ST. Padre Pio
Patron: Civil Defense Volunteers
Padre Pio, whose real name was Francesco Forgione was born on May 25, 1887 in Pietralcina, a small town in southern Italy. Every since he was a child he always showed love towards the religious lifestyle. It is said that at the age of 5 Padre Pio had already dedicated his life to God. At the age of sixteen he entered a religious order called “Capuchin Friars”. “There was something which distinguished him from the other students, whenever I saw him he was always humble and silent”, one of his peers had said. What astonished them the most was Pio’s love for prayer. In the year 1910 at the age of 23 Padre Pio had been ordained as a priest. After celebrating a Mass on September 1918, he had received what is known as a “Stigmata”. His hands and feet were subjected with the same wounds of Christ; he was the first priest ever to have received the gift of Stigmata. The news of this spread all over the world and people flocked to witness this miracle. Scientists had examined the wounds over and over but could never come up with an explanation. He had performed many miracles which included curing a blind little girl. Pio was also rewarded by God with other magnificent gifts such as the gift of perfume which was the beautiful odor of roses that marked Padre Pio’s presence and Pio’s ability to visit the needy from far distances from where he was without ever leaving. He also taught that those who choose to love their money and other possessions or positions do not always contain what they love, but those who choose to love God possess him. Pio encouraged people to practice to be humble, kind, courteous, and agreeable, and when those who do not respond to these acts we must be patient with, because patience maintains the order in ones life. When these acts are acted upon one another it helps people to imitate what is happening, in which he thought could eventually make this world a better place.
I picked Padre Pio not for just the very unusual but amazing stigmata, but I picked Pio as my patron saint because of how his life goes to show that even at the youngest of ages you can be connected to god and how his encouragement for people to practice to be humble, kind, courteous, and agreeable had a very big impact on the catholic religion.