padre Pio, was a Franciscan friar who lived during the first half of the 20th century. He received the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion, and manifested other supernatural signs of holiness during his life.

Padre Pio was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, a small town in southern Italy, and baptized with the name Francesco. His parents were deeply religious—they led the family to daily Mass, prayed the rosary every night, and fasted from meat three times a week in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Although his parents couldn’t read, they memorized Scripture faithfully and told stories from the Bible to their children.

Francesco was immersed in a world of faith—he dedicated himself to Jesus at the age of 5 and reportedly related to Jesus, Mary, and his guardian angel as close friends. When he was 10, he met a Franciscan friar who was traveling the countryside asking for donations and he told his parents that he wanted to do the same with his life.

They took him to a nearby Franciscan community to see if the friars would accept him. The friars said that Francesco was suited for religious life, but needed more education than his sporadic attendance at the local public school had given him. His father traveled to New York several times to find better work in order to pay for a tutor for his son.

When he was fifteen, Francesco entered the community and adopted the name Pius—or Pio, in Italian—in honor of St. Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina. He began studying for the priesthood and was ordained in 1910.

In 1917, he was briefly drafted to serve in World War I but was discharged due to ill health. Throughout his life, Pio would continue to suffer from various illnesses.

Upon his arrival in the community, Pio reported seeing visions of Jesus, Mary, and angels. After offering Mass one day in 1918, Pio received a vision of Jesus. As the apparition ended, the wounds of the crucifixion appeared on Pio’s hands, feet, and side. The blood that seeped from these wounds smelled sweet and fragrant, like the perfume of flowers, and the wounds never became infected. Despite the examination of several doctors, the phenomena were medically inexplicable. The stigmata would remain on Pio’s body for the rest of his life.

Pio dreaded the attention the stigmata brought him, and he often wore bandages or mittens over his hands to cover up the wounds. Nevertheless, Christian faithful continually sought him out. Pio demonstrated other signs of great power and holiness—he was known to bilocate, that is, to be seen in two places simultaneously; he could read people’s hearts upon the first encounter, and his prayer was known to heal the sick. As a young archbishop in Poland, the future Pope John Paul II once wrote to Padre Pio to ask for his prayers for a woman with terminal throat cancer. Within weeks, the woman was fully healed.

These signs brought Pio an abundance of attention, and church officials struggled with managing the endless flow of pilgrims. The Vatican needed to be sure that the miracles surrounding Pio were authentic and wanted to reduce potentially dangerous publicity, so they forbade Padre Pio from offering Mass in public. They considered moving him to a different Franciscan community, but, upon hearing the news, the pious locals threatened to riot. Officials decided to let Pio remain where he was, as there were, regardless, few friaries available that were more remote than his.

By 1933, the officials made up their minds in his favor, and the Vatican began to promote Pio’s ministry. His day was filled with hearing confessions for more than twelve hours at a time. Pilgrims spent the night outside in line, waiting for the chance to confess to him and receive his advice. One of his famous mottos was, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”

Padre Pio received visitors in person and also corresponded with souls all over the world. After celebrating Mass and attending to correspondence, sometimes Pio only had a few hours to sleep every night. Around the time of World War II, Pio announced a plan to build a hospital near the Franciscan community, and his hospital was completed after the war.

In the 1960s, Padre Pio’s health began to deteriorate. On the fiftieth anniversary of receiving the stigmata, he fell ill and passed away a few days later, on this date in 1968. When his body was examined after death, the stigmata had disappeared.

Saint Pius of Pietrelcina—Padre Pio—you bore the wounds of Jesus’ crucifixion on your body—pray for us!