Szlakiem św. ojca Pio z Pietrelciny

Taking the Route of St. Father Pio of Pietrelcina

Summary: This article is a proposal of a pilgrimage along the route of St. Father Pio of Pietrelcina who was an Italian Capuchin, priest and stigmatist. Pope John Paul II beatified him on May 8, 1999. Three years later, on June 16, 2002, in the presence of more than three hundred thousand pilgrims gathered in front of St. Teter’s Basilica in Vatican, he canonised him.
This article is aimed at casting more light at the places connected with the life and activity of that first priest-stigmatist in the history of the Church.. Particular emphasis in the article is put on Pietrelcina, his native place, the monastery in Morcone in which he began his probation, received a Francscan frock and made the first monk’s vows, as well as on San Giovanni Rotondo, a Capuchn monastery in which he lived for fifty two years.
San Giovanni Rotondo is at present the most important place of St. Father Pio’s worship and the most numerously visited pilgrimage centre in Europe. Since 1968, the year of Father Pio’s death, a growing number of pilgrims coming to this sanctuary has been observed. From 1989 to 1998, the number of pilgrims who signed their names in the visitors’ book increased more than four times (1989 - 835,000; 1998 - 3,500,000.). The largest numbers of foreign groups come to the sanctuary from Ireland, Germany, France, United States, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Great Britain. According to the data of the Papal Ministry Council for Migrants and Travellers, as far as the number of pilgrims is concerned, St. Father Pio’s sanctuary in San Giovanni Rotondo is the second largest pilgrimage centre in the world, the first one being Our Lady’s sanctuary in Guadalupe in Mexico. Every year it is visited by about 7.5 million people.
The article also includes a presentation of other towns of Father Pio’s stay, such as: Sant’Elia a Pianisi and San Marco la Catola, in which he studied in the lower and higher secondary schools, Campobasso in whose sanctuary Santa Maria del Monte he assisted in celebrating services, Serracapriola and Montefusco, where he studied theology and also Benevento, where he accepted his holy orders in the local cathedral.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 2004, z.15, s. 105-131.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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