Highlights of Padre Pio's Life

25 May 1887. Born in Pietrelcina, Benevento, Italy of Grazio "Orazio" Mario Forgione (1860-1946) and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione (1859-1929).

26 May 1887. Baptized Francesco Forgione.

27 September 1899. Confirmation.

22 January 1903. Took the Habit of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (age 15), entering the novitiate and taking the name Pio. Until priestly ordination he would be called Fra. (Fratello/Br.) Pio.

22 January 1904. Made his First Profession of the Evangelical Counsels of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.

1907. After three years of temporary profession he pronounced his final vows.

10 August 1910. Ordained to the priesthood in the chapel of the Archbishop of Benevento.

September 1910. Received the Stigmata visibly for a short time. He begged God to take them away. He confided it only to his spiritual director.

November 1911. Supernatural phenomenon came to the attention of his superiors when he was observed in ecstasy.

5-7 August 1918. Transverberation of the heart (the phenomenon of the wounding of the heart indicating the union of love with God).

20 September 1918. Received the Visible Stigmata, which would last for 50 years, while praying after Mass in the choir loft of the (old) Church of Our Lady of Grace, next to the Friary.

1919. Rumors that the Church would transfer the local saint began to agitate the populace of San Giovanni.

2 June 1922. Orders of the Holy Office (today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) began to restrict the public's access to Padre Pio.

1924-1931. Various statements of the Holy See deny the supernaturality of Padre Pio's phenomena.

9 June 1931 (Feast of Corpus Christi). Padre Pio ordered by the Holy See to desist from all activities except the celebration of the Mass, which was to be in private.

Early 1933. Pope Pius XI orders the Holy Office to reverse its ban on the public celebration of Mass, saying "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed."

1934. Padre's Pio faculties are progressively restored. First the confessions of men are allowed (25 March 1934) and then of women. (12 May 1934).

23 September 1968. At 2:30 a.m. he died in his cell. As he had foretold he lived sickly but died healthy, with the stigmata healed.

26 September 1968. Buried in the crypt prepared for him in the Church of Our Lady of Grace.