St. Padre Pio

Born Francesco Forgione to a peasant family in southern Italy, Pio entered the Capuchin friars as a teenager. In 1918, while praying before a crucifix in the choir loft of San Giovanni Rotondo, he received the stigmata — visible wounds in his hands, feet, and side that bled for the next fifty years.

He spent ten or more hours each day in the confessional, reading the souls of penitents with disconcerting accuracy and offering counsel that reached into the secret corners of their lives. He suffered through Vatican investigations and restrictions on his ministry, bearing them in silence. He founded the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza — "House for the Relief of Suffering" — a hospital that still serves the poor of Apulia.

Crowds came to him in his lifetime and continue to come to his tomb. His counsel to those overwhelmed by their lives was simple and firm: "Pray, hope, and don’t worry."