Chapter 1, The Summary and Analysis

The story of Padre Pio begins in Pietrelcina, a village of four thousand, forty miles northeast of Naples, Italy. As a town in Southern Italy, it is economically and socially depressed. Most inhabitants in the late 19th century are poor peasant sharecroppers with no land of their own. People are malnourished and many died of malaria, tuberculosis and cholera. Almost everyone is Roman Catholic but the people are highly superstitious.

Padre Pio's family, the Forgiones, comes from Abruzzi. Grazio Maria Forgione, Pio's father, is born October 22nd, 1860, called Orazio and spends years working in America. He can read and write. He marries Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio; they call each other "Gra" and "Beppa." Gra spends much more time at church than most men in his day. He constantly prays the rosary and is full of joy. Maria is born...