What: Saint Padre Pio relics tour in Cincinnati, Ohio
When: Wednesday Oct. 3, 2018
7:30 A.M. Rite of Reception
8:00 A.M. – 6:30 P.M. Pilgrims venerating relics
7:00 P.M. Mass to honor St. Pio celebrated by Archbishop Schnurr
Where: St. Peter in Chains Cathedral; 325 W. 8th St. Cincinnati, OH
Who: Catholics of the region

The official relics of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina will be on display to the public on Wednesday Oct. 3rd at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati, Ohio. All are welcome to come and venerate the official relics of one of the most beloved and well-known saints of the 20th century. The relics will be on display in cooperation with the Saint Pio Foundation.

The relics began a tour in the United States in 2017. This year more than 40 cities are hosting the relics and more than 500,000 Catholics are expected to venerate the relics.
In total, six relics will be on display. The faithful will be able to touch the reliquaries that contain the relics. Included in the relic tour, the gloves of St. Pio that he wore to cover the spontaneous sores on his hands recognized as the wounds of Christ, also known as the stigmata.

The day will begin with a reception of the relics following 7 A.M. Mass in the cathedral. Throughout the day thousands of pilgrims are expected to venerate the relics while they remain on display in the cathedral. Please be aware that the cathedral is prepared for a large number of attendees and long lines may form as the faithful gather to pray before the relics. Veneration of the relics will continue until 6:30 P.M.

Following the veneration, Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, will offer a Mass in honor of Saint Padre Pio beginning at 7 P.M. at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral.

The following biography of St. Padre Pio was provided by The Saint Pio Foundation:
St. Pio, called “Padre Pio” in life, was an Italian priest known for his charity and love for the people around him. He bore the wounds of Christ, which still cannot be explained. Born Francesco Forgione in 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy, he was the son of peas- ant farmers. At age 15, he entered a novitiate with the Capuchin Franciscan Friars in Morcone.
Once he joined the Friary of St. Francis, he had several bouts of serious illness and religious ecstasy. Friars reported that strange noises would come from his cell. Padre Pio frequently spoke about attacks from the devil, and it was there where these battles had taken place. Although he remained ill, he was ordained a priest in 1910 at the Cathedral of Benevento in southern Italy.
Drafted into the Italian Medical Corps in 1916, he was sent home because of chronic bronchitis, and moved to our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, where he taught seminary students and prayed with the townspeople.

In August of 1918, Pio began experiencing a painful stigmata that would come and go over a period of weeks. This would soon become permanent, and remain on his body for the next 50 years. It only disappeared miraculously a few days before his death in September 1968. Countless experts and doctors looked at his wounds with no clear explanation. Some questioned the authenticity of the wounds, and others could not find a sure diagnosis. While he never had a fever or drops in blood pressure, the wounds bled day after day for 50 years.
In the beginning, Padre Pio felt great humiliation at the wounds on his body, but he welcomed the pain for all of mankind. He stated many times that his “greatest wish was to die.” He was visited by many pilgrims wishing to see some of the miraculous manifestations that his presence attracted.

Padre Pio died of a heart attack at Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo on Sept. 23, 1968. Many of the friars were eager and willing to begin the great process of canonization. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Mass on May 2, 1999, in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. On June 16, 2002, he was canonized by Pope John Paul II.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 44th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with more than 450,000 Catholics, and has the fifth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 40,000 students. The 19-county territory includes 211 parishes and 111 Catholic primary and secondary schools.