Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) is known for many gifts, including his gift of healing.  He had a special place in his heart for those who suffer in the hospital, and in 1947, he proposed the creation of a hospital called “La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” (The Home for the Relief of Suffering).  In fact, he considered his hospital to be his work, and he said that God would bless those who bless his work.  On the day of the hospital’s opening on May 5, 1956, Padre Pio stated, “A seed has been sown on the earth that will warm with the rays of His love.  A new army made of sacrifices and love will rise in God’s glory and comfort the souls and bodies of the sick.”

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen said that the greatest tragedy is wasted suffering, especially in a hospital.  The sick have much to offer, and in many ways they are the Church’s most powerful army.  Please know that your suffering is precious and needed for the Church.  It is critical that you not only pray for the Pope but for all the needs of the Church and world.  Your prayers, united to your suffering, are precious treasures and gems in the sight of God.  When you offer up your suffering and give from the treasures of your pain, rest assured that God will abundantly bless you for your selflessness.

Pope Francis said that the Church should look to Padre Pio as a powerful intercessor, and Fr. Stefan Starzynski took that seriously while he was the Catholic Chaplain at Inova Fairfax Hospital from 2015-2023.  From day one, Fr. Stefan began handing out prayer books to patients that he visited in the hospital, eventually developing this into an entire Prayer Folder full of prayers and information.  On May 23, 2018, Padre Pio appeared to Fr. Stefan in a dream, where Padre Pio’s face appeared on the cover of the Prayer Folder.  This dream convinced Fr. Stefan that Padre Pio was blessing our Ministry’s work of handing out Prayer Folders to patients in the hospital, and it led us to refer to the Arlington Diocesan Hospital Ministry as the Padre Pio Ministry to the Suffering and name this website as www.padrepioministry.org.

On a personal level, Padre Pio wants to take you under his wings and into his heart and prayers.  In a letter to a spiritual daughter, Padre Pio stated: “I have made a pact with the Lord: when my soul has been purified in the flames of purgatory and deemed worthy to be admitted to the presence of God, I will take my place at the gate to paradise, but I shall not enter until I have seen the last of my spiritual children enter.”

The first group of Spiritual Children began at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy in 1917, where Padre Pio met with them at least twice a week and encouraged them to live a virtuous life, fighting weaknesses and temptations.  He insisted on obedience, frequent reception of the Sacraments, a daily Rosary for the Church and to fight evil, and the need for meditation and mortification.  As this group grew and spread, Padre Pio remarked: “Many, many, many more will come, but my arms will reach out to embrace the whole world.” 

Even now in Heaven, Padre Pio welcomes those who ask to be one of his spiritual children, with the same conditions that he gave on earth: “I accept you willingly as my Spiritual Children, on the condition that you always be good and not give bad example before God and man, that you be examples of a good Christian life.”  Essentially, we must approach Padre Pio with a true and sincere conversion of heart, ready to deepen our faith regardless of our situation in life.  He also said that, “Once I take on a soul, I also take on the entire family as my spiritual children.”