|
|
Article: Pilgrims' progress: a new pilgrimage church for one of Italy's best loved saints provides a huge gathering space for the faithful that combines grandeur and a sense of the numinous.
- Article from:
- The Architectural Review
- Article date:
- March 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 EMAP Architecture. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
In a country particularly in thrall to the cult of sainthood, St Padre Pio stands as one of Italy's most modern and best-loved saints. Canonized with great ceremony by the Pope in 2002, Padre Pio was a Capuchin monk famous for his bleeding stigmata, miraculous healing powers and the rather enviable ability to be in two places at once. When he died in 1968, his remains were interred in the church of his home village of San Giovanni Rotonda in Puglia, the impoverished and remote province that extends down the south-east side of the Italian peninsula. This rapidly became a site of modern pilgrimage-B million people visit each year, making it the second most popular shrine in ...