St. Padre Pio

Francesco Forgione was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, a small farming village in southern Italy. At fifteen he entered the Capuchin Franciscans and took the name Brother Pio, and in 1910 he was ordained a priest. In 1918, while praying before a crucifix, he received the visible wounds of Christ's Passion — the stigmata — which he bore for fifty years. Sent to the remote friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, he became beloved for hearing confessions for up to twelve hours a day, for his gentle counsel to the thousands who flocked to him, and for founding a great hospital for the poor. He often summed up his spirituality in three words: "Pray, hope, and don't worry." He died in 1968 and was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002.