"Padre Pio" was born Francesco Forgione in 1887 in the small Italian village of Pietrelcina. A Capuchin priest who had received the stigmata, he spend fifty years in the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he was much sought after as a spiritual advisor, confessor, and intercessor. Despite such notoriety, he would often say, "I only want o be a poor friar who prays." His life was devoted to the Eucharist and to prayer. He died 23 September 1968 at age eighty-one. Pope John Paul II announced the inclusion of his Memorial in the General Roman calendar in June 2002. He is considered the patron of civil defense volunteers and Catholic adolescents.