Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Francesco Forgione), priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, who in the friary of the town of San Giovanni Rotondo in Apulia devoted himself wholeheartedly to the spiritual direction of the faithful and the reconciliation of penitents, with such providential care for the needy and the poor that on this day, truly conformed to Christ crucified, he completed his earthly pilgrimage.
Lifespan: 1887–1968
Beatified: 2 May 1999 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II, St. Peter’s Square
Memoria liturgica: 23 September
“The Lord made me see, as in a mirror, that my entire future life would be nothing other than a martyrdom.”
This most worthy follower of Saint Francis of Assisi was born on 25 May 1887 in Pietrelcina, in the Archdiocese of Benevento, to Grazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio. He was baptized the following day with the name Francesco Forgione. At the age of twelve he received the sacrament of Confirmation and his First Communion.
At sixteen, on 6 January 1903, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin at Morcone, where on the 22nd of the same month he received the Franciscan habit and took the name Fra Pio. Having completed the year of novitiate, he made his profession of simple vows and, on 27 January 1907, his solemn vows.
After his priestly ordination, received on 10 August 1910 in Benevento, he remained with his family until 1916 for reasons of health. In September of that year he was sent to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he remained until his death.
Enkindled by love of God and love of neighbor, Father Pius lived to the full his vocation to contribute to the redemption of man, according to the special mission that marked his entire life — a mission he carried out through the spiritual direction of the faithful, through the sacramental reconciliation of penitents, and through the celebration of the Eucharist. The highest moment of his apostolic activity was when he celebrated Holy Mass. The faithful who participated in it perceived there the summit and fullness of his spirituality.
In the realm of social charity, he labored to alleviate the sorrows and hardships of countless families, above all by founding the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for the Relief of Suffering), inaugurated on 5 May 1956.
For Father Pius, faith was life: everything he desired and everything he did was done in the light of faith. He was unceasing in prayer. He spent the day and much of the night in conversation with God. He would say: “In books we seek God; in prayer we find Him. Prayer is the key that opens the heart of God.” His faith led him always to accept the mysterious will of God.
He was continually immersed in supernatural realities. He was not only the man of hope and total trust in God, but he poured these virtues into all who drew near him, through both words and example.
The love of God filled him, satisfying his every longing; charity was the animating principle of his day: God to be loved and made loved. His particular concern was to grow in charity and to help others grow in it.
He expressed the fullness of his charity toward his neighbor by welcoming, for more than fifty years, very many people who came to his ministry and his confessional, seeking his counsel and his consolation. It was almost a siege: people sought him in the church, in the sacristy, in the friary. And he gave himself to all, rekindling faith, dispensing grace, bringing light. But especially in the poor, the suffering, and the sick he saw the image of Christ, and it was above all for them that he gave himself.
He exercised the virtue of prudence in an exemplary manner, acting and giving counsel in the light of God.
His concern was the glory of God and the good of souls. He treated everyone with justice, with integrity, and with great respect.
The virtue of fortitude shone forth in him. He understood early on that his path would be the way of the Cross, and he accepted it at once with courage and with love. For many years he experienced the sufferings of the soul. For years he bore the pain of his wounds with admirable serenity.
When he was subjected to investigations and restrictions upon his priestly ministry, he accepted everything with profound humility and resignation. In the face of unjust accusations and calumnies, he kept silence always, trusting in the judgment of God, of his immediate superiors, and of his own conscience.
He habitually practiced mortification in order to attain the virtue of temperance, in keeping with the Franciscan manner of life. He was temperate in his thinking and his way of living.
Mindful of the commitments he had undertaken in consecrated life, he observed the vows he had professed with generosity. He was obedient in all things to the commands of his superiors, even when they were burdensome. His obedience was supernatural in its intention, universal in its scope, and integral in its execution. He practiced the spirit of poverty with total detachment from himself, from earthly goods, from comforts, and from honors. He had a great predilection for the virtue of chastity. His bearing was modest everywhere and with everyone.
He sincerely considered himself useless, unworthy of God’s gifts, filled with miseries and yet also with divine favors. Amid so much admiration from the world, he would repeat: “I want to be nothing but a poor friar who prays.”
His health, even from his youth, was never robust, and especially in the final years of his life it declined rapidly. Sister Death found him prepared and serene on 23 September 1968, at the age of eighty-one. His funeral was marked by a gathering of the people that was altogether extraordinary.