CNA Staff, Feb 10, 2024 / 08:00 am
A foundation dedicated to spreading devotion to St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, is set to open a chapel in rural Kansas this weekend that will permanently host a first-class relic of the saint.
Luciano Lamonarca, the founder of the Saint Pio Foundation, told CNA that the plan is to inaugurate five chapels dedicated to the saint, each with a first-class relic, across the United States in the four cardinal directions so that they form the shape of a cross on a map, with the Kansas chapel forming the cross’ center.
The inaugural chapel, located inside St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Beloit, Kansas, opens Feb. 11 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Gerald Vincke of the Diocese of Salina, after which the relic of St. Pio will be officially placed.
Lamonarca, who founded the St. Pio Foundation in 2014, said he has seen devotion grow to St. Pio in the United States in the decade since he founded the organization. He said it is common to hear stories of devotees traveling great distances to pray with relics of St. Pio, especially for healing.