The life of St. Padre Pio:

Born Francesco Forgione, May 25, 1887 in the farming town of Pietrelcina in the Campania region of Southern Italy.

Parents: Gracio Mario Forgione and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione

Baptized in Santa Anna Chapel where he later served as altar boy.

He said that by five years old he knew that he wanted to dedicate his life to God.

Worked on the family sheep farm until he was ten years old.

His mother said Francesco was able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary and his own Guardian Angel.

Experienced visions and ecstasies as a youth and was drawn to the life of the Capuchins after listening to a monk who was collecting donations in the countryside.

Taken by his parents to Morcone (about 13 miles north of Pietrelcina) to inquire if he could join their order, the Capuchins were keen, but wanted him to have a better education first.

His father worked in North America to send money back home to pay for tutoring for Francesco.

Confirmed on September 27, 1899

Entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars of Morcone on January 6, 1903 when he was fifteen years old.

January 22, he took the Franciscan habit and the name Fra Pio in honour of the patron saint of Pietrelcina, Pope Pius V (saint).

Travelled to Assisi by oxcart to commence his six-year study for the priesthood.

Jan 27, 1907, he was ordained at the Cathedral of Benevento by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi and celebrated his first mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels.

He was plagued with ill-health for 6 years and was permitted to stay with his family during this time, but on September 4, was ordered to move to the Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo where he lived until his death in 1968.

Padre Pio is believed to have been tormented by the Devil. He was attacked both physically and spiritually but never lost faith. In his writings he states that he remained patient in the midst of his trials because of his firm belief in Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph (his Guardian Angel) and St. Francis of Assisi.

As early as 1911, Padre Pio wrote that he had been experiencing both red marks in the palms of his hands and acute pain at those sites, as well as pain in both of his feet. In 1915, he wrote to his friend Padre Agostino that he had asked the Lord to withdraw these marks, not out of fear, but out of a sense of unbearable humiliation. The stigmata disappeared, but reappeared later on in 1918. He also wrote that he had been experiencing the pain of the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’s head and suffered the scourging that our Lord had endured as well.

In addition, he experienced a phenomenon known as transverberation, wherein, the soul is pierced with a dart of fire, and wounded, thus leaving it open to an overflowing of divine love. This was originally described by St. John of the Cross.

July 27, 1918, Padre Pio offered himself as a victim to end the First World War. A few days later he had a vision where Christ appeared and pierced his side. A relic of a cloth used to wipe this wound exists and is displayed for veneration at St. John Cantius church in Chicago.

In September, 1918, Padre Pio experienced another ecstasy which left him with the visible stigmata that remained with him until he died.

In 1919, he began to exhibit the spiritual gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, and miracles.

It is recorded that he was able to subsist on no sleep and by only taking the Eucharist. He was also blessed with the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, and the gift of conversions. As well, a fragrance from his wounds was documented.

Padre Pio celebrated his last Mass, a Solemn Mass, on September 22, 1968. He was in such ill health, that he collapsed. On the morning of the 23rd, he died after making his last confession and renewing his Franciscan vows. He had his rosary in his hands until the last. On September 26, he was buried in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace.

Much controversy attended Padre Pio because of his claims of ecstasies, the stigmata and miracles. With the fame of these claims spreading, the Holy Office of Rome placed many restrictions on him, including saying any public Masses or hearing confessions. He was examined and investigated numerous times in an effort to verify his claims.

Pope Pius XI reversed the bans on Padre Pio and Pope Pius XII encouraged devotion to him.

In 1956 Padre Pio opened a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza or Home to Relieve Suffering.

On May 2, 1999, Pope John Paul II beatified, Padre Pio.

On June 16, 2002, he was canonized.

Padre Pio’s Prayer After Holy Communion

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and alway be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.