portrait of Pio of Pietrelcina Pio da Pietrelcina,hanging in small church Florence
Padre Pio,stigmatist,Pio of Pietrelcina Pio da Pietrelcina, friar, priest, stigmatist, mystic,venerated saint Roman Catholic ,Padre Pio was already a revered holy man of great humility and piety when he offered himself as a victim to bring an end to WWI, the war considered ‘the suicide of Europe' by Pope Benedict XV. Between August 5 and 7, 1918, Padre Pio had a vision in which the wounded Christ appeared and pierced his side with a lance. The physical wound left by Christ-called a ‘transverberation' or piercing of the heart-indicated to him a union of love with God. Padre Pio would suffer the pains of transverberation for the following seven weeks. Then, on September 20, 1918, while he was kneeling in prayer beneath the crucifix at the Church of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, the wounded Christ appeared to him again. This encounter left stigmata-the same wounds that Christ suffered during his crucifixion. At 31 years old, he was the first priest in the history of the Catholic Church to be recognized as having stigmata. He would bear the painful wounds in his hands and feet for the rest of his Pio was born Francesco Forgione to Grazio Mario and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, a highly religious farming town in the southern Italian region of Campania. A child of very devout shepherds, Francesco began showing extraordinary signs of faith and devotion at an early age. Throughout his childhood, he experienced many heavenly visions and religious ecstasies. He was reportedly able to see and communicate with his guardian angel, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. At the age of five, he consecrated his life to God. In the same period he began inflicting penances on himself. By the time he became a priest, Padre Pio had long endured both physical and spiritual sufferings. Subject to diabolical torments and temptations throughout his life, his celestial visions were often intertwined with demonic apparitions.
Size: 2518px × 3477px
Location: Florence Italy Europe
Photo credit: © David Collingwood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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