St. Padre Pio was the first priest to ever receive the stigmata –– the wounds of Christ.
While St. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan Order that St. Padre Pio entered, received the stigmata, he was not a priest.
St. Padre Pio has many sayings attributed to him, but one that stands out is:
“I will stand at the gates of Heaven until all my spiritual children have entered.”
He is the saint who never gives up on us and never stops praying for us.
