The Church remembers today the Italian Franciscan priest St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as “Padre Pio” and known too for his suffering, humility, and miracles. As a child, he was named Francesco Forgione and at age 10 he felt inspired by the example of a young Capuchin Franciscan. The young Francesco told his parents, “I want to be a friar – with a beard.”
On Jan. 22, 1903, he donned the Franciscan habit for the first time. He took the new name Pio, a modernized Italian form of “Pius,” in honor of Pope St. Pius V. He made his solemn vows four years later, and received priestly ordination in the summer of 1910. Shortly after, he first received the Stigmata – Christ’s wounds, present in his own flesh. Along with these mystical but real wounds, Padre Pio also suffered health problems that forced him to live apart from his Franciscan community for the first six years of his priesthood. By 1916 he managed to re-enter community life at the Friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he lived until his death. He handled many duties as a spiritual director and teacher, covering for brothers drafted into World War I.
Against his own wishes, the friar’s reputation for holiness (and the miracles worked by God through him) began to attract huge crowds. Some Church officials, however, denounced him and had him banned from public ministry in 1931. Pope Pius XI ended the ban two years later, and his successor Pius XII encouraged pilgrimages to Padre Pio’s friary.
Known for patient suffering, fervent prayer, and compassionate spiritual guidance, Padre Pio also lent his efforts to the establishment of a major hospital, the “Home to Relieve Suffering.” Padre Pio died in 1968, and was declared a saint in 2002.
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Cada 23 de septiembre la Iglesia celebra a San Pio de Pietrelcina (1887-1968), a quien afectuosamente el mundo sigue llamando “Padre Pío.” Este franciscano italiano recibió los estigmas de Cristo, quien quiso asociarlo de manera especial a su Pasión. Semejante don (en su principio último y en sus manifestaciones) supera toda explicación científica o cálculo humano. Probablemente, solo sea posible acercarse un poco a este misterio a través de las palabras del propio Santo: “Oh Jesús, mi suspiro y mi vida, te pido que hagas de mí un sacerdote santo y una víctima perfecta.”
El Padre Pío fue fundamentalmente un Santo de lo “ordinario,” en el sentido que, como todo mortal, tuvo que librar las mismas luchas espirituales: era un hombre como cualquiera, con defectos y fragilidades. Entonces, ¿dónde estuvo la diferencia? Puede que la respuesta parezca excesivamente simple: el Padre Pío solo quiso responder al amor de Dios con amor. Se sabe que quien vive consistentemente intentándolo, tarde o temprano, logra alcanzar lo “extraordinario.”
