Devotees of miraculous healer and intercessor Saint Padre Pio will celebrate on Friday, Sept. 23, the feast day of the well-loved saint.
Also known as the great apostle of the confessional, triduum masses were offered in his honor from Sept. 20 to 22 at the St. Pio of Pietrelcina Chapel of the Philippine Center for St. Pio on E. Rodrigues Jr. Avenue, Quezon City.
The praying of the holy rosary and prayer to St. Padre Pio was held at 4:45 p.m. followed by a holy mass at 5:30 p.m.
On Sept. 23, feast day masses will be celebrated at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. The masses will also be live streamed through their Facebook page.
Novena masses were also held from Sept.14 to 22 at the Parish and National Shrine of St. Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas. A feast day mass will be celebrated on Sept. 23.
Because of his huge following in the Philippines, the incorrupt heart relic of the miraculous healer was brought to the country on a pilgrim tour in 2018,
Across the world, thousands of devotees will offer special prayers to mark the 54th death anniversary of the popular Italian priest.
Padre Pio devoted his life to prayer and the Holy Eucharist at the monastery of San Giovanni Rotundo in Italy. He was a sought-after spiritual adviser, healer, and confessor. After he began to manifest the stigmata, the five bleeding wounds of Christ, making him the first stigmatized priest in Church history, he became a point of pilgrimage for the pious.
Born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, he has ordained a Capuchin priest in 1910. He founded the House for the Relief of Suffering Hospital and started a prayer group, which today, has about 400,000 members all over the world. He died on September 23, 1968, and was both beatified on May 2, 1999, and canonized on June 16, 2002, by Saint John Paul II. Many miracles have been attributed to his intercession which has resulted in widespread devotion.