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Relics of St. Padre Pio to Return to Notre Dame Seminary
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August 12, 2022Relics of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina – better known as Padre Pio –will be visiting Notre Dame Seminary (2901 S Carrollton Ave, New Orleans) on August 26th and 27th. Public viewing of the relics will be open on Friday, August 26th from 9am-8pm, and then again on Saturday, August 27th from 9am-4pm.
On Saturday, August 27, 2022, the Most Reverend Gregory M. Aymond, Archbishop of New Orleans, will celebrate a Mass in honor of Saint Pio at 8 a.m. in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at Notre Dame Seminary (seating is limited).
The relics of Saint Pio available for public veneration will be the following:- Saint Pio’s crusts of the wounds
- Cotton-gauze with Saint Pio’s blood stains
- A lock of Saint Pio’s hair
- A piece of Saint Pio’s mantle
- Saint Pio’s handkerchief soaked with his sweat hours before he died
About Saint Pio
St. Pio was born on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy, and baptized Francesco Forgione. He first expressed his desire for priesthood at age 10. In order to pay for the preparatory education, his father, Grazio Forgione, immigrated to the United States in 1899, where he worked for several years.
The future saint entered the Capuchin order at age 15, taking the name Pio. He was ordained a priest in 1910 at the age of 23. During his lifetime, Padre Pio was known as a mystic with miraculous powers of healing and knowledge, who bore the stigmata. Stigmata is the term the Catholic Church uses to speak about the wounds an individual receives that correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. They can appear on the forehead, hands, wrists, and feet.
His stigmata emerged during World War I, after Pope Benedict XV asked Christians to pray for an end to the conflict. Padre Pio had a vision in which Christ pierced his side. A few weeks later, on September 20, 1918, Jesus again appeared to him, and he received the full stigmata. It remained with him until his death on September 23, 1968. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 2002.
About the Relics
In the Catholic Church, relics are physical objects associated with a saint or candidate for sainthood – part of the person’s body or something with which he or she was in contact. Relics are not worshiped, but they are treated with religious respect. Touching or praying in the presence of such an object helps a faithful individual focus on the saint’s life and virtues, so that through the saint’s prayer or intercession before God, the individual will be drawn closer to God.
About the Saint Pio Foundation
The Saint Pio Foundation is a premier national charitable organization that promotes awareness of Saint Pio and his mission by working with institutions and individuals who share the same vision to serve “those in need of relief of suffering.” Funds raised by the Saint Pio Foundation are used to provide grants to American Catholic healthcare, educational, social, religious, and cultural partner organizations. More information about the Saint Pio Foundation can be found at http://www.saintpiofoundation.org.
