St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Timeline of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

1887

Born in Pietrelcina

Francesco Forgione was born on May 25 to peasant farmers Grazio and Maria Giuseppa Forgione in a small town in southern Italy, and baptized the next day.

16 years later

1903

Takes the Capuchin habit

At fifteen he entered the Capuchin novitiate at Morcone and on January 22 received the brown habit and the name Brother Pio.

7 years later

1910

Ordained a priest

He was ordained on August 10 in the cathedral at Benevento. Weeks later, praying at the family farm, the wounds of Christ first appeared on his body and then faded.

6 years later

1916

Sent to San Giovanni Rotondo

Assigned to the remote mountain friary of Our Lady of Grace, where he would remain for fifty years until his death.

2 years later

1918

Receives the visible stigmata

On September 20, praying after Mass in the choir loft, the five wounds opened permanently — the first priest in the Church's history to bear them.

1923–1933

Silenced by the Holy Office

Amid slander and suspicion he was barred from public Mass and the confessional, and nearly transferred — until the townspeople rose to keep him.

1956

Opens a hospital

The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza — the Home for the Relief of Suffering — was inaugurated on May 5 before a crowd of fifteen thousand.

12 years later

1968

Dies at San Giovanni Rotondo

He died on September 23, the wounds healed without a scar. His last words were 'Jesus, Mary.'

31 years later

1999

Beatified

Pope John Paul II, who had visited him as a young priest in 1947, beatified him in St. Peter's Square on May 2.

3 years later

2002

Canonized

John Paul II declared him a saint on June 16, before one of the largest crowds ever gathered in Rome.