Sign up for our QNS email newsletter to get news, updates, and local insights delivered straight to your inbox!
Catholics around Glendale and nearby neighborhoods celebrated the life of St. Padre Pio with a special Mass at St. Pancras Church and a community procession on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21. The bilingual Mass was celebrated by Bishop Paul Sanchez of the Diocese of Brooklyn and concelebrated by Msgr. Steven Aguggia, pastor of St. Margaret Church in Middle Village, and Msgr. Gregory Wielunski, St. Pancras’ pastor. Following Mass, the congregation paraded a statute of St. Padre Pio through neighborhood streets. As noted, St. Padre Pio was a Capuchin priest from Italy who died in 1968 and was later venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first priest known to have the stigmata, markings on his hands corresponding to those of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. Many Catholics have kept a prayerful devotion to St. Padre Pio since his death.