St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887–1968) died on September 23, 1968 after celebrating his last Mass — the stigmata, which had bled approximately a cup of blood per day for fifty years, found vanished from his hands and feet at the moment of his death. He was buried in the crypt of the friary church at San Giovanni Rotondo.
On March 3, 2008 — preparing for the permanent public display of his body in the new church of San Pio designed by Renzo Piano — his tomb was opened in the presence of Archbishop Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio of Manfredonia. The body was found 'in excellent condition' (the official phrase) — the hands and face substantially preserved, the Capuchin habit intact. A silicone mask was made for the face for display purposes. The body is now visible in a glass-fronted reliquary tomb in the lower crypt of the modern sanctuary at San Giovanni Rotondo, which receives some 7 million pilgrims a year — more than Lourdes.