Celebrity chef, restaurateur and Food Network personality, Donatella Arpaia, is honored to host a gala dinner to mark the 45th anniversary of the passing of Padre Pio. This is the first and only US official event, which follows a Holy Mass at The Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church, celebrated by Father Carlos Laborde, Secretary General of the International Organization of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups. It will benefit the hospital founded by Saint Pio: Casa Sollievo Della Sofferenza, in San Giovanni Rotondo. Proceeds collected during Holy Mass and ticket sales to the gala dinner will be donated to the Hospital. A delegation from San Giovanni Rotondo, headed by Doct. Domenico Crupi, Vice President and General Manager of the hospital, will be present during the events.

"Padre Pio has been an ever-present force my entire life as my mother is originally from Puglia," says Donatella, who was fortunate enough to spend her summers there visiting family. In fact, her aunt received communion from Padre Pio as a child. "He has recently been a great source of hope and comfort as my mother battles lung cancer. Padre Pio is known for healing, so this event has come at a significant time for my family and me." She hopes that the gala dinner will expose Padre Pio to a wider audience, so people of all backgrounds can experience his healing powers.
The Holy Mass and gala dinner commemorating Padre Pio has been organized by the Puglia Center of America, in collaboration with the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, the National Italian Apostolate Conference and under the auspice of The Archdiocese of Manfredonia, Vieste and San Giovanni Rotondo.

Event details
Holy Mass takes place at 7pm on September 16, 2013 at The Sacred Hearts & Stephen Church: 108 Carrol St., Brooklyn, New York 11231. The Gala Dinner takes place at 9:30pm on September 16, 2013 at Marco Polo Ristorante: 345 Court Street, Brooklyn, New York 11231. Tickets are available at $200.00 per person and sponsorship opportunities are available. http://igg.me/at/padrepioevents/x/2604766

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For more information or media inquiries, please contact: Jess Feakins, Public Relations Email: Jess.Feakins@donatellagroup.com Cell: 717-468-1267

Donatella Arpaia
Donatella Arpaia is the trailblazing attorney-turned-culinary mogul who has become one of the most influential women in the world of food. Donatella opened her first restaurant in 1998 and then subsequently opened a string of successful and highly acclaimed restaurants in New York City and Miami. Zagat's crowned Donatella as "The Hostess with the Mostest," Crain's named her one of their "40 under 40" and the New
York Post named Donatella one of the "Most Powerful Woman" in Manhattan. Her first cookbook Donatella Cooks: Simple Food Made Glamorous was released in April 2010. Donatella holds a recurring guest judge role on the Food Network programs Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef and is a regular contributor to NBC's The Today Show. www.donatellaarpaia.com

Padre Pio
Padre Pio was a Capuchin Catholic priest from Italy who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and became famous for bearing the stigmata. He was endowed with many spiritual gifts including the gift of healing, bilocation, prophecy, miracles, discernment of spirits, and more. In 1940, he began working to open the hospital, Casa Del Sollievo Della Sofferenza, in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Casa

Sollievo Della Sofferenza is a religious hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, founded by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina and owned by the Holy See. Inaugurated May 5th, 1956, the hospital has adopted modern technologies and is considered one of the most efficient in Italy and Europe. http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19990502_padre-pio_en.html - http://www.operapadrepio.it/it/

Puglia Center of America
The Puglia Center of America is headed by Tenor Luciano Lamonarca and promotes the Puglia region of Italy in all its aspects, especially in the creation and exchanges of culture, tourism and education between the Puglia region of Italy and the United States of America. Their goals are to organize promotional and cultural events that serve to support global missionary and humanitarian projects. Advocates of the Puglia Center of America are Hollywood actor Joe Mantegna and actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lino Banfi.

Source: www.pugliacenterofamerica.com