ABSTRACT
Padre Pio (1887-1968) was the mystical Capuchin monk who became so famous for his bleeding stigmata and healing powers that he achieved sainthood in relatively short order in 2002. The southern Italian town of San Giovanni Rotondo was his home and is his last resting place. As sainthood in modern Italy is a serious affair and can attract hundreds of thousands of faithful, the architect Renzo Piano was commissioned to design the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in order to meet the spiritual and practical demands of such modern mass veneration.
