If a single twentieth-century saint can be said to belong to the whole Catholic world, it is Padre Pio. The Capuchin friar from a small town in southern Italy bore the stigmata for fifty years, heard confessions for ten to nineteen hours a day at his peak, founded a hospital that still serves tens of thousands annually — and quietly became the most popularly venerated saint of the century, alongside Mother Teresa and John Paul II.
His feast falls on 23 September. This is who he was, what he taught, and the prayers Catholics around the world still say in his name.
A Short Life of Padre Pio
He was born Francesco Forgione on 25 May 1887 in Pietrelcina, a small farming village in the Italian Apennines south of Naples. Pious from early childhood — he later said he saw and spoke with his guardian angel from the age of five — he entered the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin at fifteen, took the name Brother Pio, and was ordained a priest in 1910.
After several years of fragile health and periodic mystical experiences, he was permanently assigned in 1916 to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo in remote Gargano, where he would spend the next fifty-two years until his death.
On 20 September 1918, while praying before a crucifix in the choir loft, he received the visible stigmata — the five wounds of Christ — in his hands, feet, and side. They would remain, bleeding daily, for the rest of his life. Modern medicine never produced an explanation. The Vatican investigated at length (twice imposing periods of restriction on his ministry); after thorough examinations, the wounds were accepted as authentic and Padre Pio's ministry was restored.
He died on 23 September 1968, aged eighty-one. The stigmata closed in the hours before his death, leaving no scars — as if Christ had taken them back. He was beatified in 1999 and canonized on 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II before an estimated three hundred thousand people in St. Peter's Square. His body, exhumed and found largely intact, is on permanent display at the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, which receives over seven million pilgrims annually — second only to Lourdes in Catholic pilgrimage.
What He Was Known For
The Confessional. This was the heart of his ministry. For decades, Padre Pio heard confessions for ten, fifteen, sometimes nineteen hours a day. Pilgrims came from across Italy, then Europe, then the world, often waiting days for their turn. He had the reputed gift of reading souls — knowing what penitents had forgotten or were too ashamed to say. He was known to send people away if he sensed they had not made a full confession, with the suggestion to return when ready.
Bilocation. Numerous credible witnesses across decades reported seeing or speaking with Padre Pio in places he had never physically traveled. The Church considered the testimony seriously enough that bilocation is now part of the official documentation of his life.
Healings. Hundreds of medically documented healings have been attributed to his intercession, both during his life and after his death. The miracles required for his beatification and canonization were rigorously screened.
The Mass. His Mass often lasted hours rather than the usual forty minutes, because he would weep, pause, sometimes appear to enter ecstasy at the consecration. People came to attend it as if it were a pilgrimage in itself.
The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza ("Home for the Relief of Suffering") — the hospital he founded in 1956 in San Giovanni Rotondo. It is now one of the largest hospitals in southern Italy, with over a thousand beds and a research center, and it remains his most concrete legacy.
His Most-Quoted Words
Padre Pio's spiritual counsel was famously direct. A handful of his sayings are still quoted daily in Catholic homes around the world:
"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."
That single sentence is the most-printed Padre Pio quote on holy cards, kitchen magnets, and parish bulletins on three continents.
"Have courage and do not fear the assaults of the devil. Remember this forever: it is a healthy sign if the devil shouts and roars around your conscience, since this shows that he is not inside your will."
"The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain."
"In your hardest moments, take refuge under the mantle of the Holy Virgin. There, even the demons are afraid to enter."
The Famous Prayer After Holy Communion
The Prayer to Stay With Me, Lord (sometimes attributed to him, more accurately popularized by him — the prayer is older) is one of the most beloved post-Communion prayers in the Catholic Church:
Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close...
The prayer goes on at length; many Catholics know the opening lines by heart and recite them every Sunday after Mass.
The Padre Pio Novena (the "Efficacious Novena")
The novena Padre Pio prayed daily for the intentions entrusted to him is one of the most-prayed novenas in the contemporary Catholic Church. It can be prayed at any time for any intention; many Catholics begin it nine days before his feast (September 14–22, to end on his feast day).
The structure is simple: each day, three sets — Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be — followed by the concluding prayer:
O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to you, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." Behold, I knock, I seek, and ask for the grace of [name your petition].
O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give you." Behold, in Your name I ask the Father for the grace of [name your petition].
O my Jesus, You have said, "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth shall pass away but My word shall not pass away." Encouraged by Your infallible words I now ask for the grace of [name your petition].
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender Mother and ours.
Say the Hail Holy Queen and add: Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us.
How the Feast Is Marked Around the World
In Italy, 23 September sees pilgrims pouring into San Giovanni Rotondo. Padre Pio is one of Italy's national saints — alongside Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, and Anthony of Padua. Every Italian parish has at least one statue or image of him; many have a relic.
In Poland, devotion to św. Ojciec Pio is remarkably strong — possibly the strongest outside Italy. Polish pilgrims to San Giovanni Rotondo number in the hundreds of thousands annually. His prayer groups (Gruppi di Preghiera di Padre Pio) have parishes in every Polish diocese.
In Brazil, Padre Pio appears in countless parishes alongside Brazilian-born saints. The novena and the Stay With Me prayer are widely prayed; relics circulate among Brazilian parishes for veneration each September.
In Portugal and Spain, devotion expanded greatly after the 2002 canonization. Many parishes mark his feast with votive Mass and the novena.
In Germany and Austria, Pater Pio prayer groups continue meeting in parishes and Capuchin houses. The German-language Padre Pio Foundation (Padre-Pio-Werk) sponsors retreats and publications.
How to Mark His Feast
A simple shape for Wednesday, 23 September 2026:
Morning. Pray the Stay With Me, Lord prayer (or the opening lines). Bring one intention you would have brought to Padre Pio's confessional.
During the day. Pray the Efficacious Novena (about five minutes) for a concrete intention. Or read a chapter of his letters — the Epistolario of Padre Pio is available in English translation and shows his spiritual direction at its most direct.
At Mass. Many parishes celebrate a votive Mass for St. Pio of Pietrelcina; if your parish has a Padre Pio prayer group, they often gather that day.
Almsgiving. Padre Pio's hospital (Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza) accepts donations from anywhere. Giving to your local hospital chaplaincy is equally in his spirit.
Before bed. Pray slowly: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. Let it be the last thought before sleep.
Where This Fits at Haven
If anxiety, weariness, or the long-confession kind of weight is part of your week, the bible verses for anxiety collection and the confession guide sit close at hand. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy guide is another short daily prayer in the same family of practice as the Padre Pio novena — and his contemporary, St. Faustina, gave it to the Church in the same century.
For one verse handed to you each morning, Haven's daily verse refreshes daily.
A Final Word
Padre Pio was not a comfortable saint. He told people the truth about themselves. He prayed for hours and bled from the wounds of Christ for fifty years. He built a hospital because he believed suffering was real and deserved relief, not just a sermon.
If his feast catches you tired, anxious, or quietly carrying something heavy, his words to you are the same as to every penitent who walked out of the confessional at San Giovanni Rotondo:
Pray, hope, and don't worry. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us.