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Born to a southern Italian farm
family, the son of Grazio, a shepherd. At age 15 he entered the novitiate
of the Capuchin Friars in Morcone, and joined the order at age 19.
Suffered several health problems, and at one point his family thought he
had tuberculosis. Ordained at age 22 on 10 August 1910.
While praying before a cross, he received the stigmata on 20 September
1918, the first priest ever to be so blessed. As word spread, especially
after American soldiers brought home stories of Padre Pio following WWII,
the priest himself became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the
curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read
the consciences of those who held back. Reportedly able to bi-locate,
levitate, and heal by touch. Founded the House for the Relief of Suffering
in 1956, a hospital that serves 60,000 a year. In the 1920's he started a
series of prayer groups that continue today with over 400,000 members
worldwide.
His canonization miracle involved the cure of Matteo Pio Colella, age 7,
the son of a doctor who works in the House for Relief of Suffering, the
hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo founded by Padre Pio. On the night of 20
June 2000, Matteo was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital
with meningitis. By morning doctors had lost hope for him as nine of the
boy's internal organs had ceased to give signs of life. That night, during
a prayer vigil attended by Matteo´s mother and some Capuchin friars of
Padre Pio´s monastery, the child's condition improved suddenly. When he
awoke from the coma, Matteo said that he had seen an elderly man with a
white beard and a long, brown habit, who said to him: "Don't worry, you
will soon be cured." The miracle was approved by the Congregation and Pope
John Paul II on 20 December 2001.
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