Sanctuary of St. Pio (San Giovanni Rotondo)

The Story

The Sanctuary of St. Pio of Pietrelcina at San Giovanni Rotondo, on the Gargano promontory of southern Italy, has grown up around the Capuchin friary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Padre Pio lived from 1916 until his death in 1968. It is today among the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. Born Francesco Forgione at Pietrelcina in 1887, Padre Pio entered the Capuchin Franciscans as a teenager. In 1918 he reportedly received the stigmata — wounds corresponding to those of the crucified Christ — which he is said to have borne for fifty years. The Church examined his case with great caution over many decades, while the friar himself lived a hidden life of prayer, celebrating Mass with intense devotion and spending long hours daily in the confessional. Moved by the suffering he encountered, he founded the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza ('Home for the Relief of Suffering'), a major hospital that opened beside the friary in 1956 and continues its work today. Padre Pio died on September 23, 1968. He was beatified in 1999 and canonized by Pope St. John Paul II on June 16, 2002, and his feast is kept on September 23. The pilgrimage complex now embraces the old friary church, the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and the vast modern Church of San Pio designed by Renzo Piano, dedicated in 2004, in whose mosaic-lined crypt the saint's body is exposed for veneration. Millions of pilgrims come each year to pray at his tomb, to go to confession, and to seek the intercession of a saint whose life was marked by union with the Passion of Christ.

Church Recognition

Padre Pio was beatified in 1999 and canonized as St. Pio of Pietrelcina by Pope St. John Paul II on June 16, 2002; his feast is inscribed in the General Roman Calendar on September 23, and the sanctuary is entrusted to the Capuchin Franciscans.

Catholic Teaching

The shrine speaks to the Church's teaching on the sacrament of Penance, which St. Pio served for hours each day (CCC 1422–1470), and on redemptive suffering united to the Cross of Christ (CCC 1505–1508), while his reported stigmata are venerated as a sign of that union according to the Church's prudent judgment.

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Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

The complex includes the church of St. Pio and the crypt where his body is venerated.

Go Deeper

The official sanctuary website is https://www.conventosantuariopadrepio.it. Read St. John Paul II's homily for the canonization of Padre Pio (June 16, 2002) and the Catechism on the sacrament of Penance (CCC 1422–1470).