Today we can be having a look at the town where Padre Pio grew up.
So we'll be having a look at the house and some churches in significant places.
And from this, we're going to try to understand the ambience, the home environment, the influences
on our saint when he was young.
So please do join us for this video.
Hello friends, and welcome to this channel following Padre Pio.
And here we have a series of short stories on the life of our great Saint Padre Pio,
who was Capuchin friar, a mystic and a tremendous miracle worker.
Do stay tuned to find out more about the life of Padre Pio and also to see what his intercession
could do for you.
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In the video today, we aim to have a bit of a visual show of prominent places that Padre
Pio would've been familiar with as he grew up.
And Padre Pio grew up in a town where he said, "In Pietrelcina, no one ever had five lira
in their pockets, but other than money, we had absolutely everything."
This town is about 130 kilometers, approximately 80 miles west of San Giovanni Rotondo.
So that is Padre Pio's monastery, where he remained for the rest of his life.
And Pietrelcina is a small rural village that stems from the late medieval period.
Yet, it is a world renowned village nowadays, as the birthplace of one of Italy's best known
modern saints, Padre Pio.
However, Pietrelcina is often eclipsed by San Giovanni Rotondo, but it is also a treasure
trove of memories of Padre Pio that are associated when he was young, his youth, and also the
early part of his priesthood.
Now, there are many visitors who go to both places and claim that Pietrelcina more authentically
is more faithful to the spirit of Padre Pio.
Of course, it's devoid of all the souvenir stores, the hotels, the grandiose churches
and modern art.
Pietrelcina has largely remained conserved.
It's preserved its origins as a rustic farming village.
On may the 25th, 1887, a Maria Giuseppa Di Nunzio gave birth to a baby boy at home in
her bedroom on Vico Storto Valle, number 27.
And it was 5:00 PM.
His parents, Maria and Grazio, entrusted the protection of their newborn son to Saint Francis.
And in fact, named him after the great Saint Francis of Assisi.
They called him Francesco.
Now the home where Padre Pio was born is open to the public.
And visitors who go there, they are struck by the simplicity of the place.
In fact, it is not a single unit, rather, there's a room here, there's another room,
further up the road.
There are different rooms, but they all overlook the same road.
That was Padre Pio's home.
If we go into the kitchen of his house, we see the original fireplace and furnishings
there.
We can see the utensils as Padre Pio would've used them.
Terra cotta containers, pots, and oil lamp.
And then behind the kitchen, there's a bedroom where the children slept.
This was later converted into a dining room.
The parents' bedroom where Padre Pio was born.
You can see a picture of this.
And then right in the middle of this room is a trap door that leads down into the barn,
which was below.
And that's where Orazio kept his donkey.
It was quite a compact unit.
And then another significant place.
The Church of Santa Anna.
The day after the birth of Francesco, his parents took him to the church.
It's about 250 meters away from Padre Pio's... the home where he was born.
In Santa Anna, the future Padre Pio was baptized.
As we said, he was named Francesco after the great Saint Francis of Assisi.
And Santa Anna is also the oldest church in town.
It's located near what is called the Belvedere.
That's a lookout area, lookout point over Pietrelcina.
And this church traces its origins way back to the 13th century.
But then it was struck with an earthquake.
In 1688, it was razed to the ground with an earthquake and large parts had to be rebuilt.
In that church, we can also see the baptismal font where young Francesco was baptized and
it's located near to the entrance of the church.
In addition, Padre Pio also received his sacraments there.
First communion, confirmation, and also he would make regular confessions there.
There's another significant thing about this church.
And in it, we find the relics of a Saint Pius, the martyr, and he's a second century Pope.
He was originally buried in Rome in the catacombs of St. Priscilla.
And then his relics were donated to the church by some feudal overlords and these relics
are now found beneath the main altar.
And the significant thing about these relics of St. Pius is that Padre Pio would've known
of the relics.
He would've revered the relics and because of this, he chose his religious name, Padre
Pio.
So the Pio comes from Pius St. Pius.
Then we look at another church, Saint Mary of the Angels, and this is a little closer
to the home where Padre Pio was born.
It's called the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
And here Padre Pio celebrated his first mass once he was ordained.
And that was August the 14th, 1910.
Padre Pio, that time of his life, he suffered from severe illnesses.
And so because of this, it was ongoing, he had received a dispensation that he didn't
have to live in community in a Capuchin Friary.
So while Padre Pio lived in Pietrelcina, his pastoral ministry was based here in this church,
Saint Mary of the Angels.
Another significant church, Church of Sacra Famiglia, of the holy family.
And there's also the Padre Pio museum close to it.
It's located apparently at the entrance into town, in Viale Cappuccini and was built during
Padre Pio's lifetime.
He made the express wish to have it built.
And so the wealthy American benefactress, Mary Pyle, a significant follower of Padre
Pio, she ordained that this church would be built.
Work was begun in 1926 and completed some 25 years later.
And next to the church, there's also this... quite a simple museum and it houses relics
of Padre Pio and other significant objects related to the life of Saint Padre Pio.
And then we come to the Madonella door.
It's adjacent to the old city gate, which leads between Padre Pio's home and also the
ancient part of the town called Castello, the Castello district.
There we find the Madonella door.
Above the door we can see some beautiful tiles, the majolica, the glazed ceramic tiles portraying
various things about Padre Pio.
And here, the significant thing of this is that here Padre Pio gathered with people,
with the local residents, and this became the origin of the first prayer groups of Padre
Pio.
So they spread out from there.
Next time we're going to have another video on the life of Padre Pio.
Please do join us for that video.
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