Visiting Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church
Saturday April 26, 2008
The body of Padre Pio, a popular Italian saint who died 40 years ago, has been exhumed and is on display in a glass coffin at Santa Maria delle Grazie Sanctuary in San Giovanni Rotondo. About seven million pilgrims a year flock to Santa Maria delle Grazie to worship Padre Pio, who came to the Capuchin monastery there in 1916. Besides seeing where Padre Pio said mass, visitors can see his cell that still contains books and clothing that belonged to Padre Pio and the Sala San Francesco where he greeted the faithful.
San Giovanni Rotondo is near Foggia in southern Italy's Puglia region. Take a look at our Puglia map for its location. Here's a list of San Giovanni Rotondo Hotels (book direct) for those wishing to spend the night nearby.
Find out more about Padre Pio with this Padre Pio biography. The Official Padre Pio web site has details about visiting the Sanctuary.
Comments
I am the author of “The Pilgrim’s Italy: A Travel Guide to the Saints,” and I want to let you know that a chapter on St. Pio is included in the book. Recently updated with new information about St. Pio’s ultra modern new church that hold 8,000 pilgrims, the book has a biography of St. Pio and comprehensive information on getting to the shrine. check it out at www.innertravelbooks.com
thanks
I’ve been to San Giovanni Rotondo, and it’s a crazy mishmash of tourists, devout pilgrims, and locals. There’s a hotel on every corner, it seems, and you’ll quickly tire of seeing Padre Pio’s face on every imaginable object.
Having said that, Santa Maria delle Grazie is still an amazing pilgrimage destination, especially if, like me, you’re Catholic. Padre Pio’s furniture, letters and even his handkerchiefs have been preserved for posterity. In spite of the stacks of handkerchiefs, though, a sense of awe pervades the place. You can tell that the pilgrims truly believe that Padre Pio was a saintly person, that his canonization was a validation of what his contemporaries already knew. San Giovanni Rotondo is a bit out of the way, and you’ll share the roads with lots of tour buses, but it’s worth the trip.