Sept. 23 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, OFM Capuchin

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, OFM Capuchin (1887-1968)

September 23

            “The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against ego; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.” (a saying of Padre Pio) Padre Pio was able to see his personal suffering as his response to the call to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.

            Francesco Forgione was born to peasant farmers in southern Italy. His father traveled twice (in 1898-1903 and again in 1910-17) to Jamaica, New York, to provide for the family. Francisco joined the Capuchin order at age fifteen and took the name Pius/Pio. Even early in his life as a Franciscan, Padre Pio experienced both serious illness and religious ecstasy. Other friars would report that they heard strange, concerning noises coming from his room. Padre Pio frequently spoke about how he was attacked by the devil, and it was in his cell that these battles took place. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1910.

When drafted during World War One, he served in the medical corps.  He had extreme stomach pain and was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis. He was eventually permanently discharged. In 1917 he was assigned to San Giovanni Rotundo friary, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

Padre Pio had great devotion to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus and to His Sacred Heart. As he was making his thanksgiving after Mass one day on September 20, 1918, he had an encounter with Jesus that left him with the signs of the crucifixion on his hands, feet, and side. He would actually bleed from the wounds. Referred to as the “odor of sanctity,” the blood that came from Padre Pio’s wounds is said to have smelled like perfume or as having a floral aroma.  In the beginning, Padre Pio was embarrassed and humiliated by the wounds on his body. The visible stigmata brought him intense and severe pain, but he welcomed it. He offered this pain for the good of all humanity. The authenticity of his stigmata was questioned with official investigations in 1924 and again in 1931. During this time of inquiry, he was not permitted to say Mass publicly or hear confessions. That decision was soon reversed.

Church authorities, doctors, and spectators by the busloads came to see the good father. He then became the most famous stigmatist of the twentieth century. Over time his ministry of reconciliation became legendary. His typical daily schedule went like this:

            1. Each morning after a 5AM Mass in a crowded church, he heard confessions until noon.

            2. He would take a break to bless the sick and all others who came to see him.

            3. In the afternoon, he would continue to hear confessions. Sometimes he would spend up to 12 or even 15 hours a day in the confessional! Many have claimed that Padre Pio could read souls and knew details of their lives which they had not revealed to anyone.

            The saint once said: “Confession is the soul’s bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week. Even a clean and unoccupied room gathers dust; return after a week, and you will see that it needs dusting again!”

Those who participated at his Masses came away edified; even curiosity seekers were deeply moved by experiencing him, his preaching, and his example.  However, like St. Francis, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir seekers.

He had the gift of bilocation, meaning that he could be in more than one place at a time. Multiple eyewitness accounts attest to the ability of Padre Pio to be in multiple places at once. Fellow friars remember seeing him in prayer outside when they knew he was still in his room. Some accounts come from others who claim to have seen him on different continents all over the world. As to how Padre Pio experienced such feats, the closest he ever came to an explanation of bilocation was to say that it occurred “by an extension of his personality.”

            Padre Pio also had great compassion for the sick and suffering. In the 1940’s he established a “House for the Alleviation of Suffering” (Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza) that had 350 beds near Mount Gargano. The hospital is now known for its state-of-the-art facilities and services.

Miraculously, a few days before his death in September 1968, all these wounds on Padre Pio’s body disappeared. Countless experts and doctors who carefully and closely examined the wounds were unable to provide any medical or scientific explanation.

Pope John Paul II presided over both his beatification on May 2, 1999, and three years later, Padre Pio’s canonization as a saint on June 16, 2002.

 

Pope Saint Linus, the second after St. Peter, is also honored on Sept. 23^rd.

In 2026, this marks the fifth anniversary of the death of LA artist John August Swanson. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.