recollection of Pietrelcina at the turn of the twentieth century: “So uncivilized you couldn’t even leave your doors [unlocked] at night because everyone was robbing each other.”12
A God-Fearing Family
The paternal family of Padre Pio, the Forgiones, were possedenti — small landowners. According to local tradition, the family came originally from the Abruzzi, a region to the northeast. The earliest ancestor of record was Antonio Forgione, who died in Pietrelcina in 1837 at the age of about eighty. Little is known of him or his son Donato (1786–1841) except the vital statistics noted in the fragmentary records of the parish church. Donato had a son Michele, who was born in 1819 and died forty-eight years later, leaving behind his second wife, the young widow Felicita D’Andrea (1839–1887) and his two little children by her: seven-year-old Orazio Maria (Padre Pio’s father) and two-year-old Orsola.
Orazio was born October 22, 1860. He was baptized Grazio Maria, but, although his wife usually called him “Gra,” throughout his life he was almost always known as “Orazio” — the name that appeared on his death certificate and on his tombstone. He spent most of his childhood in the household of his stepfather, Celestino Orlando, who married his mother shortly after the death of his father, Michele.
Young Orazio spent his childhood in relative poverty, minding the family sheep. While still a teenager, Orazio was named a “Master of the Feast,” a member of the committee that planned the annual festivities in August. That was a great honor and a sign of the respect in which the devout young man was held among the townsfolk.
On June 8, 1881, Orazio, now twenty years old, donned the local costume — a doublet trimmed with gold buttons, knee-stockings adorned with white ribbons, and white shoes — and was escorted by his stepfather to the home of Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio, who was to be his bride. Giuseppa was dressed in a red satin gown, an azure-blue apron, and a red bodice covered with gold brocade. A white scarf adorned her head, and, to ensure fertility, around her neck she wore a cloth imprinted with the image of thirteen male saints. In her pocket she carried a pair of miniature scissors, which were said to ward off the “evil eye.” Orazio’s stepfather gave a perfunctory speech of advice to Giuseppa, and she kissed the hands of her future parents-in-law and left with her female companions, resplendent in red silk dresses nearly as lovely as her own. The little company went first to the town hall for the civil ceremony, and then to the church to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony. During the ceremony, Giuseppa tucked the hem of her skirt between Orazio’s knees “to keep away evil things.” The nuptials concluded, and a band accompanied the couple back to the De Nunzio house, where they were to live.13 Thus Orazio Forgione and Giuseppa De Nunzio commenced forty-eight years of married life. (As was customary, the bride retained her family name.)
“Gra” and “Beppa,” as they called each other, were remarkable people. Orazio has been described as “a little runt of a man,” supple and wiry, with fair skin, dark eyes, and chestnut hair that remained full and thick to the end of his days. He exemplified what his granddaughter Pia Forgione called “the Forgione character.” “Whenever there was a difficulty, Grandfather, like my father and Uncle Pio, wouldn’t let it weigh on him. He would get through it. He’d sit down, discuss what was to be done, straighten it out, and go on.” Trusting the Lord to give him the wisdom to solve all his problems, he never worried and tried to instill this characteristic in his children.14 Adjectives frequently used with regard to Orazio Forgione are “simple” and “lovely.” A neighbor, questioned about his character, described him as “holy.” In a society in which men typically went to Mass only at Easter and possibly at Christmas, and at other times stood outside the church chatting with each other while their wives worshiped, Forgione not only went to Mass every Sunday, but, with his wife, stopped at the church to pray every day after working in the fields. He was constantly praying his rosary, a habit he instilled in his saintly son. Not an oath or a foul word ever escaped his lips, and so great a reverence for life did he have that even in the fields he would step out of the way of an ant rather than step on it. “Poor little creature, why should it die?” he would say.15 Orazio Forgione’s most characteristic trait, however, was joy. He loved to sing in a booming, resonant voice and was hailed as a wonderful storyteller. Seeing the hand of God all about him, he rejoiced in everything, radiating “a contagious joy about him which communicated itself to others.”16
Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio, the only child of Fortunato De Nunzio (c. 1821–1896) and Maria Giovanna Gagliardi (1831–1908), was a year and a half her husband’s senior, born March 28, 1859. She was evidently from a more socially prominent family than Orazio, and some of her relatives initially disapproved of her marriage to him. She had light blue eyes and was as tall as her husband. Even in her sixties, according to Mary Pyle, in whose home Giuseppa spent her last days, she had “a slim body like a teenager and very small feet.” Like her husband, she was extremely devout. As an act of mortification, she abstained from eating meat, not just on the obligatory Fridays, but also on Wednesdays and Saturdays. (That such was an option for her is indicative of the family’s comparatively high social standing, as most peasant families seldom had access to much meat.) Nearly everyone remarked about the grace and elegance of the woman sometimes called “The Little Princess,” who was always clad, from head to toe, in spotless white. She conversed in the local Neapolitan dialect — rather than in standard Italian — as most people of her age and class did, but Pyle, an aristocratic American, marveled how she “spoke her hard vernacular with marvelous grace.”17 Beppa prefaced all her plans with, “If God is willing.” Unlike many residents of small towns, she refused to gossip or criticize people behind their backs. Those who knew her were usually struck by her intelligence and sense of hospitality: “She was happier when she could give than when she could receive.”18
“Otto Bambini”
The Forgiones lived in a modest stone house at 27-28 Vico Storte Valle (Crooked Valley Lane) in the Castle District, the oldest part of Pietrelcina, which had grown up around the site of the old castle, which had long since fallen into ruins. The Forgione domicile seems originally to have been two small houses, since one had to exit the door of Number 27 to get to Number 28. Number 27 consisted of a single room with a single window. This was used as the parents’ bedroom. Number 28 consisted of a kitchen, where cooking was done at a large open hearth, and another, smaller room, which served as the girls’ bedroom. The Forgiones owned another dwelling a few doors away, a single room called “The Tower,” because it was accessed by steep treacherous steps and afforded a wonderful view of the rolling farmland beyond it. This served as the boys’ bedroom.
The home of the Forgiones was simply furnished with the bare necessities for health and comfort. The lime-painted walls were adorned with crucifixes and lithographs of the Madonna and various saints. After the children were born, visitors were amazed at the great number of books heaped onto a square table in the parents’ bedroom.19 Although neither parent could read, they wanted their children to have an education and provided for them accordingly.
A year after Orazio and Giuseppa were married, on June 25, 1882, a son, Michele, was born, named after Gra’s father. Two years later a second boy was born, who was given the name Francesco. Some say that he was named for Saint Francis, to whom Orazio had a great devotion. Others believe that, like most of the other children, he was named for a relative, in this case one of Orazio’s uncles. This child lived only twenty days. A third child, Amalia, also died in infancy. Then on May 25, 1887, at 5:30 p.m. according to the parish register, but at 10 p.m. according to the records of the town clerk, a fourth child came into the world and was given the name of his dead brother Francesco. This was the child who would later be known as Padre Pio.20
According to family tradition, when he was baptized the next day at the parish church of Saint Anna by Padre Nicolantonio Orlando, his mother dedicated him to the Virgin Mary. It is not known whether she did this with the other children, but one might assume that she did.
Francesco
