Saint Pius of Pietrelcina:
Padre Pio

Beatification of Padre Pio de Pietrelcina, Scott 1105 and 1106 (1999) Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, 50th Anniversary of Death, Scott 1687 and 1687M (2018) September 23 is the feast day of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, popularly known as Padre Pio. A Capuchin friar and stigmatist, he was born in 1887 and died in 1968, thus making him another saint within the living memory of most who read these essays. On two occasions, Padre Pio has been remembered on Vatican City stamps. In 1999, a stamp and souvenir sheet were issued to honor his beatification, and in 2018 a stamp was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death (the stamp was issued in a four-stamp minisheet format). Francesco Forgione was born near Naples and became a Capuchin friar in 1903. He took the name Pio (Pius). He was ordained in 1910. In 1911 he received an ‘invisible stigmata’ and experienced pains of scourging and wearing a crown of thorns. He spent most of his life, except for brief service as an orderly during World War I, at San Giovanni Rotondo, a friary near Foggia in the southern Italy region of Apulia. In 1918, the signs of the stigmata became visible. He was repeatedly examined by physicians and, while he tried to hide these wounds, his fame spread and crowds were attracted to San Giovanni Rotondo. A hospital was constructed on the grounds of the friary. A larger one was completed in 1947, named 'The House for the Relief of Suffering'. In 1956 it became a hospice for the elderly and retreat center as well as a place for study. Padre Pio died on September 23, 1968. After his death, signs of the stigmata vanished. He was beatified in 1999 and canonized in 2002 by St. John Paul II, who recalled Padre Pio’s ‘extra-ordinary charity' and long hours in confession directing souls. The canonization Mass, celebrated on June 16, 2002, was held in Saint Peter's Square and was attended by an estimated 300,000 people, one of the largest such ceremonies in Church history and a testimony to the popularity of this beloved saint. Padre Pio (1887-1968) From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain REFERENCES: Farmer, David, Oxford Dictionary of Saints Beutner, Dawn Marie, Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every day of the Year Crimando, Thomas, Vatican Notes, Volume 47, Number 6, 1999, page 6, Padre Pia Da Pietrelcina Giorgetti, Lou, Vatican Notes, Volume 72, Number 399, 2024, pp. 10-21, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: Friar & Saint Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search