Padre Pio The Pierced Priest Author:Jim Gallagher A million people every year visit the tomb of Padre Pio. His fame stems not only from his extraordinary Christian faith and devotion, but also from the many supernatural gifts with which he was seemingly blessed. Most famously, he was the only priest ever to have received the stigmata or wounds of Christ. Born in southern Italy in 1887, he joine... more »d the Capuchin friars in 1903, becoming a priest in 1910 and receiving the stigmata in a dramatic episode in 1918. He never left his mountainside friary at San Giovanni Rotondo, which quickly became a place of pilgrimage. The young Karol Wojtyla visited him in 1947, receiving the sacrament of confession from him. When he died in 1968, Padre Pio was receiving 5,000 letters a month from his "spiritual children," and huge congregations attended his masses. For believer and non-believer, Padre Pio: The Pierced Priest is an absorbing portrait of a formidable man of God.« less