Padre Pio, a humble Capuchin priest from San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, was blessed by God in many wonderful and mysterious ways. The most dramatic was the stigmata. Padre Pio bore the wounds of Christ for fifty years! Among his other gifts were perfume, bilocation, prophecy, conversion, reading of souls, and miraculous cures.

Padre Pio and the Stigmata

Padre Pio and the Stigmata Padre Pio bore the wounds of Jesus on his hands, feet, and side for 50 years. Several days before he died in 1968, all evidence of the wounds disappeared. On October 22, 1918, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto, describing how he received the stigmata. "On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass, I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. All the internal and external senses and even the very faculties of my soul were immersed in indescribable stillness. Absolute silence surrounded and invaded me.

I was suddenly filled with great peace and abandonment which effaced everything else and caused a lull in the turmoil. All this happened in a flash. "While this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. The sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should die and really should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest.

"The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition. Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation" (Letters 1, No. 511).

The Death of Padre Pio On Friday, September 20,1918, Padre Pio received the impression of the wounds of Christ on his hands, his feet and his side. This Gift of Love from Christ he carried for fifty years. He was the only priest in the history of the Church as far as we know, who was blessed with the stigmata.

On another Friday, September 20, 1968, fifty years later, he celebrated Mass as he usually did at 5:00 A.M. He was extremely weak and was helped to the altar in a wheelchair. He celebrated the Mass while seated, with the permission of his spiritual son, Pope Paul VI. An unusual thing began to come about. Prayer groups and thousands of his Spiritual Children began to arrive in San Giovanni Rotondo atop Monte Gargano in southern Italy. There had been no arrangement made by the Capuchins, no organized gathering had been planned, yet his"children" as he affectionately called them gathered as if for some special occasion. Despite his weakness he heard confessions until his superior ordered him to rest. That was Friday.

On Saturday, he was so weak he had to spend the day in bed. The crowds gathered in Our Lady of Grace Church to pray for Padre Pio's recovery. God had healed him before; surely He would heal him again.

On Sunday, the 22nd, he did celebrate his 5:00 A.M. morning Mass for all his prayer groups. Again he was wheeled into the church and celebrated Mass while seated. His voice was weak. It was apparent that he had little strength. In fact, at the end of the Mass he almost collapsed. He was helped from the altar by his brother Friars, and as he was wheeled into the sacristy he was heard to whisper, "Oh my children!" Few of his children realized that he had just celebrated his last Mass.

On that day, the crypt which had been made for Padre Pio was blessed by the bishop. Some years earlier, in 1959 at the opening of the new church, Padre Pio had said, "When the crypt is blessed God will call Padre Pio home." At that time, no one remembered his prophecy; they all felt he would be healed.

At noon, he came to the little window in his cell. His friars supported him as he waved his hand weakly and blessed the anxious crowd outside.

About 1:00 A.M. the following morning Padre Pio rang the little bell beside him. He was seated in an arm chair dressed in his Franciscan habit. His superior sent immediately for the doctor in Padre Pio's hospital LaCasa Sollievo Della Sofferenza. Padre Pio went to confession. His Capuchin brothers administered the last rites. He renewed his Franciscan vows. His rosary was in his hands as it always was. He fingered the beads. He was unable to say the Hail Mary, but he repeated over and over again the names Jesus and Maria. About 2:30, he opened his eyes very wide and said: "I see two mothers." (His earthly mother and his Heavenly Mother.) As he exhaled his last breath, he whispered "Maria."

For a few moments his cell was blooming with the heavenly fragrance that so often came from his wounds during his fifty years of suffering.

It was estimated that about 100,000 attended his funeral. Most of them had come to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his stigmata. They did not realize they would be witnesses to a great event in Church history - the "going home" of a future saint.