Padre Pio: His Life and Mission - Mary F. Ingoldsby

Advantages: Well written and researched. A compelling read.
Disadvantages: May not interest non-religoius readers.

...Catholic Church, the Italian monk Padre Pio, by Irish author Mary F. Ingoldsby. Published in 1978, it was written some 10 years after the death of the remarkable Franciscan friar, but 24 years before he was elevated to Sainthood by Pope John Paul the Second, in September 2002. ~ ~ The author, Mary F. Ingoldsby, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1914, and was a civil servant for six years before she decided to devote her life to religious studies, ...
...worldwide Catholic organisation. She met Padre Pio personally in 1956, and was later to spend over two years at the Capuchin monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo in Southern Italy, where Padre Pio spent most of his life, translating his most important writings from his native Italian into English. ~ ~ The biography traces the life of Padre Pio from the time of his birth in the tiny Italian village of Pietrelcina in 1887, right up to his death in 1968. ... Read review