Padre Pio Relics

The Relics of Padre Pio were displayed for veneration on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, the only 2023 tour in Illinois. It is estimated that over 8,000 people were in attendance. 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.