Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is the hospital is strongly desired by Padre Pio. Opened on May 5th , 1956 as a private hospital of 250 beds, the hospital is now the most advanced of all the South Italy. Let’s take a step back in time to understand how this miracle occurred.
When Padre Pio arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo is an isolated monastery surrounded by unspoilt and deserted, with a downstream village without any possibility of assistance and care.
The appearance of the stigmata and the resulting influx of crowds around him, he points out the great suffering of the people closest Gargano, and then those nearby. They were great then the difficulties of those who needed hospital care. A Padre Pio is the idea of setting up a small hospital, the St. Francis Hospital, which has a few beds.
Meanwhile the couple’s original idea of a relief of suffering to be implemented with a new hospital to be built near the monastery combining medical care of the body to those of the spirit. Thus, driven by the faithful closer to him was Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza. In support of the Christian action, born in parallel to Hospital there are the Prayer Groups, a lay spiritual movement, all over the world.
Padre Pio’s prayer groups are 2711 in Italy. They meet in parishes, convents, monasteries, but also in places like hospitals and prisons.