Padre Pio - Engraved Holding Cross

Born in 1887 in a religious family, Francesco Forgione joined the Capuchins in 1903 and took the religious name of Pio. He became a priest in 1910 and was sent in 1916 to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he spent the rest of his life. After early signs of pain, his body was marked by stigmata in 1918. In the 1920s, the Holy See led several investigations to determine whether the stigmata were authentic and imposed limitations on his public appearances to avoid excessive publicity. All sanctions and suspicions were later lifted in 1964 by the Vatican. In the 1940s, Padre Pio supported the construction of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, a hospital inaugurated in 1954, near the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo.