‘Pray, hope and don’t worry’: St. Mark hosts relic exposition of St. Padre Pio

By Priscilla Greear - Florida Catholic

SOUTHWEST RANCHES | Rosaria Daquino inherited from her Italian family a devotion to St. Padre Pio and his ministry of healing and reconciliation: Her grandparents actively served in the saint’s parish in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, and her mother received first Communion from him. When Daquino learned about the national tour of relics by the National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, Pa., she joyfully helped bring the exposition to St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Southwest Ranches.

Daquino and approximately 2,800 others contemplated St. Padre Pio’s miraculous, holy life and venerated his relics at St. Mark followed by a holy hour of healing and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the evening of March 26, 2025. From mothers with children to seniors to students at St. Mark the Evangelist School, they prayed before and touched rosaries and other items to six first-class relics and one second-class relic as Knights of Columbus stood guard.

St. Padre Pio was beloved for his piety and charity and for 50 years experienced a stigmata, the physical wounds of Christ crucified, on his hands, feet and side. The relics included St. Padre Pio’s hair, gloves, a piece of his bloodstained shirt, feathers from his pillow, scabs and dried blood, bandages from a wound, and a handkerchief containing tears and blood.

During the reverent and peaceful evening, Daquino thought about her parents and grandparents. “My grandparents were what is considered spiritual children of Padre Pio,” said Daquino, whose grandmother used to clean his blood-stained gloves that covered the stigmata. “I like his saying ‘Pray, hope and don’t worry,’ which is what he’s really known for. Especially today with so much we have going on, it’s so important to pray and to grow closer to God, to have that relationship with God.”

Attendee Magali Caycedo Sanchez prayed with a sense of gratitude for her brother’s successful heart transplant in 2012. During the surgery she prayed for St. Padre Pio’s intercession and her brother saw the saint speaking to the surgeons. “That was a beautiful experience, our family experience with Padre Pio…He was a very beautiful instrument for our Lord Jesus Christ because he was stigmatized for 50 years,” she said. “We really thank God because of the intercession of Padre Pio. We got this miracle. He’s alive in Texas…in good health.”

Relics coordinator and guardian Joseph Santoro of the National Centre for Padre Pio encouraged the faithful to talk to St. Padre Pio as they venerate the relics, “and let him talk to you.”

The relics “do not possess any magical powers. It is your faith that electrifies the power of prayer, then God allows his miracles to happen. And he uses his relics as a conduit.”

St. Pio of Pietrelcina was born in 1887 in Italy and was ordained a priest in 1910 with the Franciscan Capuchin Order. He was sent to the agricultural community of San Giovanni Rotondo where he grew in holiness and spiritual gifts, including the appearance of the stigmata. He heard up to 50 confessions daily, served as a spiritual director and preached rules for spiritual growth of weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation and examination of conscience. Santoro related how during World War II, allied bombers saw Padre Pio flying with his arms outstretched, preventing them from bombing surrounding towns. Italian General Bernardo Rossini, who said he saw the soaring saint, later visited him and converted to Catholicism.

Before Padre Pio’s death in 1968, Santoro shared how Vera Calandra, a devout Italian American from Pennsylvania, had a fifth child who struggled with severe illness until age two when her bladder was removed. Her doctor told her to take her daughter home to die but instead she headed to Italy to visit St. Padre Pio. Just before his death, he blessed the child and kissed her forehead as the mother prayed to God to “make a miracle so that everyone will believe.” A week later, she returned to the doctor, who was shocked that her bladder had grown back, said Santoro. A year later, Calandra returned to his tomb and “promised to make Padre Pio known throughout the world.” She raised millions for his canonization and by 1998 broke ground for the National Centre. “We are keeping the legacy known and continuing to educate people and bringing people back to the church” just as the saint suffered to bring people to God, said Santoro.

Santoro continues to see stories of faith and healing. He spoke of a young man from Pennsylvania with stage four cancer who touched a relic of the stigmata. “Two weeks later, I got a phone call, and I was shocked from the pastor of his parish wanting to tell me that all forms of cancer in his body were completely gone. He texted me about a week ago saying that his body is starting to make his own blood again,” he said.  “God is still working the miracles through Padre Pio.”

Retired Army Col. Marc Anthony Garcia, who helped guard the relics as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, appreciated the story of Padre Pio’s military intervention. “I was in the military for 31 years and I know firsthand how God, Jesus Christ, is in combat situations. It’s fascinating to hear it and being in a holy space with the relics,” he said.

Garcia took blessed holy oil from the veneration and gave it to his mother in New York. “My mother is 95 and lives alone in Brooklyn, N.Y., and needs that healing.”

St. Mark Grand Knight Mike Peña, a former Pentecostal, relished the “once in a lifetime experience. It’s a feeling of overwhelming joy and peace,” he said.

St. Mark parishioner Olgamarie Tanon, volunteering with the Women of Grace ministry, reflected on how St. Padre Pio led her back to Catholicism after she quit teaching due to arthritis and fell into depression. She was inspired by his holiness and perseverance to keep the faith when others didn’t believe his stigmata. “Padre Pio was one of the first saints that I read about and just everything about his life was impactful.”

Father Jaime Acevedo, pastor of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish, said relic veneration reminds people of the saints’ earthly lives and their powerful testimonies of faith, and can assist the faithful to pray to God more deeply. The priest, who has viewed St. Padre Pio’s uncorrupted body in Italy, draws inspiration to bring mercy and healing to his flock. The saint tirelessly heard confessions and healed many, “not only after death but before it throughout his life.”

Father Acevedo led the final adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. “We ended up with a litany where we’re seeking healing and we’re seeking reconciliation and the mercy of Christ,” he said.

Santoro said that St. Louis Church in Pinecrest also hosted an exposition that drew over 4,000. “Especially during Lent, it is bringing people hope. It’s bringing people back to God and what better way than through the intercession of St. Padre Pio.”