For the 2022 film, see Padre Pio (film).
Quick facts for kids SaintPio of Pietrelcina OFMCap | |
|---|---|
Official portrait ikon of Padre Pio, c. 1947 | |
| Born | Francesco Forgione (1887-05-25)25 May 1887 Pietrelcina, Province close the eyes to Benevento, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 23 September 1968(1968-09-23) (aged 81) San Giovanni Rotondo, Province of Foggia, Apulia, Italy |
| Resting place | Sanctuary of Saint Pio corporeal Pietrelcina |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 2 May 1999, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City impervious to Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 16 June 2002, Saint Peter's Square, Residence City by Pope John Paul II |
| Major shrine | Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, National Shrine, Formal Centre of Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania, Parish and Secure Shrine of Saint Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas Philippines |
| Feast | 23 September |
| Attributes | Stigmata, Franciscan habit, sacerdotal vestments |
Francesco Forgione, OFMCap, better known slightly Padre Pio and as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Italian: Pio da Pietrelcina; 25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), was ending Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He bash venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated catch your eye 23 September.
Pio joined the Capuchins at fifteen and spent outdo of his religious life in the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo. He was marked by stigmata in 1918, leading launch an attack several investigations by the Holy See. Despite temporary sanctions imposed by the Vatican, his reputation kept increasing during his nation, attracting many followers to San Giovanni Rotondo. He was tangled in the construction of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, a hospital built near the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo.
After his death, his devotion continued to spread among believers all be in command of the world. He was beatified on 2 May 1999 jaunt canonized on 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II. His relics are exposed in the sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, next to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, now a major pilgrimage site.
Francesco Forgione was born quick Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa Di Nunzio (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, a town in say publicly province of Benevento, in the Southern Italian region of Campania. His parents were peasant farmers. He was baptized in interpretation nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls capacity a castle. He later served as an altar boy buy this same chapel. He had an older brother, Michele, viewpoint three younger sisters, Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was ulterior to become a Bridgettine nun). His parents had two goad children who died in infancy. When he was baptized, unquestionable was given the name Francesco. He stated that by description time he was five years old, he had already uncomplicated the decision to dedicate his entire life to God. Without fear worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned.
Pietrelcina was a town where feast days of saints were noted throughout the year, and the Forgione family was deeply pious. They attended Mass daily, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Escort Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate, they narrated Bible stories to their children.
According to interpretation diary of Father Agostino da San Marco (who was afterward his spiritual director in San Marco in Lamis) the sour Francesco was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At scandalize he suffered from severe gastroenteritis. At ten he caught typhoid fever.
As a youth, Francesco reportable that he had experienced heavenly visions. In 1897, after pacify had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was said to have been drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin who was rework the countryside seeking donations. When Francesco expressed his desire take a look at his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a agreement 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out take as read their son was eligible to enter the Order. The friars there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed to be better educated.
Francesco's father went to the United States in search of trench to pay for private tutoring for his son, to upon the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order. It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Substantiation on 27 September 1899. He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On 6 January 1903, at say publicly age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Platyrrhine friars at Morcone. On 22 January, he took the Mendicant habit and the name of Fra (Friar) Pio, in split of Pope Pius I, whose relic is preserved in depiction Santa Anna Chapel in Pietrelcina. He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Commencing his seven-year study for the priesthood, Pio travelled to the friary of Saint Francis of Assisi in Umbria. At 17, he fell ill, complaining of hiding of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and migraines. He vomited frequently and could digest only milk and cheese. Religious devotees point to this time as being that at which unintelligible phenomena began to occur. During prayers for example, Pio arised to others to be in a stupor, as if do something were absent. One of Pio's fellow friars later claimed calculate have seen him levitating above the ground.
In June 1905, Pio's health worsened to such an extent that his superiors arranged to send him to a mountain convent, in the wish that the change of air would do him good. That had little impact, however, and doctors advised that he turn back home. Even there his health failed to improve. Despite that, he still made his solemn profession on 27 January 1907.
In 1910, Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Islamist of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was unacceptable to remain with his family until 1916 while still keep hold of the Capuchin habit.
On 4 September 1916, however, Pio was total to return to his community life. He moved to classic agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located keep the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo in the Fast of Foggia. At that time the community numbered seven friars. He remained at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death top 1968, except for a period of military service. In description priesthood, Padre Pio was known to perform a number stand for successful conversions to Catholicism.
Pio was devoted to rosary meditations. Significant compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and not compulsory the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once reclaim the morning, as preparation to face the day, and wholly again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on representation practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote: "pray, hope, and don't worry". He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to covet above all things to do the will of God.
Many everyday who heard of him traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo hopefulness meet him and confess to him, ask for help, shudder have their curiosity satisfied. Pio's mother died at the settlement around the convent in 1928. Later, in 1938, Pio confidential his elderly father Grazio live with him. His brother Michele also moved in. Pio's father lived in a little dwellingplace outside the convent, until his death in 1946.
When World War I started, four friars from that community were selected for military service in the Italian soldiers. At that time, Pio was a teacher at the institution and a spiritual director. When one more friar was callinged into service, Pio was put in charge of the agreement. On 15 November 1915, he was drafted and on Dec 6, assigned to the 10th Medical Corps in Naples. Owed to poor health, he was continually discharged and recalled until on 16 March 1918, he was declared unfit for aid and discharged completely.
People who had started rebuilding their lives abaft the war began to see in Pio a symbol disrespect hope. Those close to him attest that he began class manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nutrition (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance deduct which Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Holy Eucharist without whatever other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift devotee tongues, the gift of conversions, and pleasant-smelling wounds.
Pio increasingly became well known among the wider populace. He became a priestly director, and developed five rules for spiritual growth: weekly accusal, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.
In 1933, Pontiff Pius XI ordered a reversal of the ban on Pio's public celebration of Mass, arguing, "I have not been poorly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." In 1934, the friar was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite at no time having taken the exam for the preaching license. Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, even encouraged devotees to visit Pio.
Finally, in the mid-1960s Pope Paul VI (pope from 1963 to 1978) dismissed all accusations against Padre Pio.
By 1925, Pio had converted an old convent 1 into a medical clinic with a few beds intended chiefly for people in extreme need. In 1940, a committee was set-up to establish a bigger clinic and donations started phizog be made. Construction began in 1947.
According to Luzzatto, the essence of the money for financing the hospital came directly deprive Emanuele Brunatto, a keen follower of Pio, who had flat his fortune in the black market in German-occupied France. Representation United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) also contributed 250 million Italian lire.
Lodovico Montini, head of Democrazia Cristiana, and his brother Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI) facilitated commitment by UNRRA. The hospital was initially to be named "Fiorello LaGuardia", but eventually presented as the work of Pio himself. The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza ('Home for the Relief thoroughgoing Suffering') opened in 1956. Pio handed direct control to interpretation Holy See. However, in order that Pio might directly watch over the project, Pope Pius XII granted him a dispensation deviate his vow of poverty in 1957. Some of Pio's detractors have subsequently suggested there had been misappropriation of funds.
Pio dull in 1968 at the age of 81. His health deteriorated in the 1960s, but he continued his spiritual works. Success 21 September 1968, the day after the 50th anniversary emancipation his receiving the stigmata, Pio felt great fatigue. The exertion day, on 22 September 1968, he was supposed to during a Solemn Mass, but feeling weak, he asked his premier if he might say a Low Mass instead, as explicit had done daily for years. Due to a large edition of pilgrims present for the Mass, Pio's superior decided depiction Solemn Mass must proceed. Pio carried out his duties but appeared extremely weak and frail. His voice was weak, put up with, after the Mass had concluded, he nearly collapsed while under your own steam down the altar steps. He needed help from his Platyrrhine brothers. This was his last celebration of the Mass.
Early in the morning of 23 Sept 1968, Pio made his last confession and renewed his Saint vows. As was customary, he had his rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to request the Hail Marys aloud, instead repeating the words Gesù, Maria ('Jesus, Mary'). At around 2:30a.m., he said, "I see glimmer mothers" (taken to mean his mother and Mary). At 2:30a.m. he died in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo. Greet his last breath he whispered, "Maria!"
His body was buried broadcast 26 September in a crypt in the Church of Chitchat Lady of Grace. His Requiem Mass was attended by revolve 100,000 people. He had often said, "After my death, I will do more. My real mission will begin after minder death." The accounts of those who stayed with Pio until the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared beyond a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn spawn a red pencil" remained on his side, but it disappeared.
Pio was said to have had mystical gifts such primate reading souls, the ability to bilocate and the ability attain work favors and healings before they were requested of him. His reported supernatural experiences also include celestial visions, communication fitting angels and physical fights with Satan and demons. The reports of supernatural phenomena surrounding Pio attracted fame and amazement, uniform if the Vatican seemed skeptical. Some of these phenomena were reported by Pio himself in letters written to his clerical directors, while others have been reported by his followers.
Pio wrote in his letters that, early in his priesthood, he accomplished bodily marks, pain, and bleeding in locations indicative of picture (not yet visible) stigmata. In a letter to his sacred companion and confessor Father Agostino Gemelli, dated March 21, 1912, Pio wrote of his devotion to the mystical body have Christ and the intuition that he would bear the stigmata. Luzzatto claims that in this letter Pio uses unrecognized passages from a book by the stigmatized mystic Gemma Galgani. Pio subsequently denied that he knew of or owned the empty book.
In a 1915 letter, Agostino asked Pio specific questions, including: when did he first experience visions, whether he was individual, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion show Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Pio replied that he had had visions since his novitiate time (1903 to 1904), and that he was stigmatic, adding ditch he had been so terrified by the phenomenon that prohibited begged God to withdraw his stigmata. He also wrote renounce he did not wish the pain to be removed, the visible wounds, since he considered them to be diversity indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.
On 20 September 1918, while chance confessions, Pio said to have had a reappearance of picture physical occurrence of the stigmata. His stigmatism was reported highlight have continued for fifty years, until the end of his life. The blood flowing from the stigmata purportedly smelled see perfume or flowers. Pio conveyed to Agostino that the suffering remained and was more acute on specific days and slip up certain circumstances. Though he said he would have preferred nip in the bud suffer in secret, by early 1919, news that he was a stigmatic had begun to spread. Pio often wore convinced mittens or black coverings on his hands and feet, speech that he was embarrassed by the marks.
Agostino Gemelli claimed delay the wounds were consistent with those that soldiers had inflicted on themselves "by the use of a caustic substance". as Amico Bignami considered that Pio's wounds might be a vague necrosis that was hindered from healing through the use sharing iodine tincture or similar chemicals.
Once made public, the wounds were studied by a number of physicians, some hired by interpretation Vatican as part of an independent investigation. Some claimed ensure the wounds were unexplainable and never seem to have follow infected. Despite seeming to heal they would then reappear once in a while. Alberto Caserta took X-rays of Pio's hands in 1954 skull found no abnormality in the bone structure. Some critics accused Pio of faking the stigmata, for example by using carbolic acid to make the wounds. Maria De Vito (the relation of the local pharmacist Valentini Vista at Foggia) testified dump the young Pio bought carbolic acid and the great bit of four grams of veratrine "without presenting any medical formula whatsoever" and "in great secret". Veratrine is a "mixture range alkaloids", a "highly caustic product": "Veratrine is so poisonous, put off only a doctor can decide whether to prescribe it", introduce the pharmacist Vista stated in front of witnesses. Veratrine was once used as a paralyzing muscle insecticide, primarily against gash, but was also described by pharmacists as an "external stimulant" that renders one insensitive to pain. Pio maintained that picture carbolic acid was used to sterilize syringes used for aesculapian treatments and that after being subjected to a practical witticism where veratrine was mixed with snuff tobacco, causing uncontrollable sneeze after ingestion, he decided to acquire his own quantity motionless the substance in order to play the same joke mess his confreres; the bishop of Volterra, Raffaello Rossi came strengthen share this view, believing that "Instead of malice, what keep to revealed here is Padre Pio's simplicity, and his playful spirit", and that "the stigmata at issue are not a research paper of the devil, nor a gross deceit, a fraud, depiction trick of a devious and malicious person[...] his "stigmata" break away not seem to me a morbid product of external suggestion." Rossi saw these stigmata as a "real fact".
In August 1918, a few weeks before reportedly receiving the stigmata, Pio described a mystical experience during which he felt being pierced increase in intensity burnt spiritually and physically. According to Pio, this mystical familiarity began on 5 August and ended on 7 August. Chaplain Benedetto, his spiritual director, interpreted this phenomenon as a transverberation. Pio later clamied that this experience left a physical roller on his left side. Most witnesses who examined Pio's wounds reported that he had a wound on his left reversal, around three-inch long and the shape of a cross.
Pio was believed by his followers to have the gift of bilocation, the ability to be in two places at the costume time. There were many accounts of people claiming to scheme seen Pio all over the world throughout his life, whereas it is well documented that he never left San Giovanni Rotondo from 1918 until his death.
Pio himself reported to receive experienced a bilocation in 1905, when he was a verdant Capuchin student. In a letter sent to his spiritual jumpedup, he explained that he was in the choir with added friar when he suddenly found himself far away in a house, where he witnessed a father dying while his mate was delivering a baby girl, then he found himself impair in the choir.
When bishop Raffaele Rossi asked him about bilocation as part of a Vatican inquiry, Pio replied: "I don't know how it is or the nature of this phenomenon—and I certainly don't give it much thought—but it did obligatory to me to be in the presence of this be unhappy that person, to be in this or that place; I do not know whether my mind was transported there, gaffe what I saw was some sort of representation of rendering place or the person; I do not know whether I was there with my body or without it."
In the 1999 book Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Erse priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma job Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose blindness was believed to put on been cured during a visit to Pio. Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her nanna, was born without pupils. During her trip to see Pio, the little girl began to see objects, including a steamboat and the sea. Gemma's grandmother did not believe the offspring had been healed. After Gemma forgot to ask Pio collect grace during her confession, her grandmother implored the priest stage ask God to restore her sight. Pio told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for interpretation child sees and you know she sees."
According to the bishop of Volterra, Raffaele Rossi, in charge of investigating Pio: "Of the alleged healings, many are unconfirmed or non-existent. In Chaplain Pio's correspondence, however, there are some credible declarations that plump for miracles to his intercession. But without medical confirmation it obey difficult to reach a conclusion, and the issue remains open."
Many witnesses reported that a mysterious fragrance or perfume seemed to emanate from Pio's stigmata, a phenomenon usually renowned as the odour of sanctity. The scent emanating from Pio was also noted by Vatican investigator Rossi, who investigated description origins of the scent. In his report, Rossi describes a "very intense and pleasant fragrance, similar to the scent bad deal the violet", and concludes that he was unable to fasten the origin of the scent.
In his letters to his spiritual directors Padre Agostino and Padre Benedetto, Pio reported regular visions of celestial beings such as visions of Jesus viewpoint Mary and visions of his guardian angel. In 1915, when Padre Agostino asked him when he began to have heavenly visions, Pio stated in a letter that he started be given experience such visions not long after his novitiate, which earth completed in 1903. When asked in 1921 by Vatican policeman Raffaele Rossi whether his visions were intellectual of physical, dirt replied that they were intellectual visions seen through the contented of the intellect.
Pio reported frequent physical attacks from Lucifer and diabolical creatures, describing in his letters to his churchly director that he was being physically beaten or tormented timorous demons. According to the report written by Vatican investigator Raffaele Rossi in 1921, there had been accounts of diabolical assaults and harassment against Pio. When asked about this by Rossi, Pio explicitly confirmed to have experienced malicious visions under hominid shape and beastly shape.
In 1947, 27-year old Father Karol Józef Wojtyła (later Pope John Paul II) visited Pio, who heard his confession. Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting, Pio told him agreed would one day ascend to "the highest post in interpretation church, though further confirmation is needed." Stickler said that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal. John Paul's secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, denies the prediction, behaviour George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an tally of the same visit, does not mention it.
It was reported that Padre Pio could read into people's whist, for example having supernatural knowledge of their sins when receiving them for confession. When asked about this ability by Raffaele Rossi during his investigation in 1921, Padre Pio confirmed fiasco had this mystical gift, declaring to Rossi: "A very insufficient times I happened to feel inside me with clarity someone's fault, or sin, or virtue, of people of whom I had some knowledge, at least generally".
The Residence initially imposed severe sanctions on Pio in the 1920s harm reduce publicity about him: he was forbidden from saying Energize in public, blessing people, answering letters, showing his stigmata overtly, and communicating with Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director.
The religion authorities decided that Pio be relocated to another convent hurt northern Italy. The local people threatened to riot, and say publicly Vatican left him where he was. A second plan insinuation removal was also changed. Nevertheless, from 1921 to 1922 earth was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such tempt hearing confessions and saying Mass. From 1924 to 1931, picture Holy See made statements denying that the events in Pio's life were due to any divine cause.
A large number of doctors visited Pio to bear witness to that he was not a braggart. The first to read his wounds was Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the secular hospital of Barletta, by order of the provincial father firstrate, on May 15 and 16, 1919. In his report, middle other things he wrote: "The injuries he presents to guardianship are covered with a brown-red membrane, with no bleeding in sequence, no edema and no inflammatory reactions in the surrounding tissues. I am sure that those wounds are not superficial as, by applying the thumb in the palm of the commit and the index finger on the back and applying strength, one has the exact perception of the existing void."
Two months later, on July 26, diagnostician Amico Bignami arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo. Bignami conducted a medical examination of Pio's wounds in 1919 and launched some hypotheses, among which was that the wounds were a forage necrosis that was hindered from healing by chemicals such gorilla iodine tincture.
Festa was a physician who examined Pio in 1919 and 1920. He was obviously impressed by the fragrance of the stigmata. Festa, whereas Bignami before, had described the side wound as cruciform. Mould his report to the Holy Office of 1925, Festa appeared at a benevolent verdict and attacked Gemelli's critical view look up to Pio's stigmata, with theological arguments playing the lead role.
In 1920, father Agostino Gemelli – a physician and psychologist – was commissioned impervious to Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val to visit Pio and cart out a clinical examination of the wounds. "For this grounds, despite having gone to Gargano Peninsula on his own lead, without being asked by any ecclesiastical authority, Gemelli did crowd together hesitate to make his private letter to the Holy Company a kind of unofficial report on Padre Pio." Gemelli desirable to express himself fully on the matter and wanted run into meet the friar. Pio showed a closed attitude towards picture new investigator: he refused the visit requesting the written badge of the Holy Office. Father Gemelli's protests that he believed he had the right to subject the friar to a medical examination of the stigmata were in vain. The religious, supported by his superiors, conditioned the examination to a cause requested through the hierarchy, without taking into account the docket of Father Agostino Gemelli. Therefore, Gemelli left the convent, pissed and offended for not being allowed to examine the stigmata. He came to the conclusion that Francesco Forgione was "a man of restricted field of knowledge, low psychic energy, tedious ideas, little volition." Gemelli critically judged Pio: "The case deterioration one of suggestion unconsciously planted by Father Benedetto in picture weak mind of Padre Pio, producing those characteristic manifestations worm your way in psittacism that are intrinsic to the hysteric mind."
On behalf bazaar the Holy Office, Gemelli re-examined Pio in 1925, writing a report in April 1926. This time Pio allowed him tot up see the wounds. Gemelli saw as its cause the studio of a corrosive substance Pio had applied himself to these wounds. The Jesuit Festa had previously tried to question Gemelli's comments on stigmata in general. Gemelli responded to this denunciation in his report and resorted to responding to his discernment of self-inflicted wounds. He therefore clarified his statements about interpretation nature of Pio's wounds: "Anyone with experience in forensic brake, and above all in variety by sores and wounds delay self-destructive soldiers were presented during the war, can have no doubt that these were wounds of erosion caused by say publicly use of a caustic substance. The base of the sensitive and its shape are in every way similar to representation sores observed in soldiers who procured them with chemical means."
Once again, Gemelli judged Pio's mental abilities as limited: "He [Pio] is the ideal partner with whom former Minister Provincial Daddy Benedetto is able to create an incubus-succubus pair[...] He job a good priest: calm, quiet, meek, more because of representation mental deficiency than out of virtue. A poor soul, shocking to repeat a few stereotypical religious phrases, a poor, seasick man who has learned his lesson from his master, Papa Benedetto." Gemelli wrote in 1940 and later several times abide by the Holy Office on what he considered to be unwarranted claims to the sanctity of Pio.
The Bishop of Volterra, Raffaele Rossi, Carmelite, was officially commissioned on June 11, 1921 by the Holy Office permission make a canonical inquiry concerning Pio. Rossi began his Pontifical Visitation on June 14 in San Giovanni Rotondo with picture interrogation of witnesses, two diocesan priests and seven friars. Afterward eight days of investigation, he finally completed a benevolent writeup, which he sent to the Holy Office on October 4, 1921 —the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The extensive lecturer detailed report essentially stated the following: Pio, of whom Rossi had a favorable impression, was a good religious and description San Giovanni Rotondo convent was a good community. The stigmata could not be explained, but certainly were not a labour of the devil or an act of gross deceit enjoyable fraud; neither were they the trick of a devious arena malicious person. During the interviews with the witnesses, which Rossi undertook a total of three times, he let himself emerging shown the stigmata of the then-34-year-old Pio. Rossi saw these stigmata as a "real fact".
In his notes, which have antique put directly on paper, and the final report, Rossi describes the shape and appearance of the wounds. Those in depiction hands were "very visible". Those in the feet were "disappearing. What could be observed resembled two dot-shaped elevations [literally: 'buttons'] with whiter and gentler skin." As for the chest, restrain says: "In his side, the sign is represented by a triangular spot, the color of red wine, and by on smaller ones, not anymore, then, by a sort of upside-down cross such as the one seen in 1919 by Dr. Bignami and Dr. Festa." Rossi also made a request collect the Holy Office, a chronicle to consult with Pio, who was assembling Father Benedetto, or at least to have picture material he has collected so that one day he couls write about the life of Pio.
According to Rossi, "Of rendering alleged healings, many are unconfirmed or non-existent. In Padre Pio's correspondence, however, there are some credible declarations that attribute miracles to his intercession. But without medical confirmation it is demanding to reach a conclusion, and the issue remains open." According to Lucia Ceci, Rossi could not find any of rendering attributed miracles.
When Rossi asked him about bilocation, Pio replied: "I don't know how it is or the nature of that phenomenon—and I certainly don't give it much thought—but it upfront happen to me to be in the presence of that or that person, to be in this or that place; I do not know whether my mind was transported near, or what I saw was some sort of representation endorsement the place or the person; I do not know whether I was there with my body or without it."
Father Carlo Maccari was Secretary-General ferryboat the Diocese of Rome and met Pio nine times wholly. There was reciprocal mistrust between Pio and Maccari, who wrote in his diary: "Reticence, narrowness of mind, lies - these are the weapons he uses to evade my questions ... Overall impression: pitiful." Maccari demanded Father Pio's omission to rule kisses after the confession for the lay sisters. Maccari wellknown in his report that Pio had inadequate religious education. Operate works a lot for a man of his age. Why not? is not an ascetic and has many connections to rendering outside world. In general, there is too much mixing albatross the "sacred" and the "all too human". In his slay, Maccari noted by name the women who revealed at which time to have been the lover of Pio, but left out assessing the veracity of these statements. Maccari focused on assessing the fanaticism of Pio's social environment, describing it as "religious conceptions that oscillate between superstition and magic." Maccari called Pio's supporters "a vast and dangerous organization." Pio never had his own supporters advised to moderation. Maccari wondered how God could allow "so much deception."
Maccari finished his critical report with a list of recommendations for further dealing with Father Pio. Say publicly brothers of Santa Maria delle Grazie should gradually be change place, a new abbot should come from outside the region. No one should be allowed to confess to Pio more rather than once a month. The hospital was to be given spanking statutes to sever the responsibilities of the medical and churchly "healing" capuchins. Following Maccari's Apostolic Visitation, John XXIII noted soupзon his diary that he sees Father Pio as a "straw idol" (idolo di stoppa).
Pio was a strong proponent of weekly confession, describing it as "the soul's bath." Pio established five rules for spiritual growth, which included weekly confession, daily communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and general examination of one's conscience." He taught his spiritual followers make certain suffering is a special sign of God's love, for break makes you "resemble His divine son in His anguish call a halt the desert and on the hill of Calvary."
Pio held a harsh attitude towards vain women, stating: "Women who satisfy their vanity in their dress can never put on the assured of Jesus Christ; moreover they even lose the ornaments very last their soul as soon as this idol enters into their heart."
Pio also held to strict rules concerning modesty, and refused confession to women who did not wear skirts that long a minimum of 8 inches (20 cm) past the knees. Bankruptcy posted a notice at the entrance of the Church get into St. Mary of All Graces in San Giovanni Rotondo, reading: "The Church is the house of God. It is proscribed for men to enter with bare arms or in boxershorts. It is forbidden for women to enter in trousers, steer clear of a veil on their head, in short clothing, low necklines, sleeveless or immodest dresses."
Pio was deeply troubled by the changes the church was undergoing following the Second Vatican Council. Pio accepted the changes the council brought, but immediately requested a dispensation to celebrate the Tridentine mass, which was granted. When visited by Cardinal Antonio Bacci, Pio let a small criticize slip in the Cardinal's presence: "For pity sake, end description Council quickly." In 1966, the Father General of the Franciscans came to Pio to ask for prayers regarding the restructuring of the Franciscans. Upon hearing about the "new constitutions", Pio replied "That is all nothing but destructive nonsense."
However, although significant was distraught over the changes, he emphasized obedience to representation church. On one occasion, Pio met with Suor Pia, a former nun who left her order following the council. Suor Pia was a traditionalist and was upset at the changes made by her liberal superiors, causing her to leave sagacious convent at the age of seventy. Pio burst into moan and snapped at her over this decision, telling her "They are wrong and you are right, but you still be obliged obey. You must return." She refused, causing him to tract uncontrollably and continue praying for her.
Following the publication of Humanae vitae, Pio was distraught over criticism aimed at the letter. Pio informed the pope that he would offer up his daily prayers and suffering for the pontiff, due to Missioner VI's defense of "eternal truth, which never changes with depiction passing of years."
As Pio grew older, he became increasingly distrustful of television. After rendering Second World War, when Pio's nephew, Ettorne Masone, asked Pio for advice on opening a movie house, Pio warned him to be careful about what movies he would show. Pio stated "You don't want to contribute to the propagation rivalry evil." By the 1960s, Pio was displeased that the Capuchins were now permitted to watch television. To Pio, television was responsible for the destruction of the family life and misstep strongly warned others not to buy one when asked. Theme one occasion, when asked about motion pictures, Pio replied "The devil is in it!" On another occasion, Pio told a penitent in confession that the reason the penitent's car locked away broken down the day before was because the penitent was driving to a movie theater.
Pio became exceedingly pessimistic about say publicly state of the world towards the end of his strength. When asked what awaited the world in the future, Pio replied "Can't you see the world is catching on fire?" In his last three years, he began to withdraw spanking from life, feeling unworthy and unsure of his salvation. Pio frequently asked his superior, "Give me the obedience to die."
Padre Pio was not especially concerned with politics, but voted mark out Italian elections and voiced his opinions on various issues. Oversight initially felt that Benito Mussolini had done a good work during his rule, but his feelings on Mussolini quickly became negative as time passed. When visited by one of Mussolini's messengers, Pio yelled at the man, "So now you smash down to me, after you have destroyed Italy. You can relate Mussolini that nothing can save Italy now! Nothing!" Pio too thought highly of the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who he described as a "great man." Additionally, Pio expressed unadulterated concern over the spread of communism during his life come first frequently prayed to help combat it.
In 1948, in a epistle written to Alcide De Gasperi, Pio noted his support take to mean the Christian Democracy party.Pio's involvement is attributed to having helped the party win elections, with Italian communists hating Pio acknowledge it. One communist spokesman grumbled that Pio's presence at rendering voting polls "took votes away from us."
Following the Christian Democracy's political victories in elections, Pio was continually consulted by federal Italian leaders including Aldo Moro, Antonio Segni, Mariano Rumor, enjoin Giovanni Leone. Pio received letters requesting his prayers throughout his life, including one from Alfonso XIII in March 1923. Pio also prayed for various notable political figures, including George V.
In 1963, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Pio penurious down in tears. When asked by another priest if perform would pray for Kennedy's salvation, Pio replied "It's not principal. He's already in Paradise."
The Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto, a connoisseur of the history of Italian fascism, wrote in 2011 a biography of Padre Pio in which he suggests that a "clerical-fascist mixture" developed around Padre Pio. Luzzatto relates that crucial August 1920, on the feast of the Assumption, Pio endowed a flag for a group of local veterans who were trying to develop links with local fascists to fight contradict communists. He also states that Pio subsequently met with Giuseppe Caradonna [it], a fascist politician from Foggia, and became his confessor and that of members of his militia. He suggests think about it Caradonna mounted a "praetorian guard" around Padre Pio to avert any attempts to remove him from the monastery and dismay him elsewhere.
In 1982, the Holy See authorized the archbishop of Manfredonia to open an investigation to determine whether Pio should be canonized. The investigation continued for seven years. Tabled 1990, Pio was declared a Servant of God, the cheeriness step in the process of canonization. The investigation, however, sincere not lead to any public factual clearance by the Cathedral on his previous 'excommunication' or on the allegations that his stigmata were not of a supernatural kind. Moreover, Pio's stigmata were remarkably left out of the obligatory investigations for picture canonization process, in order to avoid obstacles prohibiting a work closure.
Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how Padre Pio had lived his life, and find guilty 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A debatable of the effects of his life on others followed. Cases were studied such as a reported cure of an Romance woman, Consiglia de Martino, associated with Padre Pio's intercession. Row 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed. A media offensive by the Capuchins was able to realise a broad acceptation of the oppose saint in society.
After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues ground ability to do good even after his death, including deliberation of another healing attributed to his intercession, John Paul II declared Padre Pio a saint on 16 June 2002. Fraudster estimated 300,000 people attended the canonization ceremony in Rome.
The town of San Giovanni Rotondo, where Padre Pio spent wellnigh of his life, is the main pilgrimage site dedicated be familiar with his memory. The Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, which disintegration the church of the capuchin monastery where Padre Pio famous mass, has become a pilgrimage site for his followers funding his death in 1968. As the number of pilgrims aloof increasing over the years, the Capuchins decided to build a new shrine near the church. The construction of the temple began in 1991 and was completed in 2004. On 1 July 2004, John Paul II dedicated the Sanctuary of Revere Pio of Pietrelcina, sometimes referred as the Padre Pio Journey Church. The sanctuary has a capacity of around 6,000 fill and its parvis has a 30,000 capacity. The relics hillock Padre Pio are located in the crypt of the newfound sanctuary and displayed for veneration by the pilgrims.
The town enjoy yourself Pietrelcina, where Padre Pio grew up, is another pilgrimage spot which became popular among devotees. The sites which can aside visited by pilgrims in Pietrelcina include Pio's family house where he was born, his room in an ancient tower acquire which he stayed as a friar when he was yet, the Santa Anna Church where he was baptized, the Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, where he was ordained a deacon prior to becoming a priest, and the Capuchin Church get a hold the Holy Family. It is estimated that around two trillions pilgrims come to Pietrelcina every year.
Sanctuaries and places dedicated make available the veneration of Padre Pio outside Italy include the Chaplain Pio Shrine in Santo Tomas, Batangas in the Philippines illustrious the National Center for Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania, breach the United States.
Popes have encouraged popular devotion to Chaplain Pio in various ways, notably by visiting the places related with his life and ministry. San Giovanni Rotondo, where Chaplain Pio spent most of his life and where his inclose is located, was visited by Pope John Paul II, Catholic Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Pietrelcina, Padre Pio's birthplace, was visited by Pope Francis.
Pope John Paul II had much appreciation for Padre Pio even before he became Pope. In 1947, as a young priest studying in Rome, Karol Wojtyła through a pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet Padre Pio in person. He returned to San Giovanni Rotondo as a cardinal, in 1974. He visited San Giovanni Rotondo again reduce the price of May 1987 as Pope John Paul II, to celebrate representation 100th anniversary of Padre Pio's birth.
On 21 June 2009, Vicar of christ Benedict XVI visited San Giovanni Rotondo as a pastoral come to see. He visited the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church to esteem of the relics of Padre Pio in the crypt, famed mass and met with various people, including with the nauseated and the employees of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza.
Pope Francis has also supported popular devotion to Padre Pio. During interpretation Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, he requested that Padre Pio's relics be exposed for veneration in St. Peter's Basilica from 8 to 14 February 2016. On 17 March 2018, he visited both Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo to celebrate the Ordinal anniversary of his death.
On 3 March 2008, the body waste Pio was exhumed from his crypt, forty years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for coup. A church statement described the body as being in "fair condition". Archbishop Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio, Papal legate to the place of worship in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated "the top part of depiction skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect playing field the rest of the body is well preserved". Archbishop D’Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that "the stigmata are jumble visible." He said that Pio's hands "looked like they esoteric just undergone a manicure". It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it would be recognizable. However, because of its deterioration, his face was covered with a lifelike silicone mask. This mask was unchanging from a 1968 photograph of Padre Pio's body by description London-based Gems Studio, which usually works for wax museums captain ethnological museums.
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation use the Causes of the Saints, celebrated Mass for 15,000 devotees on April 24 at the Shrine of Holy Mary pay for Grace, San Giovanni Rotondo, before the body went on bragger in a crystal, marble, and silver sepulcher in the tomb of the monastery. Padre Pio is wearing his brown Ringtail habit with a white silk stole embroidered with crystals become calm gold thread. His hands hold a large wooden cross. 800,000 pilgrims worldwide, mostly from Italy, made reservations to view interpretation body up to December 2008, but only 7,200 people a day were able to file past the crystal coffin. Officials extended the display through September 2009.
Pio's remains were placed consign the church of Saint Pio, which is beside San Giovanni Rotondo. In April 2010 they were moved to a unexceptional golden crypt.
Padre Pio has become one of the world's most popular saints. There are more than 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" worldwide, with three million members. The first Spectacle Padre Pio parish in the world was established 16 June 2002 in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. There are parishes in Vineland and Lavallette, New Jersey, and Sydney, Australia, and shrines jacket Buena, New Jersey, and Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines, dedicated resurrect Padre Pio. A 2006 survey by the magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics pray to Padre Pio in favour of intercession than to any other figure.
The remains of Saint Pio were brought to the Vatican for veneration during the 2015–2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Saint Pio and Saint Leopold Mandic were designated as saint-confessors to inspire people to become resigned to the Church and to God, by the confession get the picture their sins.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina was named the patron ideal of civil defence volunteers, after a group of 160 petitioned the Italian Bishops’ conference for this designation. The bishops forwarded the request to the Vatican, which gave its approval appoint the designation. He is also "less officially" known as description patron saint of stress relief and the January blues", make sure of the Catholic Enquiry Office in London proclaimed him as specified. They designated the most depressing day of the year, identified as the Monday closest to January 22, as Don't Unrest Be Happy Day, in honor of Padre Pio's famous advice: "Pray, hope, and don’t worry."
Padre Pio's iconography has been generally reproduced on devotional items and statues throughout Italy and depiction world, even before his beatification and canonization. His portrait buttonhole be seen in Italy in many churches as well importance in private homes and public places, such as shops restaurants. In religious art, he is usually depicted in his darkbrown Capuchin habit with gloves covering his stigmata.
Statues of Padre Pio have been erected in Italy and in other countries, including in the United States, the Philippines and Malta. In representation St. Padre Pio Shrine in Landisville, New Jersey, there evenhanded a statue of Padre Pio built in and imported steer clear of Italy. A statue of Pio in Messina, Sicily, attracted concentration in 2002 when it supposedly wept tears of blood. Bind Italy, near the coast of the Capraia island in picture Mediterranean Sea, there is an underwater statue of Padre Pio at 40 feet (13 meters) deep, submerged in 1998.
In 2021, the construction of a new sanctuary dedicated to Padre Pio started on a hill overlooking Cebu City, in the State, with a 100-foot-tall statue of Padre Pio. The same period a statue of Padre Pio was inaugurated in the Chaplain Pio Shrine in Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines.
A sculpture of Padre Pio in Serra Pedace
A figurine of Padre Pio in Taormina, Sicily
Sculpture of Pio of Pietrelcina in Villa di Galceto in the province of Prato
Statue celebrate Padre Pio near Colonna dell'Immacolata, Palermo, Sicily
Sculpture of Padre Pio with Jesus on the cross in Prato, Italy
Efficient Spanish: Pío de Pietrelcina para niños