SAINT PIO OF PEITRELCINA, a/k/a PADRE PIO

(1887-1968)

This stamped photo from Italy, in a beautiful wooden frame, captures the personality of the humble, holy, Italian Capuchin monk and mystic.

Patron Saint of: Pietrelcina, Italy; Italy; Civil Defense Volunteers; Adolescents; Stress Relief; "January Blues"

Consumed with a burning love for our Lord, Padre Pio, OFM, Cap., was granted many spiritual gifts by God. Notably, he was the first priest to receive the Stigmata - the wounds of Christ on his hands, feet and in his side - when Christ appeared to him and asked him to share in His Passion. Offering constant prayers and the suffering from these visible wounds for the remaining 50 years of his life, the saint tirelessly labored to console our Crucified Lord and to save souls.

He was a victim of love on the altar, where he became one with Christ in the Eucharistic immolation, and in the Confessional, where he reconciled innumerable souls with God through his compassion with the sinner.

St. Pio exercised the ministry of Confession for 58 years, giving hours and hours, morning and evening, to those who came to him from near and far: men and women, sick and healthy, rich and poor, clergy and lay people, even non-Christians and non-believers. This is his major claim to glory, the test of his holiness and the brightest example he left for priests throughout the world, for this century and for centuries to come.