When he was a child, Francis Forgione was noted among the villagers of Pietrelcina, Italy for his piety. No one was surprised when he became a Capuchin monk and in due time was ordained a priest under the name Padre Pio—Father Pius. He developed tuberculosis, but continued his priestly duties, though he sometimes fell into ecstatic trances while saying Mass. During one trance, in 1918, Padre Pio collapsed and had to be carried unconscious from the church. Those who examined him found bleeding wounds in his hands and feet and a wound in his...
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