Tuckahoe, N.Y., May 3, 2022 – The Saint Pio Foundation announces that the tour of the relics of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina will make a stop in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville on June 3^rd and June 4^th, 2022, on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of Saint Pio’s canonization.  The relics of Padre Pio, currently available for veneration in other Archdioceses and Dioceses, follows the past years’ sensational and headline-making tours that attracted more than one million of the faithful, and that was covered by some of the most important secular media covered this event, including FOX NEWS, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, to mention just a few.

The relics will be available for public veneration at the Cathedral of the Assumption, located at 433 South 5th Street, Louisville, KY 40202, on Friday, June 3, 2022, from 1:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., and on Saturday, June 4, 2022, from 1:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., with a Mass in honor of Padre Pio, at 5:30 P.M. ET, celebrated by Very Rev. Martin A. Linebach, V.G., Rector of the Cathedral.

“We are indeed grateful to Archbishop Fabre and to Father Linebach for inviting our organization to bring the relics of Padre Pio to the Cathedral of the Assumption.  The most important fact, in our opinion, was that the majority of those attending the tour of the relics of Padre Pio would never be able to travel to San Giovanni Rotondo or Pietrelcina to visit the places where our Saint was born, lived, and died. It has, therefore, become a mission for us to enable these faithful devotees to have a ‘spiritual encounter’ with Padre Pio,” said Founder and CEO Luciano Lamonarca.

On this special occasion, a life-size statue of Padre Pio, titled “I Embrace You,” will be made available to those visiting the Cathedral. This impressive work is a replica of the original statue that was erected in Pietrelcina and dedicated to the “People of the United States of America” on September 23, 2021, on the 53rd anniversary of the Saint’s passing. Sponsored by the Saint Pio Foundation, this masterpiece was conceptualized and given form by the preeminent sculptor Timothy Schmalz, whose large-scale works have been installed in historical churches in Rome and at the Vatican.

The first and second-class relics of Saint Pio available for public veneration include:

– The crusts of his wounds

– Cotton gauze bearing his blood stains

– A lock of his hair

– His handkerchief soaked with his sweat only hours before he died

– A piece of Padre Pio’s mantle

For additional information about the full tour of the relics, please visit our dedicated webpage:

https://www.saintpiofoundation.org/the-tour-of-the-relics-of-padre-pio-2022

ABOUT THE RELICS

In the Catholic Church, relics are physical objects associated with a saint or candidate for sainthood – part of the person’s body or something with which he or she was in contact. Relics are not worshiped but treated with religious respect. Touching or praying in the presence of such an object helps a faithful individual focus on the saint’s life and virtues, so that through the saint’s prayer or intercession before God, the individual will be drawn closer to God.

About the Saint Pio Foundation

Founded in 2014, the Saint Pio Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization that promotes the legacy and teachings of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, popularly known as Padre Pio.