Biographical Notes:
Born Francesco Forgione, May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy.
Baptized, May 26, 1887 in Santa Ana’ Chapel.
Invested as a Chapuchin Friar, Jan. 22, 1903.
Ordained a priest, August 10, 1910.
Celebrated First Mass, August 14, 1910 in Pietrelcina; remained there to assist the local pastor.
Invisible Stigmata first experienced September 7, 1910.
Temporarily assigned to San Giovanni Rotondo September 4, 1916. (assignment becomes permanent)
Sitgmata becomes visible September 20, 1918.
Died September 23, 1968.
Cause of Beatification opened in 1969; presented to the Holy Congregation of Saints in 1973.
Declared Venerable December 18, 1997.
Canonized a Saint by Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002.
Facts:
Padre Pio is the only priest in Catholic history to bear the Stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus Christ crucified. Padre Pio was also blessed by God with the gifts of discernment of spirits, prophecy, healing, bilocation and more. He is a powerful intercessor for us before Almighty God.
He was born Francesco Forgione in the Italian village of Pietrelcina on May 25, 1887. His parents, Giuseppa and Grazio Forgione, were peasant farmers.
At the age of 15 he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars and was ordained a priest in 1910. On September 7, 1910, while at prayer in Piana Romana, where his family’s farmhouse was located, he received the invisible Stigmata. On September 20, 1918, while praying in the Friary Chapel in San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio received the visible Stigmata, the five wounds of Chris: a wound on his left side, and bleeding wounds in his hands and feet, which he bore for fifty years.
Among Padre Pio’s most important works is a hospital, La Casa Solliveo della Sofferenza, the Home for the Relief of Suffering, dedicated in 1956. This was Padre Pio’s dream come true. It is situated on the mountain in San Giovanni Rotondo, next to Our Lady of Grace Church and Friary.
Padre Pio Prayer Group of Denver 