The Phenomenon of Padre Pio

One sees his picture on the tops of collection boxes around the world. The arms are outstretched in the act of benediction, and there are dark stains on the palms of his hands. One sees his picture in houses all over Italy, a silver-bearded, somber-looking Capuchin monk. China plaques on walls invoke his blessing: “Jesus, Mary and Padre Pio, pray for us.” Countless miracles have been attributed to him in the fifty years since the day he awoke from a faint, bleeding from wounds in his hands, feet and side. Over a hundred biographies have been written (three have appeared in the last year or so), discussing the miracles and the wounds, offering medically attested evidence, defending, attacking, praising Padre Pio of Pietralcina.

What is undeniable is that Padre Pio has transformed the life of the barren, poor area of Southern Italy in which he was born, eighty years ago last spring. Because of him, the Gargano district—the spur of Italy’s heel—possesses one of the largest and best hospitals in the South; and the village of San Giovanni Rotondo has become a prosperous town of a dozen hotels.

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Tom Sage

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One sees his picture on the tops of collection boxes around the world. The arms are outstretched in the act of benediction, and there are dark stains on the palms of his hands. One sees his picture in houses all over Italy, a silver-bearded, somber-looking Capuchin monk. China plaques on walls invoke his blessing: “Jesus, Mary and Padre Pio, pray for us.” Countless miracles have been attributed to him in the fifty years since the day he awoke from a faint, bleeding from wounds in his hands, feet and side. Over a hundred biographies have been written (three have appeared in the last year or so), discussing the miracles and the wounds, offering medically attested evidence, defending, attacking, praising Padre Pio of Pietralcina.

What is undeniable is that Padre Pio has transformed the life of the barren, poor area of Southern Italy in which he was born, eighty years ago last spring. Because of him, the Gargano district—the spur of Italy’s heel—possesses one of the largest and best hospitals in the South; and the village of San Giovanni Rotondo has become a prosperous town of a dozen hotels.