This is the town where Santo Pio of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap., was a friar, priest, stigmatist and mystic. He was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887. He was given the name of Pio (Pius) when he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He arrived here on September 4, 1916 and died here on September 23, 1968 (his Feast Day), was beatified in 1999 and canonized on June 16, 2002 by Pope St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. He received the stigmata in September 1918 and continued to have it until his death 50 years later. He celebrated thousands of Masses with the stigmata in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Our Lady of Grace).
On March 3, 2008, the body of St. Pio was exhumed from his tomb in the crypt of Santa Maria della Grazie, 40 years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for display, and they found that he was incorrupt. A church statement described the body as being in “fair condition”. Archbishop Domenico Umberto D’Ambrosio, Papal Legate to the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated “the top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved.” Archbishop D’Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that “the stigmata are not visible.” He said that Pio’s hands “looked like they had just undergone a manicure”. It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it would be recognizable. However, because of its deterioration, his face was covered with a lifelike silicone mask.
The Capuchins ordered the construction of the Sanctuary of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (seats up to 6,500 people and up to 30,000 standing outside) which Pope St. John Paul II dedicated on July 1, 2004. It is located to the left of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The crypt of the Sanctuary of St. Pio, where his incorrupt body lays is below the upper main church. The entrance to the sloped walkway down is from the right side of the upper church.
St. Pio or Pius’s tombstone (where he was buried for 40 years) remains in the Santa Maria delle Grazie cyrpt. The stairway down is on the right side of the Nave. It is worth going down in the old crypt as the information they had on St. Pio for years is still there, and as you work your way back up to ground level, you walk past his bedroom (they have taken out the wall and replaced it with plexiglass), so you get to see the modest room he lived in for 50 years and where he had many physical fights with the Devil.
Many Americans continue to call him Padre Pio, possibly not knowing that Padre is Italian for father. He is Santo Pio now, not Father Pius.
