Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint Padre Pio, pastor.
Born May 25, 1887 at Pietrelcina, Benevento, Italy to a southern Italian farm family as Francesco Forgione, the son of Grazio. He was a shepherd, and at age 15 he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars in Morcone, Italy, joining the order at age 19. He suffered several health problems, and at one point his family thought he had tuberculosis.

He was ordained at age 22 on August 10, 1910.While praying before a cross, he received the stigmata on September 20, 1918, the first priest ever to be so blessed. As word spread, especially after American soldiers brought home stories of Padre Pio following WWII, the priest himself became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read the consciences of those who held back. Reportedly, he was able to bilocate, levitate, and heal by touch. In 1956 he founded the House for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital that serves 60,000 a year. In the 1920’s he started a series of prayer groups that continue today with over 400,000 members worldwide. He died September 23, 1968 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy of natural causes.

His canonization miracle involved the cure of Matteo Pio Colella, age 7, the son of a doctor who worked in the House for Relief of Suffering. On the night of June 20, 2000, Matteo was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital with meningitis. By morning, doctors had lost hope for him as nine of the boy’s internal organs had ceased to give signs of life. That night, during a prayer vigil attended by Matteo’s mother and some Capuchin friars of Padre Pio’s monastery, the child’s condition improved suddenly. When he awoke from the coma, Matteo said that he had seen an elderly man with a white beard and a long, brown habit, who said to him: “Don’t worry, you will soon be cured.” The miracle was approved by the Congregation and Pope Saint John Paul II on December 20, 2001.

Saint Padre PioPray for us!