The Church of Sant'Anna

The church has two naves, and behind the main altar one can admire a canvas painting from the 1600s that represents the Madonna of Loreto. In the smaller nave are small niches with statues from the 1600s representing the Assumption, the Crowning of the Virgin and Saint Rose. Always in the smaller nave there is an altar dedicated to Saint Ann, and there is kept the relics of Saint Pio, the martyr, taken from the catacombs of Priscilla and donated to Pietrelcina by the feudal Carafa in 1801. At Pietrelcina there is strong devotion to this saint, and because of this, the name of this saint was chosen by Francesco Forgione for his religious life.

On the left, when entering the church, is a fresco representing the Baptism of Christ. There is also the baptismal fountain made of stone with a wood ciborium. This is where on the 26th of May 1887, Francesco was baptized by Don (Father) Nicolantonio Orlando. Here Padre Pio took his First Communion and on the 27th of September 1899, when he was twelve years old, he was confirmed by the secretary to the archbishop of Benevento Monsignor Donato Maria Dell’Olio.

This small church was witness to his mystical experiences: the apparitions of Mary and the Guardian Angel, his intimate moments in the Holy Sacrament with Jesus to whom he opened his heart with the most tender confidences and expressions of love. In his letters we can read how much love he had in his soul for Jesus: “The beating of my heart is so strong when I find myself in front of the Holy Tabernacle that I feel sometimes that my heart is going to jump out of my breast. At the altar I sometimes feel such lightning in all of my body that I cannot describe it, and my face, especially, feels like it is on fire.”