UCA News
Contribute

St Pius of Pietrelcina - Padre Pio

St Pius of Pietrelcina - Padre Pio
Published: September 22, 2011 05:00 PM GMT
Updated: September 21, 2011 05:14 AM GMT

Padre Pio as he was known to millions, was a Franciscan priest, renown for his gift of the sacrament of healing, and for his extraordinary devotion in offering the Eucharist. He died in 1968, aged 80, and was canonized in 2002. He was born Francesco Forgione into a devout Catholic family in a small town in Italy. As a young man he joined the Franciscan order of Capuchins in 1903, taking the name of Pio, and was ordained priest in 1910. A man of deep piety, prayer and prudence, his zeal was legendary. His special gift was spiritual direction, and reconciliation through the sacrament of the confessional, where he would spend long hours. Such was the depth of his piety that as early as 1918 he was granted the mystical scars of the passion of the Lord – the stigmata – in his body. These scars appeared unannounced in his hands, his feet, and his side. It was the first time a priest in the Church was so blessed, and after St Francis of Assisi himself, the second time that a member of the Order had received the stigmata. Together with the stigmata, Pio enjoyed other extra-sensory gifts and he healed many, both of physical ailment and spiritual problems. Many skeptics doubted the genuineness of his stigmata, and were convinced he was a fraud. But he took it all in a Franciscan spirit of humility and resignation. “There is no flowering of the soul,” he was wont to say, “except at the price of pain.”

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
Each year during Lent, UCA News presents the stories of people who will join the Church in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is their Lord. The stories of how women and men who will be baptized came to believe in Christ are inspirations for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Church's chief feast.
Help us with your donations to bring such stories of faith that make a difference in the Church and society.
A small contribution of US$5 will support us continue our mission…
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
Asian Bishops
Latest News
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia