Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

Popular veneration

Padre Pio in a sketch by Roberto Lughetti, 1966 ©

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina was an Italian Capuchin friar and mystic. He died in 1968 at the age of 81.

Saint Pio was credited with thousands of miraculous cures during his lifetime, and is still venerated as a miracle-worker.

For years the Vatican opposed the cult which grew up around Padre Pio, but then changed its attitude, granting him the highest honour possible after his death: full sainthood.

He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and his feast day falls on 23rd September.

Veneration and canonisation

Pio is revered for having borne stigmata: permanent wounds on his hands and feet like those Christ suffered at the crucifixion. He lived for decades with these bleeding wounds.

Doctors never found a medical explanation for the injuries, which never healed but never became infected. Pio's followers said he bore the wounds of the crucified Christ.

Pio leading Mass, circa 1950, with coverings protecting the stigmata on his hands ©

Even before his canonisation, Padre Pio's former monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo had become a major site of pilgrimage for Catholics from around the world. His shrine there receives eight million visitors a year. Pio's image is displayed in homes, shops, garages - even on the backs of trucks - in many parts of Italy.

Pio was canonised by the late Pope John Paul II in 2002. John Paul II was said to have a special affection for Padre Pio, and as a young man travelled to his monastery in southern Italy for confession.

The approval of Padre Pio's sainthood took place in record time, but during his lifetime many in the Church doubted claims of his miraculous cures and suggested he was a fraud.

Miracles

Pio's cell, where he was said to have wrestled the devil ©

Pio was said to have known what penitents would confess to him. He reportedly wrestled with the devil in his cell.

In granting him sainthood, the Church officially recognised two of his miracles: the curing of an 11-year-old boy who was in a coma and the medically inexplicable recovery of a woman with lung disease.

Pio and Seasonal Affective Disorder

Patron saint of January

In 2007 the Catholic Enquiry Office (CEO) in London declared Saint Pio as the patron saint of stress relief and the January blues. This followed research from a health psychologist at Cardiff University that named 22 January as the single most depressing day of that year.

The formula is based on the poorest weather, seasonal debt, the anti-climax after Christmas, the abandonment of New Year's resolutions and the dates when motivation levels hit rock bottom - and the date chosen is always a Monday.

The CEO launched Don't Worry Be Happy Day in response. They chose Saint Pio to lead it because they believe his most famous catchphrase, "Pray, hope and don't worry", is particularly appropriate to the winter blues. Claire Ward from the CEO said:

Statue of Pio ©

She claims that prayer is an important aid to relaxation regardless of one's personal beliefs about God.

Gathering one's thoughts and having a quiet time, she says, brings new hope. In turn, this helps to offset worries and gives people a new perspective on life.

Find out more

• Roman Catholicism
• John Paul II