The Relics of Padre Pio will be displayed for veneration on

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Saints Peter and Paul will host the only 2023 Padre Pio Relic Tour in Illinois

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Francesco Forgione, OFMCap, better known as Padre Pio, was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He was beatified in 1999 and canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. His relics are exposed in a golden crypt in the sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, next to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, now a major pilgrimage site. He has become one of the world’s most popular saints, a patron of the sick, and known for healings through his intercession.

The U.S.-based Saint Pio Foundation continues to sponsor tours of the relics of Padre Pio in (arch)dioceses and parishes across North America. The majority of those attending the relics tour would never be able to travel to San Giovanni Rotondo or Pietrelcina to visit the places where the Saint was born, lived, and died.

The visitation of these relics allows the faithful to have a spiritual encounter with Padre Pio, to spend time in prayer, and to ask for his intercession.

Free parking is available in all church lots, as well as neighborhood street parking. Visitors are asked to process through the veneration line that begins at the main (west) church doors; a handicapped entrance and exit is located on the north side of the church (see map link above). Recitation of the Holy Rosary and talks on the life of Padre Pio will occur throughout the day.

The relics will be displayed near the altar, with pews reserved for silent prayer and devotion. Free-will offerings may be made to the Saint Pio Foundation. Religious items will be available for purchase from 9 am to 6:30 pm.

The authentic relics of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina are the following:

1. The crusts of his wounds (shown)

2. Cotton gauze bearing his blood stains

3. A lock of his hair

4. His handkerchief soaked with his sweat only hours before he died

5. A piece of Padre Pio's mantle/garment