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On September 22nd, 1968, Padre Pio ascended the altar for the final time, and each step cost him the last of his remaining strength. San Giovanni Rotondo was overflowing with thousands of pilgrims gathered for the fourth international congress of prayer groups and the 50th anniversary of the friar’s stigmata.

At 81 years old, extremely debilitated and unable to walk, he asked his superiors for permission to celebrate a low private mass as he felt his strength ebbing away. However, his superior requested that he celebrate a solemn mass before the multitude, and the Capuchin complied, faithful to his Franciscan vow of obedience.

His confreres carried him in a wheelchair and supported him all the way to the altar, nearly dragging him across the final few yards. He opened the Tridentine rite with the words “Introibo ad altare Dei”—”I will go unto the altar of God.”

Those who gazed upon him realized they were witnessing more than just a liturgy. They were seeing the summation of a life offered for the salvation of souls. His voice emerged as a faint whisper. His hands no longer gestured as they once had, and he no longer sought to hide his wounds. As he pronounced the Ite, missa est, his face was bathed in tears.

Once the celebration concluded, his body gave way and the friars caught him to prevent him from falling. Padre Pio had left the last drop of his strength at the altar. After that morning’s exertion, his cell would become the setting for another farewell.

A Holy Departure

He used the following hours to put his soul and his religious family in order. Withdrawn to his cell, he was accompanied by Brother Pellegrino from 9:00 p.m. onward, and his confrere became a living witness to that holy departure.

The elderly Capuchin displayed the simplicity of a child, repeatedly calling for the friar to ask the time and to request that his tears be wiped away. Around midnight, he insisted on a final sacramental confession.

Having received the absolution of his sins, he made a poignant request to Brother Pellegrino that he ask all the brothers of the friary for forgiveness for any inconvenience or weakness he might have caused them over the years. He then renewed his Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Conscious that his departure was at hand, he blessed his confreres, the sick, and the multitude of spiritual children scattered throughout the world. With his conscience at peace and his blessings given, all that remained was to cross through the final hours.

He died praying the names of Jesus and Mary. Near 1:00 a.m. on September 23rd, his shortness of breath became extreme, and he asked to sit in his armchair. With the rosary between his fingers—his inseparable spiritual weapon—he repeated in an increasingly faint voice, “Jesus, Mary.”

At 2:30 a.m., before the doctors and his brothers gathered in prayer, his countenance was transformed. He seemed to contemplate something invisible to the eyes of those present. He then spoke his last recorded words: “I see two mothers… Mary.”

Shortly thereafter, he gently reclined his head and surrendered his soul to God. Many interpret the “two mothers” as the consoling presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his heavenly mother, alongside Maria Giuseppa Forgione, his humble earthly mother, who had supported him in everything.

The Mysterious Transformation

Death, however, would still leave a sign that the attending physicians could not explain. Immediately after his passing, the wounds of the stigmata vanished completely. In his hands, feet, and side, they had bled without ceasing for 50 years, and now not a single scar remained. The skin was smooth and perfect.

Doctors classified the occurrence as a pathophysiological absurdity. Padre Pio’s mission of suffering was fulfilled and the cross had given way to glory.

This conclusion answered a desire the friar had formulated long before on the day of his ordination. On August 10th, 1910, upon being ordained a priest, the young Brother Pio wrote on his ordination prayer card that he desired to be a holy priest and a perfect victim.

This youthful longing reached its fullness when he ascended the steps of the altar for his final mass—staggering, his voice choked with emotion, and his face bathed in tears.