Apostolic Penitentiary, 30 October 2002
Padre Pio’s ancient chapel: September 23 visit
Visit the ancient Santa Maria delle Grazie chapel on Padre Pio’s memorial and complete the prescribed worship or prayers.
Time required Time for the sacred celebration, or about 3–5 minutes for the visit and prayers
- When
- September 23 annually
- Where
- Ancient Santa Maria delle Grazie chapel, Capuchin convent, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
- Who
- All eligible faithful visiting this ancient chapel
- Application
- Self or the departed
The prescribed work
- Devoutly visit the ancient Santa Maria delle Grazie chapel at San Giovanni Rotondo on September 23.
- There either participate in a sacred celebration honoring Padre Pio, or devoutly recite the Our Father and Creed, adding the Missal prayer in his honor or another lawfully approved prayer honoring him.
- Fulfil the usual plenary conditions, including complete detachment from sin.
The work and its conditions
A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.
Conditions common to every indulgence
The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.
Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.
Time required
Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.
Sacred celebration in Padre Pio’s honor
Complete the prescribed event
Time for the sacred celebration
No numerical duration is prescribed. Include the sacred celebration itself; this particular concession expressly makes that celebration an alternative to the named visit prayers.
Visit with the prescribed prayers
Editorial estimate
About 3–5 minutes
Editorial estimate for the devout chapel visit, Our Father, Creed and an approved prayer honoring Padre Pio. No fixed legal minimum is prescribed.
What the time estimate excludes
- Ordinary travel to and from the venue, and waiting outside the prescribed work
- Preparation and separately fulfilled sacramental conditions
Occasion and source notes
For the dated church or oratory visit, Norm 14 permits the visit from noon on the preceding day until midnight ending the observance. Follow the actual local observance and access hours; any required celebration, membership and frequency limits still apply. If using an allowed prayer or meditation alternative, complete that alternative; an early visit does not substitute for attendance at a rite when the rite is the chosen work.
The other standing occasions in this decree overlap universal shrine routes. The quoted concession is perpetual; the shrine expressly applies it in 2026. The separate 2018 walking-pilgrimage program does not establish a distance requirement for this memorial visit.
Prayer texts and resources
Follow the prayer count and formula specified in the requirements. The two Creed readers are alternatives.
Source and exact reference
- Tele Radio Padre Pio: institutional quotation of the perpetual 2002 concessionIl decreto dell’indulgenza plenaria; 30 October 2002 decree, quoted in 2018
- Convento Santuario Padre Pio: continued application of the 2002 decree29 June 2026 official press release, decree expressly invoked
- Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, fourth editionNorms 13–14 and 17–19: transfer, preceding-noon visit window, prescribed work and frequency.
Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.