San Giovanni Rotondo

Located in the City of San Giovanni Rotondo, originally built in 1538, the Capuchin Monastery is the site where the Saint Pio lived from September, 1916, until his death in September, 1968.

Next to the Monastery rises the Old Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Our Lady of Grace), originally dedicated to Santa Maria degli Angeli, consecrated in 1629. In this small church with a capacity for about eighty people, Saint Pio celebrated Mass and heard confessions. It was here that Saint Pio received the sign of the visible stigmata in 1918.

The door to the old church has a ceramic semicircle over it depicting the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. As Saint Pio gained notoriety for his stigmata, the church became too small to accommodate all the pilgrims who came to get a glimpse of him and to get his blessing. Construction of a new, much larger church was started adjacent to the old church in July, 1956, and was inaugurated in July, 1959.

The main altar of the new church originally had a mosaic created by Prof. Bedini and depicting only Our Lady of Grace, but after Saint Pio of Pietrelcina was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002, a figure of Saint Pio and an angel in the clouds was added to the design.

The basement of the new church served as the crypt for the body of Saint Pio from his death until April, 2010, when his remains were placed in a new metallic coffin and transferred to the crypt of the Saint Pio Pilgrimage Church.

Known the world over as the “Hospital of Saint Pio”, the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for Relief of the Suffering) is a religious hospital, entrusted to the Holy Father by Saint (Padre) Pio. The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation, of which the hospital is part, “is under the control of the Holy See in the person of Cardinal Secretary of State “pro tempore” which on the same Foundation shall exercise the custody”.

The intention of Saint Pio was to create a structure which alleviated the suffering of the sick, to give comfort and solidarity to a person crushed by pain and suffering, both physical and psychological.

The mission of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is clearly summed up in the words pronounced by San Pio the 5th of May 1966:

"Ladies, gentlemen and brothers in Christ, the Home for Relief of Suffering is complete. I thank all the benefactors from all over the world that have cooperated. This is the creature that Providence, aided by you, has created. I present it to you; admire it and bless the Lord God with me. A seed has been placed in the earth that He will warm with his rays of love. A new army, built on sacrifice and love, is about to arise for the glory of God and for the comfort of sick souls and bodies.
 
“Do not deprive us of your help. Collaborate in this apostolate of relief of human suffering, and God, which knows no bounds and which is the very light of God and of eternal life, will generously store up for each of you a treasure of grace that Jesus has for us. Become heirs on the cross.
 
This work that you see today is at the beginning of its life, but in order to grow and to mature, this creature needs to be fed; therefore, I beg you to be generous so that it does not perish from starvation and that it can become a hospital city, technically capable of addressing the most challenging clinical needs and actively joined with the ascetic Franciscan order – a place of prayer and science where mankind finds itself in Christ crucified as one flock with one shepherd.

Part of the journey has been completed; however, let us not stop the pace. Let us respond quickly to God's call for the cause of good, each one fulfilling his duty – I, in incessant prayer as a worthless servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you with the poignant desire to embrace all of suffering humanity and to present it with me to the Heavenly Father's mercy; you with action illuminated by grace, with liberality, with perseverance in doing good, with righteous intention, advancing in humility of spirit and with your heart aloft. The Lord blesses those who have worked, those who are working, and those who will work for this Home by rewarding you and your families with many times what you give in this life and with eternal joy in the other.
 
May the Most Holy Virgin of Grace and the Seraphic Father St. Francis of Heaven and the Vicar of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff on earth, intercede so that our vows are granted."