Padre Pio
Italian saint, priest, stigmatist and mystic
Feast: 23 September (current Roman calendar, memorial) · not in the 1962 Missal
Who they were
Francesco Forgione was born in Pietrelcina, near Benevento in southern Italy, on 25 May 1887. He entered the Capuchin novitiate at sixteen, took the name Pio, and was ordained a priest in 1910.
From 1916 until his death he lived at the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo. For more than fifty years he heard confessions from dawn to dusk, and he bore painful wounds on his body with notable patience. In 1956 he opened a hospital there, the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, the House for the Relief of Suffering. He died on 23 September 1968, aged 81.
The miracles
Consiglia De Martino — Salerno, Italy — November 1995
A mother of three suffered a traumatic rupture of the thoracic duct in her neck, leaving a large swelling of lymphatic fluid; surgeons at the hospital in Salerno scheduled urgent surgery. She prayed to Padre Pio and asked a friar at San Giovanni Rotondo to pray with her. Before the operation the pain eased and the swelling went down, and the surgery was no longer needed. On 30 April 1998 the Vatican's medical board found the healing unanimously to be scientifically inexplicable.
Matteo Pio Colella — San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy — January 2000
A seven-year-old boy was diagnosed with acute fulminant bacterial meningitis, which spread to his kidneys, lungs and blood clotting. He fell into a coma and doctors considered him clinically dead. His mother and Capuchin friars kept vigil in prayer to Padre Pio, and he recovered. On waking he said he had seen an old man with a white beard in a brown habit who told him he would soon be well.
Why that counted as sanctity
On 18 December 1997 the Church declared that this life showed the Christian virtues to a heroic degree, and gave the title Venerable. The case of Consiglia De Martino was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 21 December 1998, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 2 May 1999 by John Paul II. The case of Matteo Pio Colella was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 20 December 2001, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 16 June 2002 by John Paul II.
Connected on this site
- Maria Gargani Blessed“She was a close friend of Padre Pio, who wrote her 67 letters between the First World War and his death in 1968.” — this site's research
- Gaetano Tantalo Venerable“The exact day of his death is left open: Tele Radio Padre Pio places it at dawn on 13 November 1947, the Hagiography Circle on 14 November 1947.” — this site's research
- Daniele da San Giovanni Rotondo (Michele Natale) Servant of God“Natale, the fourth of seven children of farmers at San Giovanni Rotondo, became a Capuchin friar in the friary of Padre Pio's town.” — this site's research
- Modestino da Pietrelcina (Damiano Fucci) Servant of God“A Capuchin lay brother and fellow townsman and disciple of Padre Pio, he served 42 years as convent porter, welcoming pilgrims from all over the world.” — this site's research
- Settimio Manelli Servant of God“Manelli and his wife Licia Gualandris married in 1926, had twenty-one children and were Franciscan tertiaries and spiritual children of Padre Pio.” — this site's research
- Holy See - biography for the canonisation of Padre Pio, 16 June 2002
- Voce di Padre Pio (the friary's magazine) - the beatification and the De Martino case
- EWTN News / CNA, 19 Nov 2018 - Matteo Pio Colella recounts his cure
- Wikidata Q193754 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Padre Pio (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.